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History's Hinge - 'Ain Jalut

[Bart]

Piracy of Yore vs. Piracy Today
By Cindy Vallar

     Piracy predates the pyramids of Egypt.  Once merchants began to ship goods to other countries via the sea, others realized the profit to be made by stealing those goods and selling them themselves.  The scourge of seafarers and passengers alike, pirates dominated the seas in different places at different times.  Pirates captured a young Julius Caesar, and after his escape, he returned to crucify them.  During the Ming Dynasty, the imperial government sent 3,100 warships and more than 30,000 men to subdue Chinese pirates.  Once Europeans colonized the Americas, pirates plundered coastal towns and attacked Spanish galleons laden with silver and gold.  The most well-known of the pirates?Blackbeard, Black Bart, and Stede Bonnet?sailed during the Golden Age of Piracy (1690-1730).  The wars of the 18th century gave rise to a legal form of piracy, privateering, but after the War of 1812, governments no longer tolerated sea robbery.  As a result piracy ended, or so history leads us to believe.

     Earlier this year (2000) four pirates boarded a sailboat off the coast of Honduras.  After tying up the mother, they began shooting AK-47 rifles in an attempt to get the father and son to return to the boat.  One bullet hit thirteen-year-old Willem van Tuijl, paralyzing him from the waist down.  This resurgency of pirates isn?t new.  In 1979 pirates killed Lydia Tyngvald after she tried to prevent them boarding her yacht.  In 1982 three pirates boarded the Halloways? boat and held the husband captive with a knife to his throat.  His wife distracted the pirates with a pistol.  He grabbed the gun and shot the one wielding the knife, then killed the other two.

    Keith Hedley wasn?t so lucky.  Four years ago he and three friends were asleep on a yacht anchored off Corfu.  Four pirates came alongside in a speedboat.  He fired at them, but they overpowered him and his friends and then ransacked the yacht.  Greek police, alerted by the shots, came to investigate.  In the ensuing gun battle, Hedley was killed and the pirates escaped.

     Merchant seamen also find themselves at the mercy of pirates.  In November 1998, pirates hijacked the Cheung Son near Hong Kong.  After binding and gagging the 23 crew members, the pirates shot them and weighted down their bodies before dumping them overboard.  The ship and its cargo of iron ore disappeared.  Then last December Chinese police arrested 38 pirates after discovering photographs of the pirates celebrating aboard the Cheung Son.  In January, a court found six of the pirates not guilty, and sentenced 13 to death, one to life in prison, and the remainder received sentences of one to twelve years.  Four days later, the 13 were executed.

     Execution is the time-honored means of dealing with pirates.  After Captain William Kidd was hanged, his body was tarred and placed in an iron cage and put on display as a warning to others.  Edward Teach?s severed head was hung from the bowsprit while his body was thrown overboard.  Punishment, however, was and is a rarity for pirates.  More often than not they escape with their plunder.

     Pirates of yore and modern pirates share other similarities.  Piracy thrives when three requirements are met.

     A place to prowl where the rewards are great.  During the 14th and 15th centuries, galleons laden with gold and silver proved no match for the swifter pirate barks.  Today, small high-speed boats easily overtake ocean-going vessels.  The plunder is equally lucrative, but easier to convert into ready cash.
An area where the risk of detection is slight.  In the past, favorite hunting grounds included the Caribbean and Mediterranean.  Today, the most notorious areas where piracy thrives are the South China Sea and off the coasts of Africa.

A safe haven.

    Port Royal and Madagascar welcomed pirates in the past.  Today, Indonesia?s many islands provide an ideal hiding place. Yet, modern pirates differ from those of old.  Cutlasses and muskets are no longer the weapons of choice.  Today they wield automatic rifles and modern communications equipment.  Wooden sailing ships carried large crews and cannon to fight off pirates.  Neither is true today. 

     Today?s ships require far fewer seamen to sail them because of computer technology.  While 200 crewed a galleon, a tanker or freighter may only have a crew of 25.  Few are trained in the use of firearms, and it is rare to find guns aboard ships today.  Pirates of yore attacked any ship that crossed their path.  Today?s pirates plan their attacks and select their prey before they leave shore.
The truth is that modern piracy?is a violent, bloody, ruthless practice?made the more fearsome by the knowledge on the part of the victims that they are on their own and absolutely defenceless and that no help is waiting just round the corner.  Captain Jayant Abhyankar, Deputy Director of the International Maritime Bureau, wrote those words in his report to a recent piracy seminar held in Singapore.  It is the unquestionable link between pirates of yore and pirates today.  The difference is that one of their victims might be someone you know.

     Efforts to stem piracy began during ancient times in Crete, Athens, and the island of Rhodes.  The Rhodians were the first to include piracy in their maritime laws.  During the Middle Ages, pirates were one of several thorns in trade between countries.  To address this and other issues northern cities in Germany and German merchants in the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, England, and the Baltic banded together to form the Hanseatic League.  Eventually, some countries established admiralty courts to enforce maritime laws.  To Sir Charles Hedges, a judge of the British Admiralty Court during the late 1600s, pirates were robbers who seized a ship and/or its cargo through violent means upon the sea.  In spite of these legal attempts to deal with piracy, though, an internationally accepted definition of piracy didn?t exist prior to 1958.

     Article 15 of the 1958 Geneva Convention of the High Seas and Article 101 of the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea define piracy as a violent seizure on the high seas of a private ship or the illegal detainment of persons or property aboard said ship for the purpose of private gain.  Seems simple, but in reality there are problems with this definition.  First, it limits piracy to crimes committed against private property or citizens.  Second, the act must occur in international waters.  Third, greed must be the motivating factor behind the crime.

     What the law fails to address are acts of piracy committed: by governments, within territorial waters, for political purposes.  For example, in 1997 the Libra Buenos Aires was at anchor in Rio de Janeiro?s harbor.  Around midnight, ten armed pirates boarded the cargo ship and threatened to kill the crew.  They beat the ship?s master until he opened the safe, then they searched the cabins for valuables and stole some cargo.  Although authorities were notified and help was requested, none arrived.  That same year the Petrobulk Racer anchored off Jakarta.  A small boat approached the tanker?s bow.  While the crew kept watch on it, a lone pirate boarded the vessel elsewhere and held a knife against an officer?s neck while his fellow pirates came aboard.  When another crewmember sounded an alarm, the pirates jumped ship.  It was the third time that year that pirates had targeted the tanker while in Jakarta.

     Another example occurs when armed men and/or women seize a ship for purposes other than financial gain.  They do so to further some political agenda as in the case of the Achille Lauro in October 1985 when Palestinian guerrillas hijacked the Italian cruise ship while in Egyptian territorial waters.  They demanded the release of 50 countrymen held by the Israelis before they would release the hostages.  This made them terrorists rather than pirates, and they were eventually convicted of offenses related to the hijacking and murder of an American passenger rather than acts of piracy.

     Nor can a government commit an act of piracy.  The deed may be done for financial purposes, but governments are not private citizens.  One nation that seems to condone such acts is China.  In 1994, uniformed men in boats bearing governmental markings seized the Alicia Star in international waters, alleging she was involved in smuggling.  When the ship reached port, they confiscated the cargo and held the crew captive until the owners paid a steep fine. 

     Two years later, patrol boats carrying members of the Somali military armed with automatic rifles stopped a tugboat also in international waters.  They took the master and first officer as hostages, and stole $10,000 and some supplies.  In 1999 members of the Somali Salvation Democratic Front used a speedboat to take four hostages from a yacht.  They held the German tourists in a village until a $50,000 ransom was paid.  Militiamen also seized an Italian fishing boat, demanding payment of a $500,000 fine before they released the ship and its crew of 33.

       Before 1958, a nation?s borders extended three nautical miles beyond its shoreline.  Since then, that limit was extended a further nine miles.  That means that if a crime occurs within that twelve-mile limitation, then legally it is NOT an act of piracy.  Some countries, like the United States, have national laws against piracy or the crime may fall under a different classification such as murder, kidnapping, or robbery.

     Since most acts of piracy today occur within territorial waters rather than the high seas, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) would like to see the legal definition of piracy broadened.  The boarding of any ship, whether to steal or commit some other crime, and the actual or implied use of force by the perpetrators would constitute an act of piracy.  The International Maritime Organization (IMO) also seeks to solve the jurisdictional problem by focusing on the danger to navigational safety rather than the location of the crime.  The 1988 Rome Convention on the Suppression of Unlawful Acts against the Safety of Maritime Navigation prevents pirates from seeking sanctuary in countries whose judicial system is ill equipped to prosecute them and forces nations to institute laws against piracy.  So far only 43 countries have ratified it.

http://www.cindyvallar.com/modern1.html

[Bart]

The Cost of Piracy Modern Piracy, Part 3
By Cindy Vallar

     From an economic perspective, piracy barely makes a dent in the $2 trillion industry of maritime commerce.  Any figures attributed to such losses are estimates because no one keeps statistics on those costs and only 40-60% of the attacks are reported each year. Statistical data provides an overall view of the problem but it is by no means a true indicator of the actual criminal activity that takes place. (Captain David N. Kellerman, founder of MaritimeSecurity.com, Worldwide Maritime Piracy, June 1999)  Jack A. Gottschalk and Brian P. Flanagan, authors of Jolly Roger with an Uzi, calculate that those losses amounted to $.32 for every $10,000 of goods shipped in 1997.  Therefore, there is little financial incentive for companies to deal with the problem.

     Not only is the economic cost inconsequential to companies, so is it to some governments.  One hot spot with a large concentration of pirates is Southeast Asia.  To combat the problem, Thailand set up an anti-piracy unit eleven years ago.  Although they spent over $13 million dollars, they haven?t caught a single pirate.  They may have deterred pirates from attacking ships, but the expense involved may not seem economically feasible to governments when compared to the cost of absorbing the losses.

     If the problem of piracy continues to grow?and there are indications that it will?higher insurance premiums may cause companies to take action.  Shippers may also discover that they can?t find coverage if they continue to visit ports where pirates abound.  This may have dire consequences for poorer countries because goods will travel farther to reach their destinations and prices for those goods will increase accordingly.  Two factors that are more likely to force industries and countries to suppress piracy are the environmental cost and the human cost.

     When pirates attacked the Baltimar Zephyr in 1992, they killed the ship?s master and first officer and threw three seamen overboard.  The pirates absconded with several hundred dollars, leaving the moving ship?s bridge unattended for ninety minutes until the crew freed themselves.  What if pirates attacked an oil tanker at night and incapacitated the crew while the ship traveled the Phillip Channel between Indonesia and Singapore, one of the busiest and narrowest of the world?s waterways?  If the tanker went aground or collided with another ship, the resultant oil spill would be disastrous.  Apart from the pollution concerns, there is every possibility that the seaway would have to be closed to shipping and the fishing in the area would be ruined for many years. (Captain Jayant Abhyankar, Deputy Director of ICC International Maritime Bureau, An Overview of Piracy Problems, 1999)

     During a five-year period from 1980-1985, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees estimated that pirates raped 2,283 women and kidnapped 592 people amongst the Vietnamese boat people.  In 1992 ten badly burned corpses were discovered in the refrigerator aboard the Hai Sun.  Although that mystery was never solved, another was.  The Hai Sun was actually the Erria Inge, which had disappeared several months before.  Earlier that year, the seven-month-old daughter of the master of the Valiant Carrier was injured when pirates attacked the tanker near Indonesia.  Jangay Ajinohon suffered a head wound when two pirates attacked the Normina in 1996.  He survived by jumping overboard, but the other nine members of the unarmed crew were killed.  In 1997 the fourth engineer aboard the Yi He bled to death after being shot by four armed pirates.  When pirates boarded the Fione last year, the captain was injured by a hammer and one of the crew suffered a skull fracture.  At the end of February 2000, the Hualien No. 1 disappeared.  The fate of 21 crewmembers is unknown.

     These incidents demonstrate the human cost of piracy.  When the International Maritime Organization released its first and second quarterly reports for 2000, ships attacked by pirates numbered 182.  Almost half of the reported incidents that occurred in the South China Sea involved violence or implied violence against the crews.  According to figures provided in the Worldwide Maritime Piracy, June 1999 report, 24% of personnel aboard ships who reported being attacked by pirates suffered injuries.  In An Overview of Piracy Problems Captain Abhyankar writes: A total of 202 incidents were reported in 1998.  The majority of these attacks were violent.  At least 79 persons have been killed and 35 injured during piracy and armed robbery attacks worldwide during 1998.  Other figures show that 238 crewmembers were taken hostage.  In 45 incidents the pirates were carrying guns and in 39 they possessed knives.

     In light of these issues, why aren?t all pirate attacks reported?  Port authorities are likely to detain the ship and its crew while they investigate the attack.  If the cost to do so exceeds the sustained loss, the owners are unlikely to make a report.  In 1997 those operating costs amounted to $10,000 per day whereas Captain Abhyankar estimates the average loss per attack at $5,000.  Higher insurance costs and salaries for future crews may also be a factor in their decision to keep silent.  If local law enforcement is suspected of being in league with the pirates or is turning a blind eye to their activities, then the likelihood of the attack being reported is nil.  As Captain David Kellerman writes: ?It is understandable to have financial concerns given the fierce competition within the maritime industry, but the reluctance or failure to report acts of maritime crime is the basis for the continued proliferation of the problem.?

     Not everyone is ignoring the problem though.  By pooling their resources, some shipping companies have established international organizations that educate and combat piracy in various ways.  Among these are the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre, the Baltic and International Maritime Council, and the Singapore Shipping Association.

http://www.cindyvallar.com/modern3.html

[Solomon]

Security Fears In St Lucia After Horrific Attack
Topic: Piracy Reports 2006
Countries: St Lucia

Yachtspeople reacted with horror and concern as the story circulated on Caribbean cruisers nets of a violent incident in St Lucia. The attack occurred on June 19 2006 in St. Lucia's Rodney Bay. A yacht anchored some 50 feet off the shore was boarded by three men while the couple were asleep; the man, Dutch national Francis Adela, was beaten until he lost consciousness, and two of the three intruders raped his French wife Christine.

Police subsequently arrested and charged three men on June 29, but the incident may have further repercussions as other reports have been made of an increase in attacks on tourists generally in St Lucia.

It is hoped that the Saint Lucia Air and Sea Ports Authority (SLAPSA) will soon have a boat with which to patrol waters and act as a deterrent to any similar attacks.

The incidents in St Lucia do not appear to be at all isolated. A spate of robberies and attacks on yachts in the Grenadines was reported in the French yachting magazine Loisirs Nautiques this month.

Firsthand Account of Tir na n-Og's Encounter With Suspected Pirates
Topic: Piracy Reports 2006
Countries: Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Oman, Yemen

We left Salalah at sunrise with a forecast of north winds, which of course, would have been a good point of sail heading down the Gulf of Aden. You guessed it, winds on the nose! We spent the first 24 hours tacking back and forth into short, choppy seas, putting only 60 miles between Salalah and ourselves in that time. About two days later the winds had lessened and we cruised into Yemen territory and started to see small fishing boats as far off shore as forty miles. They were just skiffs really, about 15 ft. with 50hp outboards. They were all heading directly on, or off shore. Only one stopped to check us out, and he only slowed down and waved. Most of the cruisers who had come from the Red Sea to Oman, said the boats that had approached them could be a little aggressive coming up banging into their boats, but only wanted food, water or cigarettes. ?Just give them a bottle of water and maybe a pack of cigarettes, and they?ll happy?.

We passed Al Mukalla, a known pirate area, at night some forty miles offshore. The next day motoring in light winds, I noticed a dhow (a local sailboat about 35 feet long) up ahead about three miles. I could see as we came closer that there were about eight men aboard. This is the first one we had seen under sail, but it didn?t seem out of the ordinary. It was on a heading for Mukalla on a beam reach moving very slowly. It maintained its heading as one of the small skiffs being towed launched and came our way. Taking no chances I roused Mary and Crystal who were sleeping after night watch. As the tender approached I counted three guys, all of them smiling, heading for Tir na n-Og. They approached the starboard side, banging into our boat, asking in sign language for food, water, cigarettes and petrol. We had all this at the ready, except for the petrol, which we had none. They left and moved about 100 yards away. It seemed as if their engine died, but on a closer look, we noticed they were eating all the food we had given them before returning to the dhow. They returned to the mother ship about 15 minutes later when we were about a half-mile past their track. The mother ship changed course towards us, three more men jumped into the tender and headed back our way. Now there were six of them coming towards us and we were a little more concerned. Upon approaching they had three jerry cans held up and were yelling for petrol. This time the new guys were very aggressive and very insistent that they wanted petrol. Looking back on it now, we think they really wanted diesel for the dhow instead of petrol, but at the time we were very nervous facing six aggressive Yemenis. We would have been glad to give them a jug of diesel, just to get rid of them, but I wonder would it have been enough.

Mary and I were in the cockpit, and Crystal was manning the HF and VHF radios. At that point I kept saying, ?mafi petrol, mafi petrol, no petrol? when one of the new guys reached down and pulled out an AK-47 machine gun. A rag covered it, and when he pulled it up the rag was caught around the grip. They were five feet off the starboard side at this point. He was screaming in Arabic, and really had a crazed look in his eyes. My first thought was that this isn?t going well, and he no doubt was going to fire on us. He was frantically trying to remove the rag when the driver of the tender moved ahead with a jerk, and the kid with the gun fell, I say kid, as most of them seemed very young. At that point I made eye contact with the driver and he had a scared look on his face for some reason. The one with the gun was yelling at him big time, but he just moved off. The machine gun was free then and the kid pointed it at us and was screaming something we obviously could not understand; at this point they were about 100 yards off the starboard quarter. I thought for sure he was going to open up and start firing. They rushed back to the mother ship that was now a mile away, and loaded some more men. This was not looking good. Full power gave us close to six knots, but that would be no problem for the tender when he returned. I really thought they were coming back with bad business in mind, they had seen all the jerry jugs of fuel on our boat and wanted them. We only saw one weapon, but of course one or ten would be all the same to us.

Crystal had called a Mayday on channel 16, best we can remember at approximately 1140h. Our position at the time was N13:35 E048:37. That is approximately sixty miles WSW from Mukalla. Mukalla Port Control answered requesting position and situation and Crystal responded with the information. Three freighters responded immediately saying they had our position and were at max power en route to us. The freighters NYK Andromeda and Stena Vision were west of us seventeen miles. Nord Ace was east and turned about to come to our assistance, she also informed us that she telephoned the Pirate Reporting Center in Bahrain. These ships had us on radar and were closing as fast as possible but it would be at least 45 minutes before anyone reached us. That is a long time in a situation like this. Still, we were amazed and reassured by the response and very happy that someone was coming.

We were out-running the mother ship, which was slow, but the tender was en route again. Not long after the tender started her third approach she turned back toward the mother ship, we have no idea why. It might be that it was petrol they needed and were now running low or they heard the constant chatter of the Mayday on channel 16. If the bad guys had a VHF radio, which they probably did, we were sure they knew the cavalry was on their way. The tender was back on the mother ship about three miles away when the first freighter came over the horizon forty minutes later, and the dhow turned south.

The container ship NYK Andromeda came 50 yards down our port side and headed straight for the dhow now six miles behind. We are not sure just how close they came to the dhow, but there was no doubt they got their attention. They got ours, when that leviathan was bearing down on us at full speed it was a scary sight, and they were on our side and in full radio contact with us, imagine if they were not friendly. The dhow had now turned for the Yemen coast. Stena Vison slowed and hung out with us for some time. I don?t know if these ships realize what they did for us, the change in demeanor on Tir na nOg was palpable. We felt so safe, I just wish they could have stayed or picked us up and taken us with them. In the next hour we received calls from Coalition warship #5 en route from somewhere, no ETA. Two hours later everyone was back on course with much Aloha from this end. At 1500 a US Navy P-3 Orion came down the port side at 100 feet. What a beautiful sight. They called on Channel 16 to make sure we were doing okay. They flew around us, back and forth some ten miles for the next hour. No doubt we were a bit gun shy when the sun went down, but feeling more secure because everyone knew where we were. Of course, every pirate within a hundred miles knew also as we had given out our position so many times. Ten hours after the incident, at 2200h a ship started circling us. We were running with no lights, as is usual in this area. The vessel came right up behind us and I called in the blind on Channel 16. Welcome coalition warship #2, a US coastal cruiser that looked awesome in the full moon light. They were just checking to make sure we were doing well, and wanted to hear our story. When he steamed off to the east over the horizon the last thing he said was that he wouldn?t be far. What a warm and fuzzy feeling! I never thought I?d say this, but I think I?ll pay my taxes this year. We spent the next two days very alert, making landfall in Aden at sunrise.

Do I think these guys were full blown pirates? Probably not, but when someone is pointing a gun at you they are what they are, an imminent danger. Would he have used the weapon, the $64,000 question, we don?t know the answer, best case they would have come aboard and stolen everything, worse case? We are very thankful it worked out the way it did with no shots fired, and the maritime community responding quickly and professionally.

MERLE, MARY, CRYSTAL s/v Tir na n-Og

Escalating crime situation in Trinidad
Topic: Piracy Reports 2006
Countries: Trinidad & Tobago

On Monday July 24 a group of over 100 cruisers met at the Bight restaurant in Trinidad to consider their options to fight a crime spree in Chaguaramas that has escalated from dinghy theft to breaking and entering boats and finally armed robbery. Although comprehensive numbers do not seem available, an inspection of YSATT (Yachting Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago) records shows that in the last half of May, 5 dinghies were stolen from boats and marinas and one attempted robbery was foiled. So far in July, 5 dinghies or engines and 2 generators were stolen from boats at anchor and in marinas, even though the dinghies were cabled and/or lifted out of the water. Two boats have been broken into, robbed and vandalized. Two weeks ago, one cruiser was robbed at gunpoint about 5PM as he walked along the Western Main Road that connects the marinas in Chaguaramas. Last week 4 cruisers were robbed at gunpoint at 10AM when 2 men entered a maxi taxi near Tropical Marine. Their principal target seems to have been one cruiser who had left a nearby ATM with an obvious pocket of cash. None of the Trinis on the maxi were robbed.

At the meeting, organized by Andy Pell on Tixi Lixi, one person with a security industry background reported that the best deterrent to these crimes was to catch some of the responsible parties. He recommended that cruisers take responsibility for their belongings and keep everything under lock and key. There were suggestions from the participants for a shared all night dinghy patrol, a weeklong boycott of the local marine businesses who seem to be doing little to protect their customers, and letters to various organizations outlining cruisers? concerns. Particularly notable were the revelations of Bernard Bouygues, General Manager of Caribbean Yacht Works, who appeared to be the only local marine business represented. He told of having his boat broken into and one of his own dinghies stolen and of the total lack of assistance he received from both the local Coast Guard and police. He offered one of his dinghies to the group to use for a patrol. His experience with the authorities was echoed by one participant who had had his dinghy stolen and reported the police were more interested in his age and weight than the details of his dinghy. The meeting ended with a small group volunteering to pull the suggestions into a plan and come up with additional recommendations. Before the day was over a night time boat watch had been organized and implemented in the anchorage at Charguaramas.

Any one venturing into Trinidad waters should hoist and chain their dinghies and take appropriate cautions against being boarded and robbed and robbery while traveling on land.

Carter Crawford, s/v Liberty

After a whole spate of thefts, burglaries and armed robberies in Chaguaramas, yachties convened a security meeting this morning at 10:00 o'clock in "The Bight" at Peake Yacht Services. Andy of TIXI LIXI organized and chaired the meeting and about 100 yachties and cruisers showed up (at a similar meeting in March about 10 people came). Especially invited were the Yacht Services Association of Trinidad and Tobago (YSATT), the police in Carenage, and a representative from the ministry of tourism. Unfortunately I did not see any of the representatives and the local paper covering the boating scene understandably didn't want to print things that might keep people away from the place.

Quite a few of the people present had lost dinghies, outboards, generators or other things from their boats and not a few of them were victims of armed robberies where the attackers held guns to their heads. One French sailor had his boat broken into at the reputable marina Crews Inn. The boat got completely ransacked and the thieves had taken absolutely everything of any value. Even the diesel generator and the engine were gone.

One person stopped his car at a red light, when a robber smashed the window and held a gun to his head. Another was robbed in his house and received multiple serious stabs in the front and the back. One woman about 70 years of age was robbed three times while taking a maxi-taxi (minibus) from Chaguaramas to Port of Spain. She now has obtained a permit to carry a gun. These were all local people, not visitors, tourists, yachties or cruisers. This is not only a yachtie problem - but yachties are prime targets for thieves and robbers.

Naturally some of these people were extremely upset, with tempers rising and flaring. Some cruisers called for the formation of an armed militia, which suggestion didn't receive much enthusiasm. Other people were quick to demand all kinds of things from the local business community and the local government. Finally, most yachties present signed a petition to send off to the authorities, while a subgroup discussed forming a dinghy-watch run by yachties in a revolving manner on a voluntary basis. One circumnavigator, whose wife was on the most recently robbed maxi-taxi (minibus) suggested a concerted boycott of all the local businesses to draw their attention to the security problem. He received a round of solid applause.

Amongst the other numerous suggestions was the idea to suggest a harbor watch to the local marinas and YSATT, as they already have most of the necessary infrastructure in place. And pretty much everybody agreed that the SSCA, Trans-Ocean and similar organizations and publications should be made aware of the atrocious and worsening security situation here in Chaguaramas and Trinidad.

As it stands right now, there are quite a few boats leaving for Venezuela and elsewhere, many of them never to return. They will do their best to spread the word amongst their friends, acquaintances and fellow cruisers.

Aurora Ulani, Liping & Holger Jacobsen

S/V DHARMA BUM III

August 17, 2006: Armed boarding and robbery of S/V VESLA from Norway in Chaguaramas Bay between 2:30 and 3:00 a.m. A dinghy with several Trinidadians boarded the boat, armed with a gun and machetes, the boarders ransacked the boat, threatened the crew, before making off with most of their valuables.

[Diving Doc]

Unfortunately the Paradise that was once the Eastern Caribbean has degenerated into this sad state of affairs. All the vessels I have operated have been heavily armed. Three years ago I was transitting from Chaguaramus to Margarita for refueling. The diesel price was cheaper and, needing 6,000 gallons, more than worth the trip, the pleasures of that island not withstanding. I left in the darkness of early morning to catch the tide thru the Bocas called "Mouth of the Dragon." Off of the Guajira Peninsula, still in darkness, I saw two fast moving targets, 20 miles away on the radar. As day broke I had two 36 foot jollas, with huge outboards and 2o plus men on board, close alongside. I never slowed my vessel. They made indications that they wanted water and cigarettes. I put the ship on auto pilot and readied a shotgun and Mini-14. The sides of my vessel were nine feet high at the lowest and boarding wasn't to be done easily. When they saw I wasn't going to stop they raced ahead of my course and stretched a cable between their boats. With an extended keel protecting the rudder and massive shaft horsepower they really had no hope of disabling me. After passing over the cable without fouling they once more attempted to come alongside, on either side. I appeared on the aft deck with the Mini-14 and they decided to retreat. Upon returning to Trinidad we learned that three small sailing yachts had been taken, one had crew shot and raped, one had the crew put ashore, and one disappeared without a trace of the occupants.

A pretty poor commentary but I would advise those seeking to sail these waters to be warned and take the appropriate precautions. Many sailors make the passages in company as any official assistance simply doesn't exist.
Doc

[Bart]

Doc, the cabling was an act or attempted act of piracy, was it not? Why would you not fire upon them then? If not their persons, at least there engines. Explain this to us land lubbers please.

- Bart

[Solomon]

I was wondering the same thing, Bart. There can be few circumstances, to my mind, where the application of violence is more justified and warranted than to repel pirates.

Solomon

[Bart]

I like to think that I would have fired upon them, but I wasn't there, and I'm not Doc. We'll see what Ol Salt has to say for himself.

- Bart

[Diving Doc]

Guys,
I had the provocation but it was more likely than not, that they also had weapons. The two 30 round clips extending from the
Mini -14 probably gave them food for thought. Remember there were two boats, one to either side. The stand off was better than explaining to the authorities about my shot up boat and replacing glass/repainting, wouldn't you say? If they had fired the first shot the battle would have been joined. No choice in the matter then.

This was the steel long-range salvage vessel pictured at the top of my intro. Nice steel bulwarks 40" high, all around the vessel.

Doc

[Bart]

OK Doc, that is reasonable enough. You need something a little more serious in the firepower dept., it seems to me. A nice single shot .50 cal  would disable their boat from a safe distance, and they are quite reasonable in price these days, under 2k$.

http://garytakahashi.md/braden/NastyMeds.wmv

- Bart

[Diving Doc]

Bart,
I have a Marlin 1895 in .45 .70. With a 500 grain solid copper slug it will stop an elephant or an outboard, five round capacity. The tactical situation simply didn't present itself. I might add, with a moving platform and a moving target, the acquisition time of target would mean exposing one's self for an inordinate amount of time. The Mini-14 will shred the fiberglass outboard cowling and disable the motor very quickly. I thought that the 60 rounds capacity made it the best choice with OO  buck in the Winchester Marine 1300 shotgun for close quarters. Simply, a matter of confrontation assessment. I, for one, am glad of the outcome. I don't believe a single shot weapon would have been effective in this situation, do you?
Doc

[Solomon]

Doc
I, for one, am glad of the outcome.

And so are we.   

Solomon

[Bart]

You are right Doc, a single shot would not have been ideal in that situation. It turned out well, and that is paramount. It sounds like they were impressed with your banana clip! It's good to hear you have the Marlin.

- Bart

[Solomon]

Richard Halloran
Fri Nov 17, 2:30 PM ET

Far from the political upheaval in Washington and the continuing carnage in Iraq, the navies of the Pacific are girding themselves to provide more of the maritime security that is vital to their expanding economies.

In particular, the U.S. and Asian navies are seeking to prevent the terror that has been spreading on land in Asia from moving to sea where it would threaten the lifelines of all but the landlocked nations of the region.

These navies, however, are not doing so well in working together to prevent the shipment of nuclear weapons and missiles from North Korea to terrorists in Southeast Asia or elsewhere. Led by South Korea, which has been seeking an accommodation with North Korea, several navies have balked at searching North Korean ships on the high seas.

A U.S. naval intelligence report on terror in Asia says: "The number and lethality of attacks are growing as smaller, decentralized jihadist groups increase the violence against local political, security, and communal targets." Many assaults occurred in the Philippines and southern Thailand.

In 2006, the report said, 1015 people have been killed in 491 attacks, compared with 880 killed in 373 assaults last year. Safe havens for terrorists have been discovered in Bangladesh, the site of much civil strife, in Burma, Laos, and Papua New Guinea.

Both U.S. naval intelligence and the International Maritime Bureau in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, which tracks piracy worldwide, reported a decline in sea robbery as navies and coast guards have gone on the offensive. Piracy around Indonesia dropped to 40 incidents in the Jan-Sept period, compared with 61 in the same time last year. Even so, Indonesia still had the world's worst record for piracy.

The potential for a link-up between pirates and terrorists remains, the intelligence report says. Some 70,000 ships pass through the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea every year carrying half of the world's oil and a third of its commerce. A ship scuttled or blown up in those sea-lanes would cause unpredictable economic and political disruption.

The U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Michael Mullen, told a recent naval symposium in Honolulu: "These ideologues, pirates, proliferators, criminals, and terrorists are prevalent throughout the coastal regions that we are all obligated to protect." He asserted: "Without maritime cooperation, we cannot hope to effectively battle these forces of instability."

The U.S. Navy, however, has urged other navies to take on the greater share of responsibility for countering those predators. In Asia, colonialism ended only a few decades ago and Asians are sensitive to anything that they perceive encroaches on their sovereignty.

Aware of that, Admiral Gary Roughead, who commands the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told the conference: "I made it clear that I don't want to be patrolling in other people's waters." Similarly, the commander of all U.S. forces in the Pacific, Admiral William Fallon, told Indonesian officers last February: "It's your neighborhood, you should do it yourself."

Mullen, Roughead, and leaders of 15 other navies gathered in Honolulu behind closed doors earlier this month for the annual Western Pacific Naval Symposium. A U.S. Navy spokesman said the Proliferation Security Initiative, which President George Bush said in Singapore was intended to halt the seaborne spread of nuclear materiel, was not discussed.

To combat piracy and terror, the U.S. for several years has advocated having the world's 90,000 ships emulate aircraft, almost every one of which is monitored whenever it is in the air. Requiring ships to transmit an automatic identification system and having that information fed into collecting points would be critical.

Then, if a ship started to sail off its plotted track, a navy, coast guard, or law enforcement vessel--or aircraft--would check it out. Admiral Roughead said some nations, such as Singapore, now require every ship that enters its waters have such a system. Since pirates usually use high-speed boats displacing less than 300 tons, Roughead said they should be included in any monitoring system.

The main task before the navy leaders here was to find ways to gather and move information faster than pirates or terrorists could make decisions. The technology exists and much of the discussion centered on methods of communicating quickly.

When Admiral Mullen was asked whether this effort would be a distraction from the U.S. Navy's main mission of fighting wars, he was emphatic: "No, you pay me not to go to war. You pay me to prevent war. This is all part of the deterrence of war."

[Solomon]

Sea Piracy: Police arrest two in Bonny
Collins Barasimeye ? Monday, Nov 13, 2006

Following recent upsurge of sea piracy along Bonny-Port Harcourt waterways, the Rivers State Police Command have arrested two persons in Bonny, Bonny Local Government Area of the state.

A police source has it that the police after getting series of sea piracy reports along the waterways, swooped into action on Friday, during which two suspects, Lucky James of Igoni Polo, Doposhi Bonny and Iyewuna Stewart of Morgan Road also in Bonny were arrested and they had made useful statements to the police to help them in their investigation.

The police after the arrest recovered one 30-inches iron cutter, two 16-inches and 17-inches flat spanners, one fire axe, one locally made pistol and a black cap.

It will be recalled that sea travellers from Bonny and Port Harcourt last week were gripped with fear following four different incidents of sea piracy were staff salaries, cell phones, jewelries, cash and other valuables including the outboard engines were taken to unknown destinations after embarking the passengers either at a nearby mangrove or bush.

They attacked mostly commercial boat operators, snatch their boats and engines at gun point to unknown destinations.

The attacks were first reported on November 5, this year, where three passengers on a chartered boat from Bonny to Port Harcourt were ambushed along Ngeregbama River by the gun men and snatched their boat but the victims were later rescued to a nearby mangrove swamp by fishermen.

Also on that day, one Timiseiktei Elliot of Fisherman Estate, Marine Base Port Harcourt who operates a commercial boat was attacked along Dutch Island river near Port Harcourt by six-gun men, where the belongings of the passengers including cash were taken from them, and their boat seized as they dropped them at the sea shore but were rescued to Dutch Island by other fishermen.

Meanwhile, two of the engine boats have been recovered by the police while investigations is in progress.

Confirming the incidents in her office, the police PRO of the State Police Command, DSP Ireju Barasua however, said the police was doing their best to curb the situation and urged boat drivers to always be on the alert and careful.

[Bart]

Mexican pirates - sea robbers

   Today?s breed of pirate, however, uses high-powered guns, and, at least in Mexico, seems to be interested primarily in robbing shrimp boats.

   In the last six years, according to statistics from the Marine Secretariat, the Mexican Navy has registered 41 acts of piracy against fishing boats. The vast majority of attacks have taken place along the coasts of Sonora and Sinaloa states, and at less than 12 miles off the shore.

   The most recent incident came off the coast of Sinaloa in November of 2005, when three small Navy craft took heavy fire while responding to a pirate attack on the shrimp boat Benito Ju?rez. The attack was initially repelled when two crew members from the Benito Ju?rez opened fire on the attackers.

   But just as the case in the other 40 registered attacks, no arrests were made...

   Mario Vela Dom?nguez, a Navy captain, explained that part of the problem stems from the fact that the pirates work in conjunction with local fishermen, who help hide them from law enforcement in lagoons, marshes and swamps.

   And he said that is it increasingly rare that pirate attacks are reported, most likely because crew members on the affected vessels are connected with the robbers.

http://eaglespeak.blogspot.com/2006/01/mexican-pirates-sea-robbers.html

[Bart]

Islamic law overpowers pirates off Somalia

By Colin Freeman - LONDON SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

October 20, 2006

MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Tough Shariah-law penalties imposed by the nation's new Islamic rulers have rid the country of the pirates who terrorized cruise ships and freighters off its shores, shipping groups say.

    The change was documented in a recent report by the Merchant International Group Ltd., which specializes in advising companies on trading in hot spots around the world.

    "The spread of Islamist rule in Somalia under the Islamic Courts Union merits particular attention," it said. "Over 40 attacks on vessels were reported in and around Somali waters between March 2005 and July 2006, but not a single act of piracy in the area has been reported in the months since."

    The drop is attributed to threats by the ICU to punish anyone involved in piracy with either execution or amputation.  After the East African nation collapsed into lawlessness 15 years ago, its 2,500-mile coastline developed into a haven for armed buccaneers who used high-speed launches to rob passing craft.

    In one of their most dramatic attacks, boatloads of bandits armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades attacked the American-operated luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit 70 nautical miles off the country's coast in November. Tourists onboard told how they feared for their lives until the ship's crew managed to drive the pirates away using a special sonic gun that emitted a high-decibel noise.

    The threat of piracy prompted the International Maritime Bureau to advise all ships to stay at least 100 miles from the Somalian coast.

    The halt to incidents of piracy mirrors the ICU's success in restoring law and order on shore. Until this summer, Somalia was largely under the control of legions of competing warlords, some of whom are thought to have sponsored the pirate bands.

    Although critics say the ICU is an al Qaeda-linked movement that plans to bring in tough Taliban-style social restrictions, including bans on films and music, many ordinary Somalis think it is the only alternative to the anarchy that prevailed before.

    "The Islamists vowed to return the rule of law to a country that has not seen a proper government since the fall of [President Mohamed] Siad Barre's regime in 1991," wrote analyst Ben Kates in an article for Lloyd's List, a trade and insurance publication.

    "Under the strict brand of justice currently imposed by the ICU, pirates, along with other thieves, are exposed to severe punishment. The Supreme Islamic Council of Somalia has made piracy a specific target. Officials assert that those convicted of piracy may now be sentenced to amputation or even to death."
    Ibrahim Hassan Addou, the foreign minister in the Islamic administration, said piracy "has given Somalia a bad image around the world, and we needed to take steps against it. Such crime on the high seas can now carry the penalty of jail or the death sentence."

http://washingtontimes.com/world/20061019-103558-9060r.htm