Somali pirates release Danish family and crew from yacht ING.
AFP September 07, 2011
"The seven Danes have been released and brought to safety," the Denmark foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that all were well and would return to Denmark soon.
Denmark gave no details of their release but Ecoterra International said a ransom was dropped by aircraft, and local Somali sources claimed up to four million US dollars had been paid for their release.
Jan Qvist Johansen, his wife Birgit Marie and their three children aged 13 to 17 left Denmark in August 2009 on a round-the-world trip by yacht and had been sailing about 500 kilometres off the coast of Somalia when they were seized by pirates on February 24.
"Mediation was going on between the pirates and individuals working on their release in the past two weeks," said Abduwahab Ali, an elder in the coastal village of Bandarbeyla, close to pirate bases in the northern Puntland region.
The couple were criticised in Denmark after their abuduction, accused of acting irresponsibly by taking their children into pirate-infested waters.
"We... set up an anti-piracy plan to know what to do if we are attacked, and each day we send our position" to an international naval force monitoring the Indian Ocean, father Jan posted on the blog on February 19.
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In reality, the yacht ING seemed to have taken very sensible measures considering the time of year and the weather reports. Their only mistake may have been over reliance on the inclination of EUFOR to react to any distress calls. Of course the fact that EUFOR requires yachts to report their positions on an open frequency and to activate their AIS equipment is absurd since it is well known that pirate mother ships are equipped with AIS receivers, satellite phones and night vision equipment. EUFOR is tasked to protect commercial shipping rather than private yachts. It would often take thirty minutes for a EUFOR helicopter to arrive on scene and two hours for a naval vessel to arrive. Usually a naval vessel that is on scene will not intervene in any hijacking attempt that is in progress for various political and economic reasons.
I am informed that the air-dropped ransom did not originate with any insurance company. As always, the Somali clans and sub-clans involved in piracy are well known and nothing ever happens to them nor to the wealthy businessmen who run the piracy operations conducted by poverty stricken peasants.
Piracy in the Indian Ocean is very profitable. Just as it was very profitable for American merchants to supply the Madagascar pirate vessels it is very profitable for Middle Eastern nations to keep the pirates well supplied. Modern day piracy in the Indian Ocean will not stop until we start using Q-ships and take immediate and effective action against them as well as against the entire sub-clans known to be involved.
Showing posts with label Indian Ocean. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indian Ocean. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Friday, April 1, 2011
The Indian Ocean, Insurance and Insanity.
As is obvious from recent headlines and from a great many items that the press are voluntarily refusing to publicize, the situation in the Indian Ocean is severe and extensive.
Most insurance companies have cancelled their coverage which made things difficult for the various yachts in the Blue Water Rally. Some of those yachts elected to follow differing routes including returning to Asia despite adverse weather conditions. Many of the yacht owners decided to ship their yachts from the Maldives to Turkey but the subsequent bankruptcy of a shipping company has complicated matters for those yacht owners.
The Thailand To Turkey convoy originally consisting of about thirty yachts was unable to obtain any escort services from the EUFOR or any other naval authorities in the region. The convoy leader is said to have experienced great frustration in dealing with the naval forces who are clearly only interested in protecting high value commercial shipping. It is of course highly improper for the naval vessels in the area to insist that pleasure yachts repeatedly identify themselves and their exact latitude and longitude on VHF frequencies known to be monitored by pirate vessels. The various members of the convoy reported that there is absolutely no cooperation between the naval vessels of various countries participating in EUFOR.
The details of the route chosen by the convoy are being kept secret even though the convoy has now reached comparatively safer waters.
Most insurance companies have cancelled their coverage which made things difficult for the various yachts in the Blue Water Rally. Some of those yachts elected to follow differing routes including returning to Asia despite adverse weather conditions. Many of the yacht owners decided to ship their yachts from the Maldives to Turkey but the subsequent bankruptcy of a shipping company has complicated matters for those yacht owners.
The Thailand To Turkey convoy originally consisting of about thirty yachts was unable to obtain any escort services from the EUFOR or any other naval authorities in the region. The convoy leader is said to have experienced great frustration in dealing with the naval forces who are clearly only interested in protecting high value commercial shipping. It is of course highly improper for the naval vessels in the area to insist that pleasure yachts repeatedly identify themselves and their exact latitude and longitude on VHF frequencies known to be monitored by pirate vessels. The various members of the convoy reported that there is absolutely no cooperation between the naval vessels of various countries participating in EUFOR.
The details of the route chosen by the convoy are being kept secret even though the convoy has now reached comparatively safer waters.
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Q-Ships: The Only Alternative in the Indian Ocean.
Although in wartime merchant vessels are often armed with modest defenses its obvious that such guns and gun-crews are hardly a major deterrent to attack. Q-ship was the term used to designate a heavily armed merchant vessel that was acting as a decoy. As enemy craft approached the Q-ship and its crew would act as a merchant vessel until the enemy was close enough and then the deck cargo and cabin walls would drop and experienced gun crews would engage the enemy at point-blank range.
With some of these pirate attacks being conducted by skiffs filled with 20 armed men, its clear a yacht has no real chance of defense. Add the fact that several attacks utilize two or three skiffs approaching from different directions and even if each skiff has only two or three armed men aboard it is still an indefensible situation for the average yacht owner who has too few weapons aboard and too few crewmen to operate them. When one considers the nature of the weaponry involved, the range, accuracy and the nature of the shooting platform, its obvious that yachts really are virtually defenseless.
The only thing that will work in the Indian Ocean is a series of decoy yachts each equipped with sufficient weaponry and sufficient personnel to immediately deal with the approaching skiffs and their crew in a permanently effective manner. Nothing else is going to end this situation. The politicians lack courage to do ought but bluster and rattle sabers, the military lack resources and are committed to more valuable protective duty. The direct and immediately effective action can only be taken by a well-armed, but also well disguised, yacht.
It is obvious that direct and immediately effective action against the pirate skiffs and their associated mother ships would be the nautical equivalent of targeting drug mule peasants employed by major narcotic traffickers. It is well known that the Somali pirates are not themselves entrepreneurs but are merely employees of a variety of land-based businessmen. Eventually there would certainly be escalation by the warlords who see their income diminishing. Bring it on!
With some of these pirate attacks being conducted by skiffs filled with 20 armed men, its clear a yacht has no real chance of defense. Add the fact that several attacks utilize two or three skiffs approaching from different directions and even if each skiff has only two or three armed men aboard it is still an indefensible situation for the average yacht owner who has too few weapons aboard and too few crewmen to operate them. When one considers the nature of the weaponry involved, the range, accuracy and the nature of the shooting platform, its obvious that yachts really are virtually defenseless.
The only thing that will work in the Indian Ocean is a series of decoy yachts each equipped with sufficient weaponry and sufficient personnel to immediately deal with the approaching skiffs and their crew in a permanently effective manner. Nothing else is going to end this situation. The politicians lack courage to do ought but bluster and rattle sabers, the military lack resources and are committed to more valuable protective duty. The direct and immediately effective action can only be taken by a well-armed, but also well disguised, yacht.
It is obvious that direct and immediately effective action against the pirate skiffs and their associated mother ships would be the nautical equivalent of targeting drug mule peasants employed by major narcotic traffickers. It is well known that the Somali pirates are not themselves entrepreneurs but are merely employees of a variety of land-based businessmen. Eventually there would certainly be escalation by the warlords who see their income diminishing. Bring it on!
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