In the end it was an unintentional and ironic touch that saw 83 Chinese migrants leave Bermuda's waters.

Taken from their rotting ship, the Xing Da , they were ferried to land in the Deliverance .

It will be a deliverance that is doubled edged -- saved from their living hell on board the filth-ridden and gang-run ship but facing an uncertain future back in the country they tried to escape.

Yesterday saw the end of Bermuda's part in an operation that has possibly led to American authorities smashing a smuggling ring that deals in humans.

Three Chinese people have been arrested in New York and charged with conspiracy to smuggle.

Theirs is a trade that specialises in human misery -- as those on board the Xing Da would testify.

Eighty-three people -- the youngest aged 14 -- trapped for months in one hold with "enforcers'' on the ship's crew dictating their own law.

As water supplies ran low it was those enforcers who forced passengers to pay if they wanted a drink.

It was those enforcers who refused to allow the passengers above deck, into the sunlight, in case their presence aroused suspicion.

It was those enforcers who herded them into the single hold where people would cook, eat, sleep -- live for months.

As US Consul General Robert Farmer said: "The ship was a rust bucket. There were two holds, one was filled with oil from leaks, the other was where the passengers were kept.

"There was sewage and filth on one side and the passengers lived on the other side.

"They had 100 pounds of rice left and a few bottles of water which the enforcers were selling.'' When the Xing Da was boarded last week by Marines and Coast Guard officers, there was no electricity and passengers were dehydrated.

Yet these people seeking refuge in America will pay between $30,000 and $40,000 to be smuggled into the US.

Usually they would make a down payment in China and they or their families would pay off the rest once they reached America.

In some cases the arrangements involved "debt bondage'' where the immigrants work in sweat shops for appalling wages until they paid off their smuggling fees.

They are constantly under the harsh gaze of the enforcers and crew -- usually members of the gang which arranged the smuggling.

Despite the appalling conditions it was difficult to tell yesterday whether the passengers were relieved to be leaving their ship, which had been at sea since June.

Some waved and smiled but most gave the thumbs-down sign from the top of the Government ferry as they were taken from the Xing Da , anchored off Ferry Reach.

They were taken past Coney Island and through Longbird Bridge, to a stretch of the airport jutting out into Castle Harbour.

For a short time they could see a place which they could only dream about. It was also, probably, their first glimpse of blue waters and lush scenery for four months.

Each in a bright orange lifejacket, they sat above decks on the Deliverance while around them stood armed Marines in full combat gear.

The ferry was surrounded by a small flotilla of Bermuda Police boats and on shore, awaiting their arrival, was the Bermuda Regiment, Police and US Marshals in what was literally a ring of steel.

They were loaded about ten at a time onto the Police boats and taken to the wharf where they felt their first touch of land for four months.

Some of the migrants had pitiful amounts of possessions -- perhaps a small bag -- but most had nothing except the clothes they stood in.

As they stepped ashore they were handcuffed by US Marshals and led to one of two Coast Guard C130 planes.

It was an inglorious end to a glorious, brave but ultimately foolhardy, attempt to seek a new life.

Once inside the planes, the busy scene quickly emptied as the Regiment and Police all dispersed. The two planes were left alone on the runway waiting clearance to take off to Guantanamo Bay, in Cuba.

Having shed its passengers, the Deliverance also steamed away. It had fulfilled its purpose. It had delivered the Chinese to their sad fate.

HUMAN CARGO -- "Passengers'' of the Chinese vessel Xing Da wave to photographers from aboard the ferry Deliverance yesterday on their way from ship to airport.