Pirates seize French cruise ship

Associated Press ^ | 04/04/08

[presidio9]

Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said.

A ministry official said details about the attack were scarce, and it was not clear how many crew members were on board the ship or if there were any passengers.

The ship is in the high seas in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia in the Indian Ocean.

The official declined to identify the vessel or its owner.

The ministry has set up a crisis center to deal with the situation, said the official, who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Pirates seized more than two dozen ships off the Somali coast last year.

The U.S. Navy has led international patrols to try to combat piracy in the region. Last year, the guided missile destroyer USS Porter opened fire to destroy pirate skiffs tied to a Japanese tanker.

Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have its own navy and

[Mr. Silverback]

Vive la France!

[AnAmericanMother]

Hadn't heard of the 'mothership' concept.

Probably the best strategy would be to sink the mothership then, and leave the pirates to die of hunger and thirst far out to sea, and serve them right.

[Kolb]

French cruise ships traditionally only stock their armories with white flags.

[Publius6961]

They are dealing with Sarkozy now, it will be interesting to see how he handles this.

Piracy is not new, but the way to deal with them sure is.

Used to be execution on sight or capture.
Now, like most other international crime, it's touchie-feelie all the way.

[Publius6961]

What the pirates do is have a “mothership” bring the speedboats out to sea, so it’s not a function of being in proximity to the coast. That may have happened here.

That sounds like the perfect way to sink "mother ships", no questions asked...

[JerseyHighlander]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxXSqZ9OvL4

Nice ship...

[untrained skeptic]

Didn’t cruise ships used to keep an armory?

From the article:

Pirates seized control of a French cruise ship Friday off the coast of Somalia, France's Foreign Ministry said.

[Romulus]

the ridicule the French get, deservedly, for their military

Why "deservedly"?

[Larry Lucido]

I see they prefer a Yamaha engine to a Renault or Citroen. :-)

[Doomonyou]

...leave the pirates to die of hunger and thirst far out to sea, and serve them right.

I believe the correct phrase is,"Send them to Davey Jones' Locker."

[presidio9]

What, and miss out on the bargain shopping and cafe-hopping in downtown Mogadishu?

[presidio9]

Vive la France!

[southernnorthcarolina]

All your escargot arrrrr belong to us.

[Jimmy Valentine's brother]

They are dealing with Sarkozy now, it will be interesting to see how he handles this

So you don't think he'll send in the cheese eating surrender monkeys?

[Catholic Canadian]

On the contrary, I think those cruises should allow all guests to bring along whatever firearms they own and you could have a rag-head skeet shoot outfitter's vacation.

I like the way you think, FRiend. :)

[allmendream]

I think the deep seated sense of Gallic capitulation is why the French get ridicule for their military.

[southernnorthcarolina]

Let's not forget the correlation between global warming and piracy...

[Catholic Canadian]

Not all French are wimps, believe me. There were plenty that stood up to Nazi Germany as best they could under the circumstances.

[Romulus]

Too bad that deep-seated sense is just a stupid myth.

[Abathar]

Perhaps before you post that you check and see how the French did in Algeria and other places where the political will was behind them.

The French special forces know exactly what they are doing, they just aren’t allowed to be slipped from their leashes, that’s the problem.