Cruise Ship Escapes Pirate Hijack Attempt

Associated Press ^ | November 5, 2005 | Rodrique Ngowi

[Clintonfatigued]

Pirates armed with grenade launchers and machine guns tried to hijack a luxury cruise liner off the east African coast Saturday, but the ship outran them, officials said.

Two boats full of pirates approached the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles off the Somali coast and opened fire while the heavily armed bandits tried to get onboard, said Bruce Good, spokesman for the Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp.

The ship escaped by shifting to high speed and changing course.

[Clintonfatigued]

Pirates in the 21 Century. Who would have thought?

[Bogey78O]

There's near weekly piracy attempts. This is usually how it goes. We don't see them too often around here because the pirates know the coast guard is armed and bored.

[Flavius]

well that was overdue..

and apart from "outrunning" the terrorists why dont they have some 50 cals on board...

[jimbo123]

Corrected Headline:

Cruise Ship filled with American and Australian Tourists Escapes Al Qaeda Hijack and Hostage-Taking Attempt

[FairOpinion]

Related article:

Pirates attack luxury liner off Somalia (attack repelled)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1516472/posts

[Bazooka]

We already have air marshalls. Why no sea marshalls?

[PositiveCogins]

Does anyone know what the law is for carrying automatic weapons on the high seas are?

[txroadkill]

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me - We pillage, we plunder we rifle and loot

Drink up me hearties, yo ho We kidnap and ravage and don't give a hoot

Drink up me hearties, yo ho

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me We extort, we pilfer we filch and sack

Drink up me hearties, yo ho Maraud and embezzle and even high-jack

Drink up me hearties yo ho

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me We kindle and char inflame and ignite

Drink up me hearties, yo ho We burn up the city we're really a fright

Drink up me hearties, yo ho We're rascals, scoundrels villains, and knaves

Drink up me hearties yo ho We're devils and black sheep - really bad eggs

Drink up me hearties yo ho

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a pirate's life for me We're beggars and blighters and ne'er do-well cads

Drink up me hearties, yo ho Aye, but we're loved by our mommies and dads

Drink up me hearties, yo ho

[nhoward14]

Does anybody know the whereabouts of Johnny Depp during this incident?

[Thumper1960]

Johnny Who????

[Political Junkie Too]

We already have air marshalls. Why no sea marshalls?

Probably becuase the dress code doesn't fit in at the pool deck.

-PJ

[jimbo123]

The attackers were Muslim terrorists and their goal was to take the 150 American tourists who were on-board as hostages.

[Renderofveils]

The International Maritime Bureau maintains a pretty complete account of piracy encounters weekly. The only thing that's surprising is that people think pirates are fictional...

[Clintonfatigued]

It's not so much that people think that pirates are fictional as believing that piracy is a thing of earlier times.

[mysterio]

[samtheman]

Religion of Peace Pirates.

[CindyDawg]

No "we are still investigating but terrorism has been ruled out" response?

[injin]

The passengers clapped and cheered as the crew unlimbered their M-60's and proceeds to blow the Somali pukes off their crappy little boats and into the sea. The last that was seen of the pirates were the failing of arms as shark fins cut back & forth thru the pink water.....

[MaDeuce]

"The last that was seen of the pirates were the failing of arms as shark fins cut back & forth thru the pink water....."

Arrr ... and a pretty site it was.