Sending a Mayday for Pirates

[TonyDove]

I'm rather reluctant to enter this thread … but … here goes my tuppence worth:

In my time I sometimes heard music on channel 16 … usually kids left without adult supervision near the radio . Once I even heard the grunts and groans of orgasmic coupling when a VHF mic had fallen and jammed the send button on . So chances are that the event reported by the OP was an innocuous inconvenience.

If these are actual pirates … then they will have intent … and will probably be armed. Most places in the world with piracy problems are also places where the AK47 and other nasty firearms are plentifully available … possibly even an RPG.

Plenty of Americans (sorry for the stereotype, but stereotypes exist because they are frequently true) are gung-ho about firearms. They often imagine themselves to be latter-day Schwarzeneggers or Bruce Willises. However, the chances of engaging a pirate crew armed with automatic weapons and negligible regard for your life and coming away unscathed, or even surviving at all, are pretty slim.

Many of the suggestions in previous posts smack more of Hollywood action movies than of real life.

The best advice is to keep any actual valuables well hidden … and give the pirates what they want … a quick haul of seemingly valuable cash and trinkets. Give them your cheap Timex, a couple of low grade rings, a low limit credit card and a few hundred in cash. Keep your Rolex or Seamaster, your diamonds and gold, and your cash reserves and credit cards secure in your best available hiding place.

And if you just can't help yourself … and insist on dying in a gunfight … try to remember that your plastic boat is NOT bullet proof … those pirates will quickly shred the boat anywhere they see a muzzle flash and will happily kill everyone.

Try to stay alive … happy sailing

[Nicholson58]

Originally Posted by African Gypsys

Hi all, I recently read that prior to pirates trying to board a yacht channel 16 was jammed by them playing music. In your opinion... what would be the best way to send out a Mayday? (SSB Radio methods to relay message passed the vhf area, Satilight Phone calling local authorities (best numbers to call?), SpotX sos message? What are other options you use?

Activate your EPIRB and proceed at your highest possible speed into the most difficult sea state for the small boat.

[FilBrown]

I have an InReach which is basically a satelitte phone for text messages, a global tracker and SOS system together. Relatively cheap to keep and the contract can be put on hold when not needed (over winter or when out of the water)

[Northbound44]

Originally Posted by African Gypsys

Hi all, I recently read that prior to pirates trying to board a yacht channel 16 was jammed by them playing music. In your opinion... what would be the best way to send out a Mayday? (SSB Radio methods to relay message passed the vhf area, Satilight Phone calling local authorities (best numbers to call?), SpotX sos message? What are other options you use?

In a way to answer your question about the jammed Chanel 16, by using a VHF radio with higher output ( Booster ( linear amplifier)or unlock Ham radio), your transmission will override any transmission that use lower power.
Obviously, it is illegal to use such equipment on marine frequencies unless you’re intended to use it for distress call and when other means to establish a communication failed.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Ocstoker

Last year we left Panama and headed for the Caymans. We originally wanted to stick closer to the coast and make our way to Rio Dulce but decided on the Cayman route due to reported piracy off Honduras and Nicaragua. We made a stopover at San Andreas where we met a sailor who was boarded and robbed of everything by 15 or so men in numerous pangas. After departing We were headed for the Caymans it was dark and we were running dark and stayed about 10 miles east of the usual route in hopes of not being seen. In the middle of the night we heard someone speaking Spanish on 16 and it was loud and clear so I figured they were close by. I tried hailing another boat that departed the same time as us but was unable to do so because the people who were on the radio started blasting Spanish music on the radio that continued for at least an hour. I didn’t think much about it until A few months later I read a story about a sail boat that experienced the same thing except they were pursued by a couple of boats. Fortunately for them they turned into the rough seas and were able to outrun them. What I have read there is a mother ship out there along with many pangas. Supposedly they are fishermen but also do piracy.
https://www.noonsite.com/report/hond...cy-april-2018/

https://www.noonsite.com/news/nicara...ia-april-2019/

Yeah, you dont need some fancy "jammer" to make a frequency unusuable...just loud music. When I lived in Florida idiots did this all the time by accident/incompetence I assume.

[Timbokc]

I'm always wondering...

Am I the only one that carries a blinding bright light and a couple 9mm pistols.

The chances of a problem is crazy low but just in case I hit the lottery with the bad guys. I'm not taking a chance with my friends and family.

I've got attorneys to clean up a self protection mess.

What am I missing?

[Uncle Bob]

Originally Posted by Timbokc

I'm always wondering...

Am I the only one that carries a blinding bright light and a couple 9mm pistols.

The chances of a problem is crazy low but just in case I hit the lottery with the bad guys. I'm not taking a chance with my friends and family.

I've got attorneys to clean up a self protection mess.

What am I missing?

By far the best response to this post is this

Originally Posted by TonyDove

I'm rather reluctant to enter this thread … but … here goes my tuppence worth:

In my time I sometimes heard music on channel 16 … usually kids left without adult supervision near the radio . Once I even heard the grunts and groans of orgasmic coupling when a VHF mic had fallen and jammed the send button on . So chances are that the event reported by the OP was an innocuous inconvenience.

If these are actual pirates … then they will have intent … and will probably be armed. Most places in the world with piracy problems are also places where the AK47 and other nasty firearms are plentifully available … possibly even an RPG.

Plenty of Americans (sorry for the stereotype, but stereotypes exist because they are frequently true) are gung-ho about firearms. They often imagine themselves to be latter-day Schwarzeneggers or Bruce Willises. However, the chances of engaging a pirate crew armed with automatic weapons and negligible regard for your life and coming away unscathed, or even surviving at all, are pretty slim.

Many of the suggestions in previous posts smack more of Hollywood action movies than of real life.

The best advice is to keep any actual valuables well hidden … and give the pirates what they want … a quick haul of seemingly valuable cash and trinkets. Give them your cheap Timex, a couple of low grade rings, a low limit credit card and a few hundred in cash. Keep your Rolex or Seamaster, your diamonds and gold, and your cash reserves and credit cards secure in your best available hiding place.

And if you just can't help yourself … and insist on dying in a gunfight … try to remember that your plastic boat is NOT bullet proof … those pirates will quickly shred the boat anywhere they see a muzzle flash and will happily kill everyone.

Try to stay alive … happy sailing

[Oceansailor]

Originally Posted by sailing_gal

I had a close encounter with pirates when sailing in the Med, returning from Morocco to Spain. I stayed about 40 nm north of the Albanian coast to steer clear of iffy waters. Late in the afternoon, we encountered an Arabian fishing boat, about 30 feet, old, wooden boat, tending to some fishing buoys. We stayed clear, however, I suspect that they figured that they had some opportunity, since there were no other boats around and we were not so far away from them. At any rate, it was clear that they decided to pursue me, I suspect as a crime of opportunity. Their little boat's engine had a hard time catching up with my maximum speed of only 8.5 knots on flat water given that they decided to come after us when they were about 1/2 nm behind. We got on the VHF, channel 16, which was clear- and put in a call for assistance to anyone who could hear us. We got a Spanish Coast Guard station and we communicated our situation and lat and lon and a description of the boat that was pursuing us. Either their engine finally gave in or they heard us, either way, they quit their pursuit and when we could see from our radar that they were well over 5 nm from us, we told the Coast Guard they could stand down.



In the meantime, we had readied flare guns and big gaff hooks as our defensive weapons in case they got too close. We also agreed that if it looked like they were going to catch up to board us, we would ram them. My boat is pretty strong with 2 big anchors on the bowsprit and while I figured it would damage my boat, I was pretty sure I would much more severely damage, if not sink, their boat.



I would like to think that the VHF communication put them off. I can't say for sure, but given that VHF 16 is often busy in the Med, I would then have tried VHF 9 and VHF 21. I have an SSB, but I am not sure I could have raised anyone. At least the VHF, if they were listening, let them know they had been identified.

How do you get close to the Albanian coast if sailing from Morocco toSpain???

[Dsanduril]

I too have hesitated to enter this thread. But having read it, it seems that no one remembers the tale of Per (Peter) Tangvald (Norwegian) and his wife Lydia (French).

Way back in 1979 Per and Lydia, with their 3-year-old Thomas were sailing the Sulu Sea when they were approached by a motor boat. Per and Lydia disagreed on the intent of the approaching vessel. Lydia suspected piracy, Per was unsure and thought it could be as simple as fishermen wanting to trade. He felt that a passive stance was appropriate even if the intent was malevolent.

Lydia disagreed, went below, popped up through the forehatch and took one shot at the approaching vessel (accounts vary as to shotgun vs pistol and whether the shot was a warning or aimed as best as possible with intent to stop). She was killed immediately by return fire and her body thrown overboard by the shot(s).

To the end of his days in 1991 Per still questioned whether or not violence would have occurred had it not been initiated on their side.

Their experience, one of the few real world instances where cruisers exchanged fire with another vessel, is that it is almost certain that the other vessel has more firepower and likely also has fewer qualms about taking life.

[KTP]

If the other boat has AK47s and such, they are likely going to rape/kill you anyway, so what does it really matter if you are outgunned or not?

[Cpt Pat]

OK, back on topic ("Sending a Mayday for Pirates")...

In case of channel 16 jamming:

Use your "distress" button on your VHF radio and select "piracy" as the "nature of distress." Or, if you're in a hurry, don't select a "nature" of distress and just send an "undesignated" distress call.

(Do the same on your HF radio, if you have one.)

DSC distress calls are sent on channel 70 -- NOT channel 16. And unless the Bad Guys have special (or very old) equipment, their radio can't transmit music, voice, or anything other than short DSC data bursts on channel 70. In other words: they can't jam that channel.

For the above to work, you must:

1) Have an assigned MMSI
2) Have it programmed into the radio
3) Have GPS connected to or integrated with the radio (you can manually enter your position - but it's as easy as programming a VHS recorder)
4) Have read the manual for your radio to know how to send a DSC distress call

After you hit that red button, the radio will continually repeat your distress call until you cancel it. On my radio, the interval is every 4 minutes.

Caution: If the Bad Guys have a modern VHF radio, they will know you've sent the distress message because they'll get an alarm on their radio. You'll have to judge whether that's a good thing, or a bad thing.

Off topic... tossing lots of pieces of floating lines in the water (polypropylene) is an accepted countermeasure to foul their prop. You can fit several hundred feet of 1/4 inch line in a laundry basket. Just keep feeding it into the water. If the dummies don't see and understand what you're doing, they're likely to come up right in your wake. I suggest 12 foot/4 metre lengths, and a color that's not easily seen. Tie stopper knots on each end to increase the fouling potential and prevent unroving of the line ends. If you're on a budget, ask crab fishermen if they have scrap line from their crab pots.

Don't come about and run through your own snares.

This is the one case where I would not feel compelled to offer assistance if they get stuck DIW with a fouled prop.

[Captgps]

Are these VHF transmissions actually being jammed.
In many areas of the world away from ports, idiots who are the watchkeepers on the bridges of ships play music, imitate animals, make racist remarks etc on Ch16
If one transmits across this your transmission will be heard by vessels in range.
The music will return of course

[hpeer]

Because the ICC-CCS was noted in an above post as a point of contact I sent them an email to clarify that function but also to get further advice on this topic.

Copy below.

My timing is terrible, just before Christmas. None the less I will report back any response provided they do respond and I remember.

Cheers.

Cruisers forum is an online meeting place for recreational sailors to share information. There it was suggested that DURING an active pirate attack sailors should call your contact numbers.

1: That strikes as incorrect but please clarify if these numbers are manned 24/7 and are intended to provide active emergency assistance.

2: Do you have a list of phone numbers that are manned 24/7 which would be appropriate to call in event of pirate attack? Or perhaps just the correct agency by location, for example the Western Caribbean basin.

3: Piracy aside, should a sailor need to declare an emergency, set off an EPIRB, it would seem prudent to also call the receiving/coordinating agency to report the emergency. Do you have any guidance on who that would be and their emergency contact info by region.

In all the above please assume the sailor in distress has an iridium or other satellite phone.

Many thanks - and Happy Holidays,

[hpeer]

Maybe I’ll buy a whole bunch of those glue tat traps. All I’m used tacks, this might be the modern equivalent. Or butyl tape, get a big roll, put 6” pics D’s all over the place. Wherever they will lay their hands.

[GrowleyMonster]

Originally Posted by Sojourner

In this case, clearly the best mayday technique is SOS by sound signals....a shotgun works great.

I sincerely concur. Wherever it is legal, a shotgun makes an excellent and unambiguous signaling device. BTW three gunshots of whatever stripe constitute an internationally recognized distress signal. Repeat as necessary. Where it is not so legal, judgement call but you are unlikely to run afoul of the law for having a shotgun aboard on the high seas, IYAM, and anyway being tried by 12 can suck but being carried by 6 sucks worse.



Pirates are somewhat discouraged when it is obvious that their intended victims will fight back even at risk of their own life. There may be a few who will press the attack anyway just to make their point I suppose, but if I were a pirate I would break off and try a softer target. Much safer that way. And I am pretty sure a corpse would not command nearly as much ransom money as a live hostage. Smart pirates look for vessels that meekly submit.



You don't have to be able to outrun a charging bear. You only have to be able to outrun your hiking buddy. Yes, showing a willingness to fight back only sends the pirates looking for a more helpless victim. Too bad. Nothing you can do about that, except toast your OWN escape.