Dutch Couple Demands Escort Through Pirate Area !

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

Hypothetically, or maybe not. I don't see why some former or retired spec ops person(s) couldn't make it work. There is already a company who is hiring those guys for ship protection. I know because my husband was approached.

Maje

Ahhhh.... like the US citizen in Lahore... the 'Blackwater' employee with alleged DI from prosecution... but you'd still have to stay in IW's to be legal.

[Blue Stocking]

Originally Posted by joey69

They were in a Bluewater Rally Convoy and left it to go hand out bibles.

Lets hope the 23rd Psalm is adequate.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

I wonder if there is a profit making opportunity for someone. If the Royal Navy won't take on escort responsibilities it might be worth it for some enterprising person to provide the service.

Maje

Hi Maje

they already do.
When we were in Salalah we met a crew of a private gun boat (damn crook thing that belched blue smoke and looked like it would sink at any second) crewed by british mercanaries, and they were escorting tugs towing barges up the Gulf of Aden to 16N in the Red Sea.

They were all contracted and we wouldn't have been able to afford them anyway.

thats the thing, sailors, even 30 yachts at a time can't/won't pay for the cost of protection. Their convoy speed was 6 knots and going up the IRTC. Would have been perfect for us.

The Yemeni 'navy' is offering the same thing but the cost is $50,000 per trip up their own coast line, and the Coalition navy's and the private escorts couldn't trust the Yemeni's to deliver milk to their own babies...

I hear that Llyoys of London is fitting out a flotilla of gun boats now and as others come online the price will drop....

the private gun boats and the Yemeni coast guard wouldnt have the range to get to India anyway, they would be strictly Gulf of Aden

[joey69]

I posted this on another thread: That is why the U.S. won't get involved very much.The profit/loss is not there.That whole country is a big money pit.There is nothing to be gained.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Tom and Maje

I wonder if there is a profit making opportunity for someone. If the Royal Navy won't take on escort responsibilities it might be worth it for some enterprising person to provide the service.
Maje

There are commercial security services:
➥ Private armies board ships in Somalia | Radio Netherlands Worldwide
➥ http://www.espadaservices.com/news_pr/pr_ASL_101410.
➥ Maritime Asset Security and Training

[barnakiel]

Well, being Dutch and on a 60 footer (a Hoek in alloy perhaps?) they are definitely the kind of people who avoided taxation in the first place. Now they want 'their' government to protect them. Quite lippy, I dare say.

No, seriously: I bet they did it for fun. And weren't they successful?

;-)
barnie

[David M]

Go the other way. Your fellow taxpayers owe you nothing for something that you are doing for fun and entertainment. Either that or pay for your own escort or just go and take your chances.

[hoppy]

When I first read the title the first thing that came to mind was something like this F1 brothel boat raid. - Free Online Library

I guess it would distract the pirates

[atoll]

Originally Posted by David M

Go the other way. Your fellow taxpayers owe you nothing for something that you are doing for fun and entertainment. Either that or pay for your own escort or just go and take your chances.

no free lunch
South Africa's Crime Statistics: What It Means for 2010

[joey69]

The pirates are gonna be in big trouble soon.Iran is sending 2 warships to the area via the canal.

[joey69]

PressTV - Iran arrests pirates in Sea of Oman


http://www.presstv.ir/detail/166183.html

[Aussiesuede]

Originally Posted by joey69

The pirates are gonna be in big trouble soon.Iran is sending 2 warships to the area via the canal.

It'll be hilarious to watch the reaction of other govts if the Iranians go after pirates or Al Qaeda. It would be a good strategic move by Iran and would provide complications for their continued demonization.

[joey69]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Me thinks not long before they end up taken by the Yemeni Forces... they may smile as they take your money at the souviner shops... don't mean they like rich condecending 'unbelievers'.... you should hear what interpreters have been known to say... would not surprise me if the Somali's are not admired, even respected further afield than you may realise

The pirates are already expanding their effective reach.

READ THIS: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...761&sec=nation

[SabreKai]

Originally Posted by joey69

The pirates are gonna be in big trouble soon.Iran is sending 2 warships to the area via the canal.

Those two Iranian ships are not going to hang around in the area. They plan on transiting the Suez, and then going on to Syria. The Israelis are having a fit about it. Calling it provocative etc.

I suspect the two ships will make a point of entering the Israeli No Go blockade zone off the coast of Gaza with a specific intention to take on the Israelis. Everyone's been bitching about the illegality of the Israeli blockade but no one has done anything about it. Perhaps the Iranians intend to do so.

If that's the case, its another reason to go via South Africa instead of mucking about in the Middle East.

As for the Dutch couple? Ballsy. Stupid but Ballsy.

Sabre

[hellosailor]

"Well, being Dutch ... Now they want 'their' government to protect them."

No no, that's not clear at all. Apparently they are Dutch and seem to think there is some reason an EU-organized service should escort them. There's no mention of whose "Navy" they want help from, and unless the EU passed legislation requiring the pooled resources to provide assistance--they'd have no reason or obligation to do so.

"Here be dragons". OK, so don't go here. Dragon slaying is usually an optional and extra service which not all sovereigns provide. Nor are they required to do so.

Must be silly season in the UK if that one made the Nooze.

Now on the other hand...our own US Congress still is authorized to issue letters of marque and reprisal. Surely some enterprising obamacrat must realize there's money to be made in that!