Modern day pirates from Somali board passing ships. While they rob the people aboard, their real goal is to get the owner of the ship to pay a large sum of money to get back the ship, it's passengers and cargo. In other words, the crime committed by these pirates is more about kidnapping and blackmail than robbing and plundering. Attacks by groups from Yemen are also a concern.
When taking a ship, the pirates attack in small, fast boats. They come along side the ship. Using grappling hooks they attach lines they use to climb up onto the ship's deck. They prefer to attack an night, hoping to slip aboard unnoticed, thereby gaining the advantage of a surprise attack.
There is nothing romantic about these pirates and what they do. They are dangerous men who sometimes injure and even kill people on the ship they are seizing. They do not fly the Jolly Roger.
The countries of Somalia and Yemen have weak government incapable of doing anything about the pirates. At the same time, the government of each country refuses to let other nations enter their country and territorial waters to capture the pirates. When the pirate attacks on large ships began, shipping companies and the international community were caught off guard. For a while, modern day piracy flourished.
Pirate attacks have decreased significantly in recent years. This is due to a combination of factors.
These waters are now better policed. Since the governments of Somalia and Yemen could not or would not deal with the problem and ships being attacked came from countries around the world, the international community took action.
Right now ROTTERDAM is in the "International Transit Corridor" (ITC). This is a passageway through pirate waters patrolled by warships from many nations including the United States. The pirates know that if they enter the ITC, instead of finding a ship to seize they are likely to be found by one of these warships against which they have no chance in a fight.
In the ITC, ships forming convoys. Rather than pass through pirate waters alone, several ships travel together. It is harder for pirates to sneak up on a convoy. Warships can be better positioned in the area of these convoys.
Ships now take preventive measures against piracy. On ROTTERDAM, the ship is darkened at night to make it less visible. Curtains are drawn across every window in lighted areas of the ship. Making the ship invisible is impossible. The goal is to make it significantly less visible and less identifiable as a cruise ship.
Reducing light emanating from the ship improves the night vision of the lookouts. Extra lookouts are posted day and night.
Special sound generators have been installed in several places on the sides of the ship. These sound generators can be pointed like a gun and are capable of sending out a directional noise so loud that it is debilitating to humans. It is the literal equivalent of, "It's so noisy I can't hear myself think."
Should approaching pirates evade the sound generators and get close to the ship they will be pounded by high pressure water from fire hoses. Water coming out of a fire hose cannot be compared with an hose you have at home - even a pressure washer. Just to hold a working fire hose requires 2-3 men. Imagine what it would be like to be hit by such a stream of water. Imagine how quickly that much water could fill up and sink a small boat.
We have been told that ROTTERDAM has other, unspecified ways of defending herself. And she has speed. If pirates are spotted the ship can run away from them. The small boats may be faster, but the longer ROTTERDAM can delay contact the more likely the pirates are to see a warship or warplane coming at them, turning the pirates from the attackers into the ones being attacked.
ROTTERDAM is a high-sided ship. This means that it is a long way from the water to the first open deck making it more difficult for pirates to climb aboard. In Salalah, Oman we were tied up next to a much smaller cruise ship with the first open deck much closer to the water. To help prevent pirates from climbing aboard, barbed wire was strung around openings on the lowest deck.
The presence of warships in the area, traveling in a convoy at night and the precautions taken by ROTTERDAM collectively minimize our concern of waking up to someone saying in some foreign language the equivalent of "Aye Matey, we be seiz'n your ship don't cha know."
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