Pirates attack luxury cruise ship [New details]

Scotland on Sunday ^ | November 6, 2005 | by WILLIAM LYONS

[aculeus]

IN MARITIME circles it is regarded as the pinnacle of luxury - a boutique ship that offers its passengers a lifestyle which, like private jets, the top suite at the Ritz and Krug champagne, is reserved for the privileged few.

But in the early hours of yesterday morning, as guests slept in their spacious en-suite cabins complete with sea views, marble bathrooms and mahogany dining rooms, a band of armed pirates was preparing to storm aboard the Seabourn Spirit.

Passengers, some of whom had paid more than £19,000 for the 16-day voyage, were woken at 5.30am when the attack began 100 miles off the coast of Somalia, in the Indian Ocean.

Armed men on board two 25ft inflatable boats fired live bullets and rocket-propelled grenades as they tried to climb aboard the liner. Terrified passengers reported a series of explosions as the pirates fired on the luxurious 10,000-tonne cruise liner.

But despite the onslaught by the heavily armed bandits, the 200-man crew managed to scare them off using a loud acoustic boom to imitate the sound of an explosion.

None of the 302 passengers, 20 of whom were British, were injured, although one crew member was slightly hurt by flying debris from a ricocheted bullet.

The ship was rated as the most luxurious in the world earlier this year by Condé Nast Traveller and has previously boasted passenger lists including Bill Gates and Donald Trump.

Solicitor Norman Fisher, 55, from Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London, was on board working when captain Sven Erik Pedersen announced over the ship's PA system: "Stay inside, we're under attack."

The passengers were told to go to the restaurant as the sound of the grenade and gunfire filled the air.

"I heard what sounded like a crack from outside at 5.50am," said Fisher.

"I looked out of the window and saw a small boat with about five people in it about 20 yards away.

"One of them clearly had a rifle. Later I realised that two of them had rifles and one had some kind of rocket launcher.

"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.

"At first I didn't know what was going on, but when I saw the rocket launcher I started getting a bit scared."

Fisher said the captain tried to ram one of the boats in an attempt to capsize it and stop them getting on board.

"The atmosphere in the restaurant was a little tense. People were pretty good and they weren't panicking, but one or two were certainly looking nervous," he added.

"The captain came in at about 6.30am and explained what was going on and said he was reasonably confident we had lost them. Of course, he got a massive round of applause.

"It was all a very surreal experience - not the kind of thing you expect on a cruise."

The guests, mainly wealthy Americans, were 13 days into a 16-day voyage which had taken them via Jordan, Egypt and the Red Sea. They were due to visit Mombasa in Kenya, where an exclusive safari awaited them.

Barman Richard Fuller, who worked on board, said the passengers were kept inside while the crew attempted to repel the bandits. He said the atmosphere on the ship was still tense.

He said: "A lot of the guest are still nervous. One of the crew suffered minor injuries while he was on deck watch duties. He was hit by a bit of debris but he is all right."

Another passenger, Edith Laird from Seattle, said one of the grenades launched at the ship hit a cabin just a few doors away from where she and her daughter had been sleeping.

In an e-mail sent from the ship, she said: "My daughter saw the pirates out our window.

"There were at least three RPGs that hit the ship, one in a stateroom four doors down from our cabin."

Passenger Mike Rogers of Vancouver said: "The captain tried to run one of the boats over, but they were small boats, about 25ft long.

.

"There's some minor damage done to the ship. I believe one of the grenades actually went off in one of the cabins, but everyone on board is fine."

Carol Marlow, a spokeswoman for the Miami-based company Seabourn Cruises owned by US cruise giant Carnival, said the ship was sailing in an area it had sailed many times before and was adhering to international maritime safety regulations.

She said: "All the passengers and crew are safe. The ship's crew immediately initiated a trained response and, as a result of protective and evasive measures taken, the occupants of the small craft were unable to gain access to the ship.

"The ship has diverted so we are now heading to the Republic of the Seychelles rather than Mombasa. We felt that was a more appropriate measure in the light of what has happened.

[BearCub]

Inflatable boats against a cruise ship? A couple of shotguns would have drowned the lot.

Nah, I've got a better idea (pardon my fantasizing): Let them get close - thinking they'll be able to board. Then throw molotov cocktails into their boats. They jump overboard as their boats sink. Throw them life jackets. Then start tossing raw meat and other chum into the water around them. Line up the deck chairs and everyone gets to watch the show when the sharks start circling... Man that would be awesome.

[William Tell]

BIGLOOK said: "Don't forget fire hoses, extremely effective in repelling boarders."

As a tactic, fire hoses may be quite useful in actually "repelling" the boarders. That is, preventing them from boarding or staying aboard the ship.

The strategy in handling such pirates, however, should be to end their pirate days by killing them all and making sure that it gets plenty of publicity.

I haven't seen anything in the articles suggesting that these guys are doing anything today other than preparing to attack some other ship. That's not good enough.

[blackbird149]

What the heck was a luxury cruise ship doing near Somalia? Their GPS must have been terribly off course that day! More bounty for the sandmagoots! Oh Yeah!

[Cuttnhorse]

As mentioned several times in this thread by many people...find an atlas, put your finger on the Suez Canal, then move your finger south to Mombasa, (Kenya...north of Tanzania) and you should determine it would be difficult not to pass somewhere near Somalia. The ship was over 100-miles off the coast...these nuts were probably operating off a mother-ship trawler or large dhow.

[Robert A Cook PE]

But you don't understand the problem: IF (Big if) a qualified anti-terror/warfa-fighting individual WERE aboard (in an official capacity) THEN they would have had REAL weapons (hand grenades, fire hoses (manned and pressurized at potential boarding spots, anti-boarding drills, maneuvers and rudder commands practiced, machine guns/hand-held rapid fire weapons, armored vests and IR sensors (night ops and night attacks) and manned gun posts) DONE already.

No competent guard force WAS present, so your assumption that impromtu weapons and "bombs" could be made on the spot from kitchen ingredients isn't valid. Pershaps somebody could McGuiver a few up, but that's a Hollywood script, not real life with real people.

[Robert A Cook PE]

A previous poster noted the grappling hooks in the boat photo in #39. Cruise ships all have low access ports and open decks near the stern for small boats and ferry boats.

Climbing aboard IF the cruise ship isn't ready to "Repel Boarders" with active, aggressive defense (not some Hollywood script of impromptu makeshift tactics) would be simple.

Particularly if the first "defenders were shot to pieces by automatic weapons as the small boats approached.

Fire hoses can shoot out a little ways. Bullets randomly sprayed BACK into the few holding the fire hose would kill from 200-300 feet. RPG grendages lobbed into the general area of the fire hoses would kill more, and destroy the fire hose, and force the defenders back from the rails and open areas.

The crew?

AS defenders? The crew is made up of foreign nationals (all of ours were!) who have no blooded interest NOR DUTY to sacrifice themselves against (probable) Muslim extremists who whould ONLY be killing and cutting the heads of the American tourists aboard. Why are you assuming most/all of the (randomly selected members of the potentially Muslim-sympathetic) crew would fight back as gunfire and grenades came into the deck.

[KamperKen]

"I would say in general Americans would know to avoid Muslim areas these days, especially France."

Pardon for being OT, but what is happening to tourism in France right now? Everyone cancelling travel plans?

[Sam Cree]

Yeah, you are probably right, there are folks who'd love that.

[Tennessee_Bob]

No - every cruise ship needs to be armed with sharks with frikkin' laser beams on their heads!

[BIGLOOK]

I'll grant only that the crew was not trained or equipped to deal with pirates militarily. As seamen, they were trained and equipped to deal with on board fires.
The attack came from 25' rubber boats, small arms and RPGs. Repelling boarders using a fire hose would succeed in unmanning and swamping their crafts. Any further action against the pirates would be at the Captain's discretion.

I doubt the pirates would be successful scaling the sides of the ship. They'd probably try entry through the galley hatch.

[Squantos]

Might be the two top over the rail ladder hooks from a rope ladder or fixed ladder....

Agree 100% on the personal property prizes alone in excess of 1M. Add to that any high value passengers vs cheap tourist averaged and ya easily get a million in personal property taken.

Only then is personal data, hostage, terrorism etc an issue....that is either play or pay for the trash that did this.

Too bad one of these cruise ships doesn't take a MEF on a cruise.....:o)

But I suspect they had a point man inside before the raid that made a it's OK to visit call. Be they passenger or crew....it's possible I suppose.

[R.W.Ratikal]

Now where do you suppose the "pirates" got hold of rocket propelled grenades and machine guns?

[R.W.Ratikal]

Now where do you suppose the "pirates" got hold of rocket propelled grenades and machine guns?

[R.W.Ratikal]

27 pirate attacks since March.

[R.W.Ratikal]

27 pirate attacks since March.

[R.W.Ratikal]

27 pirate attacks since March.

[Spitzensparkin1]

"...Masquerading as a ship full of rich, unarmed tourists, passengers pay for the opportunity to plunk Somali Islamakazi pirates with concealed M-2 0.50 caliber machine guns. To add to the sense of thrill and adventure, the pirates will be armed with AK-47s and RPGs..."


Now that's a reality TV show I'd like to see, BWAAHAAHAAHAHA.

Regards,
Spitz'

[Pharmboy]

TB--Thanks for that...we're watching football here and I read your post to the room and we all LOL'd.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

If I was Sven Eric, I'd make sure I had three or four .50 cal door guns and qualified men on every shift next time out.

[mlc9852]

http://travel.state.gov/travel/cis_pa_tw/tw/tw_1764.html

Both Kenya and Somolia are on the list of travel advisories.