Posted on 04/10/2009 9:22:26 AM PDT by marktwain
There are four Somali pirates holding a U.S. merchant captain hostage. I have followed the story a bit, but I have not heard any coverage of what the pirates are armed with.
I would like to know what they used to hijack the ship.
I suggest that people make predictions about what they are armed with. I will make mine first.
They were and are armed with edged weapons, knives, perhaps fairly large ones such as machetes or pangas.
This is based on the lack of coverage of the weapons used, perhaps because the media knows that a great many people in the U.S. will be embarrassed to find that an American flagged ship could so easily be taken over by a bunch of rag-tag extortionists with common garden tools.
If anyone has any more information on this, please post. The truth will come out, as the crew is going to be on leave and will be interviewed.
> There are also hatchets and a few knives as part of the lifeboat’s provisions.
You’re right. I was just reading “South by Java Head” by Alistair McLean the other week. A significant part of the story takes place on lifeboats, and the boat knife and hatchet are both used...
...as well as something called a “crutch” — I don’t know what it’s proper use is on a lifeboat, but it gets used as a weapon at some point in the story. There are two per boat IIRC.
They’re armed with a weak US President. A very dangerous thing.
A very dangerous thing.
All 0bama needs to do is Goggle for:
Thomas Jefferson, President, pirates
He might have a clue as to a course of action.
Post of the day.......and so dead on correct. I will pray for this man, it is his only chance.
Interesting — thanks for this.
I have to wonder at the wisdom of Maersk putting this info on the web at this time. It’s a huge assumption that the pirates won’t find it, and thereby discover what the Captain may/may not have done to the engines.
Your theory is a good one. If the pirates had AK47s or other firearms, it’s hard to see how the crew could have freed themselves.
Bingo. You nailed it.
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