Danish Yacht Taken by Pirates

[Bash]

Originally Posted by Pete7

From another internet forum. I can't confirm this though:

According to our information the attack happened in position 14N and 58E and the name of the Yacht is S/Y ING.

That would put them about 400nm from the Somali coast, directly off Cape Guardafui. They would not quite yet be in the Gulf of Arden, if that position is accurate.

[atoll]

hopefully i can put a dampner on everybodys enthusiasm.

piracy is an oppertunistic persuit there is a good chance that the thugs holding the danish vessel are totally un aware of what happened last week.

it doesnt take rocket science to sit close to the rhumb line between cochin and salalah,or near by the shipping lanes and pick off slower vessels.

remember most of the perpertrators have not had the benefit of an education system in the last 20 years.

there may be an organised element to piracy,but in reality these guys are pretty primitave,with very little understanding of modern technology,those that do are very firmly on the land,putting up the cash with limited intelligence resources.......

[nelson_dk]

Just wanted to bounce my last info, as it did not show up correctly.
/Niels

Originally Posted by nelson_dk

OK; There is no need to hold back information at this point, as all information is out in the media here in Denmark, and I am sure english news services will post soon too.
Because I do not want "hear-say" let me post this info, and after that please focus on what we can learn and how we can keep this risk a minimum for our friends sailing the area, this is priority one!
The sailboat is 43 foot sloop, name is "ING", onboard is a family with mom/dad and 3 children 13-17 years old, and also 2 crew members, total number 7 people taken by pirates.
The danish Navy has a fast battle ship following the ING right now, this is confirmed by danish news.
They were taken at the position shown on below link (look in the bottom of the page that opens).
ING jordenrundt.info
Let us all use this situation for learning, for reducing risks in the future for the people we love and care for, and let us all pray for the people right now in the crisis of their life...!
Niels

[Searanger50]

Originally Posted by atoll

hopefully i can put a dampner on everybodys enthusiasm.

piracy is an oppertunistic persuit there is a good chance that the thugs holding the danish vessel are totally un aware of what happened last week.

it doesnt take rocket science to sit close to the rhumb line between cochin and salalah,or near by the shipping lanes and pick off slower vessels.

remember most of the perpertrators have not had the benefit of an education system in the last 20 years.

there may be an organised element to piracy,but in reality these guys are pretty primitave,with very little understanding of modern technology,those that do are very firmly on the land,putting up the cash with limited intelligence resources.......

Do you honestly think this is being run by uneducated people. The attackers may be hired hands but this piracy is large scale organised crime. When is the world going to wake up and take action to stop a large area of the world's oceans being a no-go zone. We are, I think, in the 21st century. This cannot be allowed to continue. It's about time the world's governments started to insist that Somalia stops this unacceptale situation or the military will have to.

[Surveyor]

If you look at the track on their website, it appears that they were headed to Socotra. Could they have been off course? Surely they were aware of the dangers.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by RTB

Do you think they hang out on Cruiser's Forum?

They (pirates) may not hang out on CF, but we’re prominent (3Rd return) on Google searches on this topic:
➥ Let me google that for you

Within moments of posting this, CF has lost front page prominence, due to a proliferation of news stories on the subject.

Notwithstanding, the CF is OFTEN first page return on Google, on certain topics.

[Noztradamus]

Originally Posted by Captain Bill

Let's hope the Danes have a better outcome than we did last week. I am a bit worried that the Danes are in just about as much trouble than the americans. It was not too many years ago that the Danes affirmed thier belief in freedom of speech when they allowed publication of cartoons depicting Mohammad, which really pissed off the Muslim world.

All this does make one a little nostalgic for Battleship diplomacy. It used to be that when this type of thing was going on a country could park a couple of battleships in a local harbor to send a message. The sight of a couple of boats with 9 14-16 inch guns and 20 or more 5 inchers was a lot more impressive than a modern warship with 1 5 inch gun on the bow. Such a sight often inspired the locals to take care of the problem themselves without even a shot being fired.

Actually, battleships tended to stay in home ports (The Great White Fleet was newsworthy because it WAS sailing foreign seas)

During the gunboat era, the vessel of enforcement of the peace of the seas was the gunboat, which could be as small as 200 tons, 4 guns beween 24 and 68 pdrs, 3 officers, 30-40 men). And even in 1880, at the peak, the Royal Navy had less than 50 gunboats and gunvessels in commission.

The difference to today was communication. The ships operated outside of the direct oversight of The Lords of the Admiralty and politicians.

It was said there were two navies. In the Big Ship Navy, a Rear-Admiral was a moderately important person. In the Small Ship Navy, a Lieutenant in Command was lord of all he surveyed.

[RickD]

After looking at the ak's on the post about the russian navy, what chance does your average Joe have with his trusty shotgun? But now it seems to be a growing problem world wide.

Not a lot.

But a 9 pounder will take out a skiff.

Mostly no one has good cannons any more though...

[Palarran]

Originally Posted by ude123

Palarran, I understand you don't think there's a possibility of it hurting, but can you say that for sure? Possibly competing pirates may use the info to hijack the original pirates. Why should we take the risks here with other peoples lives? Doesn't seem right. I read a thread last week giving US troop movements(I looked for the thread but it seems it may have been deleted-props to the mod that deleted it!!!). Speculation and innuendo probably has no place while there is a fluid situation going on with people's lives. If it were your wife or kids would you want someone on an internet forum posting information(any information) that could possibly put them in more danger? As much as all the armchair intel officers here(and on other forums) think they can help from behind their keyboards, they can't, but can only hinder any effort to rescue these people. We can save that for after these people have been rescued.

Well, Yes, I can say for sure now. I do have to wonder why you are making such an issue of this. Take a deep breath and relax before hitting the submit button.

[atoll]

Originally Posted by Searanger50

Do you honestly think this is being run by uneducated people. The attackers may be hired hands but this piracy is large scale organised crime. When is the world going to wake up and take action to stop a large area of the world's oceans being a no-go zone. We are, I think, in the 21st century. This cannot be allowed to continue. It's about time the world's governments started to insist that Somalia stops this unacceptale situation or the military will have to.

i wouldnt mix up cunning , exceptional seamanship and good eyes with a western education.

having spent a lot of time in the area,and 7 transits in small yachts on both sides of socotra.

possibly we should be investigating more throughly the brother inlaws living in western countries,with access to internet blogs and chat forums.

did notice the other day the increased lurkers on the forum,1579 during the quest fiasco,but this may just be journalists and other wierdo's

[RickD]

One of the articles just posted appears to show some of the kidnap victims aboard the boat with two of the terrorists with them - pointing weapons at the backs of their heads.

[ude123]

Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said she was "deeply concerned" about the situation and expressed her sympathies to the Danes on the boat and their relatives.
"It is almost unbearable to think that there are children involved and I can only sharply denounce the pirates' actions," Espersen said.
Government officials will do "everything in our power" to help the Danes, she said, but would not be able to release detailed information about their efforts publicly, "since experience shows that it doesn't help in resolving the case."

Palarran, the above quote is from FoxNews story on this. I happen to agree with the part in red as does the community fighting these guys and hoping to rescue the captives. I hope those on this and all forums try and refrain from posting any information. Even if it's already posted somewhere else on the internet, as Gord has pointed out, CF ranks pretty high on google and therefore we shouldn't make it easy for anyone to google any info on this rescue attempt. Just because it's already on the net doesn't mean that posting it here is ok. The old "if they can we can' shouldn't apply when lives are at stake.

And atoll makes a good point, they do have lots of connections to Western countries. There are lots of Somalis in the US in college and you can bet they know how to google.

[RickD]

Originally Posted by ude123

<snip>
but would not be able to release detailed information about their efforts publicly, "since experience shows that it doesn't help in resolving the case."

Palarran, the above quote is from FoxNews story on this. I happen to agree with the part in red as does the community fighting these guys and hoping to rescue the captives. I hope those on this and all forums try and refrain from posting any information. Even if it's already posted somewhere else on the internet, as Gord has pointed out, CF ranks pretty high on google and therefore we shouldn't make it easy for anyone to google any info on this rescue attempt. Just because it's already on the net doesn't mean that posting it here is ok. The old "if they can we can' shouldn't apply when lives are at stake.

It's very, very difficult to put a cat back into a bag once you take it out.

if it were MY family, I'd want the world to know where they were and any thing else to keep the eyes and ears of the world community on the situation.

The reason the Minister stated this is simple. If the family is known to have "money" then it makes it all the more difficult to negotiate. In my case, as an American, I don't expect "negotiations" for my release, in particular not for any sum of money.

If I'm taken hostage I won't be returning. Plain and simple. I'll fight and fight to the death, rather than have these bastards cut my throat or my head off on television.

[RickD]

MSNBC. I post this for verification of several points. Please note the items in RED.
Indian Ocean pirates hold seven Danes including three kids - *Latest news around the world and developments close to home - MSN Philippines News
By Agence France-Presse, Updated: 2/28/2011
Indian Ocean pirates hold seven Danes including three kids

Indian Ocean pirates have captured a yacht with seven Danes including three children aboard and are sailing towards Somalia, the Danish foreign ministry said Monday.



The sailboat captured on Thursday was carrying a Danish family of five and two employees, Charlotte Senter, who heads the consular division at the ministry, told the Ritzau news agency.


The children, two boys and a girl, are aged 12 to 16, the foreign ministry said in a statement.


The family left on a two-year round-the-world tour that was to have ended in mid-2011, according to a neighbour who spoke to the Danish tabloid Ekstra Bladet.


"It's almost unbearable to know that children are involved, and I vigorously condemn the pirates," said Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen.


The Danish authorities "are following this matter very closely, and we will do all in our power to help the Danes aboard the sailboat and their relatives," she said late Monday on Danish television.


The Danish government "does not negotiate with pirates", she said, declining to comment further on the case "because that would not serve the interests of the hostages if it is too publicised and commented on".
She added: "Past experience has shown that too much information and commentary (on hostage-takings) threatens to undermine the cause" of the hostages.


"The hostage-takers also hear what is said on television in the countries the hostages come from, and the episode could be dragged out if they start to discuss the details," Espersen said.


The foreign ministry earlier said relatives of the hostages had been informed.


The B.T. daily said a Danish warship that is part of NATO's "Ocean Shield" anti-piracy operation in the region was headed towards the scene, but the Danish navy declined to comment.


Piracy has surged in recent years off Somalia, a lawless, war-torn country that sits alongside one of the world's most important shipping routes.
On February 22, Somali pirates killed four Americans including a retired couple aboard their hijacked yacht.


Four Somali pirates also died, two of them killed by US special forces in one of the deadliest endings to hostage-takings that are often resolved through ransom payments.


Hijackings are a key source of income for a country that has lacked a functioning government for two decades.


While few Americans have been caught up in such hijackings, a number of European yacht enthusiasts have been captured by Somali pirates.


In November, British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler were released after an ordeal that lasted more than a year.


Ekstra Bladet said the Danish family came from an area west of Copenhagen.


They had made stops in South America, the Caribbean, Fiji and Thailand, and had set sail two weeks earlier from the Maldives headed towards Africa.

[ude123]

Originally Posted by RickD

It's very, very difficult to put a cat back into a bag once you take it out.

if it were MY family, I'd want the world to know where they were and any thing else to keep the eyes and ears of the world community on the situation.

The reason the Minister stated this is simple. If the family is known to have "money" then it makes it all the more difficult to negotiate. In my case, as an American, I don't expect "negotiations" for my release, in particular not for any sum of money.

If I'm taken hostage I won't be returning. Plain and simple. I'll fight and fight to the death, rather than have these bastards cut my throat or my head off on television.

Rick, you are 100% correct about being American and therefore there would be no negotiations. Fight, Fight Fight!! I'm with you as I'm American also so I know also that there would be no negotiations, only the hope that the SEALS, RANGERS, or 'OTHER' would be able to rescue me. I sure wouldn't wait for that either, I'd fight too. I couldn't bear knowing that my family would watch my head getting cut off either.