Pirates?

"Avast Ye Swabs...Arggggggg"


Just when travelers thought that they could avoid terrorism by taking cruises rather than flying, "Pirates" attacked and attempted to board a cruise liner off the coast of Africa yesterday.

NAIROBI -- Pirates fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at a US-owned cruise ship carrying more than 300 people in the Indian Ocean yesterday, but no one was hurt, its owners said.

Men in two small boats approached the Seabourn Cruise Line ship Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast, fired on it, and tried to board in an apparent bid to rob passengers and crew, cruise line spokesman Bruce Good said.

''I looked out of the window and saw a small boat with about five people in it about 20 yards away," said Norman Fisher, 55, a passenger.

''They were firing the rifle and then fired the rocket launcher twice. One of the rockets certainly hit the ship. It went through the side of the liner into a passenger's suite."

I looked into the specifications of The Seaborn Spirit on their website. It's quite a plush ship--what is known as a high end luxury cruise ship.

Seabourn Spirit - Ship facts:

Tonnage: 10,000
Length: 440 feet
Width: 63 feet
Draft: 16.5 feet
Speed: 18 knots
Passenger Capacity: 208 guests
Crew Capacity: 150

Notice that there are almost as many crew members as passengers? Having that much hired help hanging around makes me nervous.

It looks like that the cruise line is going to have to add some gunners mates to their crew listing and a couple of 50 calibre machine guns to the specification sheet.



A few grenade launchers wouldn't be a bad idea either, I think.

The sad thing about this story is that the cruise line had previous knowledge about pirates. In July of this year the US State Department issued the following warning:

U.S. citizens are urged to use caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia. Merchant vessels, fishing boats and recreational craft all risk seizure and having their crews held for ransom, especially in the waters near the Horn of Africa and the Kenyan border.

Don't get me wrong here--I like an exotic destination just like the next wealthy traveler, BUT...It seems to me to be a no brainer to not be floating around in this part of the world right now.

Of course all of the passengers were UNARMED, and at most the crew might have had a few shotguns used for trap and skeet shooting off the fantail while at sea.

I think that it would be safe to say that this was the last trip for the cruise line in this area of the Indian Ocean.