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The recent Russian experience and thier reaction could help! Provide a secure space aboad for all of the crew thus allowing fast action by the Navy/Military using helecopters to secure a ship under attack. I'm sure this could be helpfulll with the absolute minimum risk for the crew. Paying up is certainly not the answer.
In the paper today the Australian naval ship HMAS Parramatta intercepted a boat load of pirates believed to have been plotting attacks on merchant ships off the East coast of Africa. The ship was patroling in the Gulf of Aden just off Somalia on May 25th.When first sighted the pirates panicked and threw many of their arms over the side. There is nothing in the report to say what became of the pirates.
We are getting news through that both Mr and Mrs Chandler have been freed by the pirates. Interesting to see if ransom was paid.
regards
jimmy
According to reports in the Oz press they were subjected to touture on numerous occasions.
I see the Chandlers have been released , Great nesws for them , and I expect they will carry the scars forever , I notice that the £250,000 paid in June , just gave rise to a bigger demand , i know how good it is to see the Chandler's free , but I cannot ever think that paying the ransom doesn't endanger some other innocent
Good on you Alf, They don't like it up em you know.
Cheers, Roger
mr wolfe and shipmates Hi what is your history at sea? Pirates are part of our heritage as we are The :) ,Africans are just a few hundred history years Behind us in this we could if the will was there stop all rubbish this in a few weeks?
I despatched one Pirate in 1960 when we were anchored off Semerang on the Java coast. I was on the EURYADES, a Blue Funnel SAM boat, this is from my story of the Spice Islands .....................
........We did many ports around the islands, from Singapore, Tanjong Priok, Tegal, Semerang, Surabaya, Macasser, Wallace Bay, Sandakan, Tawau, Probalingo, Kutching, Balikpapan, Bali, Ujung, Balitung, Molucca, Padang, Belawan, Sabang, Sumbawa, Brunei, Sarawak, and many others some without a name. A lot of these ports were anchor ports, and we had to keep a Pirate watch every day and night. At night we would have two AB.s one patrolling on either side of the ship watching for small boats trying to come alongside., we had light clusters over the side around the ship so canoes could be seen. One night in Semerang, around 2 am I was down aft by Number 5 hatch when I heard a clunk amidships, I walked for`ard with a ten ton shackle in my hand. There was a native just climbing over the rails by Number 4 hatch just abaft the accommodation on the port side. A grapelling hook was hanging off the rails, I ran up and hit him on the right temple with the shackle and he fell back into the sea. I looked over the side and just saw a ring of ripples and bubbles and a canoe with one man in disappearing into the darkness. I didn`t think they would come back again. at least one was not coming back. I shouted to Ted to get the stand by man to get the Captain and report the incident. He came down and had a look around and then complemented me on the action. These Pirates can sneak on board and cut peoples throats in their bunks and steal anything they can. It is and still is a big problem in those waters.
Fire hoses worked very well off Nigeria in the 1970's , but I don't remember the pirates having AK47 rifles and rocket launchers back then . They have millions of dollars to buy arms , what it needs is a co-ordinated force to rid the seas off North East Africa of this vermin
Whilst with BP Tankers we had trouble with pirates off the coast of Lagos. We were told not to retailiate would cause a international incident due to the waters we were in I can only assume these ships were in the same situation. Also working with BP during the Iran-Iraqi war actually in the warzone we were not allowed RN protection for the same reason.