Pirates, Past and Present

Last week Somali pirates hijacked a yacht and eventually murdered the four American hostages onboard. The owners of the boat, Jean and Scott Adam by name, had been sailing the world for some seven years, distributing Bibles, of all things. They were Catholics, who began their missionary Odyssey in 2001. Their 2011 travel plans are detailed on this website: http://www.svquest.com/2011_travels.htm

In mid-february, the sole-surviving pirate, one of four who had attacked an American freighter, was sentenced by a federal judge in Manhattan. Here's the press release on the sentencing, issued by the US Attorney's Office:

SOMALIAN PIRATE SENTENCED IN MANHATTAN FEDERAL COURT
TO 405 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR HIJACKING THREE SHIPS
AND FOR HOSTAGE TAKING
Pirate And His Crew Were Responsible For the 2009 Hijacking
Of The Maersk Alabama
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York, JANICE K. FEDARCYK, the Assistant
Director-In-Charge of the New York Office of the Federal Bureau
of Investigation ("FBI"), and RAYMOND W. KELLY, the Police
Commissioner of the City of New York ("NYPD"), announced the
sentencing today of ABDUWALI MUSE to 405 months in prison for his
participation in the April 8, 2009, hijacking of the Maersk
Alabama container ship in the Indian Ocean and the subsequent
taking of the captain of the ship as a hostage. MUSE was also
sentenced for his participation in the hijacking of two other
vessels in late March and early April of 2009. Those hijackings
also involved the taking of hostages. MUSE pled guilty on May
18, 2010, to two felony counts of hijacking maritime vessels, two
felony counts of kidnapping, and two felony counts of hostage
taking. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge LORETTA A.
PRESKA.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA said: "For five
days that must have seemed like an eternity to his victims,
Abduwali Abukhadir Muse terrorized the captain and crew of the
Maersk Alabama. Now he will pay for those five days and the
events leading up to them. Today’s sentence makes it clear that
piracy on the high seas is a crime against the international
community that will not be tolerated. I would like to recognize
the extraordinary collective efforts of local, federal, and
international law enforcement and pay special thanks to the men
and women of the U.S. Navy without whose bravery today's result
would not have been possible."
FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge JANICE K. FEDARCYK
said: "The stiff sentence handed down today sends a clear
message to others who would interfere with American vessels or do
harm to Americans on the high seas: Whatever seas you ply, you
are not beyond the reach of American justice, and you will be
held accountable for your actions."
NYPD Commissioner RAYMOND W. KELLY said: "I want to
commend the New York Joint Terrorism Task Force members from the
FBI and NYPD who worked together with the U.S. Navy and
prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office to bring
Abduwali Muse to justice for his hijacking the Maersk Alabama and
putting innocent lives in jeopardy."
According to the Superseding Indictment to which MUSE
pled guilty and the criminal Complaint previously filed against
him:
In March 2009, MUSE, a native of Somalia, and others
armed with firearms boarded a ship ("Ship-1") in the Indian
Ocean. After boarding Ship-1, they threatened the captain with a
firearm, seized control of the ship, and held the captain and the
crew hostage on board Ship-1.
While on board Ship-1, MUSE pointed a gun at one of the
hostages and threatened to kill him. In addition, MUSE showed
one of the hostages what appeared to be an improvised explosive
device ("IED"). He placed the IED near the hostage, and
indicated that if the authorities came, the IED would explode,
and the hostage would be killed.
In April 2009, MUSE and others left Ship-1 on a small
boat ("Skiff"). When the Skiff returned to Ship-1, Ship-1 and
the Skiff were made to rendezvous with another ship ("Ship-2")
that was also in the Indian Ocean. After Ship-1 and the Skiff
arrived in the vicinity of Ship-2, the captain of Ship-1 was
ordered to pull Ship-1 up to Ship-2. Ship-1 was then attached to
Ship-2. Subsequently, MUSE and others held hostage both the
captain and the crew of Ship-1 and the captain and the crew of
Ship-2.
-2In
April 2009, MUSE and three other pirates left Ship-2
and boarded the Maersk Alabama after shooting at the ship from
their own boat. Each of the four pirates who boarded the Maersk
Alabama, including MUSE, was armed with a gun. Once on board,
MUSE, who conducted himself as the leader of the pirates,
demanded, among other things, that the ship be stopped. Several
hours after boarding, the pirates took a life boat from the ship,
on which they held hostage the captain of the ship.
MUSE and the other three pirates held the captain
hostage on the life boat from April 8 to April 12, 2009. During
this period, in radio communications between the pirates and the
U.S. Navy, the pirates threatened to kill the captain if they
were not provided with safe passage away from the scene. On
April 12, 2009, MUSE requested and was permitted to board the USS
Bainbridge, a U.S. Navy missile destroyer that had arrived on the
scene. On the USS Bainbridge, MUSE continued to demand safe
passage from the scene for himself and other pirates in exchange
for the captain’s release. On April 12, 2009, MUSE was taken
into custody by the U.S. Navy.
* * *
In addition to the prison term, Judge PRESKA also
imposed five years of supervised release and ordered restitution
of $550,000.
Mr. BHARARA praised the investigative work of the FBI
Joint Terrorism Task Force, comprised of FBI agents, NYPD
detectives, and investigators from more than 50 federal, state
and local law enforcement entities, and the Naval Criminal
Investigative Service. Mr. BHARARA also thanked the U.S. Navy
and specifically the Office of the Judge Advocate General for
their vital cooperation.
This case is being handled by the Office's Terrorism
and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys
BRENDAN R. McGUIRE and JEFFREY A. BROWN are in charge of the
prosecution.
11-048 ###
-3

These recent incidents remind us that, while the human population grows by some 200,000 per day, and our species literally swarms all over the habitable continents, three-quarters of the globe remains a wilderness, where no laws reach very effectively. While the sailing ships of yore have been replaced by supertankers and giant container ships, and men-of-war have made way for nuclear aircraft carriers, the seas remain untamed and, probably, untamable.

Pirates are often romanticized:





Privateers were semi-legitimate instruments of state policy. Wkipedia puts it this way: "A privateer is a private person or ship authorized by a government by letters of marque to attack foreign shipping during wartime. Privateering was a way of mobilizing armed ships and sailors without having to spend public money or commit naval officers. They were of great benefit to a smaller naval power or one facing an enemy dependent on trade: they disrupted commerce and pressured the enemy to deploy warships to protect merchant trade against commerce raiders.
The cost was borne by investors hoping to profit from prize money earned from captured cargo and vessels. The proceeds would be distributed among the privateer's investors, officers and crew. It has been argued that privateering was a less destructive and wasteful form of warfare, because the goal was to capture ships rather than to sink them.[1]
Privateers were part of naval warfare from the 16th to the 19th century. Some privateers have been particularly influential in the annals of history. Sometimes, the vessels would be commissioned into regular service as warships. The crew of a privateer might be treated as prisoners of war by the enemy country if captured." Read more here.
English privateers preyed upon Spanish galleons hauling treasure from the looted Inca and Aztec empires. One of the most famous was Sir Francis Drake. "Sir Francis Drake, who had close contact with the sovereign, was responsible for some damage to Spanish shipping, as well as attacks on Spanish settlements in the Americas in the 16th century. He participated in the successful English defense against the Spanish Armada in 1588, though he was also partly responsible for the failure of English Armada against Spain in 1589." (Ibid.)





In the Caribbean today, drug smuggling is probably a lot more common than outright piracy. This is captured in one of Jimmy Buffet's best songs, "A Pirate Looks at Forty."
Buffet subsequently reprised the song's title as a slightly revised book title:


All the romance aside, it seems to me that pirates are akin to terrorists, but driven by a pure profit motive, as opposed to a political or social cause. Like the teenaged Somali pirate who garnered more than 30 years in the Manhattan federal courthouse last month, there's not much that's romantic about the real thing.

That being said, I must admit that, on this rainy night in Philly, my family and I plan to escape to the Caribbean with "Captain Ron," a film that features modern-day "Pirates of the Caribbean" in as light-hearted and romanticized a context as is imaginable.