Hostages Taken off Somalia

[Ocean Girl]

I think a blockade is definitly in order. Frankly, why the heck aren't they doing that now? Good idea Eleven!
Erika

[MarkJ]

A blockade won't be easy Somalia has the longest coast line in Africa some 1,500 nms; its the 39th longest coast in teh world and longer than South Africa
List of countries by length of coastline - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blockade runners can run drugs in and out of the USA at will; and blockades were purvious in WW2 around small countires like Singapore, Malta etc and illegal immigrants can run amok in the USA, Australian and European waters.

IMHO Any attempt at blockading Somalia would economicaly unsustainable.
Just arrest them and take them to trial instead of putting them back in their boats like the Australians shamefully do.

[zeehag]

this has been an issue for long enough that anyone sailing there voluntarily is just asking for it---get real and avoid the bad spots on this earth until such time as they have been dealt with .......somalia has been a bad spot for many years--is nothing new---there have been piracy reports in other areas for decades---what is soooo difficult about avoidance and using common sense------

[Rhoel_Asia]

Originally Posted by zeehag

---what is soooo difficult about ... using common sense---

Avoidance is too easily said from the US west coast where there isn't a piracy problem.

As for commonsense, I recently I sat down and read their blog and other information. The considered opinion (although divided) in the Seychelles was the piracy has stopped in the area due to the onset of the SE Monsoon, which made the conditions for small open boats too dangerous. You might want to check out their route and blog [url=http://blog.mailasail.com/lynnrival]here{/url], as its interesting ... they had already sailed through the Gulf of Aden and taken a very wide berth of Somalia to get to Seychelles. Greenhorns they weren't.

Avoidance isn't an option for the Indian Ocean/South China Sea - they can get you anywhere: Last year a British sailor had his throat cut and body thrown overboard near the Thai/Malaysia border. That area of coast is both spectacular and popular with boats out of Singapore/Australia. The safety issue is the same for much of the Caribbean and Hook of Africa: Somalia are just more professional at the moment; Straits of Malacca are currently quieter.

What differentiates this attack is it appears to have happened 50' from a Royal Naval vessel who did nothing before running away, leaving another UN French warship to discover and report the abandoned vessel 5 days later.

We may never discover the full truth about who in the Navy and Foreign Office knew what. But according to one Southampton (UK) source, the leak was not from a rating but a RFA deck officer ... seems many RN are "disappointed" (naval language not allowed on this board) about what took place - they were in the right place at the right time, and were ordered to do nothing: As a combined international force, they failed to prevent what they were there for. Instead, they now find the event had been whitewashed.

Some serious questions need answering.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Rhoel_Asia

What differentiates this attack is it appears to have happened 50' from a Royal Naval vessel who did nothing before running away, leaving another UN French warship to discover and report the abandoned vessel 5 days later.

We may never discover the full truth about who in the Navy and Foreign Office knew what. But according to one Southampton (UK) source, the leak was not from a rating but a RFA deck officer ... seems many RN are "disappointed" (naval language not allowed on this board) about what took place - they were in the right place at the right time, and were ordered to do nothing: As a combined international force, they failed to prevent what they were there for. Instead, they now find the event had been whitewashed.

Some serious questions need answering.

Surely this is an exaggeration?..

[jdoe71]

Surely this is an exaggeration?..

Why would you think that? Political expediency trumps common sense regularly. Governments bury the truth daily. I worked for one for 28 years and personally saw the spin doctoring of the information being given out and got into some significant sh!t for trying to give out real facts.

In the story referenced there is no denial from the gov't spokesman, only the comment that they thought they did the best they could under the circumstances. Just another failure of a government to actually protect their citizens.

But I have to say I think it was a mistake to be anywhere near that area.

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by jdoe71

Why would you think that? Political expediency trumps common sense regularly. Governments bury the truth daily. I worked for one for 28 years and personally saw the spin doctoring of the information being given out and got into some significant sh!t for trying to give out real facts.

In the story referenced there is no denial from the gov't spokesman, only the comment that they thought they did the best they could under the circumstances. Just another failure of a government to actually protect their citizens.

But I have to say I think it was a mistake to be anywhere near that area.

WOW...it is hard to conceive isn't it...I cant fathom it myself...but I bet I would not want to believe half of what our governments world wide actually do.

Very sad state of affairs all around...

I will fault the media as much as politicians calling the shots for not giving the news to us straight most of the time but slanting it pandering to one side or the other...we need the light of truth shined on all shenanigan's and missed deeds no mater where it comes from.

[Ocean Girl]

Originally Posted by Rhoel_Asia

What differentiates this attack is it appears to have happened 50' from a Royal Naval vessel who did nothing before running away, leaving another UN French warship to discover and report the abandoned vessel 5 days later.

Soldiers don't run, politicians do. I know you were just trying to bring home a point, but it hits a nerve. Dissing the people who are following orders is not productive, diss the yahoo who gave that order. With a little research I bet you could come up with a name.
E

[Rhoel_Asia]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

Soldiers don't run, politicians do. I know you were just trying to bring home a point, but it hits a nerve. .... you could come up with a name.E

Possibly and I am not denigrating the guys on board - through my work in Southampton, I had an honorary officers rank and spent many hours out at sea with the Senior Service: The most scar incident was landing in a Sea King on the stern of a warship during a force 7 ... instruction was to bail out and hit the deck flat ... the pilot was using negative pitch to hold the helicopter on deck. Fast hair cut if you ignored the instruction.

The information I was given indicates there are plenty of Naval guys who are just as disappointed by the inaction. One would have thought that sustained burs of machine gun fire over their bows would be enough to convince the guys the kidnap was over - they were after all many miles away from the safety of their own ship and had they been run down, their position of power would have been over. As for the MOD statement, if the vessel had done so commendable well, why was there the need to silence the encounter?

As for the misinformation or spin: This is neither Misinformation would have been "RFA responded to the distress call and located the Chandler's yacht. When a boarding party checked the yacht, it was found to be empty." Both statements are true. It merely omits the "we saw them kidnapped." The lie is we don't know what happened. that appears to have wasted time and resources of other vessels and officials elsewhere.

Interestingly, many have proposed a Q ship solution. RFA's are not warships per say, they are supply vessels: That said, they are in effect Q ships, more than adequately armed and able to defend themselves. Yet despite their superior weaponry, they were unable to offer covering fire or otherwise protect the yacht.

Originally Posted by TOM

Jimmy Cornell would suggest a June/October departure from Darwin to arrive South Africa October via Christmas Island/Indonesia, Cocos Keeling, Mauritius and on to South Africa. Chagos could also be another stop. The SE trades would be on your back quarter.

I don't have his books here at present and my Admiralty Sailing directions are safety tucked up in a UK lockup. The Sri Lanka route was suggested for December departure. The Darwin route is interesting - I had looked at the Sunda Straits/Krakatoa option as the Straits of Malacca as still problematical. I also have relative living in Jakarta which adds weight to that crossing the equator early route. is the Jim Cornell information available online? A link would be appreciated.

But it will be two years before I need to worry, I'm still in build mode. Hopefully this current wave of Somali activity will have beem resolved by then.

[Boracay]

It may be a little unfair to infer that the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Knight had the ability to intervene. The boat in the photo above is not exactly bristling with firepower, and it is very unlikely that the 75 merchant seamen and 25 Royal Navy Sailors had the training or experience to do anything except watch.

I'd also guess that they were most likely following the pirate boats and only saw the initial contact from a considerable distance, arriving after the S/V Lynn Rival had been taken.

The VHF on S/V Lynn Rival may not have been turned on so it would not have been possible to warn them.

[Fishman_Tx]

Soldiers don't run, politicians do. I know you were just trying to bring home a point, but it hits a nerve. Dissing the people who are following orders is not productive, diss the yahoo who gave that order. With a little research I bet you could come up with a name.

True that, just follow the chain of command upwards. The litle bugger's up there somewhere.

[fishwife]

Is it too far fetched to think that our (British) government are happy to have examples of 'Islamic' piracy conflated with terrorism. It's also worth noting that there was a diplomatic mission to Somalia planned for a couple or so weeks after the couple were kidnapped. Perhaps they didn't want anything to 'disrupt' the negotiations, like half a dozen dead pirates.

Paige

[fishwife]

I have to post on this again, sorry. Like Rhoel, I have some understanding of the way things are done in the Navy. When a Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessel goes into harms way, they are given a covering vessel or a complement of Marines. The 25 Royal Navy 'Sailors' were likely to be Marines and armed to the teeth. They also had a helicopter which probably (likely) had a door mounted machine gun. I despair, I really do.

Paige

[Blue Stocking]

ANOTHER attempt to hi-jack the Maersk Alabama leaves me-----well, almost speechless!!
How does a right thinking person logic this out?
Are the pirates so individualistic in operations that no 2 know what ship is being attacked. I know its a large area of ocean --but--What the H*LL!!.
Do they think that the ship would not now be armed to the teeth?
Do they think that the Maersk Line is weak, and will continue to pay ransom?
The pirates are NOW complaining that the Warships outgun them
Surely we have reached some sort of an international law situation where an authorized vessel has the right to challenge what appears to be an imminent threat.
If they claim to be "fishing vessels" and are found to be carrying offensive weapons (RPGs, heavy machine guns, etc) this must account for something sinister. Where are the nets, the bait boxes, the longlines and floats? COME ON, NOW!!
I have done electrical work in the past on Korean fishing vessels working around Bermuda, and am yet to find any suggestion that these types of weapons are carried for "vessel protection " from outside threat.

[David_Old_Jersey]

I think the Pirates still have around a dozen ships held for ransom.

Although they no doubt still have the crew onboard as hostages I would still sink them at anchor Not with a 500lb bomb but in a reasonably controlled manner, if not from 30mm cannon into the waterline then by scuba diver planted explosives. Even if not actually sunk, a partly flooded vessel will soon not be worth anything, apart from scrap value. I would do this under a UN flag, with the action being taken by whoever has the capacity and willpower.

Maybe a UN compensation fund for the vessel & cargo owners / the insurance company (so the pirates know that no one has any financial interest left in the ships)..........the idea being to remove the big incentive for piracy if they know the prize asset will simply be sunk. Of course they can still go for crews, but the Somalis ain't stupid - most of the crews are 3rd world citizens with no "commercial value" to their employers.