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.

The stowaways survived a four-day voyage across the Gulf of Mexico.

The crew contacted Bee Rescue of Florida, which dispatched a local beekeeper to come to the rescue.

“After the queen was safely transported into a portable hive, the swarm of 30,000 quickly followed and now call Tampa Bay home,” Savage Services said on a LinkedIn post.

This month, the apiarist delivered a sweet note of appreciation from the insects to the crew of the Sulphur Enterprise, who could easily have called in the exterminators.

Savage Services said: “We have our first-ever batch of Savage Anchor Chain Honey. Finding a better way has never been sweeter!”

As TradeWinds recently reported, some ships have started onboard vegetable farming as a way to enjoy the freshest of produce.

Clearly the crew of the Sulphur Enterprise were not keen on doing any shipboard beekeeping themselves. But at least they got the honey.

The crew of the Sulphur Enterprise were presented with a bottle of special honey produced by their former stowaways. Photo: Savage Services