Searching for an answer to the fate of the gravel ship Hualien No. 1 that vanished off Taiwan's coast in late February is a complex issue, and one in which evidence is both scant and often contradictory.
No distress signal was received from the vessel's automatic mayday equipment and other safety equipment such as lifeboats have not been located. Search operations have failed to find any bodies, flotsam or even the tell-tale fuel slick that accompanies most tragedies at sea. And neither has any evidence been put forward that would suggest foul play, such as piracy.
But opinions from maritime safety experts, seamen who had previously served on the vessel, experienced masters of ships, and those who said they had spoken to members of the Hualien No.1's crew before the vessel vanished, all seem to lead to the same logical conclusion -- that the ship sank, and did so rapidly.
"Considering the circumstances, the ship must have capsized in the blink of an eye, but nobody knows where it sank," said Chao Yu-seng (趙榆生), a master-mariner-turned lecturer at National Taiwan Ocean University. Chao made the comment last Friday, during a joint discussion of the case with eight maritime experts.
Records that the ship often leaked while sailing, its history as a refitted lumber ship, the rough weather, and the maritime features of Taiwan's northeast coast were all pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that led to a likely, albeit imperfect, picture of the vessel's fate.
Former crew members who had served aboard the vessel agreed with Chao.
"Those who used to work on the Hualien No.1 told me that I should not expect the ship to return. They said the ship was in poor condition, and had probably sunk rapidly," said Chang Chih-yun (章志筠), wife of Han Kuo-chi (韓國基), one of the 21 crewmen that disappeared with the vessel on Feb. 28.
When interviewed by the Taipei Times, former seafarers who had first-hand experience aboard the 16-year-old bulk carrier either declined to comment on the vessel's state of health or confirmed Chang's view.
"This ship must have sunk. It's unlikely that it's been hijacked," said Mr. Chiang, who had worked on the vessel for over a year.
Chiang admitted that the vessel leaked and and that crew members often had to repair cracks and plug leaks while the ship was at sea.
"Every now and then the Hualien No. 1 needed repairs. If the hull was leaking, you had to fix it, otherwise the ship would fail its safety inspection," Chiang said.
"But those repairs that were made were not carried out properly. Just so-so would be fine. This is how things work in Taiwan," he said.
A mobile phone conversation between the the ship's apprentice engineer Chen Shun-ching (
"My brother [Chen] told him that the ship had sprung a big hole, and that the crew members were busy fixing it en route," Chen Mei-hua (
Although Yen urged Chen to return to the port of Hualien for safety, he said some of his more senior colleagues were sure everything was OK.
"Then the phone connection was lost and Yen was unable to communicate with my brother," she added.
Ships' Masters-turned lecturers at National Taiwan Ocean University, as well as other experienced seamen, confirmed that crew members working on refitted gravel ships sailing on domestic routes in Taiwan often had to fix cracks and leaks while en route to their destinations.
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