Somali Pirates

[Alex]

I hadn't realized at first that the lifeboat was only 100 feet away. Interestingly, at that distance for snipers a factor increasing difficulty is that they were too close (according to this the scope can't properly align at shorter than 300 feet).

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

In one of the articles I read a pirate said that now America would pay the price, they would retaliate against us for killing their men.

Originally Posted by Moonliner

Given that I'm not a sailor and never go anywhere near Somalia , I'm quite comfortable in replying to the pirates: Bring it Bitches!

With all of the increased pirate activity, this was the first ship flying an American flag that they went after. Presumably, they were avoiding them because they were wary of going after a ship backed by the government with the most powerful military that has a policy of not negotiating with pirates.

And what happened the first time they decided to take that risk? They were shot and killed, got no ransom money, and harmed no one from the ship.

Something tells me that perhaps that was a bit of an empty threat from the pirates, at least towards actual Americans and American vessels. Though I don't doubt there will be increased attacks on ships from other countries.

[Alex]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

With all of the increased pirate activity, this was the first ship flying an American flag that they went after.

Possibly, but it may have just been dumb luck.

I was surprised to hear yesterday in an MSNBC interview how few U.S. flagged merchant ships are out there and this table bears it out.

There are only 216 (as of 2007) U.S. flagged merchant ships in the world out of a total fleet of 32,976. And a fourth of those are oil tankers which I suspect (though it is just a guess) are significantly focused on taking oil out of Alaska.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Probably true. But while perhaps the reason for not having taken US ships isn't what I first might have guessed, it still stands that they're a pretty dramatic 0-for-1. The fact that there are so few US ships makes it even more likely to be empty bluster as that means they won't even have much opportunity to be put in the position of making good on their bluff.

[Alex]

I hope you're right.

But the French have been killing them for a while (and capturing plenty) and that hasn't prevented continued hijackings of French ships.

[Betty]

Well it is the French...

[Moonliner]

From the annals of history:

In 1851, the Navy sent the U.S. sloop-of-war Dale to Johanna Island, a pirate haven off the coast of Madagascar, in response to the seizure of Capt. Moore of the bark Maria by local strongman Sultan Abdullah bin Salim. The Dale's commander, Capt. Pearson, rejected any notion of ransom for Moore and instead demanded $20,000 from the pirates for our trouble, or he would open fire. In the ensuing negotiations, the sultan was willing only to give $5,000, most of which would be paid in trinkets, cattle and cotton cloth because of lack of cash on hand. Pearson was unimpressed, and after a series of threats from the sultan, the Dale commenced firing. It took 19 volleys to make the sultan see the error of his ways. He raised the white flag, said he would pay what he could of the demanded indemnity and promised never to harm Americans again - a promise he kept.

That's even better than just sniping these guys. Demand payment from them for each ship captured.

[SacTown Chronic]

That couldn't have been good for ol' Captain Moore's self-esteem.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by SacTown Chronic

That couldn't have been good for ol' Captain Moore's self-esteem.

"Self esteem" was not invented until 1972. So that was not an issue in this case.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Not much detail, and seemingly not as dramatic a fail, but make that 0-for-2 on US ships.

http://digg.com/d1ojum