To get the disclaimers out of the way first: Hunt them down, kill them, burn their bodies, and level any ports that grant them asylum. Make it so incredibly costly that the governments that turn a blind eye to the piracy off their shores will start cracking down on the pirates on their own - then we'll start seeing less of these stories.(CNN) -- A round-the-world boating adventure ended tragically Tuesday for four Americans, whom pirates shot to death after capturing their yacht in the Indian Ocean last week, U.S. officials said.
The 58-foot vessel, named the Quest, was being shadowed by the military after pirates captured the ship off the coast of Oman on Friday. Officials had said earlier Tuesday it was less than two days from the Somali coast.
What puzzles me, though, is this:
The Adams, Macay and Riggle had been traveling with yachts participating in the Blue Water Rally since their departure from Phuket, Thailand, rally organizers said Sunday on the event's website. The group, which organizes long-distance group cruises, said the Quest broke off on February 15 after leaving Mumbai, India, to take a different route.In one of the more dangerous sections of the world, they leave the group to go off on their own? I understand the call of the open sea (even if I've never felt it myself, odd though it may be living so close and all), but there needs to be some semblance of sanity and/or self-preservation. Sailing through waters where pirates are known to congregate in a large yacht flying American flags is just ripe for problems. Not that they deserved what happened - far from it - but that, yet again, a little common sense could have prevented a senseless tragedy.
Now, let's see the remaining pirates hanging from a yardarm...
That is all.
17 comments:
One interesting item made it into the article; this is particularly notable in that details at this level don't normally make the press:
"In the process of clearing the vessel, U.S. forces killed two others, one with a knife, Fox said."
Wow: Working through a small vessel, already knowing there are a fair number of bad guys on board - and taking one out with a knife? I suspect there's a story within this story that we may never learn...
Meanwhile, it's clear this team had the right skills to effectively handle this situation - and used them.
"Meanwhile, it's clear this team had the right skills to effectively handle this situation - and used them." too late!
I completely, wholeheartedly disagree, as someone who has actually stood anti-piracy watches. The Navy had no reason to rush aboard this vessel. Although the crew were involved in a distance race, they were also working as missionaries as well (something that didn't make the NY times version of this story). Even so, this is besides the point. Escalation of military response to pirate attacks has come with a VERY low survival rate for hostage crew. What the fuck is the point of attacking the vessel if there's never any hostages that survive the attack? I have to conclude that the US military is less interested in saving lives and more interested in preserving the shipowners' cargo.
If anyone is interested in what mariners actually experience and worry about when transiting pirate-infested waters, check this out.
http://oldsaltshaker.blogspot.com/2011/02/jaccuse.html
This piece is written by a VERY respected and senior captain involved in international shipping.
AND, finally, a caveat- it wasn't the pirates who killed these four people. It was the US Navy who fucked the dog here, by instituting overly aggressive policies in the name of protecting us all from a god-damned sailboat.
Actually, Paul, they killed themselves via Darwin as in let's take our big boat into dangerous waters and hope for a change...
And IF any government was serious about this problem, it would disappear overnight along with whatever parts of the Somali coast is supporting the pirates.
well being they're being held on the Enterprise, I don't think carriers have yardarms. But they do have catapults...
A 68 foot boat is NOT a big boat, just anyone who has done some offshore sailing.
My understanding is that the Pirates fired an RPG at Navy RIB filled with Marines. Not the best idea.
....and as every Marine knows, 100 years ago we knew how to deal with Pirates........
.....and it didn't involve trials back in the USA.
There are Ports in Somilia that sorely need to learn the hard way about " ...the shores of Tripoli..."
opps should be 200 years ago
"What the fuck is the point of attacking the vessel if there's never any hostages that survive the attack?"
To make sure that no pirates ever survive the attack.
Yes, make every possible effort to try to rescue the hostages, but the primary mission should be to kill every pirate who sets foot on an American flagged vessel, as quickly as possible.
The only negotiation that should take place (maybe) is "Surrender now, and you live. Make us come over there and you'll regret it, but you might live. Harm even one hostage and every one of your lifeless carcasses will hang from our rigging until it rots away, as an example to your fellows."
In the end, that is what will stop pirate attacks on American ships - making the risk not worth the reward. Allowing the pirates to dictate our responses only encourages them to do it again.
Also:
"AND, finally, a caveat- it wasn't the pirates who killed these four people. It was the US Navy who fucked the dog here, by instituting overly aggressive policies in the name of protecting us all from a god-damned sailboat."
Bullshit.
It was the pirates who chose to board and capture the boat, and it was the pirates who chose to pull the triggers. Not one single other person is responsible for the deaths of these people. Only the pirates. They knew they could have surrendered without killing anyone. They chose to murder them anyway.
I only hope the ones that were captured receive the reward they so richly deserve.
Jay, I wrote this earlier this morning.
Seems on this, we're of a mind.
http://smokeonthewater.typepad.com/smokeonthewater/2011/02/to-the-shores-of-tripoli.html
And yes, you can pick your dentures up off the floor. Smoke on the Water has a new post, after well over a year away.
Jim
Sunk New Dawn
Galveston, TX
wv= "matie" Not quite accurate, but nautical enough for today's purposes.
There is a lot more to this than is being said in the media... suffice to say, once again the Navy was NOT allowed to act until it was too late... dammit
Hard to find too much sympathy for Americans sailing into Pirate-infested waters. Besides, weren't these the same idiots who decided to separate from the safety of the bigger armada? This is like when fools go hiking in and around Iraq or Afghanistan and expect not to get abducted. Unfortunate? Yes. Tragic? Hardly. Tragedy is when an innocent person is killed by a drive-by shooting or a child gets cancer. This is just plain stupidity.
With OldNFO. Not enough facts. As for sailing INTO Pirate infested waters, that's also weird. But I've a sneaky suspicion that some White House Weasel tried to Micromanage this particular case. Wish these fools who think they know it all would let the Pros do their jobs. Elections have consequences.
Well based on the article I read (which admittedly is not the most detailed of sources) the military didn't move in until *after* the gunfire started.
Also, why should we waste fuel to burn the bodies when piling them up with some pig guts and leaving them to rot in the sun would work just as well?
I'll think you would be surprised at the very few pirate free waters in the world.
I'm of the opinion that once your held hostage you are already dead.
Gerry
Gerry raises an interesting point. Small vessels regularly get chased today in the Pacific approaches to the Panama Canal, around Cape Horn and from the Cape of Good Hope all the way to the far side of India and around some of the smaller Caribbean islands closer to home.
I'm not going to debate the decisions that led someone to take a sailboat close to the shores of Africa, except that there's no way to avoid sailing in pirate-prone waters if you're transiting the Suez canal or anywhere between India and Africa, regardless of distance from shore.
The odd exception aside, virtually all victims of piracy are merchant mariners like me, and the one thing that stands out like a fart in a car to me is that over time, more sailors are being tortured and killed, and it's grossly ignorant to say that this is related to anything but policies that promote security theatre at sea. Again, if this situation happened on land, the outcomes would be vastly different- more sailors would survive. Unfortunately, in the name of protecting shipowners, merchant sailors are being burned up like cordwood in the name of putting on a good show for the media.
There's also some comments floating (pardon) around that when you have a bunch of 19 year old, armed, qat-using guys on a small boat, two of whom have already died, nothing good is going to happen.
Oh, and just to add my $.02 on piracy cures - if you drown while swimming back from a failed attack, you don't get the same reward as if you "die for the faith." Just an inter-cultural observation, not a suggestion or anything.
LittleRed1
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