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On the 88th day, we enter what the Chief Officer describes as the worst pirate area in the world. I am full of excitement at the idea of seeing some real life, no quarters given pirates. Would make an excellent story for my blog or even after dinner stories: “on that sunny day, when we were attacked by fierce pirates...”. We gathered assorted weaponry and prepared for the battle ahead. The best tactic was to use our full 15 knots of max speed and scare off any fast boat approaching us. I was confident the Chef and the bosun between them would scare any pirate force in the world. For additional protection, we made contact with a French frigate and kept in her vicinity for the crossing. Sadly, no battle came. To the greatest relief of the crew and officers, we passed unharmed but, to my greatest disappointment, without a good story to tell. A ship is attacked on average every 2 days. I guess we chose the lucky day. The local pirates are renowned for having precious little mercy and taking a bizarre pleasure in slaughtering - in what can only be described as a creative way - the crew of the ships they pillage.
Atlantic Express, Persian Gulf , 09/09 -14/09
Degrubenc2005-12-09 16:40:20
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On the 88th day, we enter what the Chief Officer describes as the worst pirate area in the world. I am full of excitement at the idea of seeing some real life, no quarters given pirates. Would make an excellent story for my blog or even after dinner stories: “on that sunny day, when we were attacked by fierce pirates...”. We gathered assorted weaponry and prepared for the battle ahead. The best tactic was to use our full 15 knots of max speed and scare off any fast boat approaching us. I was confident the Chef and the bosun between them would scare any pirate force in the world. For additional protection, we made contact with a French frigate and kept in her vicinity for the crossing. Sadly, no battle came. To the greatest relief of the crew and officers, we passed unharmed but, to my greatest disappointment, without a good story to tell. A ship is attacked on average every 2 days. I guess we chose the lucky day. The local pirates are renowned for having precious little mercy and taking a bizarre pleasure in slaughtering - in what can only be described as a creative way - the crew of the ships they pillage.
To make up for the lack of pirate action, the chef cooked the 10 lobsters I was given by the agency in Port Sudan, as well as the few kilos of shrimps. We had an incredible meal, worthy of the best London restaurant, served with good South African wine supplied from the captains cellar. The crew, the officers and, most of all, myself were overjoyed by the sumptuous meal. I had a long chat afterwards with the chef: he wakes up every single morning at 0400 to make fresh bread for the day, every single morning. This incredibly scary man, with 14 years of brutal war service in the Croatian army, told me how he liked to do Tai-Chi and meditate after work... He smiles every time he sees me and I enjoy going to visit him in the galley and sometimes give him a hand. However, I am always careful not to offend him: no where to run if I do.
...
See photographs from:
United Arab Emirates Gallery
