"Jiang only makes NT$500,000 a year," said Liu. "He could never afford to pay that!"
Currently, the case rests with the MOTC's Controller's office, which will decide Jiang's responsibility and, according to the latest estimates, approve disbursement of the settlement anytime from three days to two weeks from now. After that, it will take another three to five days for the money to matriculate through the Harbor Bureau and actually materialize in the Millers' hands. Lisa, using her own personal experience, translates the remaining wait into "another month."
The settlement itself was arrived at with the help of a lawyer, which the Millers' eventually found it necessary to hire, and will involve cash compensation and allow them to retain possession of tens of thousands of dollars of equipment installed on their boat.
However, the Millers will have to abandon their ruined craft, pay back their living subsidy, which continues to accrue, and renounce claims on other expenses, such as fees paid to their lawyer, the shipping agent and the surveyor.
Still, as the agreement signals a welcome relief from their hotel room and Pizza Hut purgatory, it's a deal the Millers are willing to live with. Sipping on their Pepsis and gazing into the overcast Keelung skies, they've reflected long and hard on their situation and managed to put a lot of things in perspective.
"Nobody got hurt, we're safe; we realize that in the big scheme of things it's not really that bad," said Lisa, "but at the same time, it's been frustrating."
The couple has also revised its plans for what comes next, since the round-the-world scheme has pretty much been scrapped. What looks more likely is heading to the US on an airplane with their Chihuahua and starting over. And of course, they don't have any intentions of giving up on sailing.
"We're gonna try to get another boat that we can get a little bit cheap and put some money in it and fix it up," said Ben, adding, "I guess there's worse case scenarios than spending the winter in Houston and then cruising around the Bahamas in spring."
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