gCaptain.com

I recently subscribed to and have been enjoying one of the top blogs in the political arena, The Huffington Post. The reasons are two fold. First, I enjoy the articles but more important is the second… I admire their model of collaboration, where every subject expert is given his/her own section and only the best [...]

[Read more →]

Photo By Cayusa
Note: This article was originally posted in The Maritime Executive Newsletter and can be found HERE.
The dynamic in the Gulf Of Aden is changing by the day. The last two weeks brought news of two separate attacks on Cruise Ships and a determined attack against a convoy under the protection of an Italian [...]

[Read more →]

The M/V BISCAGLIA was taken over by pirates last month. Of interest was that the ship had onboard a three-man security team that once the ship was lost jumped overboard on the chance that they would be picked up by a nearby helicopter.
Here are a couple photos that were taken by another helicopter that had [...]

[Read more →]

Last Friday, the Chinese Navy set off on an historical mission: the first modern deployment of battle-ready warships beyond the Pacific.  What was the task?   An anti-piracy mission that will provide escorts and patrols in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden.  It is reported that the naval forces that set sail from southern Hainan on Friday [...]

[Read more →]

Here are more pirate attack photos. Best is that they use Molotov Cocktails as part of their defense strategy as suggested in my post “On Defending Unarmed Merchant Ships Against Pirates” (Are they drinking on board? Looks like the company owes them a couple rounds at the next port, AND A BIG FAT BONUS!)

Photos found [...]

[Read more →]

In a well researched article titled Mercenary Guards Jump Ship as Somali Pirates Remain Undeterred Bloomberg exposes private security efforts to protect ships in the region. What is not well researched however, is the title incident aboard the M/V Biscaglia.
In last week’s edition of Maritime Moday, Fred Fry posted the wired magazine article Sonic Blaster [...]

[Read more →]

Piracy in the Golf of Aden continue to grab headlines around the world. Here is a look at some of the top headlines from this weeks.
BBC

Chinese ships will fight pirates : China has announced it is to send naval ships to fight rampant piracy in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia.
Somali [...]

[Read more →]

View Larger Map
From the Associated Press:
UNITED NATIONS (AP) — On the same day Somali gunmen seized two more ships, the U.N. Security Council voted unanimously Tuesday to authorize nations to conduct land and air attacks on pirate bases on the coast of the Horn of Africa country.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was on hand to [...]

[Read more →]

Here are some photos of the damage sustained by the M/V KAPITAN MASLOV when it was attacked by pirates back in November.
The photos below are of the Third Mate’s stateroom, or better put, what is left of the Third Mate’s stateroom.
This is a good example of one reason why Merchant ships stop when attacked by [...]

[Read more →]

Piracy - It’s Location, Location Location
By John Denham
If you did not know,  pirates have been around for as long as treasure was shipped on boats. Piracy is like robbing banks…it is where the money is. The capitol for piracy is the Malacca Straits. Why? Because that is where the most slow boats from China are.
Recent [...]

[Read more →]