Hunt of the Sea Wolves

Straits Times

An international crackdown on piracy off Somalia’s coast has yielded around 100 arrests and has put seafaring bandits operating near the Horn of Africa on the defensive, a top U.N. official said on Friday.

‘The international maritime presence is increasingly successful,’ UN special envoy to Somalia Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah told reporters.

‘It is successful because pirates have to go further away,’ Mr Ould-Abdallah said.

As a result, pirates have to spend more of the ransom money they receive to hijack ships and avoid arrest, Ould-Abdallah said.

Read story at the Straits Times

The Financial Express

(Updated from earlier story) The Indian Navy has foiled a pirate attack on a merchant vessel with ten Indian crew in the Gulf of Aden. Two of the eight Somali sea brigands are feared killed while the rest have been arrested. According to navy sources, commandos seized their weapons, emptied their skiff of its fuel and set it adrift, leaving the tidying up to another warship.

The attack on the Norwegian-owned merchant vessel, M V Maud, flying the Liberian flag, took place about 225 nautical miles east of Aden around 1300 hours on Thursday, sources said.

“The Indian warship immediately responded to the distress call and advised the vessel to increase speed and carry out evasive manoeuvres to avoid getting boarded. Simultaneously, a helicopter with marine commandos took off and started closing in on the threatened vessel,” a senior Indian Navy official said.

“The visibility being low, it was possible that pirates might not have sighted the warship and the helicopter. The helicopter crew fired warning shots to deter them from boarding the ship,” he said.

Following this, two pirates, who were attempting to clamber up the merchant vessel, fell into the water.

The New York Times

While warships pursue pirates around the Horn of Africa, the secretary general of Interpol, Ron Noble, is pressing for a global alliance of criminal investigators to hunt the bandits by examining the money trail of million-dollar ransoms.

On Friday, Mr. Noble, the first American to head the international policing organization in Lyon, urged the creation of a special task force at a Group of Eight meeting of justice ministers in Rome.

Piracy “is a classic, classic transnational crime problem occurring on the high seas,” Mr. Noble said in an interview before the two-day meeting. “We’ve got organized criminals targeting victims, taking them hostage and using extortion to get money. And what’s happening now is that the world has focused on a military response.”

Read entire story at The New York Times

Maritime Security Centre

On May 28th, inside the Gulf of Aden, a reported pirate attack occurred against a Norwegian owned bulk carrier sailing under Liberian flag.

The ship put out a call on its VHF radio. It is believed that a nearby Indian warship that was escorting Indian national merchant vessels at the time provided assistance. 

The EUNAVFOR ATALANTA warship next to the position was tasked by the Force Headquarters to also investigate and respond if necessary. She found a skiff afloat nearby that had no functioning engine and which was carrying eight people.

Of the eight people found to be onboard the skiff, two were found dead. Four had injuries which were not life-threatening. The remaining two people onboard were found to be unhurt.

Under the terms of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea there is a general obligation for masters of all vessels to proceed to the assistance of those in distress. On the basis that there was no continuity of evidence that this skiff was connected with the previous piracy incident and in accordance with this convention, the ATALANTA warship provided assistance to the skiff, has taken all of these people onboard and is making for the nearest available medical centre to bring the injured to medical treatment as rapidly as possible.

Reuters

 An Australian warship will join international efforts to combat pirates operating from Somalia, the government said in Friday.

Australia will send a frigate and maritime patrol aircraft currently on Persian Gulf security duties to join anti-piracy operations in and near the Gulf of Aden, Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said in a statement.

“The contribution will help to curb piracy in the region, protect Australian and international maritime trade and underline our commitment to targeted increased engagement with Africa,” Fitzgibbon said.

Somali pirates have in recent months seized several cargo ships and collected millions of dollars in ransom for the safe release of crew and cargo.

In 2008 there were 111 pirate attacks in the region, with 42 successful hijackings. This year, around 100 attacks have been registered, including more than 25 successful hijackings, Fitzgibbon said.

Strategy Page

There is growing violence against elected officials in the Moslem south. MILF radical factions want independence now, and are attacking more elected Moslem officials, who they blame for the failure of negotiations with the government. This violence is expected to continue until next year, when these officials are up for reelection. That would settle who supports who, and enable the moderates to better fight back against the Moslem radicals. There has always been more violence in the south, where clan wars and blood feuds were more common, and disruptive to any government trying to operate there.  The army and MILF radicals continue to fight in the south, as bands of MILF fighters attack Christian villages.

Read story at Strategy Page

AFP

The Indian navy said Friday it had thwarted a pirate attack on a Liberian-registered vessel with 10 Indian crew members in the Gulf of Aden.

An Indian naval ship responded to a distress call from the MV Maud on Thursday after it reported a small boat carrying eight armed personnel approaching it at high speed, a navy statement said.

The warship’s helicopter fired warning shots at the pirates attempting to board the vessel.

“The pirates were then observed disengaging from the merchant ship and two pirates who were in the process of climbing (aboard) the merchant vessel fell into the water,” it said.

Read story at AFP

Hollywood has finally taken notice of the pirate attacks that have been a fact of life for seamen for decades. While hundreds of Asians and other nationals have been taken prisoner and some killed, it took the capture of an American for U.S. authorities and Hollywood to realize not only the magnitude of the problem, but that there is a very real story to tell. While Capt. Richard Phillips’ story is worthy of its own telling, Ron Shusett and I are still hopeful that “Hunt of the Sea Wolves” finds its way to a studio. At this time, the script is being presented to numerous producers and even a major studio, so time will tell. — John Chadwell

From Variety 

Weeks after his dramatic attempted escape and eventual rescue from armed Somali pirates, captain Richard Phillips’ life rights have been acquired by Columbia Pictures.

Studio, which has also optioned the film rights to Phillips’ upcoming memoir, will bring to the bigscreen the cargo ship captain’s capture by four Somali pirates and subsequent rescue by the U.S. Navy.

Michael DeLuca, Kevin Spacey, Dana Brunetti and Scott Rudin are onboard to produce. Brunetti, a former member of the Coast Guard, was particularly instrumental in helping land the rights. He flew to the East Coast to meet with Phillips to discuss how the film would be handled.

“We were drawn to this remarkable story of heroism and courage as events were unfolding off the coast of Africa,” Col co-prexy Doug Belgrad said.

Read entire story at Variety

Taunton Daily Gazette

Capt. Thomas Bushy, skipper of the training ship Kennedy assigned to Massachusetts Maritime Academy, told a Congressional subcommittee Thursday morning that firearms should be introduced to commercial ships on a limited basis and that sea-going crews should be increased instead of decreased.

Bushy testified before the House Foreign Affairs Oversight Subcommittee chaired by U.S. Rep. William Delahunt, D-Quincy, who asked if firearms aboard commercial vessels would legitimately hike insurance premiums for shipping companies. The hearing was held on the Cape Cod campus.

Delahunt asked Bushy if any “thoughtful analysis” has been done on the topic of increased insurance premiums or whether insurance companies would “take advantage of the crisis.”

Bushy said if firearms are introduced aboard vessels and crews are trained to use them, “over time it would seem that it would deter the risk of pirate attacks” on commercial shipping.

The North Falmouth resident said training would be needed if firearms become a part of seagoing life. “Who gets it?” he said. “The officers or the crew. And after the training, can they work together?”

Read entire story at TDG

Parris studied the young medic a long moment. Raj tried to meet the American’s stare, but could not. He looked away. “You’re out,” Parris said, adding, “That’s just the way it’s got to be.”

            The other operatives started to protest. Roy held up his hand for silence and they immediately obeyed. Their eyes, however, showed their intense anger and offense at the wrong perpetrated on Private Raj. They would not forget this terrible offense.

            “It is our standard operating procedure to have a medical specialist included on every mission,” Roy said.

            “Crazy Horse can handle any medical issues that come up,” Parris said.

            “It is not that simple,” Roy tried to reason. “My men will only allow Corporal Raj to attend them should they be injured.” He looked at Moses. “No offense, Petty Officer Moses.”

            Moses shrugged. “None taken, Captain.”     

            Roy was not accustomed to discussing such things in front of enlisted men, but Parris had allowed no attempt at decorum through talking to him privately. So he was now being forced to defend his men’s honor openly. “You might have communicated your concern earlier.”

            “Your command was adamant about not releasing personal information. Security considerations from your people stopped my people from being able to check out each of your men’s backgrounds. We weren’t given your team’s roster until your bird was in the air. It looks like some bureaucrat made the decision that we did not have a need to know.”

            Roy looked at his other men, then at Private Raj. “I intend to register an official complaint.”