Mutiny on a Trawler: How Fishermen from the Lu Rong Yu 2682 Waged a Massacre in the Middle of the Ocean
Mutinies on ships were once commonplace. Fed up with months of hardship, sailing ship crews would throw out their captains and henchmen, turn pirates, or settle on blessed tropical islands. You may not know it, but such conflicts also happen on modern ships. One of the most high-profile cases was the incident on board the Chinese fishing vessel Lu Rong Yu in 2011.
In late December 2010, the Chinese trawler Lu Rong Yu, number 2682, set out to sea for two years to catch squid. There were 33 people on board, and the route ran across the Pacific Ocean to the coasts of Chile and Peru. Several months later, contact with the vessel was suddenly lost. Only eight months later, the trawler was discovered in the middle of the ocean by another Chinese ship. It was towed back to the port of Rongcheng, located in Shandong Province.
By the time the Lu Rong Yu 2682 was rescued, only 11 of the 33 crew members remained on board, exhausted and hungry. At the port, worried relatives, doctors, and… a police squad were waiting for them. The rescued sailors were not sent home or to the hospital, but were taken straight to the police department, and then to a pre-trial detention center. What happened on this squid trawler?
When they started handcuffing the rescued fishermen right on the pier, their relatives were perplexed and outraged. After that, the sailors were taken away under escort, and the people were asked to disperse. Meanwhile, the police began a thorough inspection of the vessel. Several hours of painstaking examination of the deck, cabins, service rooms and holds yielded no results.
Then a team of specialists in protective suits with sprayers on their backs boarded the Lu Rong Yu. They began treating all surfaces with luminol, a substance that glows blue fluorescently when it comes into contact with blood. Even the smallest traces of blood, left after attempts to thoroughly remove it, became visible. It turned out that blood was everywhere! Thus began the most complex and lengthy investigation in the history of the Chinese fishing fleet, which lasted for two years.
The fishing trawler Lu Rong Yu 2682 had an excellent reputation among fishermen. It was a relatively new vessel with excellent performance characteristics and even a certain level of comfort. It could be used for long expeditions, and this time the trawler was preparing for a two-year squid fishery in the Pacific Ocean.
The idea of going on a two-year expedition did not arouse much enthusiasm among the fishermen. The long term was frightening, and even a high salary could not interest many. When time was running out, the company managed to gather 35 people, about whom practically nothing was known. You could say that they recruited everyone indiscriminately - this was later one of the reasons for the tragedy.
The problems on board began even before the ship set sail. A cook named Jan began to behave strangely. He would suddenly run out on deck and shout, "Murder! Murder!" The crew searched the ship in a panic, but found nothing. The cook was punished several times, but he did not calm down. Then the captain called him in for a talk, after which Jan stopped his antics.
The captain explained to the crew that the sailor had recently lost his mother, who had been murdered by an unknown assailant. He asked the crew to be patient and understanding of Jan's grief. But the problems with the cook did not end there. One late evening, he disappeared somewhere. Soon, sailors from another ship brought him back. They said that they had seen the cook jump overboard and swim towards the open sea. Fortunately, someone on the shore managed to see the moment of the jump.
Jan was handed over to doctors, who immediately diagnosed him with a mental disorder. This left 34 people on board. The cook's duties were transferred to another sailor from the crew. Shortly before departure, the crew lost another person: one of the fishermen went ashore to do some shopping and did not return. There was no time to find a replacement, and on December 27, 2010, the trawler set out to sea with 33 crew members on board.
As we have already said, the trawler crew was made up of just about anyone. The crew was a motley crew, consisting of people of different ages, personalities and religions, who came from different regions of China. Among the sailors there were even those who had a criminal past. The journey to the shores of South America took two months. On the way, everything went as usual: the crew kept watch, and in their free time, the sailors played backgammon and checkers, read books or discussed how they would spend their future earnings. Finally, the trawler arrived at the shores of Peru and the hard and monotonous work of catching squid began.
The crew of the Lu Rong Yu worked for days in difficult conditions. Imagine: endless shifts, salty wind, pitching and the smell of sea creatures that permeates everything around. Usually squid are caught at night - powerful spotlights are turned on on the ship, directing their light at the water. The squid, attracted by the bright light, rise from the depths to the surface. After that, the gear is put into action, and the fishing itself begins.
Part of the team was engaged in catching, and the other part - in cutting, packing and freezing the catch. The work was done in shifts, so that everyone could at least rest a little during the day. But it was impossible to stop: the rates for such work from Chinese companies were low, and the fines for failure to meet the norm were huge. The promised big money was paid with sweat and blood.
It is also worth noting that squid fishing, like any fishing, was largely a matter of chance. One shift could catch a lot, while another could waste the night. The difference in earnings was always painful for the crew. Sometimes they had to work 16 hours, and if things went well, they pulled the nets for three days without a break. Imagine that people had to spend two years in such a regime.
After four months, even the hardiest fishermen were at their limit. To make matters worse, two crew members fell seriously ill and their duties were divided among the others. There was even less time to rest. But the real blow came when the management company cut the salaries of the Lu Rong Yu crew, citing failure to meet the plan. When the sailors saw the pay figures, they realized that their dreams of a decent life after the voyage would not come true.
The sailors began complaining to the captain, but he sided with the ship owners. He issued large fines to those who expressed dissatisfaction. And then something even more serious came to light: the contracts with the company were invalid, and they might not have been paid for the work done. The true state of affairs was revealed when one of the fishermen approached the captain with a demand to send him home. Then it turned out that the contracts of all the crew members were certified with a forged seal and signed by fictitious managers.
When the rest of the crew learned of this, mutiny was first discussed. On June 16, 2011, the ship entered a Peruvian port for refueling. Taking advantage of the proximity of the coast, the sailors rebelled. First, they destroyed the radio station. Then, some of the crew, armed with knives and clubs, headed towards the captain.
The captain did not take the situation seriously and demanded that the sailors stop their "nonsense" and return to work. He was then severely beaten and tied up. The mutineers demanded that the ship be sent back to the shores of China. Seeing no other way out, the captain began giving the appropriate orders to those crew members who were on watch. One of his assistants became suspicious and went to the bridge, where he found the mutineers and the beaten commander.
Trying to protect the captain, the mate was stabbed and died. But that was only the first death. The trawler set course for China, but the crew was no longer happy. Some of the crew opposed the violence, and tension began to mount among the mutineers. After the captain was locked in his cabin, deprived of his power, the sailors began to resolve conflicts themselves - with knives, clubs and pieces of chain. Murders followed one after another, and bodies were mercilessly thrown overboard.
The story of the Lu Rong Yu is far from an isolated incident. Similar mutinies on ships have happened before, especially on fishing vessels. Harsh working conditions, complete isolation from the world, and injustice create the perfect breeding ground for tragedy. In the 2010s, the crew of a trawler in South Korea killed its captain for abuse. China has had its share of similar incidents, but they are rarely talked about.
The fishing industry is not only about the catch, but also its dark side: exploitation, smuggling, and sometimes even piracy. Crews are often formed from residents of poor regions, lured by promises of huge earnings, but in reality driving them into debt bondage. It is not surprising that sooner or later someone decides to take justice into their own hands.
The closer the trawler Lu Rong Yu got to its home shores, the more the events on board resembled a horror film. The leader of the rebels had gone completely mad and allowed all disputes to be resolved with knives. Even minor conflicts in the dining room could now cost someone their life. When the crew's numbers were significantly reduced, the sailors realized that they had gotten carried away playing pirates. They understood that they would face trial and possibly execution back home.
They then decided to change course and head for Japan. However, one of the few remaining loyal sailors learned of this plan. He sabotaged the ship's engines and damaged the hull, creating a hole. Water began to rapidly fill the holds, and internal strife instantly faded into the background. All efforts were thrown into saving the sinking trawler. The sailors managed to fix the radio and send a distress signal. By that time, only 11 people remained from the crew - a third of the original composition. The captain was no longer among the survivors.
When help arrived, the mutineers had already destroyed the evidence of their crimes and had conspired. They all blamed the missing crew members for everything, claiming that they had started the mutiny and then abandoned ship in a lifeboat. However, one of the youngest sailors revealed the truth to the police. All 11 surviving members of the raid were tried. Most of them were sentenced to death, the rest to long prison terms.
The company that deceived the fishermen was fined a large sum and ordered to pay significant compensation to the families of the dead sailors. As for the vessel, it was probably written off or renamed - in China they try not to advertise such scandals.
But the story of Lu Rong Yu did not go unnoticed — in 2022, a thriller called Blood Wave was made based on it. That same year, the first two crew members were released. The film immerses the viewer in the dark atmosphere of the trawler, clearly demonstrating how grueling labor and blatant injustice bring people to the point of no return. Blood Wave is not only a story of brutal massacre. It is a profound story about human nature, about how confinement and despair can break even the most resilient. The director did not limit himself to an accurate retelling of the events, adding fictional details to enhance the drama: in the film, a mutiny begins after the captain publicly humiliates one of the sailors.
The premiere of Blood Wave was postponed twice: first by six months, then again. When it seemed that the release was about to take place, the unexpected happened - the film was banned. The official reason was "excessive cruelty", but many attribute this to the reluctance of the Chinese authorities to air their dirty laundry in public and show the world the dark side of the fishing industry.
The bloody mutiny on the trawler was the result of fatigue, injustice and human desperation. But who is ultimately responsible? The circumstances, the sailors who turned into murderers, or the system that drove them into this nightmare?