November 06, 2005

Somali Pirates Attack Cruise Ship

It's time to get the British Navy back up to speed. There be pirates to fight:

A luxury cruise ship with 22 British tourists aboard survived an attack by Somali pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades yesterday as it rounded the Horn of Africa.

The 10,000-ton Seabourn Spirit came under fire at about 5.30am. The pirates approached in 25ft speedboats and shot at the ship with the grenade launcher and machineguns. Terrified passengers watched as the pirates tried to get aboard — only to be repelled by crew members who set off what one described as a “loud bang”.

The Bahamas-registered ship was carrying 302 passengers and crew, but there was only one casualty: a crew member suffered minor injuries from flying debris.

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. The couple were in there at the time so it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

The Seabourn Spirit fended off the pirates with a "sonic blaster," a "non-lethal weapon [that] sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow assailants off their feet." It might be something like the Long Range Acoustic Device which is used by the U.S. military.

Finally, consider this another failure of the French military:

The waters off the Somali coast are among the most dangerous in the world. They are occasionally patrolled by a combined taskforce, known as CTF150, currently under the command of the French navy.

"Cruise Ship Britons Attacked by Pirates"

UPDATE: William Langewiesche reported on the Wild Wild West of the oceans a few years ago in his book The Outlaw Sea.