Huge gap in pay for crew members told

RABAUL Shipping’s captains were so well paid by company owner Peter Sharp that it discouraged them from performing their jobs according to the rules, a Commission of Inquiry has been told.
A former chief officer of the mv Rabaul Queen which sank with over 350 people on board last Feb 2 told the commission that there was a big gap in terms of salary between the captain and chief engineer and the crew.
Pastor Paul Daniels told the commission’s hearings in Lae last Saturday he believed that because of all the privileges and benefits the captains and chief officers got, they failed to perform their duties.
Daniels who now works as a chaplain with Lutheran Shipping, said: “The masters of the vessel are on very high salary and he (Sharp) also allows them to operate the canteens on the ships and gives them privileges.
“They cannot talk on behalf for the crew’s welfare and the safety of the ship.
 “If the ship is overloaded or not overloaded, if the ship has a serious defect to be maintained before the ship sails, they cannot do that (raise the issue) because they have to listen to him,” he said.
Daniels also confirmed that the mv Rabaul Queen was listing when he was on the vessel twice last year as a passenger in January and as chief officer in February.
He told the commission that the listing was caused by leaks from water tanks at the back of the vessel.
“I looked under the stern of the ship and saw bubbles coming out from the underneath the stern, from just under the poop deck right on the stern,” Daniels said.
He also said that when he was relief master of the mv Kokopo Queen, a sister vessel of the Rabaul Queen, last year, Sharp once came down and gave him a notice from the weather service stating that there would “be a strong wind tonight” for the ship’s journey from Rabaul to Palmalmal.
“The normal practice when we have a strong wind warning issued to us, the vessel should stay in port.
“But it’s not with Mr Sharp. He told me to sail.”
He said Sharp told him that if the weather deteriorated, he should then proceed to the nearest safe harbour.