Somali atrocities

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

I well remember sailing with a Somali deck crew on a general cargo ship, in the 1960s. They considered themselves above mere manual labour, and refused to take orders, with the complaint, "I am Somali, proud fighting man, not slave". They would not go on deck in bad weather but ate like kings. Positively the most useless bunch of" self-professed" sailors, totally lacking in sea-faring skills. Not a lot has changed then?
Give me a Saturday morning Birkenhead crowd, with mostly "lost" discharge books, (Very convenient!). They robbed the cargo at every opportunity, but were good, qualified and experienced deck hands, who accepted loggings as part of lifes game, but did a fine job on deck.

[John Albert Evans]

LIke I said in a previous thread.

If they had been blown out of the water the first time they wouldnt be able to do it second time.

But it will never happen with this governemt whichever lot is in power.

John Albert Evans

[Ivan Cloherty]

LIke I said in a previous thread.

If they had been blown out of the water the first time they wouldnt be able to do it second time.

But it will never happen with this governemt whichever lot is in power.

John Albert Evans

I'm sure our boys in the grey funnel fleet would love to blow these ba-----ds out of the water. The Indian navy did on one occasion and seven pirates were killed, unfortunately when an Indian merchant ship was released last month the pirates returned it seven crew members short and their fate is still unknown. The Indian navy has received instructions to cease this practice because the stakes are too high, you can imagine the frustration on those ships, no more live target practice

Reckon the only way to do it is get the pirates in their land bases, but that will never happen as there is no oil or other valuable natural resources available, I follow this closely knowing that part of the world, it is cheaper to pay the ransoms than a military operation and although the insurance premiums and freight rates both go up to cover the ransoms it is we the general public who pay in the end every time we pick something off the shop shelf. I would presume most would, rather see the world govts for once get together and sort out this wild country, because one way or another all countries are affected financially. But it will never happen because the victims are "only" merchant seamen and there is a cheap labour pool out there. I don't think on this occasion welcan lay the blame at "greedy" shipowners, they have no option but to increase freight rates to pay the premiums to supply funds to the ransom pot, the pirates know this, the shipowner has to make a profit to keep the ships running, as without the ships and our brethren we would all be up s--t creek.

That's the way the cookie crumbles, regretfully

Ivan

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Do these people who book holidays next to the Somali border not have any knowledge of world events? The facts are broadcast and published for all to see, but they still opt for an "Exotic" location. I am thinking of starting up a Company to promote camping trips in Afghanistan. I bet I will have some takers! All this news and furore makes camping with polar bears positively "Wimpish".

[Ivan Cloherty]

Do these people who book holidays next to the Somali border not have any knowledge of world events? The facts are broadcast and published for all to see, but they still opt for an "Exotic" location. I am thinking of starting up a Company to promote camping trips in Afghanistan. I bet I will have some takers! All this news and furore makes camping with polar bears positively "Wimpish".

Gordon

I think someone has already beaten you to it, remember seeing something about trekking holidays in Iraq and Afghanistan, there will always be takers "because it will never happen to them"

On the news this morning there was a couple whose daughter had disappeared at sea warning people not to go on cruises on ships with FOC (the ship was registered in the Bahamas), so you see as soon as passenges, or yachting fools are involved its national news, no mention made of the 700 seamen held hostage and with ships under the FOC they would not have been able to reach the studio as transport would grind to a halt.

As they say, "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing"

[Tony Wilding]

PIRATES HAVE TO RETURN TO THERE BASES, INSTEAD OF SEARCHING THOUSANDS OF MILES OF OCEAN, WHY NOT BLOCKADE THERE PORTS, ? GET THEM COMING AND GOING.

[Ivan Cloherty]

PIRATES HAVE TO RETURN TO THERE BASES, INSTEAD OF SEARCHING THOUSANDS OF MILES OF OCEAN, WHY NOT BLOCKADE THERE PORTS, ? GET THEM COMING AND GOING.

Unfortunately Tony a lot of the seamen hostages are now held ashore in inland bases, you can imagine what would happen to those poor buggers. We can only assume that minds both political and military would like to take the action we would like to take but these Somali pirates are clever buggers and seem to keep one step ahead, that is usually the forte of the criminal mind. You can bet your bottom dollar if any Israelis were being held then their authorities wouldn't be sitting on their backsides, Entebbe springs to mind though in this more electronic surveilllance age the pirates will also have sophisticated equipment to thwart any attempted rescues. In the end if governments do take action then it will be at the sacrifice of our MN brethren, otherwise it will be stalemate ad-infinitum. Would any of us want to be in the position of having to take that decision. Its a hard call.

[Nigel Smith]

Do these people who book holidays next to the Somali border not have any knowledge of world events? The facts are broadcast and published for all to see, but they still opt for an "Exotic" location. I am thinking of starting up a Company to promote camping trips in Afghanistan. I bet I will have some takers! All this news and furore makes camping with polar bears positively "Wimpish".

My first thought when I saw the location of the kidnap/murder, what a bloody awful place to be! Obviously people will pay a fortune to stay in a hut with no facilities, doors, windows etc. And next to the Somali border too! did they pay extra for that. Bloody unbelievable!

Captain Gordon, I'm sure you'll soon be a millionaire with your camping trips in Afghanistan. Perhaps I could ask you to include my old shed in your brochure, it's got no door, the roof leaks and the windows are broken, it's located 3 metres from a busy road with the added bonus of container lorries passing every couple of minutes. It's incredibly noisy and I only want £150 a night, I will of course give you a cut of the profits.

Nigel.

[Captain Kong]

Captain Gordon Whittaker.....................
#4 Today, 09:58 AM
captain gordon whittaker
Senior Member Join Date: May 2009


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Do these people who book holidays next to the Somali border not have any knowledge of world events? The facts are broadcast and published for all to see, but they still opt for an "Exotic" location. I am thinking of starting up a Company to promote camping trips in Afghanistan. I bet I will have some takers! All this news and furore makes camping with polar bears positively "Wimpish".


Now Gordon why do all that preparation over in Afghanistan with air fares and accommodation and tours.

You could have all the campers and Hikers walking down my little Avenue.
Just like Afghanistan, you have the exotic cooking smells, the Genuine and authenticaly dressed natives in Burkhas and Niquabs and speaking the language of the Khyber and Pashtun. The signs are in seven exotic languages and all the Mosques you could ever wish for.
They will even throw stones at you to make it all authentic.
Why spend a fortune on Air Fares when you have the REAL thing here.

[Captain Gordon Whittaker]

Too difficult to get visas for Bolton!