The Pirate Report
Reporting the age of modern piracy

17.04.2009: 0500 UTC: Posn: 12:51N - 047:49E: Gulf of Aden.   A general cargo ship detected a speed boat approaching her at distance of 7nm. Warship contacted and informed of the speed boat and mother vessel nearby. The speed boat doing a speed of 15 knots approached the vessel on the stbd side. When the speed boat was about two nm, three armed pirates were sighted. Vessel fired rocket flares, activated fire hoses, alarm sounded. The speed boat came as close as 40-50 meters from the vessel. Master fired rocket flares towards the speed boat. Later, the speed boat aborted and returned to the mother vessel. Read More

14.04.2009: 0200 LT: Posn: 12:51N – 048:11E: Gulf of Aden.   Pirates in a skiff armed with automatic weapons chased a bulk carrier and opened fire on it. Pirates boarded and hijacked it with the 21 crew members as hostage and are now proceeding to an undisclosed location in Somalia. Read More

PARIS (Reuters) - A French frigate captured 11 Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Wednesday after foiling an attack on a Liberian-flagged merchant ship, the French defence ministry said. Naval forces from around the world are battling pirates in and around the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest shipping routes where even intervention by the U.S. military has not stopped a new spate of hijackings and hostage-taking. The French frigate Nivose captured the pirates' mothership, which was carrying two small assault boats, some 900 kilometres east of the Kenyan port of Mombasa on Tuesday, the defence ministry said. "The centre of… Read More

14.04.2009: 0200 LT: Posn: 12:51N – 048:11E: Gulf of Aden.   Pirates in a skiff armed with automatic weapons chased a bulk carrier and opened fire on it. Pirates boarded and hijacked it with the 21 crew members as hostage and are now proceeding to an undisclosed location in Somalia. Read More

12.04.2009: 0400 UTC: Posn: 13:03N – 048:49E, Gulf of Aden.   Six pirates armed with guns in a skiff fired upon a bulk carrier underway. Vessel sent distress messages and took evasive manoeuvres and prevented the boarding. Vessel sustained slight damage to the bridge. Read More

11.04.2009: 1104 UTC: Posn 12:24N - 046:19E, Gulf of Aden.   Pirates fired upon and attacked an offshore tug towing two barges. Further report are awaited. Read More

11.04.2009: 0415 UTC: Posn 12:16.0N - 046:23E, Gulf of Aden.   Eight pirates armed with guns in a speed boat (blue colour, plastic hull, 12m length) attacked a bulk carrier underway. Vessel took evasive manoeuvres and contacted coalition warship. A coalition warship acknowledged and came to the location. The pirates approached at a distance of 100m and aborted the attack. Read More

09.04.2009: 1807 LT: Posn: 14:08N – 051:28E, Gulf of Aden.   A general cargo ship underway sighted a suspicious mother vessel which later launched two skiffs. The boats chased the vessel and opened fire with guns and RPG. Master raised alarm, carried out evasive manoeuvers and succeeded in deterring the pirates. Read More

09.04.2009: 0020 UTC: Posn: 13:08N – 049:13E: Gulf of Aden.   Pirates in a skiff chased and fired upon a bulk carrier underway. The vessel commenced evasive manoeuvres and contacted the coalition naval forces for assistance. A military helicopter arrived and upon sighting the aircraft, the pirates aborted the attempt. Read More

06.04.2009: 0620 UTC: Posn 12:33N - 049:02E, Gulf of Aden.   A bulk carrier was attacked and hijacked by Somali pirates whilst underway. The ship is proceeding towards Somali coast. Read More