Somali Ransom Parachuted In

[Razor61]

On the news a while back it said that some warlords in Somalia had sent rebels to the town to hunt down pirates...
perhaps they might have had something to do with it.

[BEagle]

In the words of Capt Blackadder:

"God* is very quick these days!"





*or other deity as appropriate

[Double Zero]

I'm a relativey experienced yachtie and reckon the idea of boarding a tanker from a small boat pretty dodgy at best ( even before any Ghurkas etc onboard express their wishes that one desists ) as for trying to deal sensibly with Somali pirates, one only has to read ' Black Hawk Down ' to realise that's not a go-er...

[mr fish]

i read a short while ago that the chinese navy are working up to sail regularly into the indian ocean.
with their erm, "robust" attitude to lawbreakers it should be interesting to observe the outcome if pirates attack chinese assets

[OFBSLF]

This is such an obvious gap in the market for 'security firms' that one would expect they're homing in on it like mad.

1) Insurance companies keep insisting that no arms are allowed on the vessels.

2) Shipping companies are terribly cheap. That is why most of the crew is from third-world countries and are paid peanuts. A competent security detachment will cost more per day than the entire crew.

3) Some security firms are already pitching their services. Blackwater has bought a small ship that they are pitching as an anti-piracy escort.

Private security firm Blackwater Worldwide began holding meetings in London on Tuesday with potential clients for a new business venture -- protection from pirates.

The Moyock, N.C., firm, which has grown rapidly through State Department security work in Iraq, has been courting shippers and insurance firms about protecting ships in pirate-infested waters. It's meeting with more than a dozen firms this week and hopes to drum up its first contract.

Blackwater Plans Effort Against Piracy - WSJ.com

The way to stop piracy is for the major powers to grow a pair, start hunting down the pirates, and kill them.

'm a relativey experienced yachtie and reckon the idea of boarding a tanker from a small boat pretty dodgy at best

The pirates manage that every time they hijack a vessel. I'm sure the SBS and SEALS are far more competent than pirates in this regard and could easily manage to get onboard. The ensuing battle in the confined space of a ship would, undoubtedly, be risky.

[Double Zero]

I happen to sail in Portsmouth & Poole, where the respective forces regularly practice boarding ships, sometimes with dedicated unmentionable kit.

Otherwise there's no easy way; I also know some ship pilots, ( i.e. harbour specialists, not helmsmen ) and they still have to get aboard the old fashioned way - the old navy's witty response to such attempts was to simply drop a cannonball into / through the annoying boat !

Even for yachtsmen, there are some very unofficial guides to home-made & other weaponry, including flaming arrows of the 'Native American' kind, or at least as shown in Westerns.

I suspect most of us here would have a Plan B before skippering a ship in such areas ( funnily enough, I've only been threatened with attack once on my boat, and that was by gangs of speedboats on the River Frome in Poole) !!! Tactics as in 'Yangtse Incident' saved the day.

As for insurers being against arms, I suspect that will change; as mentioned the crews tend to be 3rd world, and there's probably the worry they'd take out their own feet and chums before hitting the bad guys.

As also mentioned, it would give the Navies of this world a useful job, and good P.R, to get involved.