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See the original image at guardian.co.uk —

How savage pirates reign on the world's high seas

guardian.co.uk — It has become the most dangerous strip of sea in the world with weekly attacks on European ships. Off the Somalian coast brutal pirates are hijacking luxury yachts, vast cruise liners and even food aid ships and demanding - and getting - huge ransoms. Xan Rice reports on the ancient menace that has become a modern peril

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  • mojoe1185, on 04/28/2008, -3/+596 diggs, pirates, and no comments???!!
    • Aensland, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1It said one, but I had to reload it a few times before yours showed up. Oh... and still waiting for that sequel to the ninja vs. pirate YouTube clip.
    • bosssmiley, on 04/28/2008, -1/+5We're just silently basking in the awesome of it. His Chosen People are returning to their rightful home on the seas and are bringing the touch on His Noodly Appendage (also run, sodomy and the lash) to the unbeliever!

      Problem: low budget pirates raiding your ship?
      Solution: swivel guns (or their modern equivalent)

      Oh, and this is the very reason we and the Italians occupied Somaliland first time around: keeping the sea lanes free of local pirates.
  • Wartz, on 04/28/2008, -3/+30Its because we have become too pussy to just shoot or hang the pirates.
    • Kyrgizion, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4Agreed, nuke them from a gunship. Some hellfire missiles should do the trick.
    • heystoopid, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Nice to see you have not read about the very quiet exploits and deeds of a certain group of people from the security and recovery section working mostly after hours for a large shipping insurance group , many of these employees have former military backgrounds that make John Rambo look like a geriatic pussy cat !
    • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -2/+4It says the crews of captured ships are rarely harmed. I would say hanging is more than a little too extreme...
      • ORBAT, on 04/28/2008, -3/+1Yeah, because I'm sure they'll listen to reason and stop hijacking people if we ask them nicely enough.
        • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2Um, I was thinking more of putting them in jail, but okay.
      • sentime, on 04/28/2008, -2/+5How about stop illegally fishing the African coasts so the people don't STARVE TO DEATH!

        dumbass
        • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1So anybody who doesn't support hanging pirates that don't hurt people necessarily also supports illegal fishing? You're being the dumbass. Of COURSE I think they should try to stop illegal fishing, but guess what? If you send ships into the area to stop illegal fishing, you're going to run into pirates, too. What do you do with them? I'm saying imprison them, don't hang them. You will also run into illegal fishers, who you can also fine or imprison.

          Two issues, my friend, requiring two simultaneous policies.
        • robeph, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1But what's a pirate, they don't harm the people, if we illegally fished in canadian waters would their coast guard analogue (whatever its called) not board our ship, fine us, etc? These guys appear to be doing what they say they are, the only problem I see is that the money is going to the wrong people. But you can't really complain about getting roughed up if you're in the wrong place illegallly.
    • Moojo, on 04/28/2008, -2/+5Did you read the whole article??

      "Yet at any one time there are up to 500 foreign-registered boats fishing in Somalia's rich waters, Almost all are fishing illegally."

      Dont blame the pirates, blame these foreign boats.
  • ZippidyDoo, on 04/28/2008, -0/+21I'm sure they're thinking "Hey they paid the ransom so lets not do this again.".
  • marcusx, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2Fortunately I don't have boat. But if you have one it would be good idea to install a torpedo launcher :)
  • RevJonathan, on 04/28/2008, -6/+12Sounds like a job for the US Navy... Let's see those pirates go up against a destroyer and a team of Navy Seals.
    • craighoxton, on 04/28/2008, -5/+19It's only a job for the US Navy if the pirates are stealing oil
    • kitkatsavvy, on 04/28/2008, -14/+14yeah ok :) considering you couldn't beat somalia on land in 1993, whats the chance that you would beat those pirates? stupid 'i think americas the best in the world' syndrome again.. bah
      • topace3000, on 04/28/2008, -8/+11Heh, Europe can't even defend it's own shipping from pirates off Africa, and you insult America's armed forces.
      • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -1/+8Pirates are easy to destroy. They have nowhere to hide, no locals to cover for them on the seas, and they are necessarily all bunched into a confined space... The US has none of its usual disadvantages there.
      • Flashman, on 04/28/2008, -1/+4I'd like to see a warlord's militia hide amongst the civilian population on the open sea.
        • ORBAT, on 04/28/2008, -0/+5You're making it sound like they can't walk on land or something.
        • pinchduck, on 04/28/2008, -1/+3land-based piracy of an ocean going ship is notoriously difficult. For starters, the ship's crew can't hear you when you yell "We're boarding! Heave To!". Secondly, if they could, they would all fall over laughing.
    • itsbob, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3America ***** YEAH!
  • FireStalker, on 04/28/2008, -1/+5YARGH!
  • Wartz, on 04/28/2008, -3/+13Back in the early 1800s, the US Navy and the marines landed in north Africa and kicked the Pirate's asses. Now the pirates get paid off.
    • topace3000, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Back then European countries paid the ransoms and tribute asked of north African pirates as well. The US would have none of it, and went over to smash them. However, the situation here is a bit more convoluted, and the pirates don't have centralized power bases like they did in North Africa.
      • heystoopid, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2Guess again my friend , a very bad take on history , it was actually the Yankees traders trying to get a foot hold in the Med that resorted to that pathetic method of stupidity , for both the French and British had some very powerful ships of the line on fast call to deal with these upstarts !
        • topace3000, on 05/01/2008, -0/+1Uh.. everything I said is true. Dealing with pirates with your navy is a "pathetic method of stupidity?"

          "The impact of these attacks was devastating – France, England, and Spain each lost thousands of ships, and long stretches of coast in Spain and Italy were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants."
          "...all traders of nations which did not pay tribute for immunity were liable to be taken at sea. This tribute, disguised as presents or ransoms, did not always ensure safety. The most powerful states in Europe condescended to pay the pirates and tolerate their insults."
          http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbary_pirate

          Read the article and learn something before you come back talking out of your ass again.
    • heystoopid, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Not quite the whole truth , please try again !
  • craighoxton, on 04/28/2008, -0/+14This sounds like a job for a Modern Major General
    • regression, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Wow, a Pirates of Penzance reference. That is the last thing i ever expected to see on digg. You sir, have been dugg.
      • craighoxton, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Thank you - I call 'em as I see 'em
  • Licurgo, on 04/28/2008, -3/+2mmm... and this is related to torrent downloads how?
  • Shadowgamers, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2Jack Sparrow?
  • lumberjack01, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2Am I alone in thinking this read "Salvage Pirates" instead of Savage...this article makes so much more sense now
  • bryano, on 04/28/2008, -9/+4***** THE RIAA !!!
    • solidus636, on 04/28/2008, -1/+6No, not those types of pirates.
      • JoeVet, on 04/28/2008, -2/+1That is what the RIAA is calling ordinary music lovers.
    • sentime, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1The way we view the RIAA, those pirates view the Western World. irony
  • robthom, on 04/28/2008, -4/+4That sounds exciting, even romantic. Where do I sign up?!
    I'd rather join the pirates then risk my life for george bush.
    • spikyface, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1You and me both geez, I'm already planning my next holiday there for recon
  • yetAnotherCroc, on 04/28/2008, -1/+12Someone alert the ninjas!
  • fiveonefive9, on 04/28/2008, -2/+11The RIAA should just sue the ***** out of them......
  • DommoOrigato, on 04/28/2008, -2/+9I think navies need to show no mercy to pirates. When they catch them, they should be exterminated. If they jump ship, shoot 'em in the water. Dummy vessels would probably work well. Like a military ship that looks like an aid vessel, and it lures out pirates before, popping out a bunch of hidden deck guns.

    Pirates are a scourge on the ocean, and I've had friends who've had close calls while sailing in the southern Caribbean(near colombia pirates often murder people in pleasure craft and steal the vessels for drug running). The worst was a friend in the coast guard who worked as a radioman, who told me a story where his cutter picked up a distress call from a man who was being attacked by pirates while sailing in his small yacht. They never did find the man's body, nor his boat which was likely stolen for use in the drug trade.
    • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -3/+7If they murder people, then yeah. This article says the somalian ones don't tend to hurt people though, in which case "no mercy" is absurd. We don't go around shooting carjackers or embezzlers on sight and hanging them from stakes, do we?
      • aeveritt, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2What exactly do you think would happen if they didn't get paid? They are taking 50+ hostages and threatening them with death. This isn't a carjacking.
        • smurfsahoy, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Well apparently they make reasonable demands. And anyway, of the hundreds of vessels that get attacked by pirates a year there, I'm sure many of them refuse to pay. They still didn't mention anything about mass murders, though.
      • Memitim, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2What's wrong with shooting a carjacker? I see armed robbery as being very worthy of an execution. It's not like they got carried away and stuck a gun in the driver's face and demanded possession of their vehicle in the heat of their passionate walk down the sidewalk. It's a premeditated violent action and threat of imminent death against another human being; upon finding the perp guilty, bury them in the ground.

        As for these pirates, it gets a bit hazy since they are actually enforcing Somali economic rights under international law in the absence of a formally recognized government. It's almost an example of a functional anarchist society within our authoritarian-focused global geopolitical system.
    • KhanneaNL, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2If you think these are professionals, these pirates think again. They are junkies by and large. And violent ones too. And they use kids age 12 as attack troops, stoned half crazy.
  • heystoopid, on 04/28/2008, -2/+2Me think it an amazing coincidence ever since the Yankees interfered in the country torn apart by civil war installed their assorted corrupt quislings and drug runners by Ethiopian proxy to remove the very group of people capable of doing something about it , the situation has now literally escalated from bad to worse !

    What price a choice indeed ?
  • Hosalabad, on 04/28/2008, -0/+10I think vacationing in the yacht off the coast of Somalia sounds like a great idea!
    • LuckyASN, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Gotta go around the world somehow.
    • sentime, on 04/28/2008, -0/+4Oh yeah sailing the world is important. 99.99999999% that can't afford a Yacht really care. Maybe they should invest in some guns and guards instead of a bigger yacht and more hoes.
  • spambutcher, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2I would imagine if every crew member of every ship (sailing in pirate-infested waters) had a shotgun and knew how to use it - it would do a lot to deter this kind of thing....
    • KhanneaNL, on 04/28/2008, -0/+2They'd massacre you in the most horrible way you can imagine. I have seen a guy with a full automatic assault rifle fire at a dingy with pirates. One pirate was grazed lightly, the rest came onboard and then proceeded to disembowel him alive. The part about the disemboweling wasnt filmed fortunately but the shooting was. It just doesnt work that way; to stop an attacking boat you need a .50 beltfed machinegun.
      • cdigioia, on 04/28/2008, -0/+4So what, the guy couldn't aim, or ran out of ammunition or...?
  • dbzer0, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1Someone must make a modern version of Sid Meier's Pirates of this.
  • jdpalite, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2The US Navy patrols these waters and this ***** still happens. Considering most of these incidents happen 250 miles offshore or so, that gives a lot of territory to patrol. The larger ships can't usually see the pirates coming in their speedboats (hint, they attack at night), and the speedboats are too low to the water to be picked up on radar.
  • cathpah, on 04/28/2008, -1/+3YARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
  • JoeVet, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3They are just doing their part to combat global warming. http://www.seanbonner.com/blog/archives/001857.php
  • 140Suffolk, on 04/28/2008, -1/+15The first war that the USA ever fought was in the late 1700s to early 1800s with the Barbary pirates. Islamic pirates that attacked ships off the north African coast. They had been doing this for centuries, enslaving the crews, then selling them. And, of course, stealing the cargoes.
    For centuries these Islamic pirates had also been raiding coastal European towns, kidnapping and enslaving Europeans. And selling them in the Muslim world. Some estimates put the number of Europeans kidnapped in the same ballpark as the number of black Africans kidnapped into slavery.
    Back to the Barbery pirates. The Europeans had formed the habit of paying them protection money. But the US could not, as the pirates kept raising their rates. When a representative of the pirates, who had backing of the north African Muslim governments of the time, was asked why they were attacking American ships, his answer was the same as Muslim terrorists now -- our religion requires us to attack infidels. And allows us to take them and their goods for our own.
    It took 15 years or so to beat them. But we finally did.
    And now they're ***** back.
  • KhanneaNL, on 04/28/2008, -1/+2Cant people in ships just NOT sail in places with pirates?
  • ussoldier, on 04/28/2008, -3/+2Your solution: radio jamming equipemnt, and topedos. Pirate ship is radio jammed, and then blown up with mortar rounds or topedos, and sent to the bottom of the ocean. The ocean is big. No evidence, no cries for help, as far as the world is concerned, it just never came home one day.

    Me, I'd do it with an old school WW2 German U-boat, surfaces, just for the cool retro factor of it... and the hunting... and getting to say cool orders with a very badly done German accent. And paint my submarine funky colors.
    • mandarin, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1You're from Berkley arent you?
    • mhummel, on 04/28/2008, -1/+0Don't forget the cool uniforms and "witty" catch phrases when you torpedo the pirate ship. "For you Tommie, the pillage on the high seas is over!"
  • lgfaphile, on 04/28/2008, -0/+3Where is Thomas Jefferson? When the Barbary pirates (the Islamic warlords of their day) did the same thing then, the europeans sent money, Jefferson sent the Navy and Marines to Tripoli. Problem solved.
  • snoop101, on 04/28/2008, -1/+1Where do I sign up. You have to admit if you don't have to harm anyone, wouldn't this be the coolest job ever. "so bob what do you do for a living" "arrhhh I'm a pirate"
  • d1gp1g, on 04/28/2008, -0/+1cue... THE NINJAS!
  •  

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