# Hormuz strait - starting a tanker (ship) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 9, 2026, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145 "2026-04-09T10:47:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/21 "2026-04-10T14:13:42Z")
I aim to please, even if the BBC does not, Johnny: [https://archive.ph/jYuKQ](https://archive.ph/jYuKQ) ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2026, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/22 "2026-04-10T14:17:24Z")
Good point; thank you for the comment. If I were on a crew and my union had any power I would insist on adequate supplies/emergency equipment because, while you do not expect to get stranded for 12+ months like those shadow guys, there is always a sky-high chance of _some_ delays. I wonder how easy it is to siphon off some of that crude oil to power your ship’s own electrical generators… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/23 "2026-04-11T02:28:35Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > I aim to please, even if the BBC does not, Johnny: [https://archive.ph/jYuKQ](https://archive.ph/jYuKQ) Thanks. If they’re abandoned, can anyone just claim salvage rights even if there is crew on board? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/24 "2026-04-11T07:27:31Z")
Not unless the vessel is in danger. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/25 "2026-04-11T13:08:15Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Thanks. > > If they’re abandoned, can anyone just claim salvage rights even if there is crew on board? hand any crew members a crisp $100 note and a free ride back on a decent boat and you solved this problem with a payment that wouldn’t buy you a new celphone … 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/26 "2026-04-11T14:19:12Z")
One possible precedent is the history of the 15 ships trapped in the Suez canal by Egypt due to the six day war . They were freed by the negotiated peace that followed the Yom Kippur war. The two german ships, which had the owners/operators crew in attendance for longer than the others , did motor away and home under their own power. The other ships were in a worse state, having been left in the care of a third party (non-engineering) for longer. So from that, we could say that roughly 3 years was not too long to be left sitting without engineers, but 5 years was too long. > **[Yellow Fleet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Fleet)** > > From 1967 to 1975, 15 ships and their crews were trapped in the Suez Canal after the Six-Day War between Israel and Egypt. The stranded ships, which belonged to eight countries (West Germany, Sweden, France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, Bulgaria, and Czechoslovakia), were nicknamed the Yellow Fleet after the desert sand that coated them. > During the war, Egypt blocked both ends of the canal to prevent its use by Israel. Scuttled ships, sea mines, and other debris continued to... ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/27 "2026-04-11T15:28:07Z")
Unlikely. Typically the crew are owed substantial wages and know that remaining on board is the best leverage to use to get paid eventually. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2026, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/28 "2026-04-11T19:41:19Z")
Still, a year’s wages for a third world seaman for a crew of 10 or 20 would likely be subtantially less money than a shipload of oil and a free tanker no matter how decrepid. I assume the problem is getting admission to a port where you could off-load the oil, given the issues seem to be the source of the oil and - possibly - the condition of the tanker. I mean, the Baltimore bridge collision was a container ship, but the issue with a tanker would likely be the risk of ever worse results. I assume the issue for salvage is the tanker has to be ‘abandoned” meaning the whole crew must leave the ship and nobody on board. I assume them going back on board a day later would not qualify as salvage? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 9:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/29 "2026-04-12T09:55:52Z")
Firstly, the requirements for salvage are generally that (i) a vessel is in peril, (ii) the salvor is acting voluntarily (not under a pre-existing contract) and (iii) some life or property must be successfully saved. Physical abandonment is not directly relevant - it is neither necessary nor sufficient. Secondly, before the armchair pirates of the SDMB (AAAAARRR!!!) in this thread get too carried away let me hose you down with some commercial reality. Exceptional and unlikely circumstances aside, the situation is a binary - either the ship and cargo have a positive net value (after taking into account commercial, legal, military etc costs and difficulties) or not. If they do have a positive net value, the owners of the ship and cargo are not going to give up that value freely. If the ship and cargo have nil or negative net value, they have no value to either the owners or the armchair pirates. And when you consider that tankers in international trade will be worth tens of millions, and their cargo similar, there is little chance of them not having a positive net value. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/30 "2026-04-12T15:24:46Z")
_Dejectedly puts away black flag, eyepatch and parrot_ ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/31 "2026-04-12T16:02:35Z")
… and my life-savings of $1,100 to pay off the crew A man can dream, as I think the misses wouldn’t have allowed me anyway ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/32 "2026-04-12T16:05:25Z")
Probably half the pirates down the ages left home and adopted a life of crime to escape the practical realities of life with their missus. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/33 "2026-04-12T18:37:08Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > Dejectedly puts away black flag, eyepatch and parrot You kept the peg leg? ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2026, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/34 "2026-04-12T20:32:05Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > …and parrot Beautiful bird, the Norwegian Blue. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/35 "2026-04-13T00:07:32Z")
I keep my liqueur there. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/36 "2026-04-13T00:07:43Z")
Beautiful plummage! ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/37 "2026-04-13T01:02:48Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > You kept the peg leg? [clears throat - whispers] . _… that is NOT his leg_ ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2026, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145/38 "2026-04-13T01:23:55Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > > [@Spiderman](#): > > > > You kept the peg leg? > > clears throat - whispers > > . > > _… that is NOT his leg_ It’s in the name… “peg”. Okay, I’ll see myself out. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hormuz-strait-starting-a-tanker-ship/1029145.md?page=1)