Stranded Russian Sailors Tire of Life as Castaways : Shipping: An expedition sent to relieve the crew, marooned since April on a disabled ship in Los Angeles Harbor, had to return home.

For the 24 Russian sailors who have been stranded in Los Angeles Harbor for the past three months, the voyage to America has been one unlucky break after another.

Their luck took another turn for the worse recently when a relief expedition sent from Russia reportedly made it only as far as Mexico City before turning around and heading home, leaving the hapless Russian sailors still stranded in the harbor aboard their ship, the Gigant.

“We keep hearing that they (the Russian company that owns the ship) are making moves to get a relief crew here so that at least some of them can be repatriated,” said Peter Whittington of Transmarine Navigation Co. in Long Beach, which is acting as agent for the disabled ship. He added, however, “We’ll be confident of that happening when it actually happens.”

The 225-foot oceangoing salvage tug has been swinging at anchor off Terminal Island since April 22, when it was towed into Los Angeles Harbor by another Russian ship. The 20-year-old, Dutch-built Gigant--the name means “giant” in Russian--had left its home port of Murmansk in December with orders to pick up two old Liberty ships in San Francisco and tow them across the Pacific to China, where they would be scrapped.

The Gigant made it across the Atlantic, through the Panama Canal and up to San Francisco, but two-thirds of the way across the Pacific, with the Liberty ships in tow, one of the Gigant’s engines broke down. Another Russian ship took over the Liberty ships, while the Gigant limped back across the Pacific. The ship and its 22-man, two-woman crew wound up in Los Angeles.

The rusty, orange-colored ship remained largely unnoticed for the next five weeks, waiting for its owners, a Russian company called Sevrybholotflot, to send money to repair the engine, a job estimated to cost $300,000 or more. Meanwhile, the Russian sailors, who hadn’t been paid in months, watched as their food supplies dwindled. Morale was reportedly low.

Over the Memorial Day weekend, however, American pleasure boaters from the nearby Al Larson Marina on Terminal Island made contact with the Russians and invited them ashore for a barbecue. After accounts of their plight appeared in the local news media, the Russian sailors were bombarded with food, gifts and even cash donations. Eventually, they also managed to get their back pay, about $90 a month for the average Russian sailor, from the ship’s owners.

But the ship’s engines remained disabled. And although from the captain on down the Russians sailors seemed both astounded and delighted by American hospitality--”It is fantastic!” one said in an interview last month--all expressed a keen desire to get home after six months at sea.

Help appeared to be on the way a few weeks ago. According to Whittington and others familiar with the situation, Sevrybholotflot dispatched a team of 12 sailors and three engineers to relieve half the Gigant crew and repair both engines. The relief crew planned to fly from Russia to Mexico City on a Russian Aeroflot plane and then catch a commercial flight to Los Angeles.

But after the Russian relief crew members arrived in Mexico City, they learned that they would need visas to enter the United States. When told it could take weeks to obtain visas from the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, the company ordered the relief crew to return home to Russia--to the consternation of the Gigant’s crew.

“The ones who were supposed to go home were pretty upset,” said the Rev. Kelly Crawford of the Seamen’s Church Institute in San Pedro, which has been assisting the Russian sailors.

Julieta Noyes, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City, said the embassy could not release information on specific visa requests. She added, however, that the usual process is for prospective visitors to obtain visas from the U.S. Embassy in their home country--in this case, Russia--rather than in a third country, where the process can take much longer.

How much longer the ship will be stuck here is anybody’s guess.

Joe Beason, a Long Beach attorney who befriended the Russians, said part of the crew may depart for home as early as next week, although the ship will remain in the harbor while repairs are made.

“They (the crew members) are pretty confident they’ll be heading home next week,” Beason said.

“We hope it won’t be too much longer,” Whittington said. As for the Russian sailors’ morale, he said, “They’re happier than they were” a couple months ago. “But they’d all like to get home.”