The seven stowaways who were arrested on Sunday risked their lives on a "trip from hell''.

"It's a horrible trip, but they obviously think it's worth it,'' said Donald MacPherson of John S. Darrell and Company.

Police caught the Dominican Republic nationals as they made a break for freedom after a three-day journey from Haiti aboard the car ship Brilliant Ace .

According to a member of the Baltic and International Marine Council, a shipping organisation with 2,700 international members, estimates of attempted stowaways are as high as 6,500 for ships bound for the US, Canada, and the UK.

However, actual numbers are hard to determine because many stowaways escape detection.

Local numbers are far fewer, but a shipping officials agreed the problem was common -- especially on car ships travelling from the Caribbean.

Julian Sykes, whose agency Harnett and Richardson represented Brilliant Ace , said stowaways were usually from poor countries.

"They want to see if they can get a better life,'' he explained.

But he said ship personnel did everything possible to prevent men from illegally boarding vessels.

However, the desperate men often swam into a confined area of a ship's rudder where they could not be detected, he said.

And Mr. Sykes said with all the precautions already in place, there was little which could be done.

Mr. Macpherson echoed his comments and described stowing aboard a vessel as a life threatening act.

"Nine out of ten times they are young kids, 15-years-old, sometimes younger,'' he said.

"If you saw some of the places they stow away, you would not believe it.'' He said stowaways had to climb through a tiny space in the rudder stem, and then endure the "horrendous'' journey in total darkness.

"The stern goes down, the water pressure goes up, the propeller is right below you and the rudder is moving,'' he said.

"It must be like a trip from hell.'' When discovered, the stowaways usually had only "a few empty water bottles, the clothes on their back and no identification''.

Even more surprising is that many of the men who make the trans-Atlantic crossing and end up in Bermuda may have believed they were going to the US.

Once discovered, they have little chance of gaining asylum.

"Bermuda has a policy that they are not allowed to land -- they can put them back on the ship,'' said Mr. MacPherson.

"Then the ship has to find a way of getting them back from where they think they came from.

"The owners have to work with port agents at the next port to find who will allow them to land.'' "It's a real problem in modern day shipping,'' he added.