Cruisers Apparently Kill Attacking Pirates
off Yemen
March 16 - San Francisco Bay
The following report by Rodney J. Nowlin,
USN Retired, of the cruising vessel Mahdi, has been forwarded
to us by many readers. It was written on March 11:
"On March 8, 2005, two sailing yachts,
Mahdi and Gandalf, were moving southwest 30 miles
off the coast of Yemen proceeding to the port of Aden from Salalah,
Oman. At about 0900, two outboard-powered boats, both about 25
feet long with three aboard, passed off our stern moving south
at about 25 knots. An hour or two later they returned, one coming
quite close and looking us over carefully. The second boat passed
our bows, but quite a ways away. These boats were obviously not
engaged in a normal activity such as fishing, etc. At that time
we were south of Al Mukalla, Yemen. The area around Al Mukalla
is well documented as being a piracy problem area, so we started
watching carefully for anything out of the ordinary.
"At about 1600, we observed two different
boats approaching us head-on from the southwest. These boats
were 25-30 feet long, had higher freeboard than the others, and
were diesel powered. They were coming directly at us very quickly,
and there were four men in each boat. The boats separated at
about 200 yards, one boat ahead of the other, coming down Mahdi's
port side and firing into the
cockpit. The other boat fired an automatic weapon at both Gandalf
and Mahdi, but mostly at Gandalf, from ahead.
These guys were shooting directly at the cockpits, and obviously
intended to kill us.
"The first boat then swung around
behind Mahdi's stern to come up and board us. At that
point I, Rod Nowlin, aboard Mahdi and armed with a 12-gauge
shotgun loaded with 00 buckshot, started shooting into their
boat. I forced them to keep their heads down so that they could
not shoot at us. I'm not sure that I hit anyone at that point,
although I could see the driver of the boat crouched down behind
a steering console. After firing three shots at them, their engine
started to smoke, so I swung around to shoot at the boat ahead.
"At that point, I saw Jay Barry on
Gandalf ram the boat amidships, almost cutting it in two,
and turning it almost completely over. I turned back around to
shoot again at the boat behind Mahdi, and that is when
they turned away from Mahdi and were heading toward the
stern of Gandalf. Gandalf was beside us, about 100 feet
away. The bow of the pirate's boat came right up against Gandalf's
stern, and two men stood up on the bow to board Gandalf. That
was a serious and probably fateful error on their part, as I
shot both of them. The boat then veered away, and I shot the
driver - although I'm not sure of the outcome because they were
further away and my shot hadn't knocked him over like the other
two.
"Mahdi
and Gandalf then kept going at full speed to put as much
distance between the pirates and us as possible. As soon as we
were out of rifle range, we looked back and saw that both boats
were drifting and appeared to be disabled.
"If Jay on Gandalf had not
had the presence of mind to veer over into the one boat and ram
it, the outcome of this attack would have been totally different,
for all the pirates needed to do was stand off a ways and shoot
us to pieces with their automatic weapons. We were extremely
lucky.
"We broadcast Mayday calls on all
VHF and HF radio frequencies, including two HF emergency frequencies
supplied by the U.S. Coast Guard a few days before. The Coalition
Forces in the area were supposed to be monitoring these frequencies.
There was no response except from a commercial ship in the area,
which approached and observed the disabled pirates for a bit.
They then motored alongside us for two to four hours until dark
to make sure we would be all right.
"The pirates were well organized and
well armed. There were at least four boats involved. They had
set up a picket line out from the Yemen coast, probably for at
least 50-75 miles, so if you transited the area during the day
they wouldn't miss you. The two boats that attacked us appeared
to have come from the south.
There has been speculation in the past that this ongoing piracy
problem off the Yemen coast was being carried out by Somali pirates.
Given the number, type of boats involved, and the direction the
spotter boats came from, this does not appear to be correct in
this case. The pirate problem has been getting worse and pirate
attacks have been getting deadly. One could only expect that
the Yemen government would take more direct action. At the very
least, allow yachts to group in Salalah, Oman, and at some point
on the northwest Yemen coast to request an escort.
Click to view larger map
Map Courtesy University of Texas Library
"We - Rod, Becky, and Jamee - just
wanted to let you know that we are all fine, although a little
traumatized. It's just a reminder that the cruising life is a
thrill a minute! We have some damage to the boat from bullets,
but nothing that can't be repaired."
We regret we don't have more information
- full names of all the crews, the boat types, and boat hailing
ports - on Madhi and Gandalf.
This area has always been active with pirates,
but the level and sophistication of the activity seems to have
picked up dramatically. We received another email which reported
that cruising boats were transiting the area in convoys of six
or more boats for safety, but even that wasn't enough. Heavily
armed pirates have apparently been weeding out one boat at a
time and taking their money and electronics. Be aware, however,
our information is very, very sketchy, so we have no idea about
the true extent of it. We'll try to find out more.
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