Oracle Team USA’s AC45 catamaran is expected to arrive on schedule in Bermuda this Spring — despite the multihull yacht’s seizure by US Marshals in San Francisco yesterday.

Marshals were authorised to seize Oracle’s AC45 in response to a lien filed by sailor Joe Spooner, whose contract with the American syndicate was terminated in January.

The warrant was issued late last Friday by clerk Richard Wieking of the US District Court in San Francisco.

Spooner, who was a grinder with Oracle during its America’s Cup victories in 2010 and 2013, is seeking at least $725,000 in unpaid wages and damages for alleged wrongful termination of his contract.

According to American Maritime law, a vessel can be held if a sailor is owed wages.

In admiralty law terms, the boat was arrested. Marshals Service spokesman Frank Conroy said the containers were stickered and locked.

Spooner’s contract was to pay him from July 1, 2014, until seven days after the 35th America’s Cup to be held in Bermuda in June 2017. He also was to have received a bonus of not less than six months’ salary if Oracle Team USA successfully defended the America’s Cup.

The team deny any wrong doing.

US Marshals seized several shipping containers housing different components of an Oracle AC45 at the syndicate’s compound at Pier 80 yesterday morning.

US Marshall Christian Hanson reportedly called Oracle’s lawyer and advised him that no containers with the vessel were to leave Pier 80 otherwise the syndicate would be in contempt of the court’s order.

Chief Magistrate Joseph Spero denied Spooner’s initial request to seize Oracle’s AC45 but said he could file an amended complaint. Spooner’s attorney, Patricia Barlow, filed an amended complaint for an emergency order with a court clerk last Friday.

In a statement to The Associated Press on the weekend, Peter Rusch, spokesman for Oracle Team USA, said he doesn’t “believe anything has materially changed in the case” and the team is “hopeful the judge will overturn the arrest order”.

This would pave the way for the syndicate’s AC45 to begin the journey to its Bermuda base — presently under construction at Dockyard — and arrive on Island by May as originally planned.