MV ''Joanna V'' (previously ''Arietta Venezelos'') was a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

oil tanker An oil tanker, also known as a petroleum tanker, is a ship designed for the bulk transport of oil or its products. There are two basic types of oil tankers: crude tankers and product tankers. Crude tankers move large quantities of unrefined crud ...

which in 1966 the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

threatened to intercept on the

High Seas The terms international waters or transboundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water (or their drainage basins) transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regiona ...

when it was heading towards Beira, from which an oil pipeline would enable the oil to be sent to

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. This would have been in breach of the

United Nations Security Council Resolution 217 United Nations Security Council Resolution 217, adopted unanimously on November 20, 1965, determined that the situation resulting from the Unilateral Declaration of Independence was extremely grave and that the Government of the United Kingdom sho ...

(1965). In February 1966 the MV ''Joanna V'' - still bearing the name MV ''Arietta Venezelos'' was located in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

when the Greek government instructed the owners,

Venezelos SA Venezelos SA was a shipping company established in Athens in the 1960s. The company was managed by Nikitas Venizelos who became a prominent Greek politician. By 1965 the company had a mixed fleet of 11 cargo ships and oil tankers. Rhodesian sanct ...

to divert the ship to

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

rather than

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

and forbade the delivery of oil to Rhodesia. The ''Joanna V'' was carrying 18,700 tons of oil when she was first detected by the Royal Navy's

Beira Patrol The Beira Patrol was a blockade of oil shipments to Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) through Beira, Mozambique, resulting from United Nations trade sanctions on Rhodesia. Background Rhodesia's government unilaterally declared the former colony's ind ...

. The Captain,

Yiorgos Vardinogiannis Yiorgos Vardinogiannis ( el, Γιώργος Βαρδινογιάννης) is a Greek businessman and a shipping magnate, former owner and president of the Panathinaikos football club. He was born in Episkopi, Rethymno in 1936. He is the brothe ...

, was warned not to proceed to Beira. However when the British government requested consent from the Greek government to use force, this permission was refused, although the Greek government did say they would endeavour to persuade Vardinoyannis not to do so. The British ship HMS ''Plymouth'' intercepted her, but as Vardinoyannis claimed she was simply putting into Beira for bunkering and provisions before taking the oil to

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

, the ''Joanna V'' was able to proceed to Beira unhindered. However, as there were no facilities to process the oil at Djibouti, his explanation was regarded as lacking credibility. The British Ambassador to Greece,

Ralph Murray Sir Francis Ralph Hay Murray (3 March 1908 – 11 September 1983) was a British journalist, radio broadcaster and diplomat. He was also once the head of the Information Research Department (IRD), a secret branch of the UK Foreign Office dedica ...

raised the matter with Theoharis Rendis, the Greek undersecretary for Foreign Relations, who responded that the Greek government would accept the British interception of one of their ships if it had the backing of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. This led to the adoption of

United Nations Security Council Resolution 221 United Nations Security Council Resolution 221, adopted on April 9, 1966, after recalling previous resolutions on the topic (including the provision for an oil embargo), the Council was gravely concerned that Southern Rhodesia might receive a larg ...

on 9 April, which empowered "the United Kingdom to arrest and detain the tanker known as the ''Joanna V'' upon her departure from Beira in the event of her oil cargo being discharged there."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Joanna V, MV Oil tankers 1960s ships