back centuries. 1hese seem to be [he counaway. Piracy needs to be considered as [he uy's 'pira[e elders,' for i[ is believed [ha[ world's longes[ running armed co nflict, a [hey have provided [raining to dleir bre[hde facto, low-level war tha[ has simmered ren, including rhe largest gro up operating on dle seas for thousands of years. The in Somali wa[ers: rhe Somali Marines. vic[ims of dlis confliC[ are m embers of a The Somali Marines are [he mosrcomm uni ty wi[h frs own history, [radidons feared gang in [he region, with [he mos[ and language, a nomadic people rela[ed sophisticated organization. 1heir m ai n no[ by birth or nadonali ty, bur by [he sea. operating base is the coas[al town of HaWe don't usually [hink of mariners in dlose radheere, though mey have ranged up and [erms, bu[ [hey uuly constiwte a distinct down [he seaside carrying ou[ [heir attacks. gro up in our plands history, a gro up [ha[ The group also likes to style itself rhe 'Dehas been preyed upon, robbed and murfenders of Somali Territorial Waters' and dered for millennia, m erely because [hey chose to se[ out upon [he wa[er. For this is thought to be loyal to me powerful reThe tanker Sirius Star was 450 miles offshore gio nal warlord Abdi Mohamed Afweyne. co mmunity to have endured violent attacks when it was attacked and captured by pirates No one knows how many rhe gang acwin the past is terrible. Thar they are still belast November. With the ship and cargo valally employs pira[ing, bur [he warlord can ing targeted today is unco nscionable. ued at $250 million, the pirates succeeded in call upon hundreds of willing men and And as for that New Liberralia-Sosecuring a $3 million ransom payment. rhe group has developed a highly ordered malia-well, it really hasn't managed to fulsuucwre-wirh a fleer admiral, admiral, national security. Recognition of this fact fill the image initially created by Captain vice-admiral and head of finan cial affairs. has been a li[de slow in coming, but last Charles Johnson of a pirate utopia. There Combined, these pirate gangs have year's exceptionally high number of pira[e is no egalitarian aspect of life there, no freemanaged to carve our profirable businesses incidems has fo rced dozens of na[ions to re- dom from servitude or promise of better for [hemselves, bringing in anywhere from spond to the crisis, especially off the Horn [hings. Instead, there is just the bleak pros$30-5 0 million a year from piracy to Soma- of Africa. Since January, warships from the pect of a life of crime upon on the seas and lia, a country where [he per capi[a income U nited States, Great Britain, Canada, the the harsh reali ty of a life ashore in a lawless is abo ur $600 . And wi[h o ne norable in- Netherlands, Germany, Russia, C hina, In- co untry. j:, cident in 2008, [hey managed to suike a[ dia and Japan-among others-have been [he mos[ important prize poss ible: a super- deployed to the region. Daniel Sekulich is a journalist and writer ranker laden wi[h crude oil for Am erica. We need a new means of looking at based in Toronto, Canada, and the author of The hijacking of [he Saudi Arabian- the issue, for while i[ plays itself out upon the new book, Terror on the Seas: True Tales owned [anker Sirius Star in November of [he seas, i[ germina[es ashore. Wi[hou[ a of Modern Day Pirates (Thomas Dunne/ las[ year shocked many wi[hin [he shipping more comprehensive means of addressing St. Martin's Press). His last book was Ocean world, to say nO[hing of [he general pub- [he lawlessness in places like Somalia, [he T itans: Journeys in Search of the Soul of a lic. Tha[ a vessel as big as a nuclear-powered scourge of modern-day piracy will not go Ship. ai rcrafr carrier could be commandeered by pira[es was suiking enough; [ha[ i[ could The guided-missile destroyer USS Bainbridge tows the lifeboat from the Maersk Alabama happen 450 nau [ical miles O U[ to sea anO[h- to the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer. In April the capture of the American cargo ship er shock. This was a ship no one expeC[ed Maersk Alabama and dramatic hostage situation that fallowed captured the attention of the could be a[racked-successfully-and yet general public across the world. It was the first American merchant ship seized by African i[ was. h was carrying [WO million barrels pirates since the Barbary ~rs two centuries ago. The Maersk Alabama and its crew ultimately of crude oil in i[s holds, [he equivalent of escaped with their lives and their ship, but, almost immediately, the pirates set their sights on more man a quar[er of Saudi Arabia's daily the next ship, hull down on the horizon. ourpll[ of [his valuable resource. The vessel and i[s cargo were wonh a quan er of a billion dollars and in [he immedia[e wake of her seizure, crude oil prices briefly went up. The Sirius Star was eventually released in January, afrer a ransom of $3 million was airdropped to her captors, bu[ [he incident revealed [ha[ no vessel js immune to the threat of pirates today. This is an issue that goes well beyond just those who "go down to the sea in ships," for piracy affects the global economies and is a [hrear to trans-
SEA HISTORY 127, SUMMER 2009
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