4 E
r L...l
60 E
c~ greed, lawlessness, and o ppo rtuni ry in order to flourish. W ith the longest coastline on the African continent, Somalia sits beside the most important sea lanes and fishing gro unds in the region, visited by thousands of vessels each year. So it didn't rake long before som eone got the idea to get a boat, round up som e eager yo ung men, give them weapons and send them to sea to attack the prizes that awaited them over the horizon. Somali pirates began by robbing fishing boats and sm all coastal vessels, their unarmed crews no march for men in speedboats armed with AK-47s and rocker-propelled grenade launchers. But as the years passed and they gained more experience, these pirates realized they could take on bigger and more profitable prizes with little resistance, if any. From a handful of attacks in 2004, Somali piracy exploded in the next year to thirty-five incidents. Sixteen of those attacks resulted in the successful hijacking of vessels and crews, with healthy ransoms extracted from shipowners. As a result, organizations like the IMB began to warn m ariners to stay at least two hundred nautical miles off the Somali coast, if possible, and to rake proper counter measures when sailing off the Horn. These involve locking down the ship's house, turning on every available outside light during the evening hours, placing high-p ressure water hoses around the vessel to deter boarders, and keeping a sharp eye posted during watches . Since the vast majority of merchant vessels do not keep firearms aboard, these measures are all that stands between a safe passage and being taken hostage. Ir became a gamble, of so rts, to be a mariner working near Somalia, and things were abo ut to get worse. The year 2005 saw Somali pirates first make headlines by hijacking freighters carrying aid to that country on behalf of the United Nations World Food Programme. Soon, the pira[es were capturing bulk carriers, product tankers, and LPG rankers, as well as fishing trawlers and general cargo ships. They even tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit, peppering her hull with machine gun bullets and RPGs. These were no longer isolated, inconsequential incidents that could be ignored, for the targets were important
SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009
O' N
?---
Ir an
30'
.
-1
rP akistan Egypt
Red
s:i
Arabian Sea
Sudan
O'N
10'
Kenya
..
Indian Oce an
Tanzania
O'S <\.~ ~
"'"'\j
\
Mozambique
10'
g
... â&#x20AC;˘
(--
J \
/ J<J(/ ,,.
....
40
'E
_.f\
Madagascar
(
I 1
0
500 Miles
01--'T-.,..........,_._.(................ "1.........., 502 ,~autical Miles
The shipping lanes (in blue) through the Gulf ofAden and into the Indian Ocean are some of the busiest in the world, linking Asia with Europe via the Suez Canal. Avoiding the area isn't much ofan option, as alternate routes add considerably more miles to the voyage-costing both time and money. (below) 8 October 2008: these Somalian pirates are heading for shore from the merchant ship MVFaina, a Belize-flagged cargo ship operated by a Ukrainian shipping company. The Somalians seized the ship on 29 September 2008 and finally released the vessel and its crew on 5 February 2009 after successfully receiving a ransom of$3.2 mi/Lion.
19