Modern Day Piracy

[Coastie04]

I've been collecting the summaries of the more exciting pirate reports from ICC Website for the past couple of months. They update their website each week (sometime between Mon and Tues) with the reported pirate attacks from the week before. Anyone who believes that piracy is not a major threat in today's world should take a look at these summaries. It seems as if piracy really hasn't changed much in the past couple hundred years. People come on board with "long knives" or various firearms and steal stuff. Sometimes it's underway, and sometimes it's at anchor. Both were common throughout history. Note, these are not all of the summaries (there's usually between 2 and 10 in a week), just the ones that I thought were a bit more exciting than the rest. Enjoy.

27.09.2004 at 0130 LT at Conchan, Peru.

Five armed robbers boarded a bulk carrier at berth and took hostage security guard on patrol and severely beat him. Shore security patrol responded with an exchange of gunfire. Robbers stole ship's stores and escaped in a high speedboat. No injuries to crew.

26.09.2004 at 1255 UTC in position: 12:37.5N - 043:19.2E, off Perim island, Southern Red Sea.

Two speedboats with nine men armed with guns in each boat approached a container ship. Men inside tried to board using hooks attached to ropes. Crew mustered and activated fire hoses and ship zigzagged course and boarding was averted.

23.09.2004 at 2350 LT at Tanjung Pemancingan anchorage, Indonesia.

About 30 - 40 robbers armed with long knives and swords boarded a bulk carrier and threatened crew members. Alarm was raised and crew mustered. Robbers escaped at 0115 LT on 24.09.2004 with ship's stores.

02.10.2004 at 1820 LT in position 04:46N - 098:41E, Malacca Straits.

Eight armed pirates in a fast fishing boat fired at a tug towing a barge causing damage to tug's wheel house window and destroying all radio and navigation equipment. Four pirates armed with guns boarded the tug and stole crew belongings and tug's documents and left taking master and c/e as hostages.

30.09.2004 at 1900 LT in position 03:27.6N - 099:47.2E, Malacca Straits.

Robbers boarded a tug towing a barge underway. They broke window glass, stole equipment and documents and left taking master and C/E as hostages. Owners reported incident to Indonesian authorities. Whereabouts of master and C/E are unknown.

08.10.2004 at 1002 LT in position: 00:18.67N - 104:29.26E, Selat Riau, Indonesia.

Six armed masked men in a speedboat attempted to board a tug towing a barge. During the manoeuvre speedboat collided against the tug and capsized. Tug continued voyage.

16.10.2004 at 1000 UTC in posn 03:52.4N - 077:05.4W, Buenaventura anchorage, Colombia.

Ten robbers boarded a general cargo ship using long pole with hooks. They broke open forecastle locker and stole ship's stores. Alarm was raised and crew used flares to deter boarders. Robbers jumped into water and escaped. Master reported this was third attack on his vessel in this port in past two months.

23.10.2004 at 1130 LT in position 02:57S - 107:18E, 3 miles west of Mendanau island, Gelasa straits, Indonesia.

Six armed wearing masks and black clothes in a grey coloured speedboat approached a bulk carrier underway. They fired gun shots at superstructure and ordered ship to stop. Master raised alarm, sounded ship's whistle and took evasive manoeuvres. Persons aborted attempt and fled.

28.10.2004 at 1945 LT in position 00:00.02N - 117:36.09E, Bontang anchorage, Indonesia.

Six robbers armed with knives boarded a bulk carrier. Robbers attacked a crewmember with knives causing him injuries. Alert crew mustered and robbers jumped overboard empty handed.

28.10.2004 at 0320 LT in position 06:41.7S - 039:27.3E, outer roads Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.

About fifteen robbers in a long boat approached a container ship awaiting berthing. Three robbers armed with knives boarded at forecastle and stole cargo from two containers on deck. Duty a/b raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers jumped overboard and escaped with ship's stores and stolen cargo. Port control informed.

26.10.2004 at 0905 LT in position 05:30.0N - 097:31.2E, northern entrance of Malacca Straits.

Four grey-green coloured speedboats approached a container ship from port bow whilst another four boats approached from starboard quarter. There were several persons inside the boats dressed in black clothes. Master raised alarm, took evasive manoeuvres and increased speed and crew activated fire hoses. Boats aborted attempt and fled.

05.11.2004 at 0410 LT at Balikpapan anchorage, Indonesia.

Robbers armed with long knives boarded a bulk carrier. They broke into forecastle locker and stole ship's stores. Crew raised alarm and robbers escaped.

03.11.2004 at 1900 LT in position: 05:02N - 099:11E, Malacca straits.

Several look alike fishing boats followed a tug towing an oil rig. One boat came close and pirates inside started shooting causing extensive damage to navigation equipment, bridge windows and superstructure. In response, tug's crew switched on lights, activated fire hoses and fired three rocket flares. Pirates continued to fire with automatic weapons and came within 50 metres. The tug then took evasive manoeuvres and pirates moved away. No physical injuries to crew but they were shaken after the incident.

03.11.2004 at 1815 UTC in position 01:34S - 117:13E, Balikpapan anchorage, Indonesia.

Three robbers armed with long knives boarded a general cargo ship and took duty A/B as hostage. They stole two life rafts and escaped.

28.11.2004 at 0145 LT off buoy no 19, Eskravos River, Nigeria.

Five robbers armed with machine guns boarded a refrigerated ship underway and took hostage watchman and beat him up. They fired at crew, stole cash from ship's safe, ship's property and crew belongings before escaping.

27.11.2004 at 0910 UTC in posn: 05:02N - 098:28E, Malacca straits.

Pirates armed with machine guns in a fishing boat opened fire and boarded a tug towing a barge. They kidnapped captain and C/O and stole ships property and escaped in their boat.

25.11.2004 at 2345 LT at Lagos anchorage, Nigeria.

Fifteen robbers armed with guns and long knives boarded a tanker and took hostage duty A/B. D/O raised alarm, crew mustered and locked accommodation doors. Robbers then went to bridge and ordered D/O to shut all communication equipment. They took hostage master and threatened and manhandled crew. They forced master to open ship's safe and stole ship's cash, crew personal belongings and ship's property. Master and 3/O sustained injuries. All crew were in a state of shock. Robbers fled in two speedboats at 0030 lt. D/O called port control but received no response.

19.11.2004 at 0015 LT at Dumai port, Indonesia.

Two robbers armed with long knives boarded a chemical tanker at berth. When C/O ordered them to disembark, robbers attacked him with knives causing serious injuries. Robbers escaped with cash and personal valuables. C/O received medical attention ashore.

Coastie

[Capt.mino]

Pirate attacks worldwide increased in frequency and violence last year, with a total of 445 incidents reported compared with 370 in 2002, the ICC International Maritime Bureau reported today.

The number of attacks using guns rose to 100 from 68 in 2002 and hostages taken nearly doubled to 359 seafarers. Ships were boarded in 311 instances and a total of 19 ships were hijacked.

Indonesian waters continue to be the most piracy-prone, with 121 reported incidents in 2003, followed by Bangladesh with 58 attacks and Nigeria with 39.

Attacks off Nigeria almost tripled compared with last year to 39, making Nigerian waters the most dangerous in Africa for attacks on shipping.

The report showed some new trends. Hijackings of merchant vessels and their cargoes ceased last year. All hijackings reported were in two main categories - military-style operations by militant groups seeking to hold crew members for ransom to raise funds for their cause and attacks against soft targets such as tugs and barges.

[El Pirata]

Nice info.

[capnwilliam]

As I've said before, shipmates: we play a game of being romanticized pirates of old: but never forget that they were robbers, kidnappers, rapists, and murderers; not heroes. And the ones at loose in the world today are not heroes, either. I wish Coastie and his mates all the luck in the world at exterminating these bilge rats.

Capt. William