Pirates

Colleges and Universities A-Z Merchant Marine Academy - Kings Point
1

<p>Please give me your thoughts.</p>

<p>I seem to be reading more and more about the modern day pirates. Am I just more in tune to that news story? Is the media playing it up since Pirates of the Carribean and Johnny Depp is/was popular? </p>

<p>I am just a tad bit nervous about it. </p>

<p>Oh, and my DS waited to tell me his pirate story until just last night. UGH! DS's sea partner was the one who spotted the pirates waiting on a ship to raid.</p>

<p>The modern day pirates raided a ship, that was two ships behind the Ship DS was on. The crew was beaten up a bit and the money was taken.</p>

<p>This seems to be a concern that we haven't discussed here on the Forums....</p>

2

<p>My guess is that there are pirates...just like there are hijackers in parking lots and robbers on street corners. There are bad guys everywhere.</p>

<p>I would think that it's a lot more dangerous to be a bank teller than to be on a ship.</p>

<p>Granted, the only ships I've ever been on where of the cruising variety, so I don't have any expertise whatsoever...but I would think that there is a great deal of security training onboard...</p>

3

<p>The big place for pirates is off the coast of east africa (Somalia, etc) and in the Straights of Malacca (sp?) over in the Far East. There are also some running around South America. There's a pirate report on some maritime website that I can't remember right now. Every ship also gets pirate reports pretty much daily on their satellite comm's that get printed out on the GMDSS system.</p>

4

<p>Last month's National Geographic magazine had a large article about the pirates in the Strait of Malacca:</p>

<p>*Since 2002, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has recorded 258 pirate attacks in the Malacca Strait and surrounding waters, including more than 200 sailors held hostage and 8 killed. *</p>

<p><a href="http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/malacca-strait-pirates/pirates-text.html?fs=canyon%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://magma.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/2007-10/malacca-strait-pirates/pirates-text.html?fs=canyon&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

5

<p>YES, Luigi59, I read that article. Then today on cnn.com was this article:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/30/somalia.pirates/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/30/somalia.pirates/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>and a few weeks ago, it was this article:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/17/pirate.attacks.ap/index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/africa/10/17/pirate.attacks.ap/index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

6

<p>Ok...I want to bury my head in the sand and not know about this! UGH!!</p>

7

<p>Is there any sort of weaponry aboard a commercial vessel? What are the rules of engagement for something like this?</p>

8

<p>In one incident off Somalia the strategy was to change course and outrun the pirates.</p>

<p><a href="http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002606783_pirates06.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002606783_pirates06.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

9

<p>


</p>

<p>Sure, there's usually a rifle and a pistol in the Captain's safe, but when you are going against rocket propelled grenades and machine guns that won't do you much good.</p>

<p>The rules of engagement are 1) Try to avoid them 2) Send out radio distress calls 3) Prevent them boarding 4) Do whatever it is they want </p>

<p>They always talked about using the fire hoses to prevent them from climbing up, but I'm pretty sure that bullets hurt more than fire hoses. But it could possibly prevent them from climbing up the sides of the ship.</p>

10

<p>Okay, here comes some more ignorance on my part--- but a "rifle and a pistol in the Captain's safe"-- that's it, that's all? Almost every pick-up truck in rural America has at least that much. Why wouldn't a crew of a merchant ship be trained and equipped to repel pirates? I would think that would be a priority for officers and crew and certainly ship owners. Can somebody explain the minimal security to me?</p>

11

<p>My son just returned from Africa and yes his ship passed the Somali coast. He said that they passed Somalia 200 miles off the the coast. No problems or issues with pirates. His ship also called on several other African ports that had recent reports of pirate activity, again no issues.</p>

12

<p>the government ships (including MSC) have weapons lockers on board and carry 9mm pistols, M-14 rifles and shotguns. they also have a locker with body armor and kevlar vests. the entire crew (minus cadets) are small arms trained and the ship will conduct drills to repel boarders and attackers. if the (government or MSC) ship is transiting a dangerous area or chokepoint (suez canal) they will take on a navy security detachment who bring with the .50 caliber machine guns, M-60 machine guns and grenade launchers. this is only for government and msc vessels only. most merchant ships carry ZERO weapons.</p>

13

<p>Just read article in my hometown paper about US Navy stepping in to rescue North Korean ships taken hostage. This is really scary stuff. I wish I didn't know about this.</p>

14

<p>Return</a> of the Pirates</p>

<p>Scary isn't it. If you've never seen this (click above on the link), its on again on Nov. 13th. I think Moms probably shouldn't watch. I know I had nightmares for a while after I'd seen it. My wee little feelings were hurt when my fear was belittled by a certain big bad soon to be merchant mariner who truly thinks he can use his Plebe knife to keep 50 pirates off a ship. :rolleyes: Anyhow, I bought the thing just to terrorize myself further. They've got some awesome guys teamed together to keep our ships safe. Coasties deserve many kudos.</p>