Hunt of the Sea Wolves

Maritime Security Centre

Early this morning a Thailand flagged fishing vessel (Thai Union 3) was under attack by two skiffs in the Position about 200 nautical miles north of the Seychelles and 650 miles off the Somali coast. The European Union Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) Maritime Patrol Aircraft based in the Seychelles was tasked for further investigations.

At 5.30 UTC the EU NAVFOR Maritime Patrol Aircraft made visual contact with the fishing vessel and confirmed that pirates were on board. Skiffs used by pirates have been sighted onboard the fishing vessel. EU NAVFOR will continue to monitor the vessel that now appears to be heading towards the Somali coast.

Adding this fishing vessel to the total number, this makes 8 ships in total held by criminals at the Somali Coastline.

DC Velocity

A 17,000-ton container ship loaded with food and relief supplies might seem an unlikely setting for high drama on the open seas. But that’s precisely what the cargo ship Maersk Alabama became last April when four heavily armed Somali pirates boarded the vessel using ropes and grappling hooks. The story that unfolded over the next five days is well known: Within hours of the attack, the crew took back control of the vessel, but the pirates escaped, taking the ship’s captain hostage. For four tense days, the captain and his captors bobbed about the Indian Ocean in an orange lifeboat, until U.S. Navy SEAL marksmen ended the standoff and rescued the captain.

Seven months later, the incident may have faded from the headlines, but pirate attacks along Somalia’s coast haven’t abated. In fact, they appear to have escalated. According to the latest quarterly report from the International Maritime Bureau, 147 incidents were reported off the Somali coast (including the busy Gulf of Aden) in the first nine months of this year, compared with 63 in the same period the previous year. And the threat is unlikely to subside anytime soon.

Piracy, and the threat of piracy, has serious implications for maritime commerce—and for a maritime nation like the United States that depends on oceangoing vessels to deliver everything from oil and petroleum to low-cost Asian-made goods. And it’s not just about the potential to snarl global supply chains and drive up costs. What’s at stake here is nothing less than freedom of the seas.

Read entire story at DC Velocity

Reuters

Somali pirates holding two Britons captive aboard a yacht off the coast of the Horn of Africa nation warned Britain not to try to rescue the couple. 

The Chandlers

The pirates seized the vessel on Friday morning hundreds of miles out to sea near the Seychelles archipelago. They have taken it to the Somali coast with a view to demanding a ransom for their captives.

“If warships surround us, we shall point our guns at the British tourists. They are old and we will take care of them — that is if we are not attacked,” said a pirate called Hassan in the coastal town of Haradheere.

Paul and Rachel Chandler, both in their 50s, left the Seychelles aboard their 38-foot yacht, Lynn Rival, on Oct. 22 and were believed to be sailing towards the east African coast.

Read entire story at Reuters

Related story: “We’ll burn their bones.”

Times Online

For the pirates of Somalia buccaneering is a business, one that United Nations investigators called “the most lucrative economic activity” in the country.

Hostages are valuable and often well treated until a ransom is paid and they are handed over. As negotiations rumble on they spend weeks or months kept in safe houses in busy seaside towns, eating pasta and camel meat.

Although Islamist groups such as al-Shabaab operate with a large degree of freedom in Somalia and are eager to capture Westerners there have been no cases of hostages handed from pirates to extremists.

Read entire story at Times Online

Science Christain Monitor

Somali pirates kidnapped a British couple who were sailing through the east African Seychelles islands, the latest incident in a week that saw three ships seized off Africa’s eastern coast.

The pirates say they will soon issue a ransom demand to the couple’s family.

But the family has said that the couple, Rachel and Paul Chandler, were traveling on a “shoestring” budget and cannot afford a hefty ransom payment.

This latest incident helped to underscore that, while hijackings off the Somali coast have become more frequent, so too has the international response become more robust: Naval ships of several countries are speeding to the area where the couple was kidnapped, backed by unmanned drones, while British special forces have been put on standby for a possible rescue mission.

The Chandlers, said to be avid and experienced seafarers, have been sailing around the world for three years. They were on their way to Tanzania last week. But their trip came to an abrupt end Wednesday, when they entered the troubled waters surrounding the Seychelles, known to be frequented by Somali pirates.

Read entire story at Science Christian Monitor

EU NAVFOR

In the afternoon of October 27th 2009, 350 nautical miles east of Mogadishu, Somalia a French Fishing Vessel was attacked by pirates in two attack skiffs. The pirates opened fire on the Fishing Vessel. Her embarked military Vessel Protection Detachment (VPD) fired warning shots after which the pirates broke of their attack.

The EU NAVFOR German warship FGS Karlsruhe, on anti-piracy patrol in the area, was ordered to set course to the attack position. Simultaneously, the helicopter of EU NAVFOR Spanish warship ESPS Canarias, also on anti-piracy patrol, was launched and relocated two fast attack skiffs trying to flee the area of the attack.

The helicopter fired warning shots to stop both skiffs, after which the pirates stopped and were seen throwing items, presumably pirate paraphernalia, overboard. On arrival of FGS Karlsruhe her boarding team secured both skiffs, and found seven persons on board of the two skiffs. The French Fishing vessel was requested to return to the scene to identify their attackers. Upon their statements the seven suspected pirates were detained on board FGS Karlsruhe.

FGS Karlsruhe and ESPS Canarias take part in the EU NAVFOR mission Operation ATALANTA. The main tasks of Operation ATALANTA are to escort merchant vessels carrying food of the ‘World Food Program’ (WFP), the protection of vulnerable ships in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean and to deter and disrupt piracy.

Taiwan News

About 100 Muslim rebels attacked a camp of Philippine marines Thursday, sparking a clash that killed four combatants on a southern island where two U.S. soldiers died in a land mine blast this week. The Philippines’ volatile southern region is plagued by several rebel and terrorist movements, and American troops have been there since 2002 to help fight them.

Thursday’s attack with mortar and gunfire appeared to be the work of the Moro National Liberation Front, a movement that has signed a peace accord with the government, an official said.

A marine officer and three rebels were killed in the fighting near Jolo Island’s remote Panamao township, regional military commander Maj. Gen. Benjamin Dolorfino said.

Nine other Philippine marines were wounded, including one who was airlifted to a military hospital in southern Zamboanga city. The marines recovered four assault rifles at the scene of the clash, Dolorfino said.

The Moro National Liberation Front signed a 1996 peace deal with the government, dropping secessionist demands for limited autonomy. The guerrillas, however, refused to disarm and have occasionally clashed with troops on Jolo, a poor, predominantly Muslim island about 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of Manila.

Read entire story at Taiwan Times

Business Daily

 Increased pirate attacks along the Somali waters has pushed up global piracy figures surpassing last year’s, according to the latest International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB) report.

The reports says that 306 attacks were reported to the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (PRC) in the first nine months of 2009, while in 2008, the total number of attacks for the year was 293.

It also reveals that incidents in which guns were used had risen by more than 200 per cent, compared to the corresponding period in 2008.

Read entire story at Business Daily

Fox News

 Somali pirates said Tuesday they have seized a British couple and their yacht in the Indian Ocean during their round-the-world voyage. The couple had been missing for four days.

Fears for the safety of Paul and Rachel Chandler from Tunbridge Wells have been mounting since the emergency beacon aboard their 38-foot yacht the Lynn Rival went off last week.

“We have captured two old British [people], a man and woman in the Indian Ocean, they were on a small boat that we have hijacked,” a pirate called Mohamed Shakir told The Times of London by phone from Haradheere in Somalia.

Read entire story at Fox News

MSNBC

U.S. military surveillance drones based in the Seychelles islands are patrolling off Somalia’s coast in hopes of stemming a rising piracy trade.

US Air Force Reaper

Pirates have unleashed a wave of attacks in recent days as the new pirate season begins. Monsoons kept pirates off the water in recent months.

The bandits seized three ships in the last 10 days, and officials say attacks will rise.