Transiting Pirate Alley

“You are now in High Risk Pirate Activity Area ! This Is Japanese Navy Foxtrot Two Six Zero. If you see any suspicious activity, report to this Warship immediately!”

This was the gist of the messages that we received each hour during the transit, from different Naval Ships, from different countries.  At least this pirate situation has caused a form of International Cooperation between countries that may have never seen a reason to collaborate before. They herd the diverse ships into loose formations and then trundle through the night down the so called ‘Recommended Safety Route’.

It seems the Warships are lit up like Christmas Trees, while the others opt whether to show running lights or not.

All rather serene until yacht Freedom came along!

Tony was on “Watch” and was getting a “lift” from the wind, and did not want to tack and sail backwards away from the ‘Recommended Safety Route’, so he continued towards the convoy lanes…. With our lights off.

Well, of course a gaggle of ships saw him coming on radar, so they changed course, but could not see us in the dark. There was much concerned chatter on the radio, but Tony was enjoying himself with the helming. Perhaps they thought that this clandestine radar echo was a ‘mother ship’ and that the invisible pirate skiffs were about to launch an attack.

Search Lights came on and scanned the sea, paying particular attention to the area near the stern of each ship. Of course they did not see us, blinded as they were with their own lights.

Tony passed them and then tacked back into the anonymity of the dark seas of the Sea of Aden. Radio chatter continued.

But this was our contribution to the safety effort. One of the problems is that crews become complacent on the ships, and they stop keeping a good lookout. This particular evening they had something to chatter about…. How they thwarted an attack, and how brave they were.

So we supplied a small service to the general need for alertness in Pirate Alley.

The next day a helicopter came thwacking over us, no doubt taking close up photographs of the crew for later identification. We tried to get Marlene to ‘flash’ at them, but she declined. Just as well, as she would have perhaps found herself featured on the Gulf News front page, if they allow that sort of thing here.

Anything to relieve the boredom, because this has to be one of the ‘deadest’ seas in the world. It is devoid of birds and fish activity. Except for one fleeting moment when a large pod of dolphins passed us, with bill-fish, all chasing a school of smaller fish with urgent dedication. And that was it.

Nothing.

And to think that we nearly bought an arsenal of weapons to ward off attacks.

But seriously, the efforts towards achieving a safer sea for the commercial ships have proven effective. I am sure their crews are happier with the situation, particularly as they are all being paid a double salary for the transit! Pity there is no one out there to pay pensioners like us double as well!

The plus side of this tranquil period is that we have time to slip into the ‘Ocean Passage Mood’, which is a state of mind that one usually achieves after a couple of weeks at sea, away from the hassles and stresses of the shore. Up to now we have been so busy with the problems of thefts, missing equipment, adverse weather, delays by officials, engine difficulties etc that we have not had time to ‘Charge our Chi’.

Slowly that is changing.

If it doesn’t bore you, I will try to describe that mood swing later.

Right now we are two or three days from our next destination, and we are getting to be a little complacent as well.

Maybe we need a wake up call, like a Tony swinging in on a halyard from the night, with a bandana on his head, knife in teeth and a cutlass in hand and gold earrings.

Perhaps not…… We are supposed to be retired!

 

BUT  THEN IT ALL CHANGED!

Marlene was the first to see it: a small white object in the sea far ahead. We searched with the binoculars and eventually out of the gloomy haze we saw a fishing dhow with three skiffs on tow behind. This is the classical pirate ship, as depicted in all the information about this part of the Gulf of Aden.

I turned 90° and we watched for a reaction. After a few minutes the dhow turned towards us and started motoring. We had been seen.

We turned to motor away down our reciprocal track with the dhow slowly gaining on us. I called the Japanese warship and succeeded in getting in contact via another ship acting as a relay station. We gave them the information about our predicament and what we were doing.

An American voice came on the radio from an American warship saying they understood and good luck, but we were on our own. We did not expect any assistance from the Americans, because, after all, if they were not prepared to send forces to rescue their ambassador in Libya when he was in the process of being murdered by rebels, then it was hardly likely that they were going to expend any effort to save a couple of lowly American taxpayers like Tony and me.

However the Japanese Navy was a different matter.

They had been asking ships to report suspicious activity, and here it was.

While we exchanged information with the Japanese warship, the dhow turned away. We thought it was because they were monitoring the same general frequency that we were using to talk to the warship. They must have realised that there was no element of surprise for them.

We motored off into the night and soon after a helicopter from the Japanese warship came overhead, talking to us and getting more information about the appearance of the dhow and its collection of skiffs. It then did a search of the area.

We took a circuitous route closer to the shipping lane and returned to our original track.

We told Tony that probably the following morning we would find the Japanese Frigate alongside demanding if we would like to pay with VISA, MASTERCARD or AMEWICAN EXPWESS. Plus perhaps a contribution for the Japanese Navy Benevolent Fund.

But of course not.

Any other country maybe, but not Japan.

I am very impressed by their dedication to their duty here. They are on patrol and they are letting everyone know about it, and when something happens they take action.

I believe that we were in danger because this fishing dhow had all its buoys that long line fishermen use on the deck, not deployed in the sea. They were waiting for prey, not fishing: that was just a ‘cover’.

The Japanese Navy were there in what very easily could have been our ‘hour of need’ and for that we are truly grateful.