19 Aussies aboard Cruise ship attacked by Pirates

[Kazza1]

Just heard this news update.

 

Have a read from the following link

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=70649

 

Kazza

[luvvin_u_2]

oh my god lol.. do you know which ship it was.. i never really thought pirates existed haha.. poor people!!

[karmac]

It was the Seabourn Spirit.No one was hurt. It just goea to show, you never know what will happen!

 

Karen

[rockie]

:eek: They must have been Pirates Of Very Little Brain.:eek: What pirate in their right mind would attack a ship of that size. HOW did they think they were going to get onboard. They must have been called Dumb and Dumber.:D

[Phillip Toddy]

It is a very small cruiser, just 10,000 tonnes. That is much the same as the smaller cargo vessels that they successfully assault continuously.

 

Suggesting that people lack brains when onself being ill-informed strikes me as pretty empty headed.

[rockie]

It is a very small cruiser, just 10,000 tonnes. That is much the same as the smaller cargo vessels that they successfully assault continuously.

 

Suggesting that people lack brains when onself being ill-informed strikes me as pretty empty headed.

 

I wasn't attacking the ship, crew, passengers or ship company, but the pirates.:rolleyes: Don't tell me it is un pc to question the brains of a pirate? Come on, get real.

 

Now, a question, do crew on all ships, cruise or otherwise carry guns? I would have thought they would. Something I hadn't given any thought to untill this happened. On TV the pirate boat looked like a dingy compared to the cruise ship. And, I still think the pirates are dumb.

[Phillip Toddy]

We sailed on Aurora to Asia last year and were told that there were half a dozen Gurkhas (celebrated military sort-of-mercenaries from Nepal) on board. They also thought that the ship might be a bit big for the pirates to take on.

 

We were not attacked, but the security in Manila, where we were also greeted by 20+ fire engines on the dock, was quite strict.

 

Maybe the Somali pirates are dumb.

 

Phil

[chaz cruiser]

The following web page has an interesting article for those who are concerned about cruise ships ability to deal with pirates.

 

Cheers,

Chaz:)

 

http://escape.news.com.au/story/0,9142,17253344-28317,00.html

 

Cruise ships on alert for pirates

By Jenny Stevens

November 13, 2005

A FEW years ago, I stood on the high-tech bridge of a cruise ship travelling through the notorious Straits of Malacca and was given a demonstration of anti-piracy measures.

 

No worries ... dock workers patch up the Seabourn Spirit in Port Victoria. Picture: Reuters

It was less than a year after the September 11 attack on the US, which changed the way we travel, and the tourism industry was still nervous.

But the captain of the SuperStar Leo, one of the fastest liners afloat, was confident in his ship's ability to "repel boarders" in this pirate hotspot.

For a start, he had 14 tough-as-teak Gurkhas on board who acted as ship's security. These ex-British Army fighters, among the most feared troops in the world, have become security-for-hire on many passenger ships.

Then the captain produced a portable control console, with toggles remarkably similar to a child's electronic game, to demonstrate the operation of the four water cannons attached to the ship's side.

If anyone was silly enough to try to board, we were told, the force of the water was enough to splinter a timber vessel.

Looking down the towering, sheer sides of the ship to the sea, where white water surged violently as it was tossed aside, it was hard to imagine any small boat surviving alongside, let alone a man being able to attach a grappling hook and climb to the deck.

This month's attack on the luxurious Seabourn Spirit off another pirate hotspot, the Somali coast, demonstrated how security on cruise ships has progressed.

As armed men in two inflatable boats peppered the ship with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, security staff used high-pressure water hoses and a sonic device that blasts an ear-splitting, directed tone at targets.

Known as a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, it was developed for the military after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Yemen.

The captain then out-manoeuvred and outran the pirates, finally docking the Seabourn Spirit in the Seychelles for minor repairs.

The Spirit will continue her cruise to Singapore – which may include entering the Straits of Malacca – and will cruise Australian waters from January to March.

None of the passengers, who included Australians, was hurt but a security guard was injured by shrapnel.

This was the first time the use of sonic weaponry had been publicised, but the technology isn't new. Even ships regularly cruising our shores carry some kind of sonic device, as well as up to a dozen security guards.

John Richardson, a spokesman for Carnival Australia, which includes P&O Cruises, said the company did not want to publicise security measures on board its vessels.

"We certainly have security staff, and some of them are Gurkhas. But we don't want to give away operational details to potential perpetrators."

Mr Richardson said there would be a full review of security in the wake of the attack.

It was the first assault on a passenger vessel since 1985, when four Palestinian hijackers stormed the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in the Mediterranean and threw an elderly, wheelchair-bound American overboard.

But while the cruising industry grows, so does the potential for terrorist attack.

In a new book, Cruise Touring, to be released in February, Professor Ross Dowling, head of the tourism faculty at Western Australia's Edith Cowan University, lists measures undertaken by cruise companies to maintain security.

These include Automated Personnel Assisted Screening (A-Pass), which identifies and monitors the movements of passengers and crew on board; the use of anti-piracy screens along lower decks; lighting; radar to reveal small, approaching craft; high-pressure water hoses; and discreet emergency alarms to alert maritime authorities.

The Sunday Telegraph