Wayward Ship

All but lost in the tumble of revelations about Iranscam have been the details of what Oliver North and his free-lance operatives were actually doing. How did they transfer weapons and carry out their intricate dealings? The erratic journeys of a small Danish freighter provide a glimpse of the haphazard way the operations worked -- or didn't.

The convoluted tale began in April 1985, when two of North's shadowy private partners, Iranian-born Businessman Albert Hakim and retired Air Force Major General Richard Secord, hired a 163-ft. Danish ship, the Veralil, to ferry weapons to the contras. The ship was loaded with Soviet AK-47 guns in Poland, then sent to Portugal to pick up ammunition. Documents said the ship was headed for Guatemala, but she docked in Honduras, where the contras collected the weapons.

The following year she was less successful. In April 1986 Hakim and Secord bought the ship outright, using money from the infamous account at the Credit Suisse Bank in Geneva that they controlled with North. They rechristened her the Erria, and she was sent to Cyprus to wait while negotiators worked to release four American hostages. Four camp beds were taken on board, and the Erria made her way to the Lebanese coast. But the deal fell through, and she was recalled to Denmark.

In July she was again loaded with rifles in Poland and then ammunition in Portugal. Harbor documents showed she was headed for Yemen, but the ship's manifest said Guatemala was the final destination. She returned to Portugal and then departed for Cherbourg, where Hakim had her cargo transferred to another freighter, which later docked at two government depots in North Carolina. It is unclear whether the weapons ever reached the contras. The Erria was then used in an attempt to exchange rifles with Iran for two captured Soviet T-72 tanks sought by the U.S. for intelligence purposes -- a deal that also fell through.

The Erria is now in the Danish port of Korsor, her holds empty and hatches battened. A Danish firm engaged by Hakim to operate the ship has reportedly sued for $200,000. With his Swiss bank accounts frozen, Hakim is unlikely to settle soon. Meanwhile, the Erria is up for sale.