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  #1  
Old 04-04-2008, 08:37 PM
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Pirates

Pirates seize French cruising yacht off Somalia

This story was written by Johanna Jainchill, who covers cruising for Travel Weekly. Jainchill is serving as Guest Editor of The Cruise Log this week while USA TODAY Cruise Editor Gene Sloan is on vacation.

Pirates have seized a French cruising yacht off the coast of Somalia, with 30 crewmembers and no passengers onboard, according to the cruise line.

Compagnie des Iles du Ponant said its 64-passenger sailing yacht, Le Ponant, was taken over by pirates in the in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen, as it was sailing from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean.

The yacht had completed a seven-night cruise in the Seychelles and Amirantes on March 30, and was heading to the Mediterranean to begin its summer sailing season there.

Reuters reported that the French Navy had lost contact with the yacht, and that it had diverted a surveillance aircraft to the area. It also said a ship from the U.S.-led Operation Enduring Freedom was heading towards the site of the attack.

Ponant, which operates three small ships, said that its crew is mostly French.

The Gulf of Aden is the entry point to the Red Sea and a common route for cruise ships repositioning from Asia and Africa to the Mediterranean. Last November, the State Department advised U.S. citizens to use "extreme caution when sailing near the coast of Somalia" and cited the risk "seizure by pirates and having their crews held for ransom."

In 2005, pirates fired machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades on a Seabourn Cruises ship about 100 miles off the coast of Somalia. In that attack, the Seabourn Spirit repelled the pirates by using a sonic weapon, and the attackers were not able to board the vessel. One passenger suffered minor injuries.

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  #2  
Old 04-04-2008, 08:39 PM
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I sad to see that the Somalis are so hungry that they have to resort to this for food.
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  #3  
Old 04-04-2008, 09:57 PM
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That's one more battle than the Pittsburgh Pirates will win this year!

Where can I buy myself a sonic weapon with which to repel pirates? hmm.
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Old 04-04-2008, 10:06 PM
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I'm guessing the French didn't put up much of a fight, eh?
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  #5  
Old 04-04-2008, 11:04 PM
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Originally Posted by G-Benz View Post
I'm guessing the French didn't put up much of a fight, eh?

Laugh if you will, but a well aimed champagne cork can leave a nasty bruise . .
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  #6  
Old 04-05-2008, 01:27 PM
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Piracy is real even closer to home. On the 85' boat I worked on in the Bahamas we carried a couple of 12 gauge shot guns, AR 15s, and Beretta 9 mm hand guns. There was one occassion we displayed them and I am convinced the display averted bigger trouble.
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Old 04-05-2008, 03:17 PM
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"Cruise Editor" - is that really a job?
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Old 04-05-2008, 03:53 PM
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I sad to see that the Somalis are so hungry that they have to resort to this for food.

Huh?

They have been pirates since at least the Middle Ages. It is sad to see that the Somali government cannot control these people, but then again, the gov't or what there is of it could be taking a cut. These pirates are not interested in food, just plunder, It looks like the US Navy will have to clean them out like we did in 1803...
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  #9  
Old 04-05-2008, 05:19 PM
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Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels View Post
Huh?

They have been pirates since at least the Middle Ages. It is sad to see that the Somali government cannot control these people, but then again, the gov't or what there is of it could be taking a cut. These pirates are not interested in food, just plunder, It looks like the US Navy will have to clean them out like we did in 1803...
I was being sarcastic, without going into details I'm not a big Somalia fan.

Last edited by Medmech; 04-05-2008 at 11:59 PM.
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  #10  
Old 04-05-2008, 05:24 PM
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"Cruise Editor" - is that really a job?
It's serious job, got to cut out all the puke from the ads, after the sea was going rough ...
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  #11  
Old 04-05-2008, 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by firemediceric View Post
Piracy is real even closer to home. On the 85' boat I worked on in the Bahamas we carried a couple of 12 gauge shot guns, AR 15s, and Beretta 9 mm hand guns. There was one occasion we displayed them and I am convinced the display averted bigger trouble.
It's not hard to imagine when you consider the sheer size of oceans. An area of water the size of Florida is a small part of any ocean and imagine how deserted you'd be if you were in the middle of Florida and the nearest cop was 20 or 50 miles away.

I think it was MSNBC (might have been PBS) that had a special on current piracy. Pretty sobering.
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  #12  
Old 04-06-2008, 12:38 AM
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We need more pirates. At sea, on the road and in cyber space.

Life would unbearable boredom without pirates ... a dying spieces
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  #13  
Old 04-06-2008, 12:55 AM
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Laugh if you will, but a well aimed champagne cork can leave a nasty bruise . .
I don't want to talk to you no more, you empty headed animal food trough wiper. I fart in your general direction. Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries.

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Old 04-06-2008, 01:50 AM
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I was being sarcastic, without going into details I'm not a big Somalia fan.
Not to long ago I read of a Somalian who fell over board in shark infested waters. With in seconds he was being circled by a dozen sharks. Turns out he ate 3 of them before he was pulled from the water.
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  #15  
Old 04-06-2008, 02:38 PM
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Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels View Post
Huh?

They have been pirates since at least the Middle Ages. It is sad to see that the Somali government cannot control these people, but then again, the gov't or what there is of it could be taking a cut. These pirates are not interested in food, just plunder, It looks like the US Navy will have to clean them out like we did in 1803...
Yep time to clean out the rats.

Thats a very dangerious area of the world. In Cruising World they were talking about small boats transiting it. They run in packs and run fast. You realy should stay as far off the coast as possible.

They Navy should use an old merchant ship and hide machine guns on it, like the old German convoy raiders. As the pirates get close machine gun the boats and sink them, no prisoners, no survivors.

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