Pirates Attack Cruise Ship!

[dc-farer]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/05/somalia.pirates/index.html

 

Cruise liner fends off pirate attack

 

By CNNRadio's Matt Cherry and Amanda Moyer

Saturday, November 5, 2005; Posted: 4:41 a.m. EST (09:41 GMT)

 

(CNN) -- A luxury cruise line will re-evaluate whether to offer future cruises off the coast of Somalia after pirates attempted to attack one of its ships early Saturday.

 

The modern-day pirates were in two small boats and carrying machine guns and a rocket-propelled grenade when they attempted the attack on Seabourn Cruise Lines' "Spirit" about 5:35 a.m. local time Saturday, Deborah Natansohn, president of the cruise line, told CNNRadio.

The ship was carrying 150 passengers and a crew of about 160.

The ship, she said, immediately instituted its emergency response system. "The occupants of those boats did not succeed in boarding the ship and eventually turned away ... our captain and crew did a terrific job taking responsive action."

Passenger Mike Rogers of Vancouver, Canada, said the pirates were shooting and sending rockets at the boat.

"The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 25 feet long," he told CNNRadio affiliate CKNW in Vancouver.

"Each one had four or five people on it, and (the captain) said he was going to do anything to keep them from getting on board."

The captain, however, did not hit the alarm button to alert passengers of the emergency, Rogers said.

"He announced it over the speakers, because he was scared people would run up on deck, and he didn't want people on deck because they would have been shot."

The cruise ship eventually outran the pirates' boats, Natansohn said. One person suffered minor injuries, she said, but did not elaborate.

"There's some minor damage done to the ship," Rogers said. "There's no water right now, for instance, in some places, and I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."

The boat is now en route to the Seychelles Islands, Natansohn said.

On Thursday, the United Nations' World Food Programme warned that hijackings off the coast of Somalia were restricting the delivery of needed food assistance to the country.

"The southern Somali coastline is one of the most dangerous in the world," the WFP said on its Web site.

"In recent months, WFP's operations in Somalia have been sabotaged by the hijackings of two vessels carrying relief food. Ship owners are now demanding armed escorts to travel in these waters."

Natansohn said efforts were underway Saturday to locate the pirates. "We have notified U.S., Canadian and Australian authorities, because most of our passengers come from those three countries, as well as local authorities in Africa."

"Seabourn 'Spirit' has offered itineraries in that part of the world before, but we'll obviously be looking at the incident to determine what to do in the future," she said.

Rogers said, "we're always looking for adventure, but this is probably a little more than we would normally look for."

[MollyBrown]

Seabourn is a Cunard ship, is it not? It is now owned by Carnival anyway.

[Calliope]

Yes, Seabourn is owned by Carnival, and at one time it was "grouped" with Cunard by Carnival Corp. Now it is Cunard that is "grouped" with Princess and Seabourn is seemingly on it's own.

[dc-farer]

More about the attack from today's Los Angeles Times:

 

Pirates Attack Cruise Ship Off Horn of Africa

 

By Carol J. Williams, Times Staff Writer

 

MIAMI — Pirates attacked a luxury cruise ship off the Horn of Africa on Saturday, waking passengers with a sunrise fusillade of grenades and gunshots before the ship's crew outran the two boats carrying the assailants, the Miami-based cruise line reported.

 

None of the 151 passengers aboard the Seabourn Spirit were injured in the 5:30 a.m. assault, but one crewman was hit by shrapnel and the ship sustained minor damage, Seabourn Cruise Line spokesman Bruce Good said in Miami.

 

Charles Supple, a retired Palm Springs physician on board, gave an account of the showdown in an e-mail to his son in Sacramento shortly after the vessel reached safer waters. The ship was en route from Egypt to Kenya and was sailing off the coast of Somalia when "all hell broke loose," he said.

 

The north coast of Somalia has been beset for years by pirate attacks on cargo ships, including several recent raids on vessels carrying humanitarian aid to the strife-torn region. But Saturday's attack was a rare assault on a leisure vessel.

 

"The captain came on the loudspeaker, telling everyone that there were 'unfriendly' vessels on the starboard side and to stay in our rooms. The plink of bullets on the side was very noticeable," Supple, 78, said.

 

Supple said he had grabbed his camera and was peering out his stateroom window when he saw a pirate with a rocket-propelled-grenade launcher "aim seemingly at me and fire. What a flash! I dove to the other side and the rocket hit two decks up and two staterooms forward."

 

The pirates, four or five in each of the 25-foot boats, continued firing and trying to board the ship.

 

The captain ordered all passengers to assemble in an interior lounge for safety, and the ship accelerated, Supple recounted, in what appeared to be an attempt to ram the assailants. The ship then took off at full speed, he said.

 

"After 10 minutes or so, though it seemed like hours, we managed to pull away, as I think they were running out of gas to make it back to the shore," Supple said of the masked gunmen. "We suffered many broken windows, and the rocket I saw stuck in the side, leaving a big black area from the explosion, but no major damage."

 

Cruise industry officials praised the swift response of the 161-member crew and its Norwegian captain, Sven-Erik Pedersen. But they added that a thorough review and discussion about future operations in that area of the Indian Ocean would be undertaken.

 

"This reaffirms some of the precautions we've taken in the past as relates to staying away from certain areas," said Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, an industry association based in Arlington, Va. "But the fact that gunfire and pirates got close enough to even peripherally injure people, that's a lot closer than we'd like them."

 

Crye noted that the attack took place 70 miles off Somalia, a distance usually considered safe from the bands of thieves preying on the area.

 

Just two days earlier, the World Food Program had warned that piracy around Somalia was cutting off the flow of aid to the region because ship owners were demanding armed escorts.

 

Good said the cruise line did not know anything about the attackers, but officials presumed their motive was robbery.

 

The Bahamian-registered Seabourn Spirit was on a repositioning cruise, moving from the Mediterranean Sea through the Indian Ocean and eventually to Australia and New Zealand, where it will sail during the winter, Good said. Most passengers were on a 16-day trip from Alexandria, Egypt, to Mombasa, Kenya.

 

Supple and his girlfriend had been on board since mid-October and planned a safari after the Mombasa port call, his son, Chuck Supple, said.

 

Asked whether he expected his father to break off his travels scheduled to last until mid-December, the younger Supple replied: "Not my dad! He's quite intrepid. I'm sure he's got great pictures."

 

The Mombasa stop was canceled and the 440-foot Spirit sailed for the Seychelles, where Kenya-bound passengers would be put on a chartered flight to resume their itineraries, Seabourn officials said.

 

After allowing police to inspect the vessel and gather evidence, the ship will resume its course for Singapore, Good said, noting that the damage was mostly cosmetic and "nothing affecting its seaworthiness."

[Host Caroline]

Please post links to the stories instead of reproducing the story.. It's CC policy related to copyright issues.. I'm going to leave these for now but follow-ups please do by linking only?

thanks:)

[highcbob]

AND NOW THIS JUST IN:

 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1287288

[guernseyguy]

Crye noted that the attack took place 70 miles off Somalia, a distance usually considered safe from the bands of thieves preying on the area.

 

The US Maritime Administration advises that: "ALL VESSELS ARE ADVISED TO REMAIN AT LEAST 200 NM FROM THE EAST COAST OF SOMALIA"

 

see here: http://www.marad.dot.gov/headlines/advisories/ADV_0503.htm

 

Peter

[guernseyguy]

And in late October the International Maritime Bureau advised of "an unprecedented increase in the number of serious attacks off Somalia. Recently two vessels have been attacked around 90 miles off the coast over two consecutive days by pirates."

 

See here: http://www.icc-ccs.org/main/news.php?newsid=57

 

So, one has to ask oneself, what were they doing 70nm off the Coast?

 

Peter

[Host Caroline]

And in late October the International Maritime Bureau advised of "an unprecedented increase in the number of serious attacks off Somalia. Recently two vessels have been attacked around 90 miles off the coast over two consecutive days by pirates."

 

See here: http://www.icc-ccs.org/main/news.php?newsid=57

 

So, one has to ask oneself, what were they doing 70nm off the Coast?

 

Peter

 

I agree! and only 160 pax onboard so obviously the ship was NOT full.. sorry, but that's an itin I would not do just now anyway. According to one of our law partners who has done maritime Seabourn aka Carnival Corp. could have some serious issues on this one depending on what the passengers decide to do.. the maritime "200 mile" thing has been in effect for a while and at least since the attack on the UN ship (which oddly I do not remember hearing about and consider myself fairly well informed). You have to wonder what the captain was thinking?? Maybe a "straighter sail" to Seychelles? Kudos to getting himself out of it though.. My neighbors 21-yr old daughter is on her honeymoon in Thailand now and will be on Star Flyer next week..I don't know how one of those clippers would fare in the same situation...

[dc-farer]

I suppose this falls under the category of "small world". Turns out I'm acquainted with two of the people who were on that ship that was under attack. My ex-husband is still in touch with them, so perhaps we shall hear more upon their return to California. Here's an excerpt from an e-mail that another mutual acquaintance sent out:

 

To those of you who once worked for Los Angeles County or who know the name -- Harry Hufford, former County CAO...

Last night on my train ride home, I was reading an article from my Ventura County Star newspaper. The article was referring to Harry and Jan Hufford who related in an e-mail to their home (Oakmont, CA) what happened on their cruise Saturday. It was a luxury cruise liner that was targeted by armed pirates off the east African coast Saturday. Two boats full of pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns, approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast and opened fire while the bandits tried to get onboard. The Captain served the ship sharply to the left trying unsuccessfully to ram the oncoming boat and then took off at full speed. None of the 151 passengers were injured but one member of the 161-person crew was injured by shrapnel. According to the Huffords, the captain told passengers over the public address system around 5:30 am to lock themselves in their cabins. The captain later instructed passengers to gather in the ship's restaurant, and as the Huffords were leaving their cabin, they heard a heavy thud, the e-mail said. A rocket had hit a cabin nearby, "but it jammed in the metal balcony door frame and shattered the glass but fortunately exploded downward," the e-mail said. The Seabourn Spirit which sustained minor damage, was bound for Mombasa, Kenya, at the end of a 16-day voyage from Alexandria, Egypt. It was expected to reach the Seychelles Nov. 7 and then continue on its previous schedule to Singapore.

[dc-farer]

Here are excerpts from two other e-mails I received regarding the attacks. Whether the contention that this was an Al Qaeda operation is true or not, I really don't know...but it certainly is provocative and I've seen discussion of that possibility by various news sources outside the mainstream press.

 

Harry and Jan and all the rest onboard that ship are extremely lucky. They weren't attacked by mere pirates on the good olde bounding main. The pirate trade off Somalia is an al-Qaeda operation. AQ controls much of Somalia. AQ pirates have been plaguing merchant shipping in the area for quite some time. Attacking a passenger vessel was a notch up for them, albeit a

sloppily-executed one in this instance. You can just imagine the outcome had the "pirates" taken control of the ship.

 

I just heard Jan Hufford being interviewed on KNX, very detailed and articulate description of the incident with the pirates at sea. One of the deterents on board the ship was a sonar device that emits a high shrill sound that is defeaning to the ears. When pointed at attackers the sound forces them to get away from it ASAP. Nobody else can hear the sound except in the direction where it is pointed. This combined with the ship's captain putting the ship at full speed caused big wakes to topple the smaller attacking boats.