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Originally posted by PamM:
It does not look 25' to me, and what was the guy with the stick going to do?

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When asked, the Captain would neither confirm nor deny that weapons were caried on board,nor whether the stafff were armed,however he went on to say that they were prepared for ANY eventuality.

They also had the sides of the ship floodlit each night,and if you went for a stroll at this time a pair of Gurkahs would appear,at a discreet distance.

http://u.tv/newsroom/indepth.asp?id=66857&pt=n

Excerpts:

Solicitor Norman Fisher, 55, from Hampstead Garden Suburb in north London was onboard the Seabourn Spirit 100 miles off Somalia in Africa when the attack from small boats took place.

The first many bleary-eyed passengers knew of the dawn raid was when captain Sven Erik Pedersen came on the PA system and said: "Stay inside, we`re under attack."

Terrified passengers, including 18 from Britain, were told to go to the restaurant as the sound of the grenade and gunfire from two 25ft rigid inflatable boats filled the air.

"I was awake doing some work when I heard what sounded like a crack from outside at 5.50am," said Mr Fisher.

"I looked out of the window and saw a small boat with about five people in it about 20 yards away.

"One of them clearly had a rifle. Later I realised that two of them had rifles and one had some kind of rocket launcher.

"They were firing the rifle and then fired the rocket launcher twice. One of the rockets certainly hit the ship - it went through the side of the liner into a passenger`s suite. The couple were in there at the time so it was a bit of an unpleasant experience.

"Fortunately they weren`t hurt but you can just imagine what it would have been like if they had been standing up because obviously the cabin was very badly damaged.

"I only saw one boat, although the captain said there were two. At first I didn`t know what was going on, but when I saw the rocket launcher I started getting a bit scared."

Mr Fisher went on: "I suppose I had a little bit of adrenaline, particularly because I was trying to take photographs.

"Afterwards, particularly when I looked at the photos and realised the guy was loading the rocket launcher right in front of me, which I hadn`t seen with the naked eye, then you do feel a certain amount of tension about what might have happened."

[...]

"The captain didn`t sound the usual alarm because he was worried that people would run up on the deck thinking it was a fire, and that would be the worst place to be," Mr Fisher explained.

"Instead he made an announcement at five past six, saying: `Stay inside, stay inside, we are under attack`.

"Then he told us to go the restaurant in the middle of the ship and wait.

"The atmosphere in the restaurant was a little tense. People were pretty good and they weren`t panicking, but one or two were certainly looking nervous," Mr Fisher said.

"Most people were wearing dressing gowns and were quite bleary-eyed. Some sat on the floor for extra safety and others sat in the chairs. After a while they started bringing in water and coffee for us.

"The captain came in at about 6.30am and explained what was going on and said he was reasonably confident we had lost them. Of course he got a massive round of applause."

They occasionally encounter facts, and when they do, it is a sight to behold! They sort of wrestle them to the ground, like the Crocodile Hunter Guy on another cable channel.

The decibel level of their "fair and balanced" commentary is about 50db above the threshold of pain. Their ability to shout down a hapless guest who may differ with them, is legendary.

But it fills a distinct niche in my viewing habits, I wouldn't be without it. True comedy may be found in strange places.

[ 11-05-2005: Message edited by: Cambodge ]

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Originally posted by Cambodge:
The decibel level of their "fair and balanced" commentary is about 50db above the threshold of pain.

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I'd like to note that out of all the videos posted to this thread, FOX's three-minute bit is the most fact-filled and substantial of 'em.

But, nah, it was obviously fabricated garbage... we all know that facts scare FOX anchors. Probably because they're too busy continuously celebrating their domination of US cable news (and of course practicing their best 'breathy' voice). [Insert derision against the average US citizen here to explain FOX's #1 position -- zing! ]

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Calls for action following cruise liner attack
November 6, 2005

There have been renewed calls for international action against piracy after a luxury cruise liner carrying hundreds of tourists was attacked off the east coast of Africa.

The Seabourn Spirit was 150 kilometres off the coast of Somalia and on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombassa when the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade and machine guns.

There were 19 Australians on board, but only one crew member was injured during the attack.

A spokesman for the London-based maritime organisation NUMAST, Andrew Linington, says the area where the attack took place in the most prone in the world.

"Ship owners are very afraid to report the attacks because their ships get held up while investigations take place and things, so they lose money because of that," he said.

"Many, many of the attacks actually never make it to the official records, so we know there's many, many more attacks than there actually are."

ABC News Online

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"The Somali government, struggling to establish authority at home, pleaded for international help watching its coast and financing and training its own coast guard.

"(Piracy) is a serious and dangerous new phenomena that is unfolding on the high seas of Somalia and is in fact a threat to all maritime vessels from the Red Sea to the southern tip of the Indian Ocean," it said."

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17161175%255E2702,00.html

It's interesting to read how desperate the pirates were. They apparently sent out an SOS after the attack in an attempt to lure the ship back to them:

American woman Edith Laird said the skipper "and the rest of his crew did a wonderful and amazing job getting us out of the area as fast as possible".

"We had no idea that this ship could move as fast as it did and he did his best to run down the pirates," she said. "The 'mother ship' for the pirates sent a false SOS that the captain decided to ignore after the attack," she said.

Mr Fisher said after the attack was beaten off: "The captain came in at about 6.30am and explained what was going on. He said he was reasonably confident we had lost them. Of course he got a massive round of applause."

Along with the 19 Australians, there were 48 Americans on board, 22 Britons, 21 Canadians, 19 Germans and six South Africans.

quote:

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Originally posted by jsea:
From The Australian:

The Australian

It's interesting to read how desperate the pirates were. They apparently sent out an SOS after the attack in an attempt to lure the ship back to them:

American woman Edith Laird said the skipper "and the rest of his crew did a wonderful and amazing job getting us out of the area as fast as possible".

"We had no idea that this ship could move as fast as it did and he did his best to run down the pirates," she said. "The 'mother ship' for the pirates sent a false SOS that the captain decided to ignore after the attack," she said.

Mr Fisher said after the attack was beaten off: "The captain came in at about 6.30am and explained what was going on. He said he was reasonably confident we had lost them. Of course he got a massive round of applause."

Along with the 19 Australians, there were 48 Americans on board, 22 Britons, 21 Canadians, 19 Germans and six South Africans.

The other passengers were mostly from other European nations, Mr Good said.

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Missile 'embedded in cruise ship'

November 07, 2005
AN unexploded missile is embedded in an accommodation unit after a possible terrorist attack off the east African coast, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has said today.

The passengers on the US-owned Seabourn Spirit were woken by machinegun fire and a rocket-propelled grenade crashing into the vessel at dawn on Saturday about 160km off the coast of the lawless nation of Somalia.

The luxury cruise ship is about to dock in the Seychelles, but Mr Downer said that could be delayed while officials disarm the unexploded ordnance.

"We're not sure whether in the early stages the ship will be able to tie up at the wharf there because of concern about an unexploded rocket that is embedded in some of the passenger accommodation of the ship," Mr Downer told the Nine Network.

"American officials are going to board it initially to deal with that problem, and once that problem's dealt with then our consular officer will be able to go on board as well."

The attack was believed to have been carried out by pirates, but Mr Downer said it may have been a terrorist act.

"The whole thing is an extraordinary story, that it would be attacked by, we're not quite sure who at this stage, but it's possible the people who attacked the ship were terrorists," he said.

Mr Downer said it was not known exactly how many Australians were on board, with 13 named on the ship's passenger list and another six who were thought to have joined the cruise.

The ship, with more than 300 people on board, was on its way to the Kenyan port of Mombasa where it was due to pick up more passengers, including Australians.

Those Australians will now be met by a consular official from Australia's embassy in Nairobi.

The passengers awoke about 5.30am on Saturday to the sound of gunfire as two armed vessels approached the Seabourn Spirit.

The 7.5-metre inflatable boats approached the vessel and fired as their occupants attempted to get on board the liner.

Seabourn Spirit was not boarded, managing to outrun the attackers and change its course.

One member of the crew was slightly injured before the attackers were repulsed, a London-based Seabourn Cruises spokesman said. The crew member was reportedly hit by flying debris.

The ship has 161 crew members and 151 passengers.

Excerpts:

As the two 25-foot inflatable boats approached the liner crew members reportedly sank one with a small caliber pellet gun, yelling out "Splash one inflatable!" and hi-fiving each other, at which point the other inflatable turned tail. "Funny, adds Whittaker, they were the first pirates I've ever seen wearing Coast-Guard approved life vests beneath their bandoliers."

Elbow Lard, of Seattle, sent an email claiming that her daughter spotted the pirates out of their window, err, porthole, with a brass telescope. "One had a hook instead of a hand, and several of them had eye patches. They certainly looked like Pirates of the Carribean, even though we were sailing in the Indian Ocean, where one would expect savages wearing chaps, headdresses and riding war ponys, or at least jet skis.

[...]

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Aussie tells of cruise liner attack
November 7, 2005

An Australian tourist who was on board the cruise liner which was attacked off the coast of Somalia at the weekend has described his experience.

An unexploded rocket-propelled grenade remains embedded in the American-owned cruise ship.

The Seabourn Spirit, which has 151 passengers on board, is now off the coast of the Seychelles and US military officials are working to disarm the grenade.

Men in two small boats fired rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns at the cruise ship, about 160 kilometres off the coast of Somalia on Saturday, but the vessel managed to take evasive action.

One of the 19 Australians caught up in the attack was Bob Meagher.

Mr Meagher began taking photographs of the pirates before noticing that one of them was shouldering the grenade launcher.

"There was a flash of flame and then a huge boom, a terrible boom sound," he said.

"I've never heard anything like it.

"It was where the rocket-propelled device had hit the metal of the ship, just about 10 feet from where we were standing.

"So it sort of went on the deck above us."

Mr Meagher says the captain of the vessel tried to thwart the attack by manoeuvring the ship and creating waves to destabilise the pirates.

"The remarkable thing was after they had ridden up on top of one of those waves and gone sort of down in the trough they popped up again," he said.

"At that stage there was a guy loading a large orange rocket into this rocket launching device and that was the rocket that we saw explode and hit the ship."

ABC News Online

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Terrorists may be behind cruise liner attack: Downer
November 7, 2005

Australian consular officials have spoken to the 22 Australians who are on board a luxury cruise liner that was was attacked off the east African coast on the weekend.

The Seabourn Spirit is now anchored three kilometres off the Seychelles.

All the Australians on board are safe, however one crew member was injured in the attack that occurred off the coast of Somalia.

During the incident, people using a rocket-propelled grenade and machine guns fired on the liner.

Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer says authorities have not ruled out the possibility the attack was carried out by terrorists, who were targeting Westerners.

"If they were pirates who wanted to take the ship they wouldn't have used that methodology," he said.

"If they were terrorists who wanted to kill people on the ship - and it's not an American ship, it's a ship that's registered in the Bahamas - but it's based in Miami, and so there was presumably a supposition that it was an American ship."

Mr Downer says the Seabourn Spirit is a reasonably big ship, "so attacking it, even if you've got a rocket propelled grenade, and taking the ship over that seems to me to be a little improbable".

"But damaging the ship and killing people, which might have been their motive, that's something they could have easily done if the rocket propelled grenades had worked properly."

Pirates are not uncommon off the Somali coast, but typically they target freighters that carry only a handful of crew members.

This week, the London-based International Maritime Bureau said it knew of 27 pirate attacks off Somalia since March.
Unexploded missile

Mr Downer says an unexploded missile remains embedded in the cruise liner.

The US military is trying to defuse the grenade and Mr Downer says the ship will not be allowed to dock until it is disarmed.

"Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired at the ship, one of them hit the stern of the ship and bounced off and the other one lodged into some of the passenger accommodation but didn't explode," he said.

"So there are some American military people there, dealing with that problem."
New trend

A maritime law expert says the attack on the cruiser could indicate the start of a new trend of pirates targeting passenger ships.

Frances Hannah from the Queensland University of Technology says she doubts the attack was the work of terrorists.

She says the attack bears the hallmarks of previous acts of piracy.

Ms Hannah says cruise ships could be seen by pirates as easy targets.

"Commercial vessels are increasingly getting defences that repel the pirate invaders as they are about to come on board," she said.

"I gather this vessel had a similar type of defence already fitted, but perhaps some passenger vessels wouldn't be as well defended."

ABC News Online

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These pirates are no more than desperate bandits, out to attack anything that passes within their reach, for whatever booty may be available. They probably had no idea this was a cruise ship either, just a vessel on the go. Their 'boats' are not sophisticated, and neither are they or their weapons.

Why was Seabourn Spirit in this area anyway; MARAD warnings issued prior to this incident, state vessels should be no less than 200nm from the east coast of Somalia. She was it appears only half that distance off shore.

In fact, I think, but should chech, they are for th emoment three crews hijacked of ships bringing help supplies to Somalia.

The situation is so bad, i think, that help organisations are thinking about stopping sending ships with much needed supply materials to Somalia because fo the problems, and they are trying to bring in the supplies by road, though it is much more costly.

The Somali coast has always been dangerous, don't forget Achille Lauro sank there, and there are some very dangerous cliffs or islets (Socatra ?) where many ships on the route to the East Indies have been wrecked.

Still, it must have been frightening.

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PamM wrote:
A somewhat irresponsible header by ABC imo Bulbousbow. Talk about scaremongering, especially considering the other comments made further down.

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I wonder who influenced our Foreign Minister to say they may have been terrorists. I hope it wasn't me.

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Originally posted by Cambodge:
I have just watched a most-uninformative coverage of this incident on Fox News. For the benefit of those outside the USA, Fox is a loud, right-wing, pretty-much "garbage" channel, sort of like the lower class Brit tabloids. But occasionally they are worth viewing."

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Interesting, isn't it, that the "uninformative coverage" has turned out to be the most accurate, so far?

quote:

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Originally posted by PamM:

...Why was Seabourn Spirit in this area anyway; MARAD warnings issued prior to this incident, state vessels should be no less than 200nm from the east coast of Somalia. She was it appears only half that distance off shore.

Pam

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Wondering if any planned world cruises will pass through this same area, and if so, will they alter their routes after this incident?