We sail on a cruise ship at least once a year. That’s why an article in the Sunday NY Times was a little scary. It told of recent attacks on cruise ships by pirates. So far, it has happened mostly off the coast of Somalia in the Gulf of Aden.
These pirates don’t swing aboard like Johnny Depp. They have weapons and they are not swords. In April, French commandos went in with guns blazing and captured a gang of pirates who had hijacked a luxury cruise ship and held the crew for ransom. They took the pirates to Paris to stand trial. Good for them.
On the other hand, the British Foreign Office issued a directive to the once proud Royal Navy not to detain any pirates because doing so could violate their human rights. Hello?
British warships patrolling the waters off Somalia were told that captured pirates could claim asylum in Britain and might face beheading if returned to Somalia.
How about the 433 crew members in 2007 who were either taken hostage, assaulted, injured or killed by pirates? Three are still missing and presumed dead. Over the last 10 years, 3,200 seafarers have been kidnapped, 500 injured and 160 killed.
The pirates are equipped with rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles, global positioning systems and high-speed motorboats. Half the pirate attacks in the world take place in the Gulf of Aden, which is a strategic waterway that leads into the Red Sea and then the Suez Canal and Europe.
France is lobbying the United Nations Security Council to adopt an international anti-piracy law. The British fear of interfering with the human rights of pirates isn’t going down well with other countries. As an island, almost all of its trade comes and goes by sea. Even most British workers in the maritime community disagree. They blame it on the Foreign Office.
Have the Brits become a country of weenies? Have they gone soft? I’m all for fairness and punishment suitable to the crime. But there are times when we have to stand up to bullies. If we don’t, they just figure they can push us to the wall.
What has happened to the old "Great" Britain? Their ships in those days would hang a pirate from the yardarm or keelhaul him. These days, we all disagree with both. But I say we put the French in charge of this particular project. A possible about-face? Maybe. However, I’m all for freedom on the seas. Viva la France!
Before, Don always showed me the brochure and itinerary, and after a cursory look at the brochures, I said, "Great." >From now on, I’ll be studying the cruise brochure and paying attention to the itinerary. If I see Somalia or Gulf of Aden or even Yemen or Ethiopia, you can count me out.
