reporter Jeremy Deacon saw at first hand the appalling living conditions on board the smuggling ship.

*** Pity the poor souls who lived on board the Xing Da . Filth, rust, a powerful stench.

Toilets overflowing, excrement smeared over walls, a layer of sludge in the `living' quarters in the hold.

Pitiful piles of possessions, blankets, chop sticks, metal bowls, strewn over the deck.

Windows are missing from portholes and everything is rusting -- steps are eaten away by the rust and any signs of the ship's original colour have long since disappeared.

It was all a reminder of the squalid conditions 83 Chinese migrants were forced to endure for four months at sea before being captured by the US Coast Guard.

They were on their way to America in the forlorn hope of forging a new life away from the People's Republic of China.

It seems bizarre that they paid thousands of dollars -- to endure such conditions for so long and probably to end up working in sweat shops to earn money to pay off their Chinese smugglers.

Yesterday the Xing Da berthed at Marginal Wharf where a team of volunteers, mostly from the Diving Association, and officials from Marine and Ports have the unenviable task of cleaning the ship.

It will be a disgusting task -- one that will need a strong stomach and in this case the face masks and full body suits worn by many people doing the cleaning.

"With a concerted effort it should not take long, but legally we have to wait 90 days before we can sink her,'' said Mike Dolding, assistant director of Marine and Ports.

"Between 20,000 and 30,000 gallons of fuel oil has to be cleaned out, everything will have to be taken off the boat and she will have to be cleaned.'' Areas of the ship have been apparently trashed by the US Marines put on board when it was captured earlier this month. Other areas are awash with human waste.

Into the ship's crew's quarters and the scene is one of wreckage -- draws have been emptied, pillows ripped open, furniture smashed. Piles of rubbish litter the gangways and the small rooms.

The radio has been ripped out, navigation gear in the bridge disabled, charts (one for Sri Lanka) lay scattered on the floor alongside books and the crew's girlie pictures. A straw hat has been trampled.

Lifejackets, clothing, bed clothes all pile up against the walls. Plastic handcuffs can also be seen attached to railings. A sign in Chinese and English lies on the floor saying `Abiding Rules Ensures Safety''.

Apparently the US Marines put on board the ship left no stone unturned in a search for whatever they were seeking.

Over everything the flies crowd, scores disturbed at a time. The stench is overpowering coming from a bathroom where the walls are covered in excrement.

Outside, even in the fresh air there is little respite as another toilet on the deck level is awash with excrement. The flies buzz.

Piles of possessions, including chop sticks, flower-pattered tin plates, blankets and clothes litter the deck.

The worst, though, was still to come. Number 2 hold, where the 83 passengers spent four months.

Peering in from the deck, a sort of sludge was visible at one end of the hold.

It looked like a mix of sand and mud, scattered with litter.

No-one seemed to exactly know what it was, but it looked like the human waste from the passengers who lived in the same hold, who made it their home and who put up bottles on the walls full of cooking oils.

Yesterday it was gassed to get rid of the bugs.

When it is finally cleaned the ship will be sunk somewhere off Bermuda to create a new diving attraction.

Tourism Minister David Dodwell said it would not only be a new attraction it would be one with a story.

It will have a story, one of the miseries human beings will endure in pursuit of a hoped-for better life.