I think the pirates are being fed disinformation. The boat can’t move 165 miles in a day. At that speed, it would take 200 gallons of gasoline.
They have been at sea for four days. How do we know when they would have gotten the fuel? Maybe from one of the other pirate ships?
The boat is required to have sufficient fuel to run the fully loaded lifeboat at 6 knots for a period of not less than 24 hours which is 144 nautical miles ( 165.7 statute miles) but it only traveled a few. Why?
There are two likely explanations for this. First safety inspections are carried out by the 3rd mate who is the most junior (i.e. inexperienced) officer. It is possible that he missed a problem with the lifeboat engines or fuel delivery system.
A less likely answer is that the captain sabotaged the engine. It is necessary to connect the battery switch which is often located in the engine compartment, giving Captain Phillips an excuse to open the hatch. Once in the hatch you could crimp the fuel line or block the air intake system, being a diesel engine, restricting fuel or air are the only two ways to safely stop and engine once started.
http://gcaptain.com/maritime/blog/maersk-alabama-lifeboat-faq/
I’d hope so, but I hear the ocean currents in the area are enough to carry a drifting vessel to shore.
Oh I don’t know about that. 24 hours @ 10 mph is 240 miles, depending on the motor, could be done with 30 gallons or so.
What kind of boat do you use?
The heaviest boat I drive uses about 15 gph at high cruising speed, but travels close to 40 miles in that time. If I'm going for distance, I drop my speed to 18 mph, and use only 4 gallons in the same time.
Now do the math: 24 hours at 18 mph is 432 miles, yet you think that 200 miles is unreasonable? Don't forget that lifeboats carry 100 gallons or so of fuel.
IOW, you're hurting your credibility with statements totally unbased in reality.