Photos from a Somali Pirate Attack

Our maritime friends over at gCaptain recently spotted a vivid collection of photos detailing the November hijacking of the tanker M/V Biscaglia by Somali pirates. The images, of provenance unknown, were published in the British tabloid The Mirror. The pirates approached the Biscaglia in this high-powered skiff:

The Biscaglia was reasonably well prepared. Following a long string of pirate attacks in the waters off Somalia, the ship had been equipped with water cannon, acoustic deterrents, and a small detachment of British security guards. Here are the water cannons, hard at work:

None of these defenses proved effective, however, and the Biscaglia was quickly seized. The British security guards -- ex-military, one and all -- retreated to the roof of the ship. Outgunned and outnumbered, they eventually jumped into the sea, where they were rescued by a French navy helicopter. In breathless tabloid prose, the Mirror tells the tale:

The Biscaglia and 18 other cargo vessels at first sailed with a French frigate for protection. But two days out of Oman, 300 miles off the Somali coast,  it fell behind. [Former British paratrooper Mike Kelly], from Dublin, said: “We noticed a skiff about three miles off our port side – and knew it was pirates.”

The Biscaglia sent a distress signal to the frigate as the skiff circled the tanker staying well out of range of water cannons.

Mike said: “We used our makeshift bazooka but it was wildly inaccurate and the pirates started firing rocket-propelled grenades.”

While two pirates stayed in the skiff, six scrambled on board, firing AK-47s at the bridge where the three men were masterminding the defence.

[ex-Royal Marine Carl “Rocky” Mason], from Poole, said: “They started shooting at me and I ran with them coming after me. They were only about 18, skinny and looked high on the local drug, called khat. They were spraying bullets everywhere.”

The men decided to use the sonic weapon, called an L-RAD.

Mike said: “We thought it would make the pirates back off, but they just laughed. It was a total waste of time.”

 

The trio locked all the hatches and doors and retreated to the roof of the bridge. Half an hour after the attack had begun, a helicopter from the French warship appeared.

Although it was armed, it is against maritime laws in the area to board a vessel by force after it has been taken by pirates. So the helicopter crew were forced to hover and photograph events from above.

LINKS:

Heroic Brit Trio Take on Somali Pirates Before Escaping into Sea (UK Mirror article)

Pirate Attack Photos (gCaptain blog post)

PREVIOUSLY:

Aaarrrr! The US Navy Battles Modern Pirates to Save North Koreans off the Coast of Africa

(Images from www.mirror.co.uk)

Comments

[Nick]

"masterminding the defence." !

ha!

how embarrassing for the paratrooper and marine. i wonder if the boobs will have to give back the thousands they probably charged for their security services.

where is steven segal when you need him?

[Maggie Leber]

"Now home, they say there needs to be a drastic change in the way the world deals with the bandits..Rocky said: 'They know we can’t really fight back. It’s easy money – and something must be done.'"

Notice there's no mention of the Brit ex-Marines actually *shooting back*, just flailing around with a bunch of "non-lethal" systems like water cannon and noisemakers.

I'm inferring they were not actually *armed*.

Hello? Why does this make sense?

[Jack Ruttan]

Where's the Jolly Roger, and the swinging on ropes? These people have to learn to do things right.

[Jack Ruttan]

Where's the Jolly Roger, and the swinging on ropes? These people have to learn to do things right.

[Big Guy]

Maybe it's just me, but there is something about capri pants and sandals that doesn't exactly give off the impression of a 'badass security team.' And whatever happened to going down with the ship?

[Daneil]

Somali militia are one of the most lethal army in the world, not the tecknology and the weapon they have but ther fight on the field, one of the few proud ppl I encounter when I went Africa and very xenophopic, particularly to the west.

[3rd Party Logistics]

Hey, Thanks for the interesting post. It's crazy to know how much pirating occurs in international waters.

[Ships]

these pictures are scarrying me. Really I had been twise on ship, which was ttacked by pirates. On my last contract they shot us with kalashnikov and it was just a luck that nothing happens

[Gator]

Hey interesting view. Paint all ships grey hulls and it would confuse them to no end. They tend to run from Grey Hulled ships. I know I was there. Pirates attempted to chased us down with a German freighter that they captured off of Somalia. The chase was at night, and by day break, they saw that we were a grey hulled ship and turned the other way. One detail to add. I was security for the ship I was on and we were armed with crew serve weapons too.

[Wayne A]

I learned a lot from reading this blog post. They security may have not been allowed to use leathal force. I'm sure they used all the weapons at their disposal.