12ga shotgun vs. 2 boats of Pirates

The Highroad ^ | March 11, 2005 | Rodney J. Nowlin, USN Retire

[SLB]

"We are safe in port of Aden. It‚s been 3 days repairing the damage. 30 bullets holes in deck, cabin house, dodger, and alas, newly varnished mast. Our bow shows evidence of a satisfying crunch. Our new paint job was not meant to be. Dinghy on deck was seriously wounded but in stable condition, much repatched. No wine was hurt.

This is the „official‰ report filed with the Yemen Coast Guard, Yemen Navy, Aden Port Control, US Coalition 5th Fleet, US Embassy and State Department? but not Carol‚s mother. Unfortunately, the poor guy that shoots has to write up the paper work. The one that rams does not engender any paper-work, except sand paper work.

March 11, 2005, written by Rodney J. Nowlin, USN Retired Pirate Attack off Yemen Coast

On Tuesday, March 8, 2005 at position 13 Degrees 28 North / 49 Degrees 07 East, in the infamous Pirate Alley of the Gulf of Aden, two sailing yachts, Madhi and Gandalf, were moving SW 30 miles off the coast of Yemen proceeding to the port of Aden from Salalah, Oman.

At about 0900 local, two outboard powered fiberglass longboats, about 20 feet long, each containing 3 men, passed off our sterns moving south at about 25 knots into the open Gulf between Yemen and Somalia. An hour later they returned, one coming quite close and looking us over carefully. The second boat passed off our bows but quite a ways away. These boats were obviously not engaged in a normal activity like fishing. At that time we were south of Al Mukalla, Yemen. The area around Al Mukalla is well documented as being a piracy, drug & people smuggling problem area and we maintained a careful watch for anything out of the ordinary.

At about 1600 we observed two different boats approaching us head on from the west with the glare of the sunset in our eyes. These were 25-30 feet long, had inboard diesel engines and higher freeboard. We immediately motored closer together. As soon as they saw us close ranks they started coming very fast directly at us. There were 4 men in each boat. They separated at about 200 yards with one boat coming down Madhi‚s port side, shouting and firing into the cockpit. The other boat, firing automatic weapons came at Gandalf. There were no warning shots. Carol on Gandalf began sending Maydays on every frequency.

The first boat swung around behind Mahdi‚s stern to come up and board us. At that point, I , Rod Nowlin aboard Mahdi and armed with a 12 gauge shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot, started shooting into their boat. I forced them to keep their heads down so they could not shoot at us. I am not sure I hit anyone at that point. I could see the driver of the boat crouched down behind the steering console. After firing three shots at them, their engine started to smoke and I swung around to try to shoot at the second boat ahead. At that point I saw Jay Barry on Gandalf ram the second boat amidships almost cutting it in two and turning it almost completely over. I turned back around to shoot at the boat still behind Mahdi. That was when they turned away from Mahdi and headed toward the stern of Gandalf. Gandalf was beside us about 100 feet away. The bow of the pirate boat came right up against Gandalf‚s stern and two men stood up on the bow with guns to board Gandalf. That was a serious and probably fateful error on their part. I shot both of them. That boat then veered away and I shot the driver, although I am not sure of the outcome because they were farther away and I didn‚t knock him down like the other two trying to board Gandalf.

Mahdi & Gandalf kept going at full speed to put as much distance between the pirates and us as possible. As soon as we were out of rifle range, we looked back and both attack boats were drifting and seemed to be disabled.

A merchant ship nearby finally answered our Mayday and diverted course to position itself between the floundering pirates and the fleeing yachts. They said they would contact the authorities‚ by Sat phone and then sailed alongside us for 4 hours after dark to make sure we would be all right. Best speed was made to the Port of Aden 180 miles away.

If Jay on Gandalf had not had the presence of mind to veer over into one boat and ram it, the outcome of this attack would have been totally different. All the guys needed to do was stand off a ways and shoot us to pieces with automatic weapons. We were extremely lucky. We broadcast Mayday calls on VHF 16 and all HF radio frequencies, including two HF frequencies that were supplied by the US Coast Guard near Oman only a few days before. Frequencies which the Coalition Forces Warships in this area were supposed to be monitoring. There was no response. The pirates were well organized and well armed. There were at least 4 boats involved. They had set up a picket line out from the Yemen coast probably covering 75 miles out, so if you transited the area during the day they would not miss seeing you. The two attack boats appeared to have come from the south before positioning themselves ahead of us in the sunset.

There has been speculation in the past that this ongoing piracy problem off Yemen‚s coast was being carried out by Somali pirates. Given the number, the types of boats involved, and the direction the supposed spotter boats were coming from, this does not appear to be the case. The men in the attack boats looked both African and Arab.

There was no evidence that this was a people smuggling operation. There were no men, women or children cowering in the boats. These were not fishing boats with nets or overhead sun protection. They appeared to be purpose-built boats, 25-30 feet long, with wooden splines or poles fashioned above the gunwales to which a plastic tarp or shield was hung chest high for the men to hide behind after shooting. The problem is getting worse and the pirate attacks are getting deadly. One could only expect that the Yemen Government will take more direct action At very least, allow yachts to group in Salalah, Oman and at some point along the NW Yemen coast request an escort until Aden or the Straits.

Rodney J. Nowlin, USN Retire March 11, 2005

[TERMINATTOR]

PS: He was a Cannuk.

[TexasCowboy]

"I think yer sweeper would be great for repelling pirates !"

You can imagine their eyes would be the size of dinner plates when twelve rounds of twelve gauge grapeshot and slugs hit 'em in 3.2 seconds!

[SaltyJoe]

There's an industry (and well paying) for selling yachts to oil Arabs.

Mauritius and Reunion Islands now have submarine cable shore landings (SAFE). Expect huge offshore banking to develop there

Sports fishing on a huge scale is still an untapped market in the Indian Ocean: Sword fishing (marlin), ma-hi ma-hi (dolphin fishing), etc.

The Indian Ocean will be a rich man's adventure paradise vacation with all the lure of life and death danger and games of "hide the wealth" to boot and booty.

[t_skoz]

"Opinions on a gun porn pirate thread ?!?!?.........:o)"

Lemme break it down then.. hahah..

Mini 14 = CRAP that belongs on the scrapheap. I know I'm gonna get flamed for this from the Mini fans here, but anyone who'd waste more than $25 on one of those useless pieces of junk deserves the headaches you'll get.

First, nobody give me crap about not wearing eye protection. I put some on just a minute after this photo was taken!

This is my friend's newly-purchased Mini-14. No mods, right out of the box so to speak. Target is at 50 yards. I got off 5 or 6 shots, with 10-12" groups (shut up! more on this later hahaha) before the barrel got scortching hot and the frickin' gun jammed up so bad with a live round stuck in the chamber, I seriously could not get it out. I had a heart attack the entire time I drove it to the gun smith the next day. Seriouly, can they make these guns ANY FRICKIN HARDER to take apart? I can't be the only one who thinks these things are total crap.

Same day, here's me shooting the Romanian WSAR AK-47 clone I bought last year. Fine battle rifle, IMHO. I asked many a "gun nut" on FR about .223 vs 7.62, a good "battle rifle", etc. Thanks to you, Squantos, Travis McGee, Joe Brower, Shooter2.5 and the rest of the crew for giving me some sweet advice. Had I some more $$$, I'd have gone for a FN FAL I think, I like the .308, but alas I'm just a poor kid!

So anyways at 50 yards I'm getting 4-5" groups at a rapid rate of fire, this weapon can be shot all day long not having been cleaned in months, without a single jam. The barrel gets hot, without a doubt. I don't know how the hell those guys out in the desert do anything productive with these guns, spraying full-auto all the time. My guess is, not much!

So there's some opinions, the gun porn.... hmmm... I have a beard and tattoos, does that satisfy the pirate part?? LOL!!! Happy shootin' !

[Squantos]

Firestorm ! ..... or at the very least some improvised soapdish claymores fixed ahead of time in say,.... a waterproof remote controlled spotlight fixture with a laser aiming device ! One could even make it an IR system with off the shelf goodies. Light em up and wait ! Course that odd static surge could make for some embarrasing moments......:o)

I wonder if the waco composite panels could be applied to boat building ?

http://www.armorcore.com/

I used these to build safe rooms for my families homes .....

[Travis McGee]

BTW, "Gandalf" was in Thailand for the Tsunami. They had equally amazing survival adventures there! I hope they writea book!

[E.Allen]

You're right about shooting from unstable platforms being extremely difficult. I was just trying to point out that using the rifled choke and saboted slugs met the PC criteria of a non-assault/military rifle, but at the same time practically negated the long range advantage of the presumably AK armed pirates.

00 buck at 50yds is probably at least 18" pattern, each pellet has less impact than .38 spec.

[King Prout]

I don't really like the Firestorm design, but improvised and hidden directional mines -if well made- are fine by me.

oh, and I suspect that since boats can be made of concrete...

[t_skoz]

PS- I want to sell my Mossberg 590 and buy a Marine Magnum, what do you think? Tell me about the Marine Magnum.

[King Prout]

looks like Gandalf is either an unlucky boat or a VERY lucky boat.

on the sea, luck is REAL.

[Squantos]

Limited to one good fair priced semi-auto rifle for self defense I'd go with the Romanian AK Clones every day. Great rigs.

Cheap enough to stay out of the gunsafe when away from home on errands or work yet reliable as hell when pressed into service at OhCrapThirty !

Good choice !...As to Mini-14's ...agree , they are less than perfect but I have found most of the problems with em are after market magazines and as Shooter 2.5 stated improper reassembly or mods of new stocks etc. The prices on those keep em in the same arena as the AK Clones so if pushed to make a choice I'd go the AK Clone vs a Mini. Ruger hammer monkeys screwed the pooch on that save money design !

[Squantos]

I'm gettin all weepy just thinkin that could bring that much joy ...........snif......whimper....

[wardaddy]

The winners in this dust up got very lucky. They kept their heads but came out on top of a match up that was decidedly against them.

I confess, that would not be my choice of sailing terrain.

More numerous and smarter pirates will usually mean more dead sailors regardless of armament.

Shooting at range from a porpoising sailboat is hard but one really must have something beyond boarding weaponry.

[Hot Tabasco]

How thorough are the boat inspections? If I was thinking about sailing international waters, I would have major modifications done to the interior hulls and walls and cabinet spaces for the sole purpose of concealing firearms and maybe a junk gun or two discriminately placed but available to be found by authorities if a search was done.......

[Squantos]

Out of the box perfect after a few hundred rounds of functional testing...... (Should be done for any firearm relagated to defense duty)

Already has an extended mag tube, coated for long term rough use , furniture is phenolic-plastic, durable and a simple Rem 870 design. As my post above, I made some simple mods that emulate the pic from wilson. Mine looks just like that one pretty much except the finish and orange stocks I added from brownells.....and a set of MMC Ghost ring sights. I also have a single point sling attachment between the reciever and stock but that is more for my local three gun fun matches than any real needs at home .

Good tool as is or for the kitchen table hammer monkey (me) to mod easily.......

Stay safe !

[Squantos]

I figure a good billet steel housing for said soap dish w/ a backing plate to tamp and directionalize the shot would be easy. Add glass marbles as ammo with some galley chemistry and wallahh allah !

[Squantos]

Does he have a web site ???

[King Prout]

yeah: allahu FUBAR.

[meatloaf]

It's even better offroad. Folks in WV do that all the time until the game warden catches them.

[t_skoz]

OK sweet, thanks for the 870 info... They all come standard 6+1 with an 18" barrel, right? I would keep the finish the same, but one thing I like is ghost ring sights, which I currently have on my Mossberg 590. They make throwing slugs downrange a breeze, and super-accurate as well.

I'm weary of side-saddles because I've heard they can throw off balance of the firearm while shooting. I'd much rather get a bandoleer with slugs, 00buck, etc to wear over the shoulder for more ammo, if I *really* needed more than 6+1. Also I'd like to get one of these recoil-reducing folding stocks from Knoxx which would preclude the use of a side-saddle... do you know anything about them?

They also make a cool 3-point sling that looks like it would match up with the stock quite well. It's called the Mission Ready Tactical Sling, check it out.

As soon as I can sell my 590 I'm going to get the 870 Marine Magnum and start tweaking it out. Any tips, tricks or other info you want to share?