Six Minutes Can Lead To Six Months

The other day the fantastic maritime blog gCaptain ran an article about a possible pirate attack on a second cruse liner, M/V Athena. Citing this report in the Australian Herald Son, the cruise liner was reportedly attacked by more than two dozen small boats in a swarm. The next day, it was learned that M/V Athena was not really attacked, rather M/V Athena had cruised into a flock of fishing boats that looked very similar to the boats widely photographed in use by Somali pirates.

As a blogger, I get frustrated when I post content that turns out to be inaccurate. In this case though, gCaptain shouldn't feel this way, because they are actually representing that maritime community on the piracy issue better than they probably realize. I was recently sent this French language news article regarding a convoy escort in the Gulf of Aden. The reporter tells the story of the night of November 28th from the French frigate FS Nivôse (F732). One of the ships in the convoy, the Biscaglia, was hijacked within a few miles of the frigate earlier that day. From the time the alarm was sounded, the pirates had taken control of the ship within only 10 minutes. There was nothing the French ship could do.

In the early evening hours of November 28th, a ship at the end of the convoy, the Barrock, raised the alarm suggesting it was being approached by pirates. The Barrock was one of the ships that did not have French soldiers dispatched to the ship, being denied due to a political issue. The absence of shipboard protection raised the tension of the ship, and when the ship spotted lights in the darkness it called for help. The Nivôse, responding to the call for assistance, launched its helicopter and began moving towards the end of the convoy. Everyone in the convoy raised their awareness.

The article lays out an atmosphere of tension, stress, and anxiety among the ships of the convoy. As the French ship mans battle stations, they search in the night for the suspected vessel that spooked the Barrock. As the tension rises, other ships also start issuing alerts, and the story ends by describing what amounts to a panicked night in the convoy with the French frigate chasing ghost sightings for several tense hours.

Pirates in the Gulf of Aden are using widely available fast speed boats often used by fisherman in the region. This allows them to blend in well with the local population at sea, and adds to the difficulty of early detection while also contributing to false alarms. A news report that a cruise ship is reporting they are under attack by a few dozen small boats, only to learn later that it was fishing boats resembles in many ways the tension, panic, and false alarms taking place as maritime traffic travels through those seas. It also represents the constant, difficult work of coalition forces to stay patient following a false alarm, remain vigilant at all times, and be prepared when the real thing occurs. Yes, the increased military presence is helping, but from the time you detect a pirate approaching until the ship is hijacked, the entire incident typically happens in less than 15 minutes, a very small window for coalition naval forces.

I got an email earlier this week from a Captain who had recently come through that area. He made a very interesting point. In most cases, coalition Naval forces can scare away pirates still at sea when they are present, but it remains the responsibility of the crew to insure ships give coalition forces time to respond. In his words, "as few as 6 minutes could decide the fate of the next 6 months of my life" noting that every minute matters, and negotiations for release from pirates can easily run for 6 months after capture. He says there are a lot of false alarms, and they can be caused by any number of factors specific to the region, but also crew fatigue due to the stress of working in that environment.

When a blog hub representative of maritime commerce at sea like gCaptain posted on what amounts to be a false news report about a hijacking, rather than seeing it as a mistake, I see it as an accurate representation of the environment of tension and false reports of piracy challenging mariners. There are a lot of reports of pirate attacks out there that end up in the false report category, it happens, but when 6 minutes of inaction can lead to 6 months of captivity, it isn't difficult to see why it happens.