Don Burke
Contributor
150 dBA would be quite the scream.Kim:
Cruise ship attacked by pirates with pics!
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Daylonious
Señor Pantalones
I'm with Doc on this one.
$5000 to set sail on Celebrity Q-Ship Cruises... bag pirates with your personalized .50cal!
D.
$5000 to set sail on Celebrity Q-Ship Cruises... bag pirates with your personalized .50cal!
D.
SStrecker
Guest
The following detailed account of the incident was sent to me by Alan Fox, of Vacations To Go travel agency, regarding the recent Seabourn cruise ship piracy attack incident:
It is Saturday, November 5, 2005--daybreak on the Indian Ocean. In light seas and warm trade winds near the equator, the Seabourn Spirit glides silently toward its next port of call in Mombasa, Kenya.
Suddenly, sleeping passengers are jarred awake by a loud ping-ping-ping across the side of the ship. Within moments the Captain announces the unthinkable - the ship is under attack by armed men in speedboats, stay in your cabins, do not venture on deck, this is not a drill.
For 15 minutes, the eight-deck, 440-foot-long luxury ship with 151 passengers and 160 crew members takes fire from 8-10 armed thugs in two tiny boats. Machine gun bullets and at least two rocket-powered grenades strike the ship.
After anxious moments hunkered down in their suites, passengers are told to make their way to a dining room. The firing has stopped but the chase continues. The crew serves tea and coffee, and one passenger describes the scene there as "amazingly calm."
Up on the bridge, the Captain, still in his bathrobe, directs the ship's defense. A "boom machine" that emits earsplitting noise is aimed at the pirates. The military-grade sonic weapon is capable of causing permanent hearing damage at a distance of 300 meters. High-pressure water hoses are readied to repel any attempt to board the ship.
From the dining room, it's impossible to tell what is happening around the ship. The vessel lists sharply to one side and some passengers wonder if the Seabourn Spirit is taking on water. Later they learn that the listing was due to the Captain's aggressive evasive maneuvers. The sharp turns create wakes meant to swamp the speedboats, keeping them away from the ship. At one point the Captain reportedly turns the vessel sharply in the direction of a speedboat in an unsuccessful attempt to smash it.
Unable to board the ship or disable it, the pirates break off their chase after 45 minutes. The Seabourn Spirit sets a new course for the Seychelles and assesses damages. Fortunately there is only one casualty, a shrapnel injury to a crew member working to defend the ship.
Barely out of the immediate area of the attack, the Seabourn Spirit receives a distress call from another ship reportedly under siege. Later, that mayday is determined to have been sent by the pirates themselves in an attempt to lure the ship back into danger.
Safe and sound and now out of harm's way, the passengers agree that the Captain, the officers and the crew performed brilliantly under fire.
* I wrote the preceding based on an eyewitness account from a passenger who prefers to remain anonymous.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have received many questions regarding the attack on the Seabourn Spirit. Following are what I believe to be the most important questions and my answers:
Where did the attack occur?
The ship was attacked about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia, the easternmost country on the continent of Africa. Somalia is a land where chaos and violence reign, part of the so-called Horn of Africa. Somalia has no central government and is divided into regions ruled by rival warlords.
Was the attack the work of terrorists?
That does not appear likely. The statements I have read from the International Maritime Bureau and other experts indicate Somali pirates were to blame. Numerous lightly manned freighters and small vessels have been seized and held for ransom near the coast. Apparently, lawlessness has now moved much farther offshore.
How could small speedboats operate so far from shore?
Most experts believe there is a pirate "mother ship" from which these boats were launched, possibly a ship that was seized and kept by the pirates. There have been reported sightings of the mother ship.
What steps are cruise lines taking to protect their passengers?
Passenger safety is the number one priority of every cruise line, and cruise ship security was increased after 9-11. Aside from the sonic weapon and water hoses described above, which have been widely reported, cruise lines understandably do not provide details of the security measures they take to protect their passengers.
Have there been other pirate attacks on cruise ships?
No pirate attacks that I can recall, but back in the 1980s, there were terrorist attacks on two Mediterranean cruise ships, the Italian Achille Lauro and the Greek City of Poros, in which a total of 10 people were killed. Since that time, more than 50 million people have sailed on tens of thousands of cruises to all areas of the world, in peace.
How will this affect cruising?
Out of 11,000 annual cruise departures, only a handful pass the Somali coast. I expect that any cruise operated in this part of the world will give this country a very wide berth for a very long time. Beyond that, cruising is one of the safest forms of travel and the most enjoyable way to see the world, and I don't expect that to change.
It is Saturday, November 5, 2005--daybreak on the Indian Ocean. In light seas and warm trade winds near the equator, the Seabourn Spirit glides silently toward its next port of call in Mombasa, Kenya.
Suddenly, sleeping passengers are jarred awake by a loud ping-ping-ping across the side of the ship. Within moments the Captain announces the unthinkable - the ship is under attack by armed men in speedboats, stay in your cabins, do not venture on deck, this is not a drill.
For 15 minutes, the eight-deck, 440-foot-long luxury ship with 151 passengers and 160 crew members takes fire from 8-10 armed thugs in two tiny boats. Machine gun bullets and at least two rocket-powered grenades strike the ship.
After anxious moments hunkered down in their suites, passengers are told to make their way to a dining room. The firing has stopped but the chase continues. The crew serves tea and coffee, and one passenger describes the scene there as "amazingly calm."
Up on the bridge, the Captain, still in his bathrobe, directs the ship's defense. A "boom machine" that emits earsplitting noise is aimed at the pirates. The military-grade sonic weapon is capable of causing permanent hearing damage at a distance of 300 meters. High-pressure water hoses are readied to repel any attempt to board the ship.
From the dining room, it's impossible to tell what is happening around the ship. The vessel lists sharply to one side and some passengers wonder if the Seabourn Spirit is taking on water. Later they learn that the listing was due to the Captain's aggressive evasive maneuvers. The sharp turns create wakes meant to swamp the speedboats, keeping them away from the ship. At one point the Captain reportedly turns the vessel sharply in the direction of a speedboat in an unsuccessful attempt to smash it.
Unable to board the ship or disable it, the pirates break off their chase after 45 minutes. The Seabourn Spirit sets a new course for the Seychelles and assesses damages. Fortunately there is only one casualty, a shrapnel injury to a crew member working to defend the ship.
Barely out of the immediate area of the attack, the Seabourn Spirit receives a distress call from another ship reportedly under siege. Later, that mayday is determined to have been sent by the pirates themselves in an attempt to lure the ship back into danger.
Safe and sound and now out of harm's way, the passengers agree that the Captain, the officers and the crew performed brilliantly under fire.
* I wrote the preceding based on an eyewitness account from a passenger who prefers to remain anonymous.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have received many questions regarding the attack on the Seabourn Spirit. Following are what I believe to be the most important questions and my answers:
Where did the attack occur?
The ship was attacked about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia, the easternmost country on the continent of Africa. Somalia is a land where chaos and violence reign, part of the so-called Horn of Africa. Somalia has no central government and is divided into regions ruled by rival warlords.
Was the attack the work of terrorists?
That does not appear likely. The statements I have read from the International Maritime Bureau and other experts indicate Somali pirates were to blame. Numerous lightly manned freighters and small vessels have been seized and held for ransom near the coast. Apparently, lawlessness has now moved much farther offshore.
How could small speedboats operate so far from shore?
Most experts believe there is a pirate "mother ship" from which these boats were launched, possibly a ship that was seized and kept by the pirates. There have been reported sightings of the mother ship.
What steps are cruise lines taking to protect their passengers?
Passenger safety is the number one priority of every cruise line, and cruise ship security was increased after 9-11. Aside from the sonic weapon and water hoses described above, which have been widely reported, cruise lines understandably do not provide details of the security measures they take to protect their passengers.
Have there been other pirate attacks on cruise ships?
No pirate attacks that I can recall, but back in the 1980s, there were terrorist attacks on two Mediterranean cruise ships, the Italian Achille Lauro and the Greek City of Poros, in which a total of 10 people were killed. Since that time, more than 50 million people have sailed on tens of thousands of cruises to all areas of the world, in peace.
How will this affect cruising?
Out of 11,000 annual cruise departures, only a handful pass the Somali coast. I expect that any cruise operated in this part of the world will give this country a very wide berth for a very long time. Beyond that, cruising is one of the safest forms of travel and the most enjoyable way to see the world, and I don't expect that to change.
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