Abandonment

Cruise North's lawsuit precipitated an avalanche of other claims against the MV Lyubov Orlova, the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. and other interests in the ship, seeking a combined total exceeding $2 million US in damages.



The St. John's Port Authority sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid dock fees, security costs and repairs as the ship listed precariously for months, taking up valuable space in the harbour. Harbour officials worried about environmental damage should it sink, so they spent tens of thousands of dollars just keeping it afloat.

Cruise North Expeditions, also named in the suit, said in a statement of defence that berthage charges for the ship were for the benefit of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co., not the charterer.



Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. didn't file a statement of defence.

A customs brokerage firm also came forward looking for about $35,000 US, partly to recoup security costs it paid to Immigration Canada for a Russian crew member who walked off the ship claiming refugee status.

In a statement of defence, Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. said it carried no liability for the crew member, who it claimed was working in Canada under a permit sponsored by Cruise North Expeditions.

Cruise North Expeditions, also named in the suit, maintained the Russian crew was the responsibility of Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co., as they were entirely under that company's "control and supervision."

One of the more curious lawsuits came from a former captain of the ship. Ruslan Zaynigabdinov of Russia wanted some $122,000 US in unpaid back wages.

In a statement of defence filed in St. John's, the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. claimed Zaynigabdinov was fired for crashing the Lyubov Orlova into a dock in October 2009, then breaking into the vessel's safety box and destroying a computer.

These lawsuits were all either eventually discontinued on behalf of the plaintiffs, or deemed inactive by the court. CBC News was unable to discern whether any settlements were paid out.

The Lyubov Orlova sat abandoned in St. John's Harbour for more than two years after Cruise North's original lawsuit. (John Rieti/CBC) Post image on Pinterest: The Lyubov Orlova sat abandoned in St. John's Harbour for more than two years after Cruise North's original lawsuit. (John Rieti/CBC)

The Lyubov Orlova sat abandoned in St. John's Harbour for more than two years after Cruise North's original lawsuit. (John Rieti/CBC)

When the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. abandoned its ship in St. John's Harbour in September 2010, it also abandoned the crew on board.



Many of the 51 Russians and Ukrainians working as seamen, housekeepers, galley cooks and officers had been living on the Lyubov Orlova for almost a year by that point and were not due to see the roughly $300,000 they were collectively owed until their contracts were finished.

That wouldn't happen until the ship reached Tenerife, the largest of Spain's Canary Islands, and it was becoming increasingly apparent it never would. So the crew sued as well.

Their claim was also reported to the UN's International Labour Organization, where it still sits, unresolved, in the agency's database of reported incidents of abandoned of seafarers. It's one of the largest such cases in terms of the number of people abandoned and the amount of money owed.

A brief email from the ship's captain to its owner in autumn 2010, included in court documents, hints at a chaotic atmosphere on board the ship in St. John's Harbour.

"Please be noted that the crew situation at the present time is very bad," he wrote.

"I try to keep control but in any case please arrange urgently to remove all alcohol store from the ship ASAP."

Alexander Pokhilets, captain of the Lyubov Orlova, and the crew's union representative, Gerard Bradbury, speak with CBC's Azzo Rezori on Dec. 10, 2010.

While the crew was free to come and go from the Lyubov Orlova, they had no place to live outside the ship and little to no money. Their visa to work in Canada was only valid for employment on board the ship.



Gerard Bradbury, an inspector with the International Transport Workers' Federation, acted as an advocate for the crew and filed a claim against the ship's owner on their behalf. In a 2015 blog post on the federation's website in which he looked back on the experience, he described the atmosphere on the ship as "hell."

"There was an officer with a heart condition," he wrote. "That was a bit of a panic … we also had to line up medical visits to the ship, get assurances that things were OK, figure out what we had to do for immediate needs. It's a lot of people, and they have nothing."

Svetlana Shabanova, far left, worked aboard the MV Lyubov Orlova for several seasons. (Jason Whittle) Post image on Pinterest: Svetlana Shabanova, far left, worked aboard the MV Lyubov Orlova for several seasons. (Jason Whittle)

Svetlana Shabanova, far left, worked aboard the MV Lyubov Orlova for several seasons. (Jason Whittle)

Svetlana Shabanova of Novorossiysk, Russia, says she never received any of the $3,844 she was owed for her work in the Lyubov Orlova's dining room that season.

She said the crew didn't have much, but never went hungry thanks to the generosity of St. John's residents, who donated food and drinking water through the Salvation Army and Red Cross.

Movies on the big screen in the ship's lounge became routine, she said. The crew liked to watch comedies — she called it an "anti-stress" measure.

"[It was] funny, like cinema," she said in an interview over Facebook Messenger. "With popcorn and Pepsi."

The ship's owner didn't completely ignore their plight. The Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. countersued the few who were able to get passage home, arguing their contract wasn't technically over until the ship reached the port of Tenerife. Any crew who left before then, the company said, were abandoning the ship.

At around the same time, the Lyubov Orlova Shipping Co. was busy looking for somebody willing to offer a mortgage for the ship.

The company secured a 470,000-euro mortgage in October 2010 from Sumena S.L., a ship supplier based in the Canary Islands.

Representatives from Sumena came forward about a year later with a claim to proceeds from the Lyubov Orlova's eventual court-ordered sale, saying they never saw a single mortgage payment.

The rest of the crew, after having spent some two to three months on the ship, returned home gradually that fall and winter, as cold weather set in and the vessel's diesel supply dwindled. Family stepped in to help some of them, while the Russian government bought flights for the rest.

Their lawsuit was also ultimately unresolved.