NEWS: Pirates Attack Cruise Ship Off Somalia

Shows how limited, spotty and dated my knowledge is. Definitely have more of a grip on 1916 than on 2006.

Now, if you want to talk defensive armor . . . ask me about the Hauberk I've ordered from the villiage blacksmith. It should be ready by Whitsuntide. Michaelmas at the latest.


Thanks again.

There are a couple of interesting follow up articles on this, both from the BBC website.

This one talks about a 'mother ship' supporting the fast small boats, which ties in with the earlier posts about small boats operating this far from shore. The other report has more about the LRAD discussed earlier in this thread, and that's here.

That first linked article also carries this rather sobering thought :

In the past few days, at least four other vessels are reported to have been attacked.

Pirates to get theirs...

..I'm getting a crew together.

(just kidding)

Seriously.. someone hired some yankee company to go to Somolia to do what the yankee army could not..

www.alertnet.org...

I wonder if they will use Q-Ships, or if they'll use a liner as bait. I wonder how often the attacks are happening.. perhaps more often then we are being told (probablly not; otherwise it would be the exploited news item of the season a la "When pirates attack / OJ Trial") ..I'm just wondering how they will identify the "mothership" from the various fishing boats that are most likely out there too. The fishing boats arn't armed, I'm sure (its somolia though.. who knows), but I'm sure that the mothership isn't flying a Skull and Bones flag (unless its a Bush Co production).

The Vagabond: Absolutely. Tell me where and when we depart from. Actually, does anyone really believe that if we DID happen to actually do this that ANYONE on this godforsaken rock is going to give one second of thought to the passing of those who would attack unarmed individuals and place 1000s in a life threatening situation? You might get arrested.. but that would be about as far as that would go. Hell if you filmed it, you'd be rich.

shots: In International Water if you are attacked then anything goes.

warpboost: Thanks for the shot of the defence weapon.. amazing little thing eh? Wild technology. Anyone know how it works? Wonder if an individual could build one his/herself... kinda hard to hunt with though.


Edit: Oh yeah, I'd bet they are using Zodiacs to catch up with the liner from the "mothership" ...

www.boats.com...

... to that effect.





[edit on 27/11/2005 by Vis Mega]

Originally posted by Vis Mega
The Vagabond: Absolutely. Tell me where and when we depart from.
[edit on 27/11/2005 by Vis Mega]

To be honest, I was just musing of a life that I'll never lead. I can't go to Somalia- I've got a research paper due Tuesday.

It would be fun though... unless of course I got shot. The movies are cooler than real life- the bad guys can never hit the broad side of a barn.

Thanks for posting that link Vis Mega

I thought this part was pretty interesting

"Peter Casini, Topcat's head of research and development, said once in operation his company would target a mother ship used by the pirates to launch attacks on passing vessels.

"We will end the piracy very quickly, there is no question about that," Casini told reporters. "There is a ship that is launching small ships 75 to 100 miles from the shore, our goal is to take the mother ship.""

My question is how they will actually take the mother ship? Will they just torpedo it or maybe use a Harpoon missle and call it a day or will they have to board it?

who ever said something about Blackwater hiring EX SEALS, they already do
look at the CEO of the company he is an EX SEAL

Originally posted by Odium
Actually, The Vagabond, if you are far enough out too sea there are no laws except for laws that apply to the Admiralty courts and their versions in the other Nation's.

However, there is actually no law against murder unless you are an officer of a ship. This is why many of these people do such things as piracy. It is only illegal in Admiralty courts and the laws are very out dated.

If you were to do what you wish to do and were in 'open seas' you'd stand a massive chance of getting 'away' with it.

I agree with Odium in that one probably could commit a murder on the open seas and get away with it. Of course, this is supposing that there were no witnesses and one had a good "story" as to the whereabouts of the "missing person". Nevertheless, there are laws on the "open seas". There are numerous international conventions that govern all ships in international waters.link

Since we ARE on a conspiracy website, it wouldn't seem right to just take the pirates at face value ....

.....anyone ever consider that these 'pirates' may have been terrorists acting as pirates while carrying out some type of information seeking recon or 'dry run' for something else? Most of the world was aware of the existance of hijackings prior to 9/11. How many people ever anticipated the TYPE of hijacking that we saw on 9/11? We didn't expect a bunch of suicidal religious nut jobs to hijack planes with the goal of killing as many innocent people as possible while also inflicting the maximum amount of damage and shock, to not just the US, but to the world. D.

While pinhead pirates may be the responsible party, let's not overlook at least the POSSIBILITY that by thinking outside the box, terrorists may have an idea on how to use cruise ships in a manner never before imagined.

Just a thought ...

Jemison

Ok well Jemison has the right idea here, you could pack multiple weapons on board and smuggling goods or people onto a ship would be alot more easier then an airplane. Yet remember while the Terriosts might have the advantige on a plane, because of the confined area, you loose that advantige on a cruise ship or cargo ship, which happen to be 3 or 4 times larger then a cruise ship with multiple levels, with these factors involved, the terriosts loose there sense of "control" of the situation. This also plays into the mental factor where terriosts install fear and haterd into the subjects. It could even be looked at as a simple math problem, the larger the area, the smaller the control.

in summery, terriosts would have to have quite the numbers to take over a ship, while taking over a plane requires one or two, not 50 to 60 people

think about it

Thankfully the Pirates have bene largely disbanded since the Islamic Courts to control of the port cities. They even freed a hiajcked vessel last week and brought the hijackers back for prosecution.

but i'm not talking about pirates out in iran and iraq DYepes,

the Pirates have ben largely disbanded since the Islamic Courts to control of the port cities

i'm talking about all over the world, who knows what ports pirates use as an access point

I did not mention anything about pirates in Iran or Iraq. As far as what has been reported, Somalia was one of the few places on Earth that still had pirates running amock, and that has been mostly handled. I am having trouble understanding what you are trying to make clear. Could you please elaborate?

I've heard there are lots of pirates in the south pacific, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia etc.. Maybe its time for someone like Blackwater to outfit a big Scarab with some heavy firepower and start a privateer navy

you know what, that sounds like a excellent idea! Would be quite an adventurous new venture. A private international sea defense contractor. Perhaps the UN or Interpol will be able to dish out the permits and licenses?