I would imagine that someone might be jamming the hijacked German vessel a good bit...and that someone might be messing up the GPS onboard the vessel as well (note, we own the satellites).
For these dimwit pirates on the lifeboat...it’ll be a long period. As they start to run out of water and food...and threaten the Captain even more....we’ll likely just pull back another mile and just stand there. In a week...as they lay there in a thirsty condition and unable to do much of anything...we’ll just take them easily.
The lifeboat may also have a manually operated desalinization pump on board. If so, they could have a much extended supply of water. Then again, these are third world savages, and if the Captain doesn't tell them how to work it, they might not even know what it was. The skipper seems like a very bright guy, so hopefully he wouldn't do anything to prolong the standoff no matter how thirsty he got.
mark for morning