Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson is to launch a probe after receiving reports that a ship which was leaking oily water docked in Bermuda.

A tanker captain was charged by US authorities this week with failing to report a leak in his ship after a member of his crew slipped a note to Coast Guardsmen who came aboard for a routine inspection, the Associated Press reported.

The 6,379 tonne Freja Jutlandic berthed in Dockyard on March 17 but Harbour Radio said they had no record of pollution problems during its day-long stay.

A Harbour Radio spokesman said: "We are the authority on pollution incidents but it's news to us and obviously Marine Police check ships.

"At no time did the ship indicate there was a problem with leaking.'' Environment Minister Arthur Hodgson said: "I will certainly look into this.

Leaks carry quite heavy fines. We take a dim view of pollution of our waters.'' Last year Atlantic Forest captain Bengt Magnusson was fined $40,000 after hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil spilled from the vessel into waters at Five Fathom Hole, near St. David's Head. The fine was reduced to $15,000 on appeal.

The US charges against Freja Jutlandic Captain Davor Maric, a Croatian, stem from an incident on March 22 when he attempted to unload part of the Norwegian tanker's cargo of liquid ammonium nitrate in Baltimore before proceeding to Tampa, Florida, US prosecutors said.

Hodgson announces inquiry over leaking ship Ammonium nitrate is used in fertiliser and other products.

When a Coast Guard team boarded the ship that day, a crew member slipped an inspector a handwritten note that read: "THIS IS CONFIDENTIAL. "DON'T SHOW TO THE C/E SIR.'' C/E stands for chief engineer.

The note said the tanker had a crack in its hull. Another crew member then told an inspector the ship was taking on water and was in danger of sinking.

Inspectors found a large, hastily patched 12 by 18 inch hole in the engine room of the Freja Jutlandic .

They later uncovered records indicating the ship's operator had asked the captain to keep quiet about the damage, first discovered March 12 en route from Europe to Bermuda.

The ship initially leaked about 105 gallons of oily water per hour. The crew later estimated the ship leaked about five times that amount.

The charges in the US against Capt. Maric stem from the safety hazard of not reporting the structural damage to the ship, not from environmental concerns.

In court papers, American Coast Guard inspectors said they "observed a cascade of water flowing into the bilge from a square cement patch on the side of the ship''.

The ship was later placed in dry dock, repaired and allowed to leave for Tampa, returning to Baltimore with a cargo of molasses on April 23. The ship was searched again on April 25. That search uncovered the documents that led to Capt. Maric's arrest on Monday.

Capt. Maric faces charges of violating federal laws that require reporting hazardous conditions to the Coast Guard and with creating false entries in the ship's record to conceal the dumping of untreated oily waste.

Both violations carry possible five year prison sentences.

Capt. Maric was arrested and released on $30,000 bail Tuesday. His passport was confiscated and his movements were restricted to metropolitan Baltimore and the Croatian Embassy in Washington.