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The U.S. Navy says an American-flagged cargo vessel has escaped a brush with armed pirates off the coast of East Africa. A spokesman for the U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain says the MV Harriette came under small arms fire from suspected pirates Monday aboard two skiffs about 360 nautical miles off Mombasa, Kenya. Lt. Nate Christensen says pirates came within three feet (a meter) of the vessel, but were unable to board. He says no one on the U.S. ship was injured.

UP close and personal, the modern day pirate gang is a mob of scruffily dressed Somali males armed to the teeth with AK-47 assault rifles and other weapons. And the group encountered by those aboard the Anzac Frigate HMAS Toowoomba in the Indian Ocean last month were distinctly unhappy that their plan to hijack a Portuguese freighter had been thwarted. But they weren't about to admit they were pirates. Communicating through a Somali language interpreter, Lieutenant Jace (Jace) Hutchison, officer in charge of Toowoomba's nine-member boarding party, asked just what they had in mind in approaching the Portuguese vessel. They...

AFP - European Union warships have captured seven suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia after two fast boats attacked a French fishing vessel, the EU's naval force said Wednesday. Soldiers aboard the fishing vessel fired on the pirates after they attacked it some 350 nautical miles east of Mogadishu Tuesday, said a statement. A German warship was despatched to the scene, while a helicopter from a nearby Spanish naval vessel -- the ESPS Canarias -- was launched and located the two skiffs trying to flee the area. "The helicopter fired warning shots to stop both skiffs, after which the...

EUCLID, OH (WTOL) - The Ohio Coast Guard is looking for two pirates on Lake Erie. A man was in his boat on the lake near Cleveland Monday when he says two people pulled up in boat along side him. They robbed him of all his cash, cell phone, keys --and took his fish. The Coast Guard is still searching for the pirates.

European Union Naval Forces spotted a yacht towing two smaller boats behind it Tuesday after Somali pirates claimed to have seized a British couple and their boat in the Indian Ocean during their round-the-world voyage. The couple have been missing for four days. Commander John Harper told Sky News a yacht resembling the 38-foot craft had been spotted by a European Union Naval Force Somalia helicopter. He said that the boat they had found was about where they might have expected the hijacked yacht to be by this point. He added that although it was too dark to make out...

The Royal Navy have launched an urgent search to find a British couple thought to have been hijacked by pirates off the east coast of Africa. Paul and Rachel Chandler, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, went missing after sailing from the Seychelles towards Tanzania. Counter piracy rescue teams from the Royal Navy are scouring the area after a distress signal was received from their yacht, the Lynn Rival, on Friday. A news agency was contacted by a pirate this morning to say the couple were 'in our hands now'. The pirate, who gave his name as Hassan, said the captives were...

Chinese officials hint that violent action may be taken to rescue the 25 Chinese crew members aboard a cargo ship seized by Somali pirates on Monday.

MOGADISHU - Somali pirates were behind the hijacking of a Chinese bulk carrier with 25 Chinese crew seized in the Indian Ocean on Monday, a member of the gang said. "We have captured a Chinese ship carrying fuel," gang member Hassan told Reuters by phone from Haradheere, a pirate stronghold north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu. "My friends will bring the ship to either Haradheere or Hobyo. We have not yet decided but it is heading towards this area." The European Union's counter-piracy force said earlier the vessel was seized 550 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles and 700 nautical...

French marines aboard trawlers in the Indian Ocean Saturday fired on pirates to repel a dawn attack, as two vessels used in the attack were subsequently captured by Seychelles coastguards, sources said. "Three small launches... (which were) nearly invisible and that we had on the radar at the last moment, chased us," a member of the crew of the Drennac, one of two fishing vessels approached by the pirates, told AFP by telephone. The French military said the marines had first fired flares then "warning shots in the air and across the bows of the pirates' boats", before finally, when...

Politicians with ties to land developers are trying to force the Navy to hand over one of the most valuable pieces of property in the country for free. The House version of the 2010 Defense authorization bill scheduled for conference today contains language that would speed the transfer of Naval Station Treasure Island to the city of San Francisco at no cost.

Admiral Prazuck told French TV station La Chaine Info the pirates seemed to be surprised that the navy ship fought back. "Once they realised they were facing a ship that was responding and was heading towards them, they stopped shooting and attempted to flee," he said.Read More Here I know what you are thinking, "The French have a navy?" and "They fought back instead of surrendering?" Yep, they do, and did, that's what makes this not only a funny story, but an amazing one as well.

PARIS — Somali pirates attempted to storm the flagship commanding French military forces in a night attack in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the military said here on Wednesday. French sailors saw off the attack and captured five pirates in the incident while no-one was injured, military spokesman Admiral Christophe Prazuck said. "The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," he said. The pirates had tried to storm the 160-metre (525-foot) 18,000-tonne La Somme, a fuel supply ship...

There's an email whipping around the internet, supposedly written by a Navy SEAL who complains that President Obama delayed decisions to deploy the Navy SEALs because he wanted to resolve the hostage standoff with Captain Richard Phillips "peacefully." There's enough background detail in the email to suggest it was in fact written by a SEAL, but several senior military officials who were involved in the direct planning and execution of the mission -- including in consultations with the White House and President Obama -- tell NBC News the claims are bogus.

An Australian naval ship has thwarted an attack on a merchant vessel in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, by suspected Somali pirates armed with a rocket propelled grenade launcher. The HMAS Toowoomba answered an emergency call from merchant vessel BBC Portugal after it sighted an armed boat approaching on Sept. 20, Australia's Department of Defence said today in a faxed statement. Along with the grenade launcher, staff from the Toowoomba found six AK47 assault rifles, a G3 assault rifle and a large quantity of ammunition. Somali pirates venturing out to sea as monsoon winds abate are...

Somali pirates attempted to hijack a ship Thursday night in the Mogadishu port but were eventually scared away by a rescue effort. The Syrian captain on the Panama-flagged ship was killed in the incident. The African Union forces and Somali police responded after receiving a distress call from the ship. But Barigye Ba-hoku, the spokesman for African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, known as AMISOM, says that by the time his forces got there, the pirates had already climbed aboard the vessel. "We reacted very quickly and tried to prevent these characters from boarding on to the ship, but unfortunately...

September 19th (every year) is International Talk Like A Pirate Day

The prosecution of a Somali teenager accused of leading a pirate attack on an American cargo ship off the coast of Africa was taken off the fast track Thursday after a lawyer said more time will be needed to translate some Somali recordings into English. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse appeared briefly in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, where he was brought after his arrest aboard the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama in April. Authorities say Muse was the only surviving pirate of a group that he led in an attack off the coast of Africa on the cargo ship, which was carrying humanitarian...

The Somali pirates preying on shipping in the Gulf of Aden and more recently the Indian Ocean are zeroed in on their targets by well-placed informers in London, a world center for shipbroking and insurance, using satellite phones, according to a European military intelligence report. The document, which was obtained by Cadena SER, a Spanish radio station, says the "consultants" in London help the pirates select their targets, providing data on the ships' cargoes and courses... The U.N. International Maritime Bureau reported this month that there had been a dramatic surge in piracy in the waters of the Horn of...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2009 – Pirates often are in the news for their criminal activities at sea, but their antics are far from new. Pirates have been around since man first took to the high seas, and a type of sea raider known as a privateer made a mark between the 15th and 19th centuries. Michael Crawford, a senior Navy historian, traced the rise of privateering and touched on strategies to combat modern pirates during an Aug. 24 “DoDLive” bloggers roundtable. “A privateer is a private man of war who has a license from his sovereign government to attack the...

A U.S. Navy helicopter conducting surveillance off the coast of Somalia was fired upon Wednesday by pirates aboard a Taiwanese-flagged vessel, where some 30 crewmembers are being held hostage, according to U.S. Naval Forces Central Command. The Somali pirates fired what appeared to be a large-caliber weapon at the U.S. Navy SH-60B but didn’t strike it, according to the Navy. No one was injured in the incident and the crew did not return fire, the Navy said. The Taiwanese ship Win Far was seized April 6. Since then, it has been used as a "mother ship" for the launching of...

Here is video of Somali Pirates firing a "Large Caliber Weapon" at a U.S. Navy Helicopter from the deck of a Taiwanese ship they have been holding hostage since April. More than 30 hostages are being held on board the ship. Fox News' John Scott talks with a Navy Spokesman for the 5th Fleet about the incident. . . . . (Watch Video)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Somali pirates holding a hijacked ship off the coast of Somalia fired at a U.S. Navy helicopter as it made a surveillance flight over the vessel, the first such attack by pirates on an American military aircraft, the Navy said Thursday.

Top Russian officials on Wednesday acknowledged for the first time that a ship hijacked in the Baltic Sea might have been carrying a suspicious cargo, deepening the mystery around its seizure.

The eight suspected hijackers of the Arctic Sea cargo ship that went missing in the Atlantic Ocean this month appeared in court in Moscow on Friday to be formally arrested for piracy and kidnap. "We were saving ourselves, we were drowning," said Igor Borisov, 45, after he was arrested. "We didn't hijack the ship."

Russian authorities flew the suspected hijackers of the cargo vessel Arctic Sea to Moscow on Thursday and took off them for interrogation, dismissing suggestions that the ship may have been carrying weapons. The Russian Navy tracked the ship into the Atlantic after what Moscow has termed an act of piracy and boarded it off the Cape Verde islands in the early hours of Monday, freeing the 15 Russian crewmen.

The hijackers who seized a Russian ship and its crew had demanded a $1.5 million ransom earlier this month, an official with the insurance agency told CNN on Tuesday. The Arctic Sea was found by a Russian Navy vessel on Monday. "The person spoke in English, apparently trying to change his voice to avoid being recognized, and introduced himself as a go-between," said Vladimir Dushin, vice president of Renaissance Insurance, the company that insured the vessel, the Arctic Sea. A recording of the August 3 phone call was turned over to Russian special services, which launched an investigation, Dushin said.

Russia has arrested eight people who hijacked the merchant ship Arctic Sea, Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies on Tuesday. Serdyukov was quoted as saying that the hijackers of the ship, whose disappearance baffled maritime authorities for weeks, included nationals from Russia, Estonia and Latvia.

Finnish police say a ransom demand has been made for a missing Russian-manned cargo vessel, the Arctic Sea. The demand - which has not been confirmed as genuine - was put to the ship's Finnish owners, Finland's National Bureau of Investigation said.

A missing ship with 15 Russian crew members on board has been spotted more than two weeks after it disappeared, unconfirmed reports say. The Arctic Sea had last been sighted in the Bay of Biscay on 30 July. A coastguard source told AFP news agency it had now been seen some 400 nautical miles from the Cape Verde islands, off West Africa. Russian navy ships have been searching for the 4,000-tonne Maltese-flagged vessel, which had been carrying timber. There was no immediate confirmation of the sighting from Russian authorities.

ISTANBUL (AP) - Challenging a global aversion to guns aboard ships, France has put troops on tuna boats in the Indian Ocean, and Belgium is offering military units to its merchant vessels off the Horn of Africa. Now, U.S. lawmakers are weighing similar action to fight piracy. Opponents fear such moves will escalate the violence and raise a minefield of legal issues. In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an amendment that would require the Department of Defense to put armed teams on U.S.-flagged ships passing through high-risk waters, specifically around the Horn of Africa where Somali pirates have...

Mystery deepened Wednesday over a missing Russian-crewed cargo ship last seen in July in the English Channel, as experts debated whether pirates, a mafia quarrel or a commercial dispute were to blame. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev ordered his navy to join the search for the Arctic Sea, which left Finland with its timber cargo on July 23 bound for the Algerian port of Bejaia -- but has not been seen for two weeks. Swedish police say the ship was hijacked in the Baltic Sea on July 24, when masked men claiming to be anti-drugs police boarded the ship, tied up...

A search is under way for a cargo ship which may have travelled through the English Channel after apparently being hijacked by pirates. Coastguards fear the Maltese-flagged Arctic Sea, carrying 15 Russian crew, was hijacked in the Baltic sea. UK authorities made contact before it entered the Strait of Dover but the Russian navy told the Itar-Tass agency it was now looking for the ship. The Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the situation was "bizarre". Spokesman Mark Clark said: "Who would think that a hijacked ship could pass through one of the most policed and concentrated waters in the world?...

Music collections and physical recordings still matter, even to younger "digital natives" who aren't supposed to care about such things, a new British music survey suggests. The research highlights the growing popularity of P2P services, although this may be brittle - if something better and legal comes along. The survey, by the University of Hertfordshire for UK Music, polled 1,800 people between the ages of 14 and 24. It highlights the many forms of file sharing - including Bluetoothing, and IM - and contains mixed news for the music business. P2P use is up slightly from last year - and...

An Italian tugboat and its crew of 16, seized by Somali pirates four months ago, has been released. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini expressed his satisfaction at the outcome after months of negotiations. The Italian-flagged tugboat Buccaneer was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on April 11. On board was a crew of 10 Italians, 5 Romanians and one Croatian. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that the Somali prime minister informed him directly about the vessel's release and said it was the result of exceptional work on the part of Somalia authorities and Italian intelligence. Frattini said Italy was...

Overnight gun-battles between rival clans in a pirate stronghold on the coast of Somalia have left at least 17 dead and 30 injured, reports say. Local residents in Haradheere fled as fighting, reportedly over land and the alleged rape of a woman, intensified. Pirates who operate in the area, a port off the shipping lanes linking Europe to Asia, said they were worried the conflict could affect their activities. Somalia, torn by civil war since 1991, lacks an effective central government. "The two clans are fighting over land and a girl who was raped in the forest," a local man,...

"Freedom-loving Americans congratulate two congressmen for sponsoring a bill this week to ensure the traditional right of self-defense of United States mariners against acts of piracy," gun rights activist John M. Snyder said here today. "This contrasts sharply and favorably with the Senate Judiciary Committee's vote earlier in the week to recommend Senate confirmation to the Supreme Court of a nominee who doesn't even know if there is a right to self-defense," he added. "Hopefully, the full Senate will refuse to accept its committee's absurd position" Reps. Frank LoBiondo (R-NJ) and Elijah Cummings (D-MD) introduced H.R. 3376, the proposed United...

Law Of The Sea: The U.S. seeks U.N. authorization to fight Somali pirates from the air, on land and at sea. When American cruise ships become targets, maybe it's time to renew a proud tradition: Send in the Marines.On Tuesday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice formally presented to a special U.N. session on Somalia a draft Security Council resolution saying that member states fighting against piracy "may take all necessary measures ashore in Somalia, including its airspace, to interdict those who are using Somali territory to plan, facilitate or undertake acts of piracy and armed robbery at sea and to...

SOMALI pirates fired in the air in jubilation after receiving a $1.8 million ransom in exchange for the release of a German-owned vessel and its 11-member crew. Somali sea gangs, operating in the strategic shipping lanes linking Asia and Europe, have made millions of dollars in ransom from hijacking vessels in the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden. "We have taken a $1.8 million ransom and released the German ship," pirate Ahmed said from a lair in the town of Eyl on the Somali coast. The 146-metre MV Victoria, an Antigua and Barbuda-flagged cargo vessel, was hijacked by eight pirates...

omali pirates have released a German-owned cargo ship held for nearly three months and its crew of 11 Romanians. The pirates said a ransom of $1.8m (£1.1m) was paid. Reports say they fired in the air in jubilation when the money was delivered in a tugboat. The ship - the MV Victoria - was captured in May in the Gulf of Aden, south of the Yemeni port of al-Mukalla. Pirates attacked more than 130 merchant ships off the Somali coast last year, taking in millions in ransom payments. Another German ship, the Hansa Stavanger, is still being held. It was...

Like a lot of 17-year -olds, Zac Sunderland can get a bit tongue-tied at times. Only for Sunderland, it's not on account of hormones or nerves. "I've been out at sea for a long time," says Sunderland, who has nearly reached his goal of becoming the youngest sailor to single-handedly circumnavigate the earth in a sailboat. "You kinda forget how to talk. Sometimes I'll get into a port and it'll take a week before the words I'm wanting to say can come out of my mouth the right way. It's annoying." Sunderland, who has yet to get his driver's license,...

Pirates on Wednesday seized a Turkish cargo ship and its all-Turkish crew of 23 off the coast of Somalia, a spokesman for the company which owns the ship said. The bulk carrier Horizon 1 was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Jordan with 33,000 cubic metres of sulphide when it was seized around 0530 GMT by pirates on speedboats, Omer Ozgur from Istanbul-based Horizon Maritime and Trade told AFP. "Because the ship was loaded, it was very easy for the pirates to board it," he said. The Horizon 1 was passing through the warship-patrolled transit corridor, which vessels are encouraged to...

"Pirates 'smuggling al-Qaeda fighters' into Somalia Somali Islamists bent on turning their land into an international haven for Al Qaeda are using pirate gangs to offer foreign militants safe passage into the country, The Sunday Telegraph has been told." SNIPPET: "The Taliban-style Shabab group , which has already siezed control of much of the lawless nation, has enlisted the pirates' services to smuggle in al-Qaeda fighters from across the Middle East, according to Somali government ministers. They claim that up to 1,000 have arrived in recent months, swelling the ranks of the Shabab in its bid to topple the fragile...

Armed Nigerian militants are holding six members of an oil tanker's crew, including the Russian captain, hostage, the tanker's managers say. A statement from EMS Ship Management said the Sichem Peace was boarded by armed men about 20 nautical miles from Escravos, Nigeria. The gunmen forced six crew members to come ashore with them, the BBC reported Monday The company said the ship was then released and its remaining 13 crew members sailed it further offshore. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, issued a communique claiming it was holding the men, whom it identified as...

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast. Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders. When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt. Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops.

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast. Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders. When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt. Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops. The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya. The...

Luxury ocean liners in Russia are offering pirate hunting cruises aboard armed private yachts off the Somali coast. Wealthy punters pay £3,500 per day to patrol the most dangerous waters in the world hoping to be attacked by raiders. When attacked, they retaliate with grenade launchers, machine guns and rocket launchers, reports Austrian business paper Wirtschaftsblatt. Passengers, who can pay an extra £5 a day for an AK-47 machine gun and £7 for 100 rounds of ammo, are also protected by a squad of ex special forces troops. The yachts travel from Djibouti in Somalia to Mombasa in Kenya. The...

Recently I watched a show on the Discovery channel – called “Whale Wars”. The show documents the fight of the Sea Sheppard’s aboard the S.S. Steve Irwin (Glorious) against the Chinese Whale Hunters. The Sea Sheppard’s will stop at nothing to stop the senseless killing of the whales. Some of the heroic actions include ramming the S.S. Steve Irwin into the side of the Chinese vessels, throwing chemicals onto the deck, helicopter fly-bys, etc… As I watched the show that depicted the Sea Sheppard’s as heroes for fighting against the whale murdering Chinese – I wondered why the individuals that...

To The Point is excited to offer the ultimate adventure cruise along the pirate-infested coast of Somalia!

I was intrigued to note President Obama’s reference to Thomas Jefferson in his speech this morning directed to the Muslims. Two centuries ago, American trading vessels were being harassed and captured by the pirates of Barbary (North Africa) - - the Islamic militants of their day, as it were. President Jefferson’s response amounted to “send in the Marines,” and in they went to the shores of Tripoli, a venture immortalized in the Marine Corps hymn.

Nearly a dozen pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and grappling hooks have been seized in the Gulf of Aden, after being intercepted by a Royal Navy warship. Two skiffs had been detected by the radar on board HMS Portland, a Type 23 frigate, which was originally designed for anti-submarine warfare. Suspecting that they were “not innocent fishing vessels”, the frigate, commanded by Commander Tim Henry, steamed closer to the skiffs and saw that both vessels were filled with weaponry and ammunition. The ship’s Lynx helicopter was sent to hover over the skiffs while teams of Royal Marine and navy...