Friday Readings

Fred Fry after years of faithful posting announces his retirement from his long running series of Maritime Mondays with a final, link-filled post Maritime Monday 187. It is unclear whether Fred will continue his blog at Fred Fry International. I hope so. Thanks for Maritime Monday, Fred.

According to this, Somali pirates recently are experiencing a 50% success rate in hijacking ships, though a couple of recent ship escapes in the Gulf of Aden, as set forth here:

12.11.2009: 0536 UTC: Posn: 14:33N – 054:08E, Gulf of Aden. Pirates armed with assault rifles in skiffs attacked a bulk carrier underway. They chased and fired upon the ship with intent to hijack her. The ship increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, deployed self protection measures and successfully deterred the boarding. The pirates aborted the attempt at 0832 UTC.

12.11.2009: 0330 UTC: Posn: 14:36.1N – 054:14.5E, Gulf of Aden. Pirates armed with assault rifles in skiffs attacked a bulk carrier underway. They fired upon the ship and attempted to board her. The ship increased speed, took evasive manoeuvres, deployed self protection measures and successfully deterred the boarding.

Spain has called for a blockade of known Somali pirate ports. Of course, Spain, on its own, could send 3 ships, some helicopters and whole bunch of small boats and show the world how to do a blockade. Sustaining the blockade might be an issue. Last time I looked, Spain owned 10 frigates and a handful of other ships.