A very good friend of mine sailed on tankers in the Straits of Hormuz for eight years and said this is old news and that 'Filipino Monkey' is not one person but references the hecklers on Ch. 16 with a high pitched silly announcement 'Filipino Monkey.' His story seemed to be confirmed by two fellow Brit and one American Merchant Marine officers interviewed by NPR yesterday.

Anyone that has spent much time on the (salt) water knows that *******s around the world get on the VHF and talk trash all the time. Usually drunk kids. Happens almost every time I go out. We played a trick (which I guess was heckling technically) on some kids I recognized (running their parents boat) once by coming on after a salacious radio hail call and announcing that we were the FCC and they had violated some made-up CFR section for cursing on the Coast Guard monitored channel. We stated that their vessel had been identified through a transponder located in the VHF (we knew where they were) and for them to immediately head to port and we would meet them at the registered owners shore address. Told their parents about it when they got seriously concerned abut the Feds knocking on their door and it ceased to be a problem .