The Panther Bay
Pirate Blog

I recently visited Hong Kong on a business trip, and during an afternoon break I took a tour along the Ping Shan Heritage Trail. The trail provides historical insight into the settling and farming of the Pear River Delta by the Tang Clan, including visits to various temples and a museum that was the first colonial outpost for the British.

As readers of this blog (and visitors to Pantherbay.com) know, the Pearl River Delta, which includes Hong Kong and Guangzhou (formerly Canton) in Guangdong Province was a hotbed of piratical activity. At one point, a confederation of pirate clans amassed fleets that included a thousand ships, junks and coastal boats, and as many as 50,000 pirates to prowl the South China Sea (about five times the number plowing the Caribbean Sea at its height). (See the biography of Cheng I Sao, or Mrs Cheng on the pantherbay.com web site.)

Well, to defend themselves against the pirates, the Tang Clan trained themselves and villagers in the martial arts. Since they had limited access to "modern" weaponry, the focused on hand to hand combat the practical use of applying everyday farming implements as weapons.

I think it's interesting that martial arts were important for defensive purposes, not sport and offensive tactics as they are thought of in the West.

For more, see my video on Youtube filmed from Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong.

I just ran across the trailer for the next "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" movie and you can see the 2:15 minute video here. You can catch the same trailer plus still photos at Hollywood.com.

One particularly interesting spin on modern pirating activity off the coast of Somalia is the link to Islamic terrorist organizations. Jon Bowermaster has a useful overview of the main argument/concern, noting in a recent article,

"Increasing evidence links the mafia-like Somali clans that run the pirating to the Al-Shabaab Islamist insurgent group, which controls most of southern and central Somalia. Both the U.S. and the U.N. accuse Al-Shabaab of having links to al-Qaeda.

"The rag-tag pirates who are grabbing small private yachts and cargo boats loaded with lawn tractors may be providing a working model for terrorists interested in hijacking tankers loaded with chemicals and cargo boats carrying weapons.

"The pirates' increasingly brazen successes can only be encouraging to others hoping to follow suit."

The situation seems to be spinning increasingly out of control. Yet, the activity and threat of piracy is remarkably concentrated off the coast of East Africa and the western reaches of the Indian Ocean.

At some point nations will have to recognize the pirating problem as a threat on the same scale as a war, similar to the way the British viewed Caribbean pirating in the 17th and 18th centuries.

As dozens of vessels are attacked by pirates, and thousands of sailors are held hostage, the United States government and United Nation's have blocked a shipper-backed group from providing private security for ships and cargo. According to the web site Strategypage (accessed on March 25, 2011):

March 16, 2011:  The United States and UN has persuaded Puntland [in Somalia] to withdraw backing for a thousand man coast guard force, trained and led by foreign mercenaries hired by shipping companies. The UN feared that the mercenary trained force would violate the arms embargo against Somalia, and that a more effective combat force in Somalia might fall under the control of a warlord seeking to become the new dictator of Somalia (the last one was driven from power two decades ago). Actually, the training contract in Puntland is only "suspended", as local officials want the mercenary trained coast guard force, as it appears to be the only way to control the thousands of gunmen working for pirate gangs and warlords. The UN is unable to get many countries to supply peacekeepers for Somalia either.

 

One of the great things about being young is we have no fear. And that certainly is true for Mohamed Ashareh, the former Canadian college student who set out two years ago to film a documentary on the Somali pirates.

According to the Toronto Star (March 25, 2011): "As well as recounting Ashareh's near-death experiences, The Pirate Tapes tells the story of Somalia's multi-million-dollar piracy business, shedding light on the history and political corruption that turned fishermen into violent vigilantes."

Unfortunately, Ashareh fell out with the production company, Palmira PDR, so he's not part of the current release strategy. (It sounds like Ashareh has also learned a few unfortunate things about contracts and the business of film production along the way.)

Hot Docs bills itself as North America's largest documentary film festival and is set to take place from April 28th through May 8th in Toronto. Details of the Pirate Tapes can be found on the web site, including a trailer.

Here's the Hot Docs description:

A tale of violence, piracy and environmental disaster spirals into a life-threatening situation when Mohamed, a young Somali-Canadian, joins an armed pirate cell with a hidden camera. But when a rival clan murders the pirate boss, Mohamed ends up in a horrific jail in danger of execution. Interspersed with riveting never-before-seen footage of pirates organizing a hijacking, the film peels back the layers of civil war, history and corruption that turned once-peaceful fishermen into marauders. Massive illegal fishing by Asian and European ships decimated fish stocks, international corporations made secret deals with warlords so they could dump their nuclear wastes off the Somali coast, and politicians siphoned foreign aid into their personal accounts. But the moral justification of retaliation has morphed into a violent, complex, money-driven operation, one that both pirates and politicians expose as a multi-million-dollar business funded primarily by foreigners who reap most of the profit.

As nation's across the globe continue to ramp up their interest and resources to fight pirates off the East Coast of Africa and western parts of the Indiana Ocean, the role of privately funded security needs a fresh look. I found this 2009 article from The Economist magazine quite useful in framing the debate. A sampling of the analysis:

Deterrence, or at least stopping attacks at the earliest stage, is always best. These are areas in which the private sector (both shipowners and their security advisers) must play a role. America has also encouraged small countries with large shipping registries such as Liberia, Panama, the Marshall Islands and the Bahamas to mandate prudent self-protection by vessels.

Already, the line between peaceful merchant ships and naval ones is blurring a little. These days, maritime-security providers operating off east Africa almost always make some use of weapons, says Didier Berra, a French army veteran who has worked for Secopex, a naval-security firm based in Carcassonne in France.

Draconian force is seldom necessary, adds Mr Berra. Attackers often give up when 12.7mm machineguns are fired into the water, creating a big splash. The head of another European security firm says many outfits sidestep bans on weapons in port by tossing them overboard. Yet a show of firepower is increasingly necessary because pirates are getting blasé about “non-lethal” defences like water hoses and sonic blasts, says David Schewitz, whose California-based company, RSB International, helps protect ships.

Navies are also starting to deploy seamen on merchant ships, something hitherto rare unless the cargo was military. The French navy, for example, has been sending sailors to protect the country’s tuna-fishing ships in waters around the Seychelles. Such assertiveness at least marginally reduces the opportunities for private firms; a few games really are zero sum.

The article also notes that poltiical stability and economic growth will be essential for reducing the allure of piracy. That may be true, but a lot can be done now to increase the penalties of engaging in piracy. And here is where private actions to defend vessels and people may be the most effective, even if it is only addressing a symptom of the larger problem.

For those following the legal aftermath of the terrible murder of the two Seattle-based seafaring couples shot by their pirate captors in February, the fourteen captured pirates were indicted in Virginia on Tuesday, 8 March 2011.

I believe the wanton killing of the Americans signals a new chapter in the war against the Somali-based pirates. Most of the hostages and vessels prior to this event were commercial in nature. These Seattle-based couples were pleasure sailors and their deaths were unnecessary. Moreover, their capture and subsequent murder shows the true hazard that piracy presents: They new the dangers and took the right precautions, including traveling in a convoy. They were captured when they became separated from their convoy.

The question now is what strategies will be used to bring piracy under control.

A report by the Internatonal Chamber of Shipping/International Shipping Federation and the One Earth Future Foundation called "The Economic Costs of Piracy" estimates that the cost of piracy amounts to $12 billion per year.

In the ship-owner supported report, Costs of Piracy by the One Earth Future Foundation, economic hits include $31-million to prosecute pirates (750 of them in 11 countries); $2-billion borne by ship owners who hire security services, and the purchase of passive defences like barbed wire, flood lights, piracy mapping software and other protective kit. Ransoms worth $240-million were quietly paid out in 2010 for safe crew returns and ships that spent an average of 150 days in captivity.

Lloyds Market Association puts excess insurance costs due to Somali piracy at up to $3.2-billion per year, while re-routing “slow and low” ships costs upwards of $3-billion.

Cargoes stolen and diverted from Kenya and Yemen, Suez Canal fees lost by Egypt as vessels reroute, lost fishing and tourism to Mauritius, The Maldives and Seychelles add up to $1.25-billion a year, the report says.

In 2009, vessels sailing in open waters between India and the East Coast of Africa were advised to travel in convoys. That hasn't been much help, as Somali pirates now travel up to a thousand miles off shore for hostages, boats, and merchandise that can be ransomed.

The extent of the spreading piracy threat was clea in a recent Yachte.com.au (11 March 2011) story:

The U.S. Coast Guard strongly advises against all operation of and travel by U.S. yachts and sailing craft, or by U.S. citizens on foreign registered yachts and sailing craft, on the Gulf of Aden, Arabian Sea, Somali Basin and the western parts of the Indian Ocean.

That's a big chunk of territory. And it's unlikely to end soon (from the same article):

As per 07 March 2011, 20h30 UTC, at least 49 foreign vessels plus two barges are kept in Somali hands against the will of their owners, while at least 784 hostages or captives - including a South-African yachting couple as well as a Danish yacht-family with children - suffer and have not been released.

Even EU NAVFOR [European Union Naval Force Somalia unit], who mostly only counts higher-value - often British insured vessels - admit now that many dozens of vessels were sea-jacked, despite their multi-million Euro efforts to protect shipping.

Having come under pressure, EU NAVFOR's operation ATALANTA felt compelled to publish its updated piracy facts for those vessels, which EU NAVFOR admits had not been protected from pirates and were abducted.

EU NAVFOR also admitted in February 2011, for the first time, that actually a larger number of vessels and crews are being held hostage, than those listed on their file.

EU NAVFOR admitted in 2008 that piracy off Somalia had started in earnest and it has now completely escalated. Only knowledgeable analysts recognised the link.

Participants in yacht races and rallies in these high risk areas are at great risk of attack. These events are often publicised and could draw attention from pirates, despite the security and safety measures that might be put in place. The U.S. Coast Guard strongly advises mariners not to participate in events that will require transit through high risk waters.

A quick review of summary data from the International Maritime Bureau  suggests a couple of interesting facts.

1. Successful hijackings aren't quite as common as headlines might suggest. Just 11.5% of the pirate attacks worldwide in 2010 resulted in actual hijackings.
2. While Somalia is the center for most pirating incidents, half of all pirate incidents occur in other regions of the world.
3. Somali pirates may be the most successful, accounting for 92.1% of all hijackings.

This suggests that most piracy incidents are probably mostly about robbery and theft, not physically taking ships and hostages. The economics of piracy around Somalia, however, makes hijacking the most lucrative goal for pirates in that region of the world.

My resolution for 2011: Do a better job of bloggin on piracy outside of Somalia.

Here are the statistics reported by IMB for 2010 as part of their Facts & Figures page:

Worldwide Incidents: (updated on 29 December 2010)
Total Attacks Worldwide: 440
Total Hijackings Worldwide: 51

Incidents Reported for Somalia:
Total Incidents: 218
Total Hijackings: 47
Total Hostages : 1001

Current vessels held by Somali pirates:
Vessels: 26
Hostages: 617