U.S. Navy Destroyer Tracks Pirates And Their U.S. Hostage

Yesterday, a group of Somali pirates seized control of the American container ship Maersk Alabama off the coast of Africa. Though the crew managed to regain control of the ship (hence today's Post cover), the NY Times reports, "the pirates were still holding the ship’s captain as they fled the ship in an unpowered lifeboat."

Now a U.S. naval warship is monitoring the lifeboat, which is in the Indian Ocean, and the Navy says other warships are en route. The Maersk line released a statement, "We are working closely with all involved government agencies, particularly the U.S. Navy, which has arrived on the scene and is taking the lead in working toward the captain's release," which the Washington Post says suggests that Captain Richard Philips is unharmed.

This is the first time a ship with an American crew has been hijacked in the Horn of Africa. The hijacking of the ship has prompted cruises to change their routes—Staten Island resident is currently on a cruise near Kenya; Margaret Flynn wrote to the Advance, "In addition to the changes in route, another precaution is that security personnel are posted at strategic points on the ship scanning the sea on four-hour watches. Of course, the ship has radar and other surveillance detection devices, but these small pirate craft may not be detected by these."

And local merchant marine academies do discuss piracy, though SUNY Maritime College professor Larry Howard points out, "The kind of resources [merchant mariners] have available to fight off pirates like those in Somalia, who have rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons, are somewhat unbalanced." Howard tells Newsday that the merchant mariners use high-pressure hoses to ward off pirates.