Tuesday 28 April 2009

I Can't Think Of A Better Example Of 'Maritime Safety', Myself...

Luckily for cruise ship 'Melody', she had an Israeli security team aboard when the Somali pirates came knocking. And they didn't stick around long, being beaten off with waterhoses and gunfire.

But that spirited show of resistance didn't please everyone:
Though the crew's actions might have saved the Melody from capture, a maritime safety official said they should have used other methods to shake off the pirates.

'Only military ships should have weapons,' added Andrew Mwangura from the Seafarers' Assistance Programme.
Perhapd the next ship planning to sail close to the benighted Somali coastline should take Andrew with them. And when they start to climb aboard, ask him 'Any suggestions, old chap...?'

10 comments:

Jeff Wood said...

I think this Mwangura fellow is from the Piracy Assistance Programme, myself.

Anonymous said...

Why did they fire in the air and not at the pirates?They will think twice if the ships fight back.

Letters From A Tory said...

Anyone should be able to defend themselves out at sea if they are in genuine danger - how can someone be so stupid as to suggest that ships just let themselves get captured?!

Dr Evil said...

All ships should be armed at least with assault rifles and crew trained in their use. the Israeli team only had pistols. it was enough plus hoses to send the scum packing. An object lesson for all merchant and cruise ships. Mwangura is talking bollocks.

Umbongo said...

Yes the guy's a (partial) idiot but apparently he's been doing what he does unpaid for the past 10 years. So I think we can cut him some slack on this one.

JuliaM said...

"I think this Mwangura fellow is from the Piracy Assistance Programme, myself."

Heh! Could be....

"They will think twice if the ships fight back."

Indeed. You'd think that could only increase maritime safety, wouldn't you? But obviously Andrew is privy to arcane watery knowledge us mere landlubbers aren't deemed able to handle....

"...apparently he's been doing what he does unpaid for the past 10 years."

Curiouser and curiouser!

Von Spreuth. said...

You want to kill ants, or wasps, you anihalete their nests.

We know which villages these pirate scum are crawling out of. "Good bye village".

Easy. Biut the international community are a shower of weak kneed lilly livered cowards.

Von Brandenburg-Preußen.

Longrider said...

Apparently, under maritime law, an armed ship may not dock at a civilian port. There shouldn't be a huge problem with this, though.

The only way to deal with piracy on the high seas is harshly. Shoot to kill and keep doing it. Some Q ships might be an idea. And, let the navy loose with no holds barred. They have a history when it comes to dealing with piracy.

JuliaM said...

"Some Q ships might be an idea. And, let the navy loose with no holds barred."

Good idea! We'd bettr ensure they stow their iPods first, though...

Von Spreuth. said...

"Some Q ships might be an idea"

Except for the fact that "Q" ships were spectacularly UN-successful.

"The Royal Navy had in the first 8 months of the war (WWI) 8 "Q" ships on the Atlantic shipping routes and the enterances to the English Channel. NOT ONE of them sighted a U-Boat, let alone SANK one, for which "success" two "Q" ships were sunk by U-Boats.Yet unacountably they caught the publics imagination. After an enquiry and trial in 1940, the results lead to the Royal Navy giving up the idea."

Peter Padfield. "Der U-Boot Krieg 1939-1945.". Ullstein Verlag, 2000.
Von Brandenburg-Preußen.