Cruise Ships Avoid Pirates

Friday, December 26th, 2008

A cruise ship called The Nautica  recently came under attack as it was crossing the Gulf of Aden near the coast of Yemen.  This area has seen numerous pirate attacks over the past few months.  Usually, the pirates attack ships carrying cargo rather than passengers.  A Saudi oil tanker and a Yemani container ship were recent targets.  However, the Nautica’s crew noticed two small skiffs trying to intercept it as it sailed towards it destination in Oman. 

When the pirates opened fire on the ship with a high powered rifle, the captain increased the speed of the vessel to its top rate of 27 miles per hour.  The two pirate ships gave chase, but eventually gave up and returned to their base somewhere on Somalia’s lawless eastern coast. 

There were over 1000 people on board the Nautica.  Somali pirates have attacked smaller passenger ships, but usually avoid larger cruise ships because of the sheer number of people on board. 

The fact that the Nautica was attacked demonstrates how ambitious the pirates are getting.  Huge oil tankers and passenger ships are now considered fair game.  An international task force has been unable to reverse the trend.  If anything, more pirates are on the seas than before. 

A deal has been reached in one other hijacking and hostage case.  A ship bound for Kenya was recently ransomed for $20 million.  Negotiation for dozens of other cargo vessels and their crews are ongoing. 

But naval patrols can only do so much.  The Nautica was in a heavily patrolled security zone when it was attacked.  That fact underlines the point that no ship traveling in the region is completely safe.  However, many cruises from the Mediterranean Sea pass through the piracy hot spots on their way to resorts in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia.  It seems that it was not a matter of if a cruise ship came under attack, but when one would be targeted by pirates.  

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