MV Jireh – a former Norwegian fjord ferry which is apparently en route to new owners in Senegal – arrived off the coast of Gorey on 5 November.
Days later the crew of nine asked for a berth in St Helier Harbour, but when told they would need to appoint shipping agents they left and anchored off the coast of Guernsey.
On Friday the ship’s second-officer, who said his name was Mikhail, told reporters that they had not been paid for two months, and they were rationing water and running low on food.
Last week, Guernsey Red Cross sent clothes to the ferry, while the Co-op sent food, as questions were raised over why the vessel was in local waters.
On Saturday night Jireh left the Little Russel – the body of water between Guernsey and Herm – and by yesterday morning was anchored off the coast of Weymouth.
Speaking before the ship left, Mikhail said that the crew were ‘in a bad mood’. He said they wanted to dock in St Peter Port and added: ‘We will comply with your local regulations. We will stay on the boat all the time.
‘Our problem number one is that we want to put the vessel in a safe place. Aafter that we will discuss about provisions and fresh water.
‘We have nine days of supplies. After that, no provisions.’
He claimed that the crew had not been paid for two months but hoped to receive payment on 2 December.
The crew said that drinking water was being rationed so that it can act as ballast to keep the ship stable and make the wait more comfortable.
Ship-tracking websites show that the ferry left Norway on 28 October and after passing through most of the English Channel made a sharp turn towards the Channel Islands in early November before anchoring off Jersey’s east coast. It arrived in the Little Russel on 13 November.
Mikhail said the crew was waiting for an international inspector to go on board to discuss the problems: ‘We’ve discussed it with our owner but we’ve not had any useful information.’
The boat, which was previously called Strandebarm and operated in the Norwegian fjords, was recently sold to Herald Marine and Energy Ltd in Senegal and is now registered in Nigeria.
Efforts to contact the new owners were unsuccessful, and a visit to its listed website revealed that it had been hacked.
