Posted on 04/11/2009 12:04:40 AM PDT by Big_Monkey
Pirates on a German ship with 24 foreign hostages said Saturday they had returned to the Somali coast after failing to locate the scene of a standoff involving an American captive on a drifting lifeboat, Reuters reported.
The pirates hoped to use the hijacked 20,000-ton container vessel, Hansa Stavanger, as a "shield" to reach fellow pirates holding American ship captain Richard Phillips.
"We have come back to Haradheere coast. We could not locate the lifeboat," a pirate on the ship told Reuters. "We almost got lost because we could not find the bearing of the lifeboat."
The Hansa Stavanger was seized earlier this month. The ship's crew of 24 is made up of five Germans, three Russians, two Ukrainians, two Filipinos and 12 from Tuvalu.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
so these clucks can’t read maritime chart/marine maps???oy vey
Apparantly.
However, it wouldn’t be wise to underestimate these Islamaniacs.
Dear Pirates,
Just look for the big destroyer with the big guns pointed at you, and head for it.
God is in control!
He messed up their directionals. Maybe He even placed a cloud in front of them and they couldn't see the lifeboat through it!
Prayers for Captain. We want you home for Easter.
More likely the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN haven't succeeded in giving them the coordinates yet, though I swear, I thought I read them on the internet.
GPS is far too cheap for them not to use it. Any idiot can steer a rhumb line (constant bearing) course if he has his coordinates and those of his denstination and a Mercator projection chart.
Without charts you'd need a copy of Bowditch and a pocket calculator to steer a great circle course. Of course, you'd need to know how to use a calculator.
These jamokes probably never did anything more than naviagate constant compass bearing to and from their heists. Once they sight land they use landmarks to steer north or south.
Expect a primer on open ocean navigation in whatever godforsaken language these savages use in an upcoming copy of the New York Times, complete with Mercator charts of the hostage sight and the German ship's location and the legend, "Steer Magnetic 135.6 Degrees to get here."
Understatement of the year.
Understatement of the year.
Though all they really should need is a compass and a chart and, importantly, the ability to use them.
Spiegel said that he pirates were able to move to safety too quickly.
Perhaps that had something to do with nearly getting lost.
The German language side of Spiegel is leading with this story and has frequent updates. They have a good slideshow there as well.
The English language site isn't as up-to-date on this story yet as the German site is.
I doubt it was a serious attempt in the first place. These guys have their ship. They’re sitting on a multi-million dollar payday. They aren’t going to risk losing that by getting too close to the Navy ships where someone might to something crazy, like storm the ship and take it away or something. These guys are criminals. They aren’t going to stick their necks out for another mob of pirates unless there’s something in it for them.
I'd bet these guys couldn't spell GPS if you spotted them the G and the P.
Neither do white captains if you blow them into several pieces.
Oh yeah... :-)
Yeah, you would “think so” wouldn’t you?.... I don’t know what to think about it (that they can’t find their way there...), perhaps divine providence...?
I think their navigational skills are strictly limited to coastal navigation by landmarks and constant heading compass course.
They probably can’t find there asses with both hands.
Probably so true... :-)
good point... :-)
If you look at your second picture, the one immediately beneath Jimmah Carter, there's a man that looks exactly like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president. He's the Iranian to the immediate right of the hostage, as you look at the picture (he's actually to the left of the hostage). He has the "Fidel Castro" military-style shirt on.
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