The East Wood Affair was a pirates aboard the cargo ship East Wood after 30 of her 527 Chinese illegal immigrants took control of the vessel before being taken back by her crew.

Radio massages

On January 27, 1993 a distress message went out from the freighter that had been hijacked by pirates the East Wood had left from Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

 to Taiwan

Republic of China

The Republic of China , commonly known as Taiwan , is a unitary sovereign state located in East Asia. Originally based in mainland China, the Republic of China currently governs the island of Taiwan , which forms over 99% of its current territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu and other minor...

. On February 7 the US Coast Guard cutter USCGC Rush

USCGC Rush (WHEC-723)

USCGC Rush is a U. S. Coast Guard high endurance cutter based out of Honolulu, Hawaii. Constructed at Avondale Shipyards near New Orleans, Louisiana and launched November 16, 1968, she is the fifth Coast Guard Cutter to be named after the eighth Secretary of the Treasury Richard Rush.-External...

, after gaining permission from the Panamanian government (the ship was registered and as a Panamanian vessel), boarded with armed sailors but by then the mutiny had already been put down. They found signs of violence and discovered 527 illegal immigrants from Fujian

Fujian

' , formerly romanised as Fukien or Huguing or Foukien, is a province on the southeast coast of mainland China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, and Guangdong to the south. Taiwan lies to the east, across the Taiwan Strait...

 and Guangdong

Guangdong

Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...

 provinces, China

People's Republic of China

China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...

. The only weapons were pocket knives and machetes, and two crew members were missing.

Investigation

Upon interviewing the remaining crew with conflicting accounts the general consensus was the mutiny occurred on December 29, 1992 when a dispute between a smuggler and the captain broke out. The dispute lead to some of the migrants taking control of the ship and the two missing crewmen abandoned ship and jumped overboard. The immigrants sailed the ship toward Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 to illegally immigrate

Illegal immigration to the United States

An illegal immigrant in the United States is an alien who has entered the United States without government permission or stayed beyond the termination date of a visa....

 there, but were thwarted by the distress message and the subsequent response.

Aftermath

The ship was escorted the Marshall Islands

Marshall Islands

The Republic of the Marshall Islands , , is a Micronesian nation of atolls and islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, just west of the International Date Line and just north of the Equator. As of July 2011 the population was 67,182...

, breaking down twice, and arrived at Kwajalein

Kwajalein

Kwajalein Atoll , is part of the Republic of the Marshall Islands . The southernmost and largest island in the atoll is named Kwajalein Island. English-speaking residents of the U.S...

where the immigrants stayed for 20 days to recover their health before being returned to China.