Stowaway

The word takes its origin with the expression stow away. This stow away expression is old and was used for things (such as food), such usage is seen for instance in the 1689 book A New Voyage Round the World, Volume 1 or 1637 Journals of the House of Lords, Volume 11.

The word was also used (later) for people. This gave names such as stow-aways, when the correct current name in modern English language is stowaway. Depending on the circumstances, people were stowed away in order to hide themselves, or to be transported as slaves. The concept of people hiding is not so recent; it was yet forbidden (and so known) in 1748 by king of Spain, under the polizón denomination.

The Convention on Facilitation of International Maritime Traffic, 1965, as amended, (The FAL Convention), define stowaway as

"A person who is secreted on a ship, or in cargo which is subsequently loaded on the ship, without the consent of the shipowner or the master or any other responsible person and who is detected on board the ship after it has departed from a port, or in the cargo while unloading it in the port of arrival, and is reported as a stowaway by the master to the appropriate authorities".

The presence of stowaways on board ships may bring serious consequences for ships and, by extension, to the shipping industry as a whole; the ship could be delayed in port; the repatriation of stowaways can be a very complex and costly procedure involving masters, shipowners, port authorities and agents, and the life of stowaways could be endangered as they may spend several days hidden, with the risk of suffocation and without any food or water.{{cite web |url=http://www.imo.org/ourwork/facilitation/stowaways/Pages/Default.aspx |title=Stowaways |website=imo.org |publisher=International Maritime Organization |access-date=February 8, 2015}}

{{See also|Freighthopping|Hobo}}

Some undocumented migrants travel around Europe in trucks and trains without being detected. A number of them try to get to other European countries, such as France and the United Kingdom.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jul/31/calais-crisis-david-cameron-chairs-cobra-meeting-as-mod-role-discussed|title=Cameron chairs Cobra meeting after overnight standoff in Calais|last=Halliday|first=Josh|date=31 July 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=2 June 2017}}

Stowaways sometimes hide themselves in vehicles such as cargo trucks to get between cities. Although this is also done by migrants who have paid the driver, it is also done by individuals hiding from the driver. In some places, drivers are legally responsible for making sure that stowaways do not board their vehicles, and can be fined or jailed if they do not detect and remove a stowaway when crossing national borders.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-50166447|title=How are lorries checked for concealed migrants?|date=2019-10-24|work=BBC News|access-date=2020-01-09|language=en-GB}}

File:Hine Finnish Stowaway Ellis Island 1926.jpg, 1926.
Original caption: The desire to come to America must have been very strong for this young man to face all sorts of uncertainties.{{cite web |title=Legend from Hine's study |date=18 February 2014 |url=https://www.messynessychic.com/2014/02/18/almost-in-america-portraits-from-ellis-island/ |access-date=3 February 2023}}]]

Stowaways on sailing ships and on steamships made this way of illicit travel known throughout the world. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries poor, would-be emigrants and travelers seeking adventure for no cost helped to make it seem romantic. Noted stowaways to America by steamship have included Henry Armetta, Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Willem de Kooning, Jan Valtin, and Florentino Das.

Stowaways typically board the ship while it is in port.{{cite book | title=Shipboard Response to Stowaways and Distressed People in Small Boats - 2025-26 Edition | publisher=Witherby Publishing Group| publication-place=Livingston | date=2024}} This can be by the gangway or by climbing the ships side when the crew are not maintaining an adequate security watch of the vessel. To prevent stowaways on ships, the International Chamber of Shipping and Witherbys provide guidance to ships on managing the risks associated with stowaways and with rescue of displaced persons at sea.{{cite web | last=Zenic | first=Eda | title=Maritime Security: Managing Risks of Stowaways and Rescues | website=Marine Regulations News | date=2024-12-18 | url=https://www.marineregulations.news/maritime-security-managing-risks-associated-with-stowaways-and-rescued-people-at-sea/ | access-date=2024-12-19}}{{cite web | title=Maritime Security: Managing Risks Associated with Stowaways and Rescued People at Sea | website=Hellenic Shipping News Worldwide | date=2024-09-20 | url=https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/maritime-security-managing-risks-associated-with-stowaways-and-rescued-people-at-sea/ | access-date=2024-12-19}}{{cite web | title=On the Bookshelf: Managing Risks of Stowaways on Vessels | website=MarineLink | date=2024-12-17 | url=https://www.marinelink.com/news/bookshelf-managing-risks-stowaways-520352 | access-date=2024-12-19}} The International Maritime Organization have also issued revised guidelines for the prevention of access by stowaways.{{cite web | title=IMO guidelines for the unwanted person onboard-Stowaway | website=Marine Insight | date=2021-05-16 | url=https://www.marineinsight.com/maritime-law/imo-guidelines-for-the-unwanted-person-onboard-stowaway/ | access-date=2024-12-19}}

{{Further|List of wheel-well stowaway flights}}

Poor perimeter security at a number of airports around the world can make it easier for people to stow away on planes.{{cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/world/hes-a-lost-soul-mystery-of-man-who-fell-to-earth-from-plane-20121211-2b6lq.html|title='He's a lost soul': mystery of man who fell to earth from plane|date=11 December 2012|work=AP|publisher=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=30 December 2012}} Aviation authorities worry about stowaways because poor security also makes them vulnerable to terrorists and other malicious actors.{{cite news |last1=Funk |first1=Josh |title=Stowaways on planes and inside landing gear raise worries about aviation security |url=https://apnews.com/article/aviation-security-stowaways-wheel-well-jetblue-c4076d366d6209bf918c2cd643e952b3 |access-date=28 January 2025 |work=AP News |date=8 January 2025}}

Stowaways in aircraft wheel wells face numerous health risks, many of which are fatal: being mangled when the undercarriage retracts, tinnitus, deafness, hypothermia, hypoxia, frostbite, acidosis and finally falling when the doors of the compartment reopen.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19562101|title=How often do plane stowaways fall from the sky?|last=Kelly|first=Jon|date=September 13, 2012|work=BBC News|access-date=September 13, 2012}} The landing gear compartment is not equipped with heating, pressure or oxygen, which are vital for survival at a high altitude. According to experts, at {{convert|18,000|ft|m}}, hypoxia causes lightheadedness, weakness, vision impairment and tremors. By {{convert|22,000|ft|m}} the oxygen level of the blood drops and the person will struggle to stay conscious. Above {{convert|33,000|ft|m}} their lungs would need artificial pressure to operate normally. The temperature could drop as low as {{convert|-63|°C|°F}} which causes severe hypothermia. Those stowaways who managed to not be crushed by the retracting undercarriage or killed by the deadly conditions would most likely be unconscious when the compartment door re-opens during the approach and fall several thousand feet to their deaths.

David Learmount, an aviation expert of Flight International, told BBC about a lot of ignorance in this area. He suggested that no one would be willing to risk such a journey having full understanding of this kind of ordeal. Stowaways who survived usually travelled relatively short distances or at a low altitude. Two cases are known of people who survived at an altitude of about {{convert|38,000|ft|m}} – a man on an 8-hour flight, whose body core temperature fell to {{convert|79|F|C}},{{citation|title=Stowaway Found Alive in Jet's Wheel Well|url=https://abcnews.go.com/m/story?id=96267}} and a 16-year-old boy who was unharmed by a 5.5 hour flight, despite losing consciousness.{{citation|title=16-year-old Survives in Wheel Well of Maui Flight|url=http://www.seattlepi.com/news/us/article/16-year-old-survives-in-wheel-well-of-Maui-flight-5416974.php}} Almost all aircraft stowaways are male.

Aside from risk to themselves, aircraft stowaways can also cause significant risk and stress to others when impacted equipment compromises safety, as well as significant cost of equipment repair, damage to aircraft on landing, and runway closures. In 1994, Flight PH844 discovered the body of a deceased male stowaway was jamming the starboard carriageway. After 3.5 hours of maneuvers attempting to dislodge the body, the flight made an emergency landing using only the nosewheel and port undercarriage.{{Cite news |date=September 15, 1994 |title=Dead Stowaway Found After Emergency Landing |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-09-15-mn-38767-story.html |archive-url= |access-date=September 13, 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times}} The air force of another country was required to assist move the damaged plane from the runway.{{Cite web |date=September 13, 2024 |title=Samoa Plane |url=https://digitalpasifik.org/items/631986 |website=digitalpasifik.org}}

In 1965, Brian Robson attempted to mail himself in a crate on a flight from Melbourne, Australia to London. The flight was diverted to Los Angeles, where he was discovered after four days in the crate.{{Cite news |last=Murphy |first=Heather |date=2021-04-14 |title=A Man Who Shipped Himself in a Crate Wants to Find the Men Who Helped |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/14/world/australia/brian-robson-crate-australia.html |access-date=2022-06-12 |issn=0362-4331}} In one reported case, in 2003, a young man mailed himself in a large box and had it shipped on UPS planes from New York City to Texas. He survived because the box travelled in a pressurized hold of an aircraft.{{citation|last=Hannaford|first=Alex|title=The crate escape|date=29 August 2004|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/aug/30/usa.features11|periodical=The Guardian}}

From 1947 until September 2012, there were 96 known stowaway attempts worldwide in wheel wells of 85 separate flights, which resulted in 73 deaths with only 23 survivors.

On November 26, 2024, a passenger without a boarding pass bypassed all security protocols and managed to stow aboard a flight from New York JFK airport to Paris. She hid in the airplane lavatory aboard the plane to avoid getting caught.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/airline-news/2024/11/28/delta-airlines-tsa-stowaway-nyc-paris-flight/76639097007/|title=Stowaway sneaks onto Delta Air Lines flight from NYC to Paris; flies without boarding pass|work=USA Today|date=November 28, 2024|first=Saman|last=Shafiq}}

Stowaways may risk being fined or imprisoned, since it is illegal in most jurisdictions to embark on aircraft, boats or trains as stowaways. Airports, sea ports and train stations are typically marked as "no trespassing" or "private property" zones to anyone but customers and employees. Seaports, train stations, and airports often attempt further security by designating restricted areas with signs saying "Authorized Personnel Only".

Since the September 11 attacks, it has become more difficult to be a stowaway on board transportation arriving to or departing from the United States. Airport security has dramatically increased, and among the new security measures is trained professionals watching over the fences from which stowaways usually gain entrance to an airport's runway.

• Francis of Assisi, patron saint of, among other things, stowaways
• Deadly Voyage
• Freedom of Movement
• Human mail
• Illegal emigration
• Marilyn Hartman
• Perce Blackborow
• Train surfing (Freighthopping)
• Air Canada masked stowaway case

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/1990s/media/AM96-25.pdf Survival at high altitudes: wheel-well passengers]
• [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=pubmed&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=AbstractPlus&list_uids=8853837&query_hl=3&itool=pubmed_docsum Aviat Space Environ Med. 1996 Aug;67(8):784-6]
• [http://www.flightsafety.org/hf/hf_may-jun97.pdf The 1996 study was updated and published by The Flight Safety Foundation in 1997]

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Category:Crimes

Category:Transport terminology