Cruise Ship Hero Fought Off Pirates With Deck Chair

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

A British vacationer is being hailed a hero after he thwarted gun-toting pirates attacking a cruise ship - by throwing a deck chair at them.

Wyn Rowlands was celebrating his 62nd birthday with a dream cruise onboard the MSC Melody near the Seychelle Islands when he spotted armed pirates in a speedboat trying to clamber on to the vessel.

Quick-thinking Wyn, a retired engineer from Bangor-on-Dee, picked up a deck-chair and flung it down at the gang before raising the alarm.

The ship's captain, Ciro Pinto, was then able to out-manoeuvre the pirates to prevent them boarding the cruise ship.

The MSC Melody and its 1,000 passengers and 500 crew were 600 miles off the coast of Somalia - notorious for pirate attacks - when the incident happenedon Sunday evening.

"Mr. Rowlands was on deck with his wife when he saw the pirates approaching and firing automatic weapons," a spokeswoman for the MSC Melody told Sky News Online.

"He is understandably very proud that his rapid response helped save the day."

The ship's owner immediately praised its captain and the Welshman for their prompt action.

"We're very proud of them and that they promptly tackled the emergency," said Gianluigi Aponte. "All security measures worked perfectly and Captain Pinto followed all security protocols to guide the ship out of danger. The crew showed great professionalism and extreme clarity."

Hats off to the USN Seal team that put a nice finishing touch on the pirates who hijacked the Maersk Alabama and kidnapped the captain.  Fantastic work - taking a head shot from several meters on an unstable platform in rolling seas is extremely difficult at best; 3 shots from 3 different guys under those conditions is some serious shootin'! It is comforting to know that forces like these are able to protect our our citizens overseas, and kick some pirate ass along the way.

It appears the entire crew of the Maersk Alabama were heroic, too - although details are sketchy, reports indicate that the crew applied a little American whoopass on the pirates the day they were boarded and foiled the hijacking. (The Captain had already surrendered himself as a hostage to save his crew.) My guess is that the book will make a great read once it comes out.

Commander-in-Chief Obama proved he has the backbone of a jellyfish; it took three requests to get him to approve the use of deadly force. From the NYT:

"The Defense Department twice sought Mr. Obama's permission to use force to rescue Captain Phillips, most recently on Friday night, senior defense officials said. On Saturday morning, the president agreed, they said, if it appeared that the captain's life was in imminent danger."

 Full article

[Ed.note: I was personally glad to see Captain Richard "Jungle" Phillips rescued unharmed. Jungle was an old boyfriend of my sister's back in the formative years, and one of the few that I liked!]

Btw, if you're interested in reading more about piracy and the history of Islamic pirates hassling US ships, be sure to check out these two books.

BLUNDERING PIRATES ATTACK NATO SHIP

Monday March 30,2009

Pirates who attacked a ship off the coast of Somalia got more than they bargained for when it turned out to be a naval vessel - from an international force against piracy, Nato said.

The pirates apparently mistook the FGS Spessart for a commercial merchant ship when they targeted it in the Gulf of Aden, between Somalia and Yemen.

The German supply ship pursued the pirate boat, joined by two other ships, a frigate, a helicopter and a plane.

A Nato spokesman said: "Poor judgment by the pirates turned out to be a real opportunity for seven nations representing three task forces to work together and strike a momentous blow for maritime safety and security."

A boarding team discovered several weapons and transferred seven suspected pirates on to another German frigate.

Nato said the suspects will remain on board until a decision is made as to where they will be prosecuted.

Hmmm, awfully quiet in the Dooferbook lately...

Anyway, here's a couple of  fabulous books by Richard Zacks that I've recently finished. Like the author of the previous two reviews, Zacks' books are extremely well-researched and extremely well written. Most importantly, he really knows how to tell a great story.

"The Pirate Hunter : The True Story of Captain Kidd" visits the history of Captain William Kidd, one of the most notorious "pirates" ever to grace the seas, but who in truth was never really ever much of a pirate at all. It takes place in late 17th century colonial America at a time when piracy ran rampant the world over and began to seriously cut into the British Crown's fortune. The Crown hired Kidd as a "Privateer" (much like Sir Francis Drake in the 16th century), whose mission it was to hunt down these pirates, scarf up their booty and return the spoils to his investors. He paints a great picture of pirate life on the high seas and in the end presents a classic case of governmental betrayal.

The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805 documents the adventures of William Easton and his "seven Marines" who took the fight against the Barbary pirates to the "Shores of Tripoli" and damn near captured the entire region with his rag-tag group of mercenary soldiers. It ends with another classic case of government betrayal of a true patriot without whom the practice of American tribute to the Barbary states might not have ended for years hence. 

And since in my twisted mind "Omnes viae YouTubam ducunt" (all roads lead to YouTube), here's a quick history of the truth behind Thomas Jefferson's Koran...

Well, for some reason this guy desn't want this video embedded, so click here to view it:   Thomas Jefferson and the Koran

On a lighter note, I just finished reading a couple of excellent non-fiction history books on two pivotal periods in our country's past. (Unfortunately, these conflicts receive little attention in schools these days .) Walter Borneman is an excellent writer who tells a great story combining well-researched sources with Shelby Foote-like anecdotes. The second one on the War of 1812 led me to (where else?)- youtube, where I came across a commemoration of one of the finest moments in US military history - the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. It one of the cleverest stop-motion animations I have ever seen. Enjoy!