Word: alabamas
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...hijackings in 2009, compared with 111 attacks last year. The pirates generally want cash, not trouble. They've treated their hostages well, and violence has been rare. All of that changed, of course, last week when a quartet of Somalis seized Phillips from the U.S.-flagged Maersk Alabama. In the wake of the U.S. action, some pirates and Somali warlords have pledged to take revenge on some of the more than 200 international sailors currently being held captive on the seas. (See a brief history of pirates...
While the Alabama was delivering non-military aid to Africa, Maersk operates it as part of the U.S. taxpayer subsidized Maritime Security Program. MSP subsidies, last year totaling $158 million, help ensure U.S. merchant ships and American crews are available for military movements when needed...
...attacking ships farther and farther away, suggesting greater sophistication on their part, merchant marine crews too are looking more closely at the tools they have at their disposal - or, at any rate, are conducting more rigorous training to respond to pirate attacks. The crew of Phillips' ship, the Maersk Alabama, for example, indicated that they had trained for precisely this scenario and attributed their success to training that Capt. Phillips had given them before their latest trip. They said they were kept on the ship well after it arrived at port in Mombasa after escaping the pirates, not only because...
...There's ships right now under attack and this group here has a lot of valuable knowledge that's going to save lives," Maersk Alabama Chief Mate Shane Murphy said Monday. "That's why we haven't been out to talk to you, because we're trying to gather that knowledge and put it in a package and we ask that you do not press us for details on things like that and we're not going to give it because we respect the lives of the other seamen that we're going to try to save...
Clearly, piracy off Somalia will not be stopped until order is brought to the country, a classic failed state which has been without a government for more than 15 years. Murphy, the Maersk Alabama's second-in-command, said the responsibility also lies with the U.S. government, whose ships have been patrolling the Gulf of Aden as part of a multinational task force. "We'd like to implore President Obama to use all his resources and increase the commitment to ending this Somali pirate scourge," said Murphy, the Maersk Alabama's second-in-command. "Wake up. This crew was lucky...