Pirates Attack Cruise Ship

[hurricane]

Check this out - quite the little battle. New weapons, same old pirates.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/05...ates/index.html

-- Hurricane

[Phillip Black]

Considering the coast of Somalia is a hotbed of piracy, who in their right mind would take a cruise ship there?

[kaizoku]

Considering the coast of Somalia is a hotbed of piracy, who in their right mind would take a cruise ship there?

i was thinking the same thing. so many tales of modern piracy come from there why would they take a ship their that doesn't truly have a purpose.

[Ship's Gunner]

Shipmates,

Evidently a solid response by the cruise ship's Captain and crew. The articles I've read only mention aggressive ship-driving as the actions they took...I wonder if they employed any fire-arms. I tend to think not; I doubt that a luxury cruise liner carries small arms. Any Shipmates out there happen to know for sure?

In any case, considering that the pirates were firing light weapons and an RPG, the crew of the cruise ship seems to have conducted itself quite admirably to have escaped with only one minor injury.

I believe you're absolutely correct, though, that the vessel shouldn't have been there in the first place. I suspect the ship's owners may be facing a few law-suits from their passengers.

With the increasingly severe piracy problem off Somalia interfering with UN humanitarian food shipments, I wouldn't be surprised if the USN gets tasked with maintaining a piracy patrol off the Somalian coast. In fact, I've been wondering for some time now why it hasn't already happened. I suspect that the Bush Administration may be a bit hesitant to get much involved with Somalia. It turned out rather badly for President Bush Sr. and Bill Clinton...

Your Shipmate,

Chad Teasley

Ship's Gunner

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Me own unsolicited thoughts on the subject.

1. If people are starving and being persecuted, they will rebel and take what ever actions they need to survive, including acts of piracy.

2. Who in their right mind takes a cruise ship along the coast of a country in such known political turmoil?

3. If we make the Captain out to be a hero, how can the passengers possible sue a hero?

Just me own two dubloons on the subject.

[Ship's Gunner]

Ma'am,

I think you're absolutely right about the cruise line being nuts for scheduling the vessel's transit through an area known for high pirate activity. I don't think, though, that the Skipper is necessarily culpable in that decision. He probably should have thrown the flag and protested being assigned that transit route. As the Captain, he is ultimately responsible for his vessel's choice of passage..But then again, those folks at company hq are the ones writing his paycheck. As to whether he will get sued, I believe it's very possible. It's the ship's owners, though, who will have to pay the damages.

I don't believe the Captain was a hero...That word is much over-used now-days, IMHO, and he really was just doing his job. However, I believe he must have done it pretty well, if the news reports of the situation are accurate. Speaking as someone who regularly conns a similarly large, and rather slow-maneuvering, vessel, I'd hate to be in a situation of having to fend off a bunch of well-armed dudes in high-speed small craft without any armament myself. His shiphandling must have been pretty darned good...And, professionally speaking, I admire that.(Fortunately, my ship has a substantial battery of 25 millimeter and 50 caliber machine guns, as well as 40 millimeter grenade launchers, so I really have no such worries my own self )

I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of the Somalian pirates as starving and persecuted. There are multitudes of unfortunate people in that wretched country that are indeed in just such a condition, but I don't believe these pirates are among them. From every report I have read (and that's more than a handful), the Somali piracy problem is caused by many of the same warlords who have oppressed that country since the early '90s. I don't know for absolute certain, but I figure that the goons in those speedboats are pretty well fed. In other words, the folks who attacked that cruise ship are almost certainly VICTIMIZERS, not VICTIMS.

Please understand that there is no disrespect at all intended in any opinions I've expressed, and I certainly respect and appreciate your point of view.

Very Respectfully Yours,

Chad Teasley

Ship's Gunner

[Ship's Gunner]

Shipmates,

Follow-up article, from USATODAY.COM. Interesting that the cruise ship was 100 miles out to sea. Pretty aggressive effort by the pirates.

Respectfully,

Chad Teasley

Ship's Gunner

Pirates may have also attacked U.N. ship

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The violent attack on a cruise liner off Somalia's coast shows pirates from the anarchic country on the Horn of Africa are becoming bolder and more ambitious in their efforts to hijack ships for ransom and loot, a maritime official warned Sunday.

Judging by the location of Saturday's attack, the pirates were likely from the same group that hijacked a U.N.-chartered aid ship in June and held its crew and food cargo hostage for 100 days, said Andrew Mwangura, head of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Program.

That gang is one of three well-organized pirate groups on the 1,880-mile coast of Somalia, which has had no effective government since opposition leaders ousted a dictatorship in 1991 and then turned on each other, leaving the nation of 7 million a patchwork of warlord fiefdoms.

Illustrating the chaos, attackers in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, threw grenades and exploded a land mine Sunday near a convoy carrying the prime minister of a transitional government that has been trying to exert control since late last year.

The attack, which killed at least five bodyguards, was the second in six months involving explosions near Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi, whose internally divided government spends much of its time in Kenya.

Even before the attack on the liner Seabourn Spirit, Gedi had urged neighboring countries to send warships to patrol Somalia's stretch of coast, which is Africa's longest and lies along key shipping lanes linking the Mediterranean with the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean.

U.S. and NATO warships patrol the region to protect vessels in deeper waters farther out, but they are not permitted in Somali territorial waters. Despite those patrols, the heavily armed pirates approached the cruise ship about 100 miles at sea, underlining their increasing audacity.

The International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away from Somalia's coast, citing 25 pirate attacks in those waters since March 15 — compared with just two for all of 2004.

Somali pirates are trained fighters with maritime knowledge, identifying targets by listening to the international radio channel used by ships at sea, Mwangura said.

"Sometimes they trick the mariners by pretending that they have a problem and they should come to assist them — they send bogus distress signals," he said. "They are getting more powerful, more vicious and bolder day by day."

Maritime officials worry that the pirates could one day open fire on a chemical tanker, causing damage that would likely disrupt shipping in the region, Mwangura said.

A British maritime union on Sunday called for the world's nations to provide more protection for ships sailing by Somalia.

Andrew Linnington of the National Union of Marine Aviation and Shipping Transport, which represents merchant navy officers, said the union would meet with ship owners this week to discuss the escalating piracy in that region.

"It's got to the stage where it's anarchy on the sea waves and this latest incident shows it's time governments got their acts together," Linnington said in London.

This summer, the Semlow was the first U.N.-chartered ship to be seized while on a humanitarian mission to Somalia and the 10 crewmembers were held for more than three months while the pirates tried to get the United Nations to pay ransom — which it refused to do.

The hijackers agreed to let the ship go after it ran out of fuel amid negotiations by clan elders.

The gunmen who shot at the Seabourn Spirit never got close enough to board the cruise ship, but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, according to the Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.

The liner escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course. Its passengers, mostly Americans with some Australians and Europeans, were gathered in a lounge for safety and none were injured, the company said.

Mark Rogers, one of the passengers aboard the Seabourn Spirit, told AP Radio he was awakened Saturday by the sound of the bullets, then he said two rockets were launched at the boat.

He described the experience as frightening, but said the crew responded very well.

"It was absolutely amazing how little panic there was," he said

The liner was bound for Mombasa, Kenya, at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt. It was expected to reach the Seychelles on Monday, then continue on its previous schedule to Singapore, company officials said.

The 440-foot-long, 10,000-ton cruise ship, which is registered in the Bahamas, sustained minor damage, the cruise company said. The liner, which had its maiden voyage in 1989, can carry 208 guests.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

I must respectfully disagree with your characterization of the Somalian pirates as starving and persecuted. There are multitudes of unfortunate people in that wretched country that are indeed in just such a condition, but I don't believe these pirates are among them. From every report I have read (and that's more than a handful), the Somali piracy problem is caused by many of the same warlords who have oppressed that country since the early '90s. I don't know for absolute certain, but I figure that the goons in those speedboats are pretty well fed. In other words, the folks who attacked that cruise ship are almost certainly VICTIMIZERS, not VICTIMS.

Please understand that there is no disrespect at all intended in any opinions I've expressed, and I certainly respect and appreciate your point of view.

Very Respectfully Yours,

Chad Teasley

Ship's Gunner

Sir,

I disagree with your characterization that these men have a choice to become pirates. It is either to become a pirate and feed your family, or do nothing and be persecuted. Yes, they are well fed by the war lords who employ them for those are the only ones who are providing an alternative to starvation. Does that justify them robbing and stealing rich Americans aboard a cruise ship sailing past their impoverished country? That is for each of us to decide on our own.

Sir,

If you had to walk in these men's shoes, what would you do to feed your family?

Yers in Pyracy and Play,

[Patrick Hand]

Drunk and just thinking.....................

aargh... there is so much sh*t " that I wanna ask...... understnd.. wot is... Pyracy.... why we be come a pyrate(even as a joke... changes the way yer mind thinks...)....... money... we attack someone....... money,,,,,,,,,,, It you ain't "Born wealthy" wot other choices do you have,....................

lets see... you get "born with the silver spoon in yer mouth"

or ye get born wit nothing............

And you ask why Pyracy or Robbery exist?

I don' think I argued that very well...... but have you ever been "mugged"?

I have... just had $15 in my pocket ( both tymes).... justr laughfed at them....... "bad form") dang I can do better than than.....................

will still post (well I've re-read it... but I think it is still valid,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,)

[Ship's Gunner]

Good Shipmates,

Roger that...Copy all.

I personally suspect that the Somali pirates are predatory thugs who would be violent criminals even if their socio-economic backgrounds were different, but that's just my opinion, and I've been wrong before.(I will point out that foks who would sieze a ship filled with humanitarian food shipments and then hold the crew hostage for three months seem to be more interested in gaining wealth and power than merely feeding their families.) In any case, re. the nature of the pirates involved in this situation, I suppose we'll just have to cheerfully agree to disagree concerning their likely motivations.

Anyway, another fairly interesting article below, from CNN.com. Using non-lethal weapons is coming into vogue now-days...I wonder if the sonic device actually dissuaded the assailants to any degree. I kind of doubt it, but it's possible. Interesting also that Australia's Foreign Minister apparently believes the attackers may not have been pirates at all, but actually terrorists. Hmmm...I think that's kind of unlikely given the prevalence of piracy off Somalia's coast, but these guys were apparently shooting to kill, not just to frighten the vessel into giving up. (The story of the fellow with the RPG smiling as he fired it at the elderly gent on the weather decks is a bit chilling.)

Anyway, a fascinating account.

All the best.

Respectfully,

Chad Teasley

Ship's Gunner

Cruise ship 'used sonic weapon'

Tuesday, November 8, 2005; Posted: 1:10 a.m. EST (06:10 GMT)

MAHE, Seychelles (AP) -- The crew of a cruise ship attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia used a sonic weapon to help ward off the attackers, the Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line said Monday.

The device blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam.

The Seabourn Spirit escaped Saturday's attack also by shifting to high speed and changing course, the cruise line said.

The sonic device, known as a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed for the military after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships.

Makers of the device compare its shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder.

The pirates who attacked the Seabourn Spirit grinned as they aimed grenade-launchers and machine guns at the deck and staterooms, some passengers said Monday, recounting the ordeal after safely docking in this Indian Ocean archipelago.

"I tell you, it was a very frightening experience," Charles Supple, of Fiddletown, California, said by phone.

The retired physician and World War II veteran said he started to take a photograph of a pirate craft, and "the man with the bazooka aimed it right at me and I saw a big flash.

"Needless to say, I dropped the camera and dived. The grenade struck two decks above and about four rooms further forward," he said. "I could tell the guy firing the bazooka was smiling."

The Seabourn Spirit had been bound for Kenya when it was attacked by pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns on Saturday about 100 miles (160 km) off Somalia's lawless coast.

The gunmen never got close enough to board the cruise ship, but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel, according to Seabourn Cruise Line, which is a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.

Relieved holiday-makers praised the ship's captain for foiling the attack, but some said they were lucky to escape with their lives.

A woman survived an explosion in her stateroom simply because she was taking a bath at the time. Others flung themselves to the floor to avoid bullets that were zipping through the ship, Charles Forsdick, of Durban, South Africa, told Associated Press Television News.

Bob Meagher of Sydney, Australia, said he climbed out of bed and went to the door of his cabin shortly before 6 a.m. after hearing a commotion outside.

"I saw a white-hulled boat with men in it waving various things and shooting at the ship -- at that stage it appeared to be rifle fire," he told Australian radio.

"My wife said, 'Look, they're loading a bazooka,' which we later discovered was called an RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launcher."

"There was a flash of flame and then a huge boom -- a terrible boom sound," he said, adding the grenade hit about 10 feet from where they were.

The liner had been at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Monday that the attackers might have been terrorists. Others said the attack bore the hallmarks of pirates who have become increasingly active off Somalia, which has no navy and has not had an effective central government since 1991.

[Not so young jim hawkins]

NGA (national geospatial intelligence agency) keep a database of pirate attacks againt US ships. Tho they technically call it "anti shipping acitivty"

http://pollux.nss.nima.mil/asam/asam_j_que...ASAM%20Database

Hmm "the golden age of anti-shipping activity" just doesn't sound right.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Arrrgh!

That will teach those scurvy dogs to attack a ship with Americans. By the way, I wonder the LRAD does to dogs?

[lady renee]

i thought that the golden age of pyracy had ended centuries ago.

[William Blydes]

Piracy is certainly still a problem in several parts of the world. The Straight of Malacca (between Malaysia and Indonesia) is the main area, but there are several others in Southeast Asia. Just do a google on "Modern Piracy" and you will get many hits. A few really good presentation too.

Warships are good for the "Speed and intimidation" factor when it comes to surpressing piracy. But surpressing is pretty much the result. Hard to sneek up on someone in a big gray (or sea-foam green as our ships are) vessel. Even at 30kts.

Time for the "Q-ship" to make a re-appreance. But that is personal opinion.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

Pirate 'mother ship' spotted

Saturday, November 12, 2005; Posted: 6:35 a.m. EST (11:35 GMT)

(CNN) -- Officials are searching for a "mother ship" believed to be used to launch high-speed boats for several recent pirate attacks off Somalia.

Since November 5, when pirates tried unsuccessfully to attack a 440-foot cruise liner operated by Seabourn Cruise Lines, at least five other attacks have taken place, most of them northeast of Somalia, said Andrew Mwangura, program coordinator at the Kenyan Seafarer's Association.

Overall, he said, seven ships and crews have been taken into captivity in that section of the Indian Ocean.

Fishermen in the area spotted a "pirate mother ship" drifting off the Somali coast in July, on November 5 and earlier this week, Mwangura said. Only one mother ship has been spotted, but there may be more in existence. Officials think the smaller boats used in attacks are launched from the mother ship, he said.

A crew of more than 10 people, including a captain and engineer, are believed to be on the ship. The crew is believed to be well-organized, Mwangura said.

"We are trying to call up the coalition forces to track the vessel and to get pictures of the mother ship," he said.

Earlier this week, the director of the International Maritime Bureau, appealed to vessels off the Somali coasts to come to the aid of ships under attack in a statement citing an "alarming rise" in the number of piracy attacks in the area.

"At the very least," said Capt. Pottengal Mukundan, IMB director, "they can prevent the hijackers from taking these ships into Somali waters. Once the vessels have entered these waters, the chances of any law enforcement is negligible."

Twenty-five pirate attacks have been reported in the past six months, the statement said. "In one incident, a ship was lured into danger by pirates firing bogus distress flares."

In the attempted cruise liner attack, pirates were in two boats and armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Deborah Natansohn, president of Seabourn Cruise Lines, told CNN at the time. (Watch passengers recall their encounter with ocean marauders -- 2:34)

The northern and southern coastline of Somalia -- Africa's longest -- links trade routes for key commodities like oil, grains and iron ore from the Gulf and Red Sea region down to the Mozambique Channel. Thousands of merchant ships snake down the Somali coast to the Cape of Good Hope every year.

Some of the world's leading shipping bodies called on the U.N. to urgently address the issue.

The piracy watchdog has warned merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles away from the Somali coast -- an admonition that has gone unheeded.

After two years of relative calm, 32 pirate attacks have been recorded since mid-March, including raids on ships carrying supplies for the U.N. World Food Program.

Somalia has been ruled by rival warlords since dictator Mohammed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991. Many of the warlords are believed to run gangs who smuggle drugs, weapons and people by road, sea and air around the region.

Piracy is a lucrative and growing offshoot of this trade.

On Wednesday, the U.N. Security Council criticized Somalia's squabbling government and urged rival factions to work to confront the chaos and piracy plaguing the lawless nation.

The council expressed "serious concern" about the recent wave of pirate attacks off the coast, and urged regional powers and international bodies to address the problem urgently.

CNN's Erin McLaughlin contributed to this report.

[Coastie04]

but these guys were apparently shooting to kill, not just to frighten the vessel into giving up.

If you didn't think they were trying to kill, would you be as scared? I think that lots of people hear that pirates used to try to scare their foes into submission rather than have a pitch battle and think that it was bloodless warfare. My belief (I'm not backing it up with specific historical references) is that pirates would rather take a vessel without a battle because 1) they would be in less personal danger 2) the goods would be intact 3) ship could be salvaged easier, and 4) you wouldn't have to use powder and shot and could thus save it for when you might really need it later on. It's just practical that you wouldn't want a fight. However, a bit of damage doesn't really hurt the boats. This was a 440-ft cruise ship. RPG fire to the superstructure isn't going to sink it. If they did get aboard, they'd have probably just taken personal belongings, silverware, etc. Or, if there were political reasons, then hostages. Do the pirates really care if there's a few holes in the boat, or if a few people get killed? Not really. But if shooting a few scares others into compliance (if you know they do kill, you're less likely to argue), then why not? The sentence if they're caught is probably the same.

Coastie

[Monterey Jack]

I watched / listened to the initial CNN report describing the assailants as pirates, then had to (thanks to my boss who loves republican radio shows) listen to Rush Limbaugh contradict everything the "liberal" media was reporting, saying these were not pirates (he kept referring to the Spanish Main, showing his limited knowledge of the subject) but Islamic Terrorists bent on destroying Democracy overseas. The guy needs to look up the official definition of Piracy, IMO. Just P****D me off that he had to try and turn this into a pro-republican platform.

Doesn't matter who is crewing the ship; Muslims, Christians, or wayward Rabbi's; attacking another ship is Piracy an' that makes em pirates.

[Black Hearted Pearl]

IDoesn't matter who is crewing the ship; Muslims, Christians, or wayward Rabbi's; attacking another ship is Piracy an' that makes em pirates.

Depends on whether or not the politicals governing the ships are "at war". If there is no declared war, then it is an act of piracy or terrorism....depending on what century yer in.