Dutch tanker escapes pirates

Radio Netherlands Worldwide, 4 January 2010 - 4:19pm, by Eelco Walraven

The Dutch tanker Album came under attack by Somali pirates in the Arabian Sea. Job, the ship’s captain, tells his story.

During the monthly security meeting on 29 December it is announced that the Album is to load at the Saudi port of Yanbu on 6 January. The cargo is bound for Singapore, which means the tanker will have to pass twice through the Gulf of Aden, the area in which Somali pirates are active.

Because the first convoy through the Gulf of Aden is only due to leave on 2 January at 9.00am, I decide not to sail for Yanbu under escort by a Chinese warship, because the tanker would then arrive late. “Anyway, a ship in ballast is faster and easier to manoeuvre. What’s more, the pirates would have to climb nearly 13 metres, so I expected they would go for an easier target.”

Intimidate

The Album opts to set off with four other tankers. “I tell the crew there’s a good chance that in an attack the pirates will fire on the ship to intimidate us and make the tanker stop, so anyone who isn’t needed on the bridge or in the engine room should go to the galley. Because of its central location, it’s the safest place on board.

On 30 December at 9.15am the helmsman on the bridge sights a fishing boat. “Somali pirates use fishing boats as mother ships. This allows them to work 600 miles off the coast. The fishing boats are equipped with a so-called skiff, a polyester speedboat measuring five to six metres with a powerful outboard motor, which can make 25 knots in a calm sea.”

“In less than ten minutes we see the skiff heading for us, but because of the waves it isn’t making much headway. To be on the safe side, I change course by 90 degrees, so I’m sailing directly into the waves.” This makes it harder for the pirates to draw alongside. “On both port and starboard they then have to deal with around two-metre waves.”

Water on deck

“Anyone with no special task goes to the galley. The engineers start the extra generator, to give us enough power to use two steering engines so the rudder moves faster. The first helmsman comes up with the idea of opening the ballast tanks.” The ballast pump is started and within a few minutes the seawater from the tanks is pouring over the deck. “The water is meant to deter the pirates – not because they don’t like getting wet, but because their skiff is an open boat and they don’t want it full of water.”

While the radio operator sends out distress signals, the captain informs the shipping company in Cairo. “Although there’s someone there to answer the phone day and night, I get someone who doesn’t seem to understand much English, so I switch my attention to the ship.”

Helmsmanship

Because the Album keeps on determinedly sailing ahead, the pirates fire a grenade over the ship. “Because I don’t stop, the game starts in earnest.” The ship comes under grenade fire and the pirates also use their AK-47. “They get closer and closer. Now it’s down to my helmsmanship and even more to pure luck.”

“When the pirates try to board the ship on the port side, you can turn the rudder hard to starboard. The waves then become smooth on the starboard side, but to port, close to the hull, it gets rougher. But when you turn the ship this quickly you lose a lot of speed, and the lower your speed the easier it is for the pirates to get on board.”

Relief

Twice I turn the rudder hard, and the tactic works: after three quarters of an hour the pirates give up. The crew on board breathes a sigh of relief: the damage is not too bad. “I have the feeling the pirates only fired to intimidate us. They could easily have fired on the wheelhouse windows with their AK-47, but they didn’t. It’s my impression that they weren’t out to hit people, that they deliberately avoided it.”

“We were lucky this time, but once is enough for me. I decided to abandon the group of five tankers we were supposed to be going to the Gulf of Aden with. Instead I’ve opted for the greater security of the convoy with the Chinese warship. And if we dock 18 hours later in Yanbu, then so be it.”