Photograph: AP

The current recommended response on a merchant ship on being boarded by pirates is to radio a distress call,  disable the ship’s engines and to retreat into a “citadel,” a safe locked-down space aboard the ship and await either rescue or until the pirates simply give up and go away.   That is exactly what the officers and crew of the MV Montecristo did when boarded by pirates last week.

Once they retreated to the citadel, however, they apparently lacked a means to communicate with their NATO rescuers. Whether they neglected to bring portable radios or batteries into the citadel is not clear. Lacking all else, they relied on a more traditional means of communication - they stuffed a message in a bottle, stuck a flashing beacon on top and threw the bottle out a port hole into the sea. When NATO forces retrieved the bottle and learned that the crew was safe and secure behind locked doors, they launched a raid on the ship and captured the pirates.

Message in a Bottle: Old-School S.O.S. Helps Rescue Hijacked Ship

Thanks to Irwin Bryan for passing the story along.

Fighting Pirates with USVs

Marie Didieu's house at Ras Gitau on Manda Island. Photograph: Simon Maina/AFP/Getty Images

Marie Didieu, a disabled  66-year-old French woman, was kidnapped yesterday from her vacation home on Manda Island, part of the Lamu archipelago, not far from where a British tourist was killed and his wife abducted three weeks ago.  The kidnappers arrived and departed by speedboat early Saturday morning.  They were pursued by Kenyan naval craft but escaped to Somalia.

Last month, David Tebbutt was killed and his wife Judith was kidnapped from Kiwayu Safari Village, an exclusive Kenyan resort, not far from Mandu Island.  Judith Tebbutt is believed to be being held in central Somalia, by a pirate gang.   The British Foreign Office has issued a warning to British citizens to stay away from all Kenyan beaches within 93 miles (150km) of the border with Somalia.  The French government also warned its citizens against visiting Lamu.

The identity of the kidnappers is unclear. The Somali coast near the Kenyan border is believed to be controlled by the Islamist group al-Shabab.  Nevertheless, reports that Judith Tebbutt is being held by by a pirate gang in Central Somali may suggest cooperation between the two groups.

British tourist Judith Tebbutt, kidnapped last week from an exclusive Kenyan resort, is believed to be being held in central Somalia, by a pirate gang. Her husband, David Tebbutt, was killed in the pirate attack last week.  British Tourist, Kidnapped in Kenya, May Be in Central Somalia

The containership MSC Luciana which ran aground on Monday on a sand bar in the Westerschelde was towed off the sand bank at high tide that evening with the assistance of around nine tugs, and proceeded to Zeebrugge for underwater hull inspection.

Thanks to Dirk Bal and  Alaric Bond for providing updates.

MATTHEOS I , Photo: J Dohrn, MarineTraffic.com

Earlier this week the 45,000 DWT tanker, Mattheos I, with a crew of 23, was hijacked off Benin in the Gulf of Guinea.  According to the IMB Piracy Center, this year there have been 19 pirate attacks on ships in the Gulf of Guinea as compared to zero last year.

Armed Pirates Hijack a Fuel Tanker Off Benin and Take 23 Crew Members Hostage

While hijackings in the region still pale in comparison with the piracy scourge off Somalia, on the other side of the continent, the attacks have alarmed shippers and insurers. Last month, Lloyd’s Market Association, a group of insurers in London, added the coastal waters off Benin and part of Nigeria to a high-risk category that also includes Somalia’s coast. 

Cyrus Mody, manager of the International Maritime Bureau, attributed the rise in piracy in the Gulf of Guinea to a crackdown on fuel thieves in Nigeria, a leading oil exporter. He said the effort had forced the thieves to move to neighboring Benin, whose government has little ability to police its coast. “We believe there’s a high probability of an extension of Nigerian pirates moving away from their own playground,” he said.

Although the hostages taken in these attacks have generally been released within 72 hours and none have been killed, Mr. Mody said the pirates were not gentle with captives. “These instances are very short, very fast and quite violent — rifle butts to the head, lashing with cables, that sort of violence,” he said.

Michael G. Frodl, the founder and head of C-LEVEL Maritime Risks, a Washington-based risks consultancy that advises maritime industry interests, said the rise in Gulf of Guinea piracy also reflected a general increase in economic misery, as well as the role model created by successful Somali pirate groups, who have been able to exact millions of dollars in ransoms from shippers.

In Somalia, Mr. Frodl said, pirates can act with far greater impunity because there is basically no government in that country. 

“The one thing that’s going to hold back the development of a ransom model in Western Africa is the fact that these coastal countries still have law and order, and it’s going to be hard to hold on to a ship for more than a few days,” he said.

Somali Pirates Free 7 Danes

In February, the sailing vessel Quest was hijacked by pirates

Yemeni man pleads guilty in pirate hijacking that killed 4 Americans

Photo: giorgi112 at Vesseltracker

It has long been predicted and now it has happened – a pirate attack has set fire to a loaded oil tanker.  On Wednesday morning, pirates operating in the Gulf of Aden attacked the Suezmax tanker,  Brillante Virtuoso, firing a rocket propelled grenade into the deck house, setting the ship on fire.   The ship is loaded with 141,000 tonnes of fuel oil bound from the Ukraine to Qingdao in China.  There are reports that the fire is now under control or extinguished.  Tradewinds reports that firefighting tugs are on scene.

Vesseltracker reports:  The vessel was attacked by pirates about 20 miles from Aden in southern Yemen while approaching the port to take onboard unarmed guards. A fire broke out on the bridge and crew quarters during the attack, forcing both pirates and crew members to abandon the vessel. All crew members believed to be 26 Filipinos escaped safely, as did the seven pirates who had boarded. The crew are now in a lifeboat, and a US warship reportedly the USS Philippine Sea – from the Combined Task Force is en-route to assist, the navy source said.   The crude oil tanker is owned by the Athens-based Suez Fortune Investments and she is managed by Central Mare Inc, also of Athens. 

In most cases the answer would be “no.”  A recent operation by the US Navy against Somali pirates demonstrates the difference in approach and outcome.

On March 24th, the M/V Falcon Trader II was under attack by pirates in the Arabian Sea. The aircraft carrier USS Enterprise and the guided missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf responded. A helicopter was dispatched which fired warning shots at the pirates onboard the Falcon Trader II.   The pirates fled, firing at the helicopter which did not return fire.  The pirates fled to the mother ship.  While the Navy congratulated itself on a job well done,  the pirates remain free to attack other ships that may come along.

U.S. Navy Disrupts Pirate Attempt In Arabian Sea

Maewyn Succat

We have been posting a lot about piracy and kidnapping recently.  Today is a reminder about how little things change over the centuries.  Somewhere around the year 400 AD, a lad of 16, named Maewyn Succat, was kidnapped by pirates from his home in Britain and was taken as a slave to Ireland.  He was a slave for six years, during which time he converted to Christianity.   He finally escaped and returned to his family in England.  He  became a priest and studied at a seminary in France.   When he was almost 60, he returned to Ireland.  By then Pope Celestine I had given him the name “Patercius” or “Patritius.”    We know him better these days as Patrick.   He did alright in Ireland.   He founded over three hundred churches and apparently had a way with snakes.   Today is his feast day.  Happy St. Patrick’s Day to all.