Tense Trip to Kharg

Photographer Catherine Leroy, on assignment for TIME, recently spent seven days on a supertanker as it plied the perilous waters of the Persian Gulf to take on 260,000 tons of crude oil at the Iranian oil depot at Kharg Island. The Swedish-built ship, which is owned by Americans and registered in Liberia, is currently chartered by a Japanese firm to carry its cargo to Europe. At the request of the ship's owners, TIME agreed not to identify their vessel. Leroy's report:

Only a few of the 24 Taiwanese crew members spoke English, but there is one thing that communicates itself easily: fear. The ship's owner had said that it would be good for the crew to have a woman on board because it would "give them courage." The captain, Chu Ching, 39, has made ten trips to Kharg Island in the past year and was going back this time because he would earn a $5,000 bonus. "Dangerous? That is non sense," he said stoically. "Nothing will happen to me."

But once we were in Iranian waters, the fear became apparent. The trip from Fujairah to Sirri Island takes 20 hours and the trip to Kharg at the northern end of thegulf another 27. We waited twelve hours at Sirri before the Iranians gave us permission to leave at a time when they felt the risk was lowest. At dinner that night the mood was somber, and people were silent. You could feel the tension growing. Everyone seemed to share the terrible feeling that, at twelve knots, we were going very slowly.

The night passed without incident. By mid-afternoon the next day, Kharg Island was in sight. About three miles out, the captain confiscated all cameras on board, explaining that no one is allowed to photograph the island. "If you take pictures, it is my life you are endangering," he said. The light was magnificent, and you could see the high white cliffs of Kharg, with tankers in the distance. I kept telling myself what a beautiful picture I was missing.

We stayed a day at Kharg while the tanker was being loaded. That night, as usual, we listened to the BBC and the Voice of America in the captain's cabin. It did nothing for our nerves to hear a BBC report that our ship had supposedly been hit. Later, an Iranian official paid us a visit, accompanied by three Islamic guards in military fatigues. I was dressed in black, but the Iranians insisted that a veil of some sort be found for me. There was nothing suitable on board. Finally, the captain rushed to his bathroom and returnedwith a white bath towel, which I had to struggle to keep over my head during the interview. When asked what Iran would do if Iraq destroyed Kharg Island, as it has threatened to do if faced with an Iranian ground offensive, our visitor said, "They don't understand the power we have. It is the power of God."

When we left the next day, an Iranian tugboat followed us for 50 miles. The fully loaded ship rode low on the sea. On deck, the captain and a few officers were silent and unsmiling as they searched the horizon with binoculars. "I know if anything happens, there will be panic among the crew," Captain Chu Ching said.

If we had been hit, it would have taken no more than 30 minutes for the tugboat to reach us. Tankers are usually hit in the engine area, but because the Exocet missiles used by Iraq do not have a powerful explosive force, a ship is not likely to explode or sink rapidly. The big fear is that the oil will catch fire and trap everyone on a burning sea.

We made it back to Fujairah safely. As I left the ship, the captain said that he would be ready to go back to Iran in a month. That night I heard that a Turkish vessel we had passed on the return trip had been attacked by an Iraqi jet as it approached Kharg Island.