Jonathan Eagel, the name under which he was arrested as a stowaway, became Herbert G. Dorsey III when Dorsey, 18, appeared before Federal Judge J. Frank McLaughlin yesterday afternoon.

Before entering a plea of guilty to the stowaway charge, the youth assured Judge McLaughlin his true name is Dorsey.

He was taken into custody by Federal agents when the freighter M.M. Dant docked here yesterday morning from San Francisco. Asked by the judge why he stowed away, Dorsey replied after some hesitation:

"It’s a long story."

"You tell it to the probation officer and I’ll study it before you are sentenced," Judge McLaughlin said.

Sentence was deferred without date.

A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported Dorsey’s version of his misadventures to the court, saying the youth told him he gave a fictitious name because he didn’t want to embarrass his father.

The youth comes from Ojai, California, where he recently graduated from high school.

Dorsey was discovered aboard ship when the freighter was about 50 miles out. He surrendered to the captain.

At first he said he planned to go to Tahiti, but later admitted he knew the ship was Honolulu-bound and that he wanted to stay here, the agent said.

Dorsey told the court he got on the ship by jumping off the dock into the bay and being helped aboard by longshoremen.

The case was presented in court by Charles B. Dwight III, assistant U.S. attorney.