The Tanker War

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 1 October 2021

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In November 1987, the Romanian cargo ship, the Fundulea, was attacked by an Iranian gunboat in the Persian Gulf. It was just one of hundreds of merchant ships hit by missiles or mines in the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq war, as both sides sought to damage each other's oil exports and trade. The conflict at sea became known as the Tanker War. Major naval powers deployed to the Gulf to protect their shipping, but many ships, like the Fundulea, ran the gauntlet unescorted. Alex Last has been speaking to Florentin Dacian Botta, who was on board the Fundulea when it was attacked.

Photo: Tug boats spray water to extinguish fires onboard the stricken Romanian freighter, the Fundulea, after it was attacked by an Iranian gunboat, 23rd November 1987 ( NORBERT SCHILLER/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
0:40.0	Hello and
0:45.0	today we go back to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me Alex Last.
0:46.0	And today we go back to the 1980s and the so-called Tanker War
0:50.0	when merchant ships sailing in the Persian Gulf were attacked by Iraqi and Iranian forces during the Iran-Iraq war.
0:58.0	This is the story of just one sailors ordeal.
1:08.0	In the past two years, the Iranians and Iraqis are between them hit nearly 200 ships in the Gulf in their attempts to damage each other's war effort.
1:13.0	So we knew that in Russia, I warn you,
1:16.0	outer course to a subway 3-0,
1:18.0	otherwise I have to shoot you.
1:20.0	Over.
1:21.0	So we knew that area was the Great War zone. Both Iran and Iraq attack a lot of vessels, but we were astonished that they hit us.
1:32.0	And the fact that I'm still alive is American.
1:37.0	In November 1987, Florentine Dachin-Botta was a young engineer working on a 9,000 ton Romanian cargo ship, the Fundulia.
1:46.4	With a crew of 30, it was on its way to Kuwait with marble and other supplies to get there.
1:51.3	The ship had to sail through the narrow Strait of Hormuz and into the Persian
1:55.2	Gulf one of the world's most important waterways from where Middle Eastern oil would be
	...

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