Thursday, February 24, 2011

Pirates!


I am not the type of person that is glued to the news, generally I don’t hear any news until it’s either posted on facebook by one of my friends or my Mom calls to tell me.  Just a few weeks ago the disappearance of Don North aboard s/v Windancer in Panama was brought to my attention by email.  The story was close enough to my lifestyle and current geographic location to catch my attention.  I started scouring the web, following the unfolding story that within days quickly led to the capture of Javier Martin; serial murderer and pirate. 
            Just this past week I heard of the hijacking of s/v Quest by Somali pirates.  Although not a location near to where I am, with confusing vague reports initially hitting the media, I once again turned to the internet to scour news reports and cruising forums.  My initial response to hearing of their capture is very much like that of many people; why the heck were they there, don’t they know better. 
            For a sailor or cruiser, piracy is a part of lifestyle.  How big the risk is to any given vessel depends on choices made and sometimes just dumb luck.  When we first announced to friends that we were heading south to cruise the Caribbean the most common question we heard was;  “What about pirates?”.  My husband’s joking reply was always, “Arg, we are okay for now, but if finances get tight we might consider it.”  Although there can be pirate attacks in the Caribbean and Bahamas, it’s not common, usually the biggest problem is petty theft, which is frustrating, annoying and can be expensive it’s not life threatening.  Our first real concern of piracy is when we decided to leave Grenada and head west.  Venezuela has had an increasing number of pirate attacks over the last few years, and they have become increasingly violent.  We had a choice to make; to go to Venezuela or not.  Sitting at home only looking at news reports it could make the decision look really simple; pirate attacks = don’t go.  However, sitting in Grenada only a few hundred miles away from Venezuela the decision was not so black and white.  We talked to cruisers that had been going there for years, and even given the increase in attacks they were still going back this year.  They all had advice, several areas to keep clear of, travel with a buddy boat or two, avoid traveling near shore at night.  There were some contradictions to their advice, as we were told there was one part of the mainland to stay away from and the rest was okay so long as you were careful, travel during the day and with other boats.  One area we were told was “okay” to go, we were told was also the site of an attack and murder of a cruiser earlier in the year.  It does make you go..  hmph…  Our decision went from definitely don’t go… to sounds like it may be okay .. to only go to the out islands.. to don’t go.  Meanwhile we had friends that did decide to go, avoiding the mainland but visiting the islands.  While they were in Isla Margarita, we heard about a cruiser whose boat was boarded at anchor and he was killed.  When asking our friends about the event their response was that he was in the wrong anchorage and they were relatively unconcerned, and enjoyed the rest of their time in the Venezuelan Islands with no problems at all.  We still chose to not go, for us the possibility of dealing with a violent attack was more of a risk than we wanted to take, even though we had quite a few friends who did go. 
            I imagine for s/v Quest, they had a similar story behind their decision to go.  It just so happens their decision was the wrong one.  I still do not understand their decision to go through pirate-infested waters and I don’t agree with it.  But I do try to understand that it is not necessarily a black and white decision, as it would appear to those sitting in their comfortable homes, not seeking adventure or travel and looking only at the limited news media they are presented with.  Although pirate attacks in the area are prevalent, I’m sure they knew that rarely is a private yacht hijacked.  The pirates are interested in large commercial  ships that they can get high ransoms for from corporations.  Which brings the question to mind, are we aiding the problem of piracy off Somalia when we choose to pay upwards of $2 million for a ransom?  I don’t pretend to have a solution or even an idea of what to do about the situation, but it seems that for every large ransom paid we are just supporting and encouraging their “business”.  Back to the subject;  I expect s/v Quest also knew private vessels that were successfully transiting the area and making it to the Mediterranean.   I’m sure they read blog accounts, talked to people who have done it, possibly even close friends.  They probably knew that very few pirate attacks off Somalia end in death, they want money for ransoms, and a dead body won’t get that.  Perhaps they thought that the risk of capture and eventual release was small enough to risk the trip.  The convoy of 30 boats they had been traveling with split up and abandoned their plans to sail to Oman when they were unable to obtain a naval escort.  The boats then made their own plans to continue on or change direction.  I doubt the s/v Quest knew that 2 days before they were hijacked the US sentenced, Abduwali Abdukhadir Muse, the pirate apprehended for hijacking the Maersk Alabama in 2009, to 33 years in prison.  This act changed the tactical plans of the Somali pirates, no longer were they just getting ransoms but now they want to make a statement of retaliation against the US.  At this point in the events s/v Quest, despite their planning and good or bad decisions, encountered bad luck.
            The situation with Somali pirates has gotten out of control.  They are not attacking just along the coast of Somalia, but operating from “mother ships” that allow them to be hundreds of miles out to sea.  There are reported attacks clear throughout the Arabian Sea; from Africa to India and even as far south as Madagascar.  How long until their range goes even farther?  Where will it end? 
            Back in Panama, authorities are still investigating the murder of Jean Pierre Bouhard and Don North, collecting evidence to obtain a certain conviction on as many counts as possible of Javier Martin.  A very different pirate tale from those in Somalia, but the outcome is not so different.  Javier Martin did not board their boats by force, but actually had some form of professional relationship with both of these men, gaining their trust to get on their boats then murder them at sea in an attempt to take their boats as his own.  These events were set into motion after Martin sunk his own boat in the San Blas islands.  It’s very possible that he also gained possession of that boat by murder back in 1997; that is still under investigation.  Don Winner at the panama-guide.com has been instrumental in the capture of Martin and has current articles on the investigation.  Before he sunk his boat and started the search for a new one, Martin carried backpackers aboard his vessel from Panama to Colombia.  I can only wonder what some of those backpackers, who may have learned of his arrest, now think of their experience at sea with a pirate.

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