Firsthand Reports

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Firsthand Reports

Firsthand Reports of Piracy and Attempted Piracy

Heartsong III: Gulf of Aden, March 2003

[Here is an excerpt from our letter home from the Red Sea. Heartsong III was traveling in close convoy -- less than a half mile apart in a diamond pattern -- with five other cruising boats through the Gulf of Aden "danger zone," as designated in the Red Sea Pilot.]

In the middle of the Gulf of Aden danger zone, we had a run-in with three boats answering the description of previous pirate attacks -- two local fishing boats with blue tarps wrapped around their bows to cover registration numbers, plus one "boxy-looking" boat. As they approached the port bow of the convoy, our faster boats speeded up to come even with the slower boats up front. We furled our headsails and turned on engines for increased maneuverability through the wind and to avoid passing the slower boats. The starboard-side boats jibed to close the small distance to port. With Nighthawk, Piquet, and Heartsong III now within a boat length running side by side, catching up fast with leader Tatanka (and with Sea Witch and Poppy I closing up quickly from the starboard wing), we manned the decks. Our armed boats had shotguns loaded and ready to fire warning shots in return should warning shots have been fired at us (per the typical attack). Flares were at the ready; radios were set to emergency frequencies.

I am happy to report that the pirates, if pirates they were, changed course to divert away from us and continue on their way. (If they were legitimate fishermen, we must have scared the pants off the poor guys!)

I am less happy to report, however, that some hours later, a mere eleven miles away, a solo boat was fired on, boarded, and robbed by three boats answering the same description. The next day, a more spread-out group of five sailboats was fired on by three boats (including at least one "boxy-looking" boat). Almost every day on the radio since arrival in Eritrea, we hear of other attacks or close encounters. We were very lucky -- very lucky indeed -- but we were pleased with all our pre-passage planning and with the quick action of our convoy.

Heartsong III: Indonesia, November 2002

As we were sailing slowly at about 5 knots, with very light winds, at about 3:00 a.m. between Kalimantan and Batam Island in Indonesia, an unlit 20-odd-foot fishing vessel approached. For about 5 days and nights, we had sailed through and among the Indonesian fishing fleet. There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of small fishing boats in that area of the world fishing every night and sometimes drifting around during the day with the crew sound asleep. (Indeed, the radar screen always looks like a complicated video game.) It is not unusual for smaller boats to be unlit. It is also not unusual in the nature of its work for a fishing boat to maintain an erratic course, with many stops and starts, and occasionally to show enough curiosity about an American sailboat to come within a hundred meters or so and to parallel our course for a while. The tiny ones will come even closer and try to sell their catch. Sometimes they seem to cross the bow with no warning, as they pursue a "box pattern" for retrieving nets. (Although several cruisers have mentioned to us that the "crossing the bow" move can be a tactic to stop a yacht, sometimes enhanced by casting nets at the yacht's prop to stop it if under power.) One becomes adept at early radar recognition and course changes for avoidance. As this particular boat approached, my entire Indonesian experience was of many, many fishing boats going about their own business. I thought only of staying out of the vessel's way.

So I changed course slightly and continued to monitor the radar. The fishing boat changed course to continue merging. I changed course again, and then realized with slight irritation that I must have been right in the middle of their net retrieval pattern as they still appeared to be on a collision course. I decided that the simplest method of avoidance would be to tack, which I did, changing course radically. The boat gained on us and changed course to continue merging. I turned on the engine and began motorsailing at about 7 knots, while continuing to turn away. The fishing boat increased speed and continued to gain. At this point, almost an hour had elapsed, and the boat was about 100 meters off our stern quarter. Using the night-vision monocular, I saw that there were at least 10, possibly a dozen or so men on the boat, which in our observations of the normal course of fishing would usually carry no more than four. Two of the men were on the bow pulpit with lines and a small object that might have been an anchor. I saw no weapons. The men were not working on the bow; they were watching Heartsong III and me. I shined our high-wattage spotlight on them. They continued to gain on us in what was now unmistakably pursuit. I woke Alan, who was asleep off-watch, then begin cranking in the furling jib. Then when I had increased maneuverability across the wind, after checking the chart to make sure there were no hazards nearby, I turned away from the fishing boat, keeping our stern to them at all times. At the same time I increased the engine to 3000rpm, which gave us a speed over ground of 9+ knots. As Alan took over the wheel, the boat was approximately two or three boat-lengths behind us, and men were lining the rails. I continued to shine the spotlight on them. Slowly, at the increased speed, we held our ground and then began pulling away.

They pursued us for about half an hour longer. Our firearms (a rifle and a shotgun) and a flare pistol were laid out ready to hand, but we did not need them.

I have no way of knowing for sure whether piracy was intended. All I know is that over the course of more than an hour we were pursued by a well-manned unlit fishing boat that was in no visible distress and that attempted no communication via radio, distress signals, or hand signals. Considering all the evidence, particularly the tenacity of the pursuit, it looked like a boarding attempt to me. Avoidance is always the best policy at sea, though, and all's well that ends well.

We have not reported the incident to any official reporting agency. The reason is that we would just feel a little silly doing so since there was no actual attack, merely (at worst) an easily thwarted pursuit. However, we learned a few things from the encounter, summarized below.

Lessons learned: When sailing in Indonesian waters, one should maintain the largest possible distance away from fishing boats that one's course will reasonably allow. Good radar equipment is indispensable. If feasible, yachts should travel in small groups (as most besides us had the good sense to do this past season), or at least within emergency VHF contact, between Bali and Singapore. Stay as far as possible away from the coast of Jakarta (source of the majority of the fishing fleet), even if it adds miles to your passage. In light winds during an unaccompanied passage, one should motorsail at highest sustainable speed at all times to avoid looking like an easy target. The good news is that once the chase is on there is a surprisingly large amount of time to try various courses of action. It's not a case of split-second decision making at all. Indeed, we had all the time we needed to deal with the situation. Having said that, though, I believe that I left it a bit late getting aggressive about running away. Another time I will take that final jib-dropping, rpm-revving step about a half hour earlier. For more on piracy in Indonesian waters, click here.

Sea Swan: 23 February 2001

Here is a firsthand account of piracy that a good friend of Sea Swan emailed to us. We know the boat, and the account is wholly reliable. The attack was on the Yemen coast.

Dear All,

Just a quick note in amongst a period of frantic activity.  We were the victims of

a pirate attack on our way along the Yemen coast.  There has

been such a fuss here over the incident, that we were afraid it might have

been reported in the international press, and that all our family and

friends would be sick with worry.  We are however fine.  We lost some equipment to the thieves, and had

some minor damage to the boat, but all is well on board.  Last night in the

middle of the night we arrived in Aden to file an official report and

we have been treated very well so far. Copy of the report follows for your

information.  We were able to contact friends shortly after the attack, and

they were able to make a preliminary report to the authorities and to send

up an Inmarsat distress signal.  From then on all hell broke loose and

the various authorities and the British Consulate, and the French Navy were

all notified.  News spread like wildfire on the radio.  We now have a day

of visiting all the authorities,  filing reports and trying to calm

everyone down.  Hope that all goes well.  We will probably get stuck here in

officialdom for some days, but hope to escape soon to continue the

trip. We really do want to stress that we are fine, and that apart from the

loss of possessions we are none the worse for wear.  Please bear with us

until we have time to contact each of you on a more personal level, but in the

mean time try not to worry.  We have had tremendous support from the

yachting community, and a good response from the authorities.  People have been

so kind that we have been knocked out.  Just goes to show that disaster

brings out the best in people.  We will let you know more in due course.

Love, Chrissie and Geoff

February 2001

Catamaran Ocean Swan

Piracy Report       Date of Incident: 23/02/2001

Ocean Swan with two crew members on board, was en route from Mukalla in

Yemen to Djibouti.  Just after dawn at 06.15 hrs local time (GMT +3),

approximately 6nm off shore in position 13° 48' N and 48° 13' E, Ocean

Swan passed by three open boats which were on her Starboard side about ½ nm

distant.  When the boats were abeam, all the three boats approached

Ocean Swan at speed.  One vessel opened fire with automatic rifles.  The

bullets caused damage to Ocean Swan's foresails, the sail furling gear, and the

yachts rigging stays.  The boat firing on Ocean Swan came alongside in

a manner that caused damage to the yacht's topsides.  One of the other

vessels came alongside briefly, then it stood off some distance away.  The

third vessel went alongside Shady Lady. Three men with automatic weapons and knives boarded Ocean Swan and

demanded that the yacht stop.  The men entered the cabins demanding money,

whilst one man held a knife at the owner's wife.  After they were handed what

money there was on board, the men proceeded to ransack the yacht taking

various items of personal effects as listed below.  After approximately ¾ hr on

board the men were persuaded to leave.  No physical harm was done to

either crew member.  The vessel used to come alongside Ocean Swan was a open wooden vessel

between 25 to 30ft long .  It was an old vessel, badly maintained with

blue plastic sheeting arranged around the hull.  It had a diesel inboard

engine. There were wooden fencing stakes around the boat to support cargo.  The

antifouling was old and blue in colour.  The hull was mostly wooden but

was thought at some stage to have been painted white.  It was a wide boat,

with high sides.  The front mooring rope was Black. The stern was flat with

an outboard rudder.  There was no evidence of extra fuel being carried on

deck giving rise to the thought that it was a local boat with only a short

range. The other two boats were of similar type and construction.  Both had

blue and white in their colour scheme. There were five men on board the boat which boarded Ocean Swan.  The

man in charge was 20/30 years old approximately 5ft 7ins, tall, fit and well

built. He had short dark curly hair.  He wore lightweight trousers and

jacket in a sand colour.  This looked like some kind of uniform.  The three other

men were younger aged about 20 yrs and most were dressed in western style

clothes. (The man from the second boat, who boarded Shady Lady was in

Yemen attire).  They were all between 5ft 6ins to 5 ft 8 ins tall and were of

slim build.  All were thought to be local Yemen people.  The youngest member

of the team was about 16 years old, he had curly hair and a build similar

to the man in charge.  He could have been related. When the pirates left the yacht they motored a short distance in a

Southerly direction to regroup with the other boats they were in company with.

Ocean Swan, along with two other yachts sailed West.  The 3 pirate boats

seemed to be stationary approximately 5 nm south of the attack position.

Ocean Swan was travelling in company with the British Yachts Mi Marra

and Shady Lady.  Both these boats had one crew member each.  At the time of

the attack, Shady Lady was being towed by Ocean Swan as she has only a

small engine and there was no wind.  Shady Lady was boarded and the VHF radio

and $50 US was taken from the owner Mr. Paul Hawton.  The yacht Mi Marra

was about ¾ nm ahead at the time of the attack, and was not approached by

the pirates. After the pirates had left many attempts were made to raise the alarm.

Mayday messages were broadcast by  Ocean Swan on all know SSB distress

frequencies.  No reply was received.  After some time, a message was

relayed by other yachts to report the incident to Salalah Port Control in Oman.

Later in the day a mesage about the incident was sent to Mukalla Port

Control.  We continued through the night to get a message to Aden Port

Control, with out success. List of items taken from Yacht Ocean Swan.

VHF Radio       HUSUN 70

BINOCULARS  JAGUAR 10×50

OMIYA   10×50               71/3872

TV 5"           REALISTIC   (Black)         7064

VIDEO       GOLDSTAR    (Black)         01101501F

VCD             BELLCORP  CLASS AA  (Gold)      246769

RADIO       MORPHY RICHARDS (Cream/White) 56651

STEREO      PROLINE         (Black)

CAMERAS     PENTAX ESPIO 738        (Black) 3251439

BIKES           BIRON FOLDING       (Colour Purple)

200             MARLBORO CIGARETTES

200             BENSON AND HEDGES

2 HENRI LLOYD SAILING COATS WITH HARNESS   RED, one with blue collar

SPOTLIGHT       MEGABEAM UNITED STATES STOVE COMPANY (Black)

TORCH       PHILLIPS UNDERWATER DIVE TORCH (BLACK)

            EVEREADY HAND TORCH (RED)

CLOCK       TRAVEL ALARM CLOCK

SOLAR PANEL SNES  42 12        42 WATT colour yellow  39 ×19 ins

DIGITAL CAMERA  CASIO QV 700 (colour silver)

MONEY       $100 US

In addition to these items, the yacht's hull is damaged, through

collision, and  the two foresails and rigging were damaged by gun fire.  Cost of

repairs are not yet known.

Signed

Captain Yacht Ocean Swan.

We have been knocked out.  It just goes to show that a crisis brings

out the best in people.  We will let you know more details in due course.

Love,

Chrissie and Geoff.

Wanderlust: 26 April 2001

Here is a firsthand account of a piracy attempt that Wanderlust emailed to us. We know them well, and the account is wholly reliable. The incident was in the Gulf Aden, near the mouth of the Red Sea.

Dear Friends,

With myself and Ian aboard [Denise having flown back to California for a family visit], Wanderlust left Male, Maldives on Friday the 13th. How's that for thumbing your nose at superstition? About a day out of the Maldives we caught a 3.5 foot dorado which we have enjoyed eating ever since. The dorado capped one of the best fishing periods on Wanderlust as we also landed a 100-pound blue marlin on the leg from Phuket to Male, a small (approx. 40 pounds) but beautiful sailfish which we released and a nice barracuda which we enjoyed over several meals.

Luckily we had overheard a radio conversation between two boats leaving Male’ shortly after we had arrived there. One of them was Osprey, with Chris and Stephanie on board, whom Denise and I had met very briefly in a boatyard in Darwin, Australia. We set up a radio schedule them as we were both headed across the remainder of the Indian Ocean and through the Gulf of Aden to Djibouti. Another pirate attack occurred in the Gulf of Aden about two weeks before we passed through that area with the cruiser firing back and perhaps hitting two of the three pirates. We had hoped the pirates would be home licking their wounds when we reached their hunting grounds. No such luck.

On the morning of Thursday, April 26th Osprey spotted a fishing vessel steaming up off their starboard, aft quarter on a collision course. Osprey increased their engine speed to its maximum and the approaching powerboat was apparently not able to gain beyond 1.1 miles from Osprey. Two hours after the chase began Osprey veered off to port towards Somalia and the powerboat veered off to starboard towards Aden, Yemen. As we had maintained frequent radio contact on the SSB during the chase, Ian and I shared Chris’ and Stephanie’s relief.

Wanderlust entered this particular danger zone, between 46 and 48 degrees east longitude around noon that day and we planned to exit it before sunrise the next morning. The pirates only seem to strike during daylight hours. Therefore, as darkness fell that evening, I felt fairly confident that we had avoided the pirates. However, about 2100 that evening while scanning the radar down to the six mile screen, I noticed two boat images to our starboard. However, the boats did not have their running lights on. After monitoring their relative position for awhile on the radar to verify that they were tracking us, we altered course and increased speed from 6.5 to 8.5 knots, our maximum. However the two oats stayed with us. After several course changes it became apparent that we could not lose the two boats. The consensus of Ian, Chris, Stephanie and myself was that the pirates were planning to shadow us all night and attack after sunrise

Denise had emailed the US Embassy in Djibouti to alert them that we were headed that way and might contact them for assistance if we had trouble with pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Therefore, I used the mini-M satellite phone to call the Embassy requesting the officer who responded to Denise’s email. While the conversation was hard to follow with the phone disconnecting several times, it appeared that no resources were available to assist us.

As Chris had spoken with a US Navy Seaman on a warship via VHF and had heard other traffic between warships the day before, we knew the US Navy was relatively close-by. However, my “Securitay“ broadcasts on 2182 SSB got no responses from our Navy or anyone else. Eventually, we called the US Coast Guard in the United States who eventually connected us with an officer of a fleet in this area. However, the Navy could not send us assistance until the boats had taken more aggressive action against us. The Navy officer also realized that if they waited until after the boats attacked us to send assistance, than the pirates would have robbed us and left before the Navy resources arrived.

During one of our attempts to lose our pursuers when we racing at full throttle, the engine suddenly came to halt. As this problem seemed to be our problem de jeur having first occurred that morning, we knew how to bypass the problem. The speed with which we bled the engine to restart it would have impressed a NASCAR pit crew. Within a few minutes the chase was on again.

After several hours of talking with the Navy and Coast Guard, I told Osprey, whom we had been in frequent SSB radio contact, that we were changing course for the shipping lanes in hopes that having other boats around might deter the pirates. However Chris and Stephanie very bravely asserted that they would turn around and motor toward us to lend assistance. We agreed that Osprey should not get so close as to get attacked along with us, but close enough to help us after the attack. So about three hours before daylight, Osprey and Wanderlust began steaming toward each other at full speed.

About an hour before first light, we were connected with a Navy officer on a US aircraft carrier in the area. He promised to try and get some assistance to us ASAP. Shortly before daylight Osprey and Wanderlust were less than 10 miles apart and we lost the radar images of the pirate boats. Apparently, the pirates saw Osprey’s image on their radar and realized that a boat was approaching to assist us, so they aborted their 8-hour pursuit just before daybreak. When I called the Navy to alert them that we were no longer in imminent danger, the officer of the aircraft carrier said it would have been 5 hours before they had any “assets” available to assist us. A short while later Osprey reached us, turned around, and we buddy-boated around the next trouble spot extending out from the Somalia/Djibouti border. The next morning we all were more than relieved to arrive in Djibouti.

Djibouti’s most compelling attribute is that it is not Aden, where the USS Cole was bombed by suicide bombers last year and the only other viable alternative to refueling near here. Djibouti is horribly filthy as illustrated by the many times we have witnessed people defecating in plain view, even in sinkholes in fairly busy sidewalks. While the presence of the French who remain after their occupation of Djibouti results in some relatively nice supermarkets and stores, the high prices associated with the French are prevalent here.

Wanderlust departed Djibouti on Friday, May 4th with Osprey leaving a few days after that. The Red Sea is notorious for testing the mettle of boats and boaters bashing to windward over steep but tightly grouped swells. So far Wanderlust and her crew have held up fairly well. However, one day we left a beautiful dive site off the coast of Sudan where Jacques Cousteau lived underwater by the reef for weeks at a time in small modules. The wind and sea were calm so we thought we would take advantage of the settled conditions and left late afternoon after diving. Less than two hours later, the winds kicked up to almost gale force and then the seas began building in kind. After two days and one long night of crashing into the continuous onslaught of wind and waves we pulled into a nice harbor which we soon learned lay at the contested border between Egypt and Sudan. The Egyptian navy had a boat moored in the harbor and they instructed us to where to anchor. We later noticed that we were between the Navy boat and a shore-based gun emplacement. While serving as human shields would normally make us nervous, the relaxed demeanor of the navy personnel gave us the impression this border dispute was then not a particularly “hot” issue. After rebedding some hatches, hand sewing the dodger, and taking everything off the floor inside the boat and stowing it properly, we ventured back out to face the wrath of the Red Sea again.

Wanderlust is now safely moored at a new marina off the Egyptian coast of the Gulf of Suez just north of the Red Sea. On the way up the Red Sea we enjoyed some nice scuba diving, snorkeling, and beach combing. Ian and I are now taking a few days away from the boat to tour the ancient sights of Luxor and Cairo. We hope to finish our transit of the Gulf of Suez/the Suez Canal and cut across the Mediterranean to Turkey by early June.