Pirates Seize French Ship Off Somalia

[sasquatch]

Source: Associated Press

PARIS (April 4) - Pirates seized control of a French luxury yacht carrying 30 crew members Friday off the coast of Somalia, the French government and the ship's owner said.
Attackers stormed the 288-foot "Le Ponant" as it returned without passengers from the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, toward the Mediterranean Sea, said officials with French maritime transport company CMA-CGM.

"The Defense and Foreign Ministries are mobilized to act as quickly as possible, I hope in the coming minutes or hours to try to win the freedom of these hostages," Prime Minister Francois Fillon told reporters while on a visit to Brussels, Belgium.

He did not elaborate. France has considerable military resources in the region, including a base in Djibouti and a naval flotilla circulating in the Indian Ocean.



Read more: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/pirates-seize-french-ship-off-somalia/20080404135809990001

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I'll like to apologize ahead of time because I need to get this out of my system.
ARGH!
:rofl:

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

1. And a "Yarrrr, Matey!" to you as well.

n/t

[sasquatch]

2. Pirate stories make me 9 year old again

[heliarc]

4. I never quite understand how pirates...

who rape (yes rape), pillage, and murder people on the high seas, should somehow become the fantasy of children everywhere. Sounds a little like terrorism to me...

I seem to remember that somewhere along the line in pirate stories there is always a corrupt admiral of the British Fleet, or a Scoundrel who wears the crest of the Spanish Main... Somehow these stories are telling us all that Pirates are the real heroes. They somehow have loyalty for their captain because he earns it by being more of a scallywag than all of the rest. They have an honor that can't be matched by the stiflingly boring visage of the courtly naval officer... After all, he'd rather bag the treasure than win the heart of a lovely maid.

While I can't quite believe that these pirates could be quite as sympathetic as Errol Flynn or Johnny Depp, I guess that they portray the sense of rebellion against injustice or against tyranny (The seas should be free shouldn't they?) that we probably need a lot of going into this next presidential cycle. I personally hope that there is some mutiny in the DNC and the DLC ends up shipwrecked without a paddle...

I hope that liberty wins this election cycle. I really do.

[sasquatch]

5. Well you have to break some egg shells if you want to make an omelate

And I agree with you they should leave the DLC on an abandoned island with no way off like they used to bad traitors.

[heliarc]

12. Omellette?

It was a French ship after all.

[Posteritatis]

21. There's also the privateering angle

An Englishman who captured or sank Spanish ships in the 1580s would be a vile criminal to the Spanish and a national hero to the English. Case in point: Francis Drake. Any of the others that get some kind of mythology around them due to their success probably pick up on some of the other guys' glamor despite their more, uh, opportunistic nature.

(Notice most of the pirates who do get glamorized enough to become household names for us are the English ones?)

[heliarc]

23. Pues, son gringos... imaginalo. nt

[Xithras]

3. Jokes aside, this is why that American cargo ship opened fire a few weeks ago.

These pirates don't wear eyepatches and carry swords. They carry AK-47's, drive speedboats, and use RPG's to bring ships to a halt. They do still like to hurl unarmed victims off the ships to their deaths though.

[sasquatch]

6. Yep, you're right

[johnaries]

7. So the recent cooling isn't because of La Nina at all! nt

[johnaries]

11. For non-Pastafarians who didn't get that joke:

http://www.venganza.org/about/open-letter/

You may be interested to know that global warming, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters are a direct effect of the shrinking numbers of Pirates since the 1800s. For your interest, I have included a graph of the approximate number of pirates versus the average global temperature over the last 200 years. As you can see, there is a statistically significant inverse relationship between pirates and global temperature.

[slackmaster]

8. No passengers on board = NO BOOTY!

What kind of dumbass pirates are these, anyway?

:dunce:

Obligatory picture with a cat in it:



And another:



Aw heck, it's Friday:

[fshrink]

9. It's the boat they could be after.

Chop it a little, or completely, and sell it to a Vietnamese millionaire or some'.
Love your pics.

[ohio2007]

20. Actually, its the class and culture of the people that sail her they are after

They only want the ummah tax brought back and since westerners are the only ones who can afford to pay the tribute, they go after that class. Sarkozy will have the French taxpayers spring for the release of a luxury class vessel. ;)
Don't get me wrong, commercial "working class" vessels get their turn in the barrel and look who responds to their distress call

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=74c_1193779238
go figger

[Eugene]

14. Holding the crew for ransom is the usual Somali M.O.

Also, if the yacht has the range and speed
to catch other ships, they will use it.

[Xipe Totec]

10. Wow! Not much has changed in 500 years

Oh, wait, I'm wrong!

500 years ago it was the French doing the pirating!

:rofl:

[ohio2007]

13. British Ship Crew Repel Nigerian Pirates

Brit "repels boarders"

British Ship Crew Repel Nigerian Pirates - Post Media Reply
-
Off the coast of Africa a british ship crew repelled a pirate attack attempt by firing warning shots with a rifle.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=673_1207401975

[slackmaster]

15. That's the way it's done!

The only language those bastards understand is superior firepower.

[Posteritatis]

22. Not even that sometimes, going by the occasional attacks on naval vessels.. (nt)

[Igel]

16. They were doing some of it.

The Moroccans and Algerians, however, also had a fun time.

Cervantes was a slave and captive for 5 years--1575-80. The N. African piracy, often justified as jihad, lasted for centuries. Then, as now, ransom just justified what they were doing--after all, it showed they were right, it was both profitable and, therefore, the right thing to do.

[Xipe Totec]

17. This is the particular event I was thinking about

Antonio de Quiñones, Hernan Cortes' Captain of the guards, attacked by French pirates on May 15th 1522.

http://books.google.com/books?id=QIADAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA20&lpg=PA20&dq=antonio+de+qui%C3%B1ones+cortez+french+pirates&source=web&ots=hAEPoK5XZA&sig=TptWKd08Pu50AxwwbuczcRNY0yg&hl=en

[ohio2007]

18. Info on The Le Ponant ( captured yacht ), its playground and the French special forces dispatched

http://www.cruiseco.com/products_01/Sailing%20Ships/Le%20Ponant/ponant.htm

Exclusive: French warship diverted to free luxury yacht crew seized by pirates off Somalia
April 5, 2008, 2:17 PM (GMT+02:00)


French yacht seized by pirates
The Le Ponant pleasure yacht was seized Friday in international waters opposite Somalia without passengers on route from the Seychelles to Aden Port and the Mediterranean after its first pleasure trip of the summer season in the Indian Ocean. The 32-man crew was taken hostage.

Our shipping correspondent reports that the French Le Commandant Rouen warship was diverted from NATO’s Afghanistan operation to join the Yemeni coast guard in the hunt for and rescue of the captured craft. The Le Ponant caters to 64 high-profile luxury tourists, one of three owned by Le Compagnie Des Iles du Ponant, a subsidiary of the huge Lebanese-French CMA CGM.
snip
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=5167

snip
French frigate, Le Commandant Bouan, was temporarily diverted from NATO duties and was tracking the yacht. An airplane dispatched from a French base in Djibouti flew over the yacht and all was calm aboard, Prazuck said.

snip
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4595571

French already have a naval and air presence based in Djibouti. There isn't any reason they can't stay on top of this situation



"Millions in defense, not one penny in tribute"
T. Jefferson

[Zynx]

19. Argh! Where be me loot and plunder?