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Pirates: Part Two

Discussion in 'General Yachting Discussion' started by rocdiver, Apr 10, 2009.

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  1. rocdiver

    rocdiver Senior Member

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    It looks like this one is heating up BIG TIME. The Pirates are sailing other of their captured ships and their hostages to the scene with the intent of using them as leverage to rescue their comrades.

    The U.S. also has other warships steaming there as well. This could get UGLY . . .

    This just in from MSNBC:

    "The pirates have summoned assistance — skiffs and mother ships are heading towards the area from the coast," said a Nairobi-based diplomat, who spoke on condition on anonymity because he is not authorized to talk to the media. "We knew they were gathering yesterday."

    A Somali in contact with a pirate leader said the captors want a ransom and are ready to kill Phillips — who was taken hostage in their failed effort to hijack the cargo ship Maersk Alabama on Wednesday — if attacked.

    Samaw said two ships left Eyl on Wednesday. A third sailed from Haradhere, another pirate base in Somalia, and the fourth one was a Taiwanese fishing vessel seized Monday that was already only 30 miles from the lifeboat.

    He said the ships include the German cargo ship Hansa Stavanger, seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 from Tuvalu.

    Another man identified as a pirate by three residents of Haradhere also said the captured German ship had been sent.

    "They had asked us for reinforcement, and we have already sent a good number of well-equipped colleagues, who were holding a German cargo ship," said the pirate, who asked that only his first name, Badow, be used to protect him from reprisals.

    "We are not intending to harm the captain, so that we hope our colleagues would not be harmed as long as they hold him," Badow said.

    "All we need, first, is a safe route to escape with the captain, and then (negotiate) ransom later," he added.
  2. Opcn

    Opcn Senior Member

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    Kind of tangential, but assuming we want a thread about piracy in general...

    I was listening to NPR and apparently the French stormed a yacht that was held by pirates, rescuing 4 of the 5 hostages, including a small boy. The 5th was the boys father who died along with 2 of the pirates. The pirates did not even ask for ransom, they simply steared the yacht towards the Somali coast.

    Back on topic, do we not have diverse who can sneak up and breech the craft? with only four they probably have just one awake at some point in the night. I vote for sinking every vessel in the fleet that comes to get them.
  3. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Pretty tricky I would think. It's an enclosed lifeboat with the armed pirates in very, very close proximity to the hostage at all times.

    It's my understanding he did try to make a break for it by jumping over board but the pirates apparently shot at or near him and forced him to swim back to them.

    Between first giving himself over as a hostage and then trying to escape by swimming away in what would have to be shark filled waters, I would guess, he's a very, very brave man.
  4. rocdiver

    rocdiver Senior Member

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    That was my thought too, but they are bringing all of the hostage crew with the hijacked ships as sort of human shields (also, probably the pirates don't know how to even start the dang things up, much less navigate them).
  5. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    NO NEGOTIATING WITH TERRORISTS EVEN IF THEY CALL THEMSELVES PIRATES! Surround them. Ram them. Sink them. Starve them. Hold them hostage. Once they give up KILL EVERY ONE OF THEM! This is the perfect opportunity put a stop to this.
  6. rocdiver

    rocdiver Senior Member

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    Totally agree . . .
  7. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    Yeah, that is going to be a mess unless they can keep those boats away without causing harm to or harm coming to the foreign national hostages on board those pirate held ships.
  8. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    If they bring the hostages into the theatre there may well be casualties, but it also brings them into a place where a resue attempt can be attempted without invading a nation. It also affords the opportunity to bring this piracy to an end. Say a prayer and bring 'em hell.
  9. BMS

    BMS Senior Member

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    Being former Coast Guard I understand that it is very risky and you are extremely vulnerable going over the side of a ship especially when the people are armed and have hostages. Once they have hostages they have a real advantage over us no matter how much firepower they may have. But what about this life boat? Does anyone know what the provisions are onboard. I have been on numerous ships with these but have know clue about food and water. If they could wait them out that way I don't think they would harm their only leverage. Just a thought.

    By the way sorry I posted my website on here I see now its against the rules.

    S.B.
  10. PropBet

    PropBet Senior Member

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    What *really* really, frosts my balls about this issue is that this has been an problem for some time. It has increasingly going from bad to worse.
    However, in the escalation of it, we rarely heard about it in the general media. If and when we did, it was 2nd or 3rd string news via the TV, or in print. Obviously, those in the marine industry and such hear of it first hand, because it's near and dear to us.

    Now that there is an American Captain at stake, it's blasted across every news charter's headline as the front line / first string story. All of a sudden, because we have an American who is a hostage, it becomes a frenzy with the attention it so deserves.

    Where the hell were all you media junkies (CNN, BBCA, MSN, MSNBC, ABC, etc.) when it was a Philippine, S. African, Chinese, or English Captain?

    Because it's an American, it's news?
    This really ticks me off to no end.

    I can only hope that the Captain, (in this case, and in every other that will come in the future) is safe, well, released, and the pirates are shot dead and left for the sharks.
  11. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    I heard before that they have supplied the life raft with food and water. I think that's called a carrot. The sticks are arriving by the hour.
  12. Yacht News

    Yacht News YF News Editor

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    Hey Cappie, you are pretty vociferous. Keep this sort of chatter down or else you will get the thread 'hijacked'(no pun intended) by the admin.
  13. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    The U.S. is big, does things in a big way and it makes big news. For the past 8 years that hasn't been such a great thing. I think most Americans would much prefer to use that celebrity to help. In the mean time hats off to the French. I just heard they rescued (by force) another private yacht that was taken. Being a pirate is getting to be not such a great career choice.
  14. NYCAP123

    NYCAP123 Senior Member

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    This stuff really gets my goat, but I'll mellow for ya.:D
  15. VikHatBer

    VikHatBer New Member

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    Imagine if the captain wasn't being held hostage...

    THERE WOULD BE A SHOOTING GALLERY/TURKEY SHOOT FOR THE US NAVY!!!

    Just think - the entire pirate flotilla of Somalia versus 3 destroyers, a cruiser, and an aircraft carrier.

    Kill ratio (10,000:0)

    Boat ratio (hundreds of downed skiffs versus a rope tangled around the prop of the Abraham Lincoln)
  16. Dan Evans

    Dan Evans Senior Member

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    Hopefully now that the U.S. is alerted to whats going on over there we can do everything we can to protect not just the American captain, but the everyother person in trouble over there now and in the future. The French have got it right, we all know that the pirates can not hold their own against a few commandos. Hopefully the SEALS get their chance because like PropBet said this has been going on way too long, I would love to see this ended quickly, safely for the hostages and permanantly for the pirates.

    Dan
  17. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I agree this has been going on for too long, but the ships owners with the ships the pirates have taken have a lot at stake. The ship, the cargo, and the crew, therefore they pay the bribe which makes the pirates more powerful and more aggressive. It's a tough situation

    In this situation we should hold fast and not give in to their demands. We should also take a zero tolerance policy with this and capture and sink any boat the pirates have, if we can without harming the crew. Also, I don't understand with our technology how we can't decipher the hostage boats from fishing boats with satellite imaging and such. We should be able to detect or see weapons in their open skiffs, long before they arrive at a ship and take them out of the water. The one thing I can't understand is how the crew allows them to board. Do you know how high most of these freightors decks are above the water and that without a rope ladder, they'd be impossible to board from a fishing skiff. I know the hostages have RPG's, but I don't think an RPG would sink most freightors. It might cause a good amount of damage, but not actually sink it. We should employ soldiers on a large amount of ships with good weapons and basically sink the pirates when they attempt to attack.
  18. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    The French managed to get one hostage killed. Or killed one. (The facts have not all come out yet.)

    The American forces in this case can't afford that kind of "success" ratio.
  19. Capt Bill11

    Capt Bill11 Senior Member

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    As to the use of spy satellites, I'm not sure if any are in geosynchronous orbits. If they aren't you can't be "seeing" one area all the time I would think. Not to mention cloud cover and such. That's why the have all those drone observation planes. Plus I'm not sure if they send back real time video or just high res. stills.

    Anybody know for a fact what they can do and in what time frame?

    As to how they get aboard, from what I've read they board with ladders and grappling hooks on climbing ropes.

    As to arming all ships, bare in mind, petroleum tankers and gun fire don't mix very well from what I've been told. Plus the cost involved to the shipping companies. Not to mention international shipping laws that prevent merchant ships from being turned into armed warships. There is also the UN Law of the Sea Convention to deal with.

    Real life is rarely like a TV show or movie.
  20. AMG

    AMG YF Moderator

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    I just saw a TV documentary with a French team visiting the Somali hometowns and ports of the pirates. What the authorities are saying is that never pay them, or they will continue. The pirates say that our fishing fleets have taken out their fish so they are using their boats for piracy now. Just imagine what two million dollars can buy you compared to next to nothing.

    When a French navy ship was inspecting a typical piracy setup of a mothership and a few smaller boats, they found no weapons, but also said that sometimes they have weapons for self defence, so it is only if they will find heavy weapons that they can do something about it.

    What is clear is that the local police have very little to put up against the pirates, they would need a fleet of fast boats to chase them they say and the pirates are very well organized, perhaps with just one leader...

    Remember that this country is out of a powerful government since many years.
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