Six months after a huge mass of bees hitched a ride across the Gulf of Mexico on a molten sulphur tanker, they produced a sweet thank-you gift for its crew.

Last July, the 21,600-dwt, US-flag Sulphur Enterprise (built 1994) departed Galveston in Texas on a voyage to Tampa, Florida.

Upon arrival, the crew of the vessel, owned by US Jones Act player Savage Services, discovered that 30,000 honey bees had stowed away in the ship’s anchor chains.