The Skyluck was a 3,500-ton Panamanian-registered freighter that carried 3,200[1][2] Chinese and Vietnamese boat people fleeing Vietnam four years after the fall of Saigon.

The ship left Vietnam from the Mekong delta city of Bến Tre, on 24 January 1979, and after a sea voyage entered Hong Kong harbour under the cover of darkness on 8 February 1979.

The following years saw economic hardship, food shortages, and repression of the country's ethnic Chinese who formed an important part of the urban business class.

[4][5][6] Under the New Economic Zones program, between 750,000 and 1,000,000 people were forced to relocate to northern, uninhabited forested areas, expected to clear jungle for agriculture, and their properties in the south confiscated, and redistributed by Communist authorities.

[25] The Hong Kong Marine Police did not detect the ship as it entered the territorial waters, until it anchored in the middle of Victoria Harbour.

[26] When questioned by police, the Taiwanese captain claimed that on his way from Singapore, in the course of legitimate shipping activity, he and the crew had rescued the refugees in the South China Sea sometime between 18 and 21 January.

[27] Refugees were confined to the ship for more than four months in squalid conditions, with the Hong Kong government providing basic necessities such as food, water, and limited access to mail.

While in custody, a group of young men unfurled a banner which read in English "Please Help Us", and tossed a message to the press through the wire fencing, which asked that the refugees be allowed to land.

When this failed, and a storm and favourable wind direction arrived on 29 June, the anchor chain was cut, and the ship drifted aground on Lamma Island.

The captain and six crew members were arrested when the Skyluck ran aground on Lamma Island, and charged with conspiracy to defraud the Hong Kong government by making false representation regarding the circumstances of the passengers aboard the ship.

One of the charged, the radio operator, received immunity when he turned Crown witness, and another committed suicide prior to the trial.