‘Captain Phillips’ Torn From the Headlines, But Tells an Old Story

‘Captain Phillips’ Torn From the Headlines, But Tells an Old Story | gCaptain

I did go see this movie the other day. I thought it was pretty good. Maybe its because I’m a sailor but I REALLY don’t appreciate the way the article tries to make excuses for the pirates. Yeah, they’re poor, so are a lot of other people around the world. That does NOT in any way excuse the violence, kidnappings, beatings, theft, etc of the pirates!

I thought the crew of the Alabama deserved more credit for their actions. It seems Captain Phillips got all the recognition. The crew actually managed to capture the pirate leader and traded him off for their captain. Good job!!

Remember, in the Merchant Marine, we are not allowed to defend ourselves with anything but fire hoses against these thugs with machine guns and RPGs! They still managed to take down a couple of the pirates! Good! I salute them!

I am REALLY sick and tired of hearing about how we can’t be trusted to defend ourselves, we somehow don’t deserve any kind of REAL protection when our companies send us to work in these dangerous waters!

The bigwigs sit in their penthouse air conditioned offices and debate how much we’re worth to them. Can they ‘afford’ to pay our ransom? The ransom payment is just another cost of doing business to them. It’s our LIVES on the line! We’re just out there trying to earn a living and should NOT have to put up with pirate attacks!

Seamen from all over the world are suffering severely from pirate attacks, even for YEARS AFTER they return home! There are HUNDREDS of them being held at this moment! According to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/piracynewsafigures), there have been 176 REPORTED incidents including 10 hijackings in 2013 alone!

No one is helping them. No one cares. The world depends on shipping. Over 90% of the worlds trade moves by sea, in the USA its over 95%! Yet, we mariners get a bare minimum of help from the worlds navies. 🙁

Where are the convoys like they had during WWII? Where are the marines who might be assigned to a ship to protect it? Where are the security companies and their trained armed guards??? WHY is there such an issue about giving us the protection we should have before we go anywhere near any pirate infested waters???

The ONLY reason the world even knows (or cares) about Captain Phillips and the Maersk Alabama is because it happened to be an American ship! There have been dozens of ships and HUNDREDS of sailors held in captivity by various pirate groups worldwide.

The pirates holding these mariners are NOT like Johnny Depp! They are mean, abusive, dangerous, desperate men! They have nothing to lose and they mean business!

WHY can’t we get some REAL protection? WHY can’t we at least arm our ships? It’s hard to believe but the powers that be expects us to be able to run away! If that doesn’t work (which it won’t most of the time since most ships are not very fast), then we are supposed to fight off the machine gun toting pirates with nothing but FIRE HOSES! If that doesn’t work (which it doesn’t), then we are supposed to run away and hide (again). The movie did a great job of showing just how effective those tactics are! (Totally useless! But they are the industrys’ ‘best management practice’).

I recommend the movie. It’s good entertainment if nothing else. I hope it’ll be more than that for the people who watch it. I hope it will help get people involved in trying to solve the problems of piracy. I hope it will give people ashore some idea of the things that are still going on out there in our world.

“A Glimpse Into The Lives Of Somali Pirates” Video Hits BuzzFeed

“A Glimpse Into The Lives Of Somali Pirates” Video Hits BuzzFeed | gCaptain

Here’s a little video of the pirates from BuzzFeed and CNN. I’m not sure how they got this film, but its really very general and not saying much other than that yes, there are really a lot of pirates out there and nobody is doing much about the problem. 🙁

Russian Authorities Charge Greenpeace Activists with Piracy

Russian Authorities Charge Greenpeace Activists with Piracy | gCaptain

Pirates or just ordinary criminals? Or possibly even peaceful protesters like Greenpeace insists?

OK, they are NOT just peaceful protesters like Greenpeace says. They invaded the 500 meter zone (that alone is a crime), and then ILLEGALLY BOARDED the vessel! THAT is an act of piracy! A PEACEFUL protest would have remained OUTSIDE the 500 meter zone!!!

Pirate = one who robs at sea. Technically, they DID act as pirates. By their actions, they cost the Prirazlomnaya oil platform millions of dollars. Those rigs cost hundreds of millions of dollars a day to operate. So, did Greenpeace commit an act of piracy? Yes, they did, they cost the oil company a TON of money by their intentional actions, so yes, they DID rob them.

OK, so they did not intend to cause harm. So what? Just by the fact of them invading the operations of the Prirazlomnaya, they DID cause harm and they knew they would! Maybe not much harm in the scheme of things, but they still disrupted the activities on board the oil rig. That costs time and that costs money.

Were the Russians doing anything illegal to board the Arctic Sunrise (the Greenpeace vessel), tow it to port and arrest the people on board? NO! Those people were ALL involved in criminal actions.

Nothing has come out about anyone on the Greenpeace vessel trying to prevent the boarding of the oil rig so no one is innocent. As far as I know, Russia does not have any Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of speech, or of protests, peaceful or otherwise. They’re lucky they DID get taken to jail instead of just shot! After all, they WERE caught in the act!

Greenpeace may have some great goals they’re working for. Even I don’t disagree with their goals. No one wants to see the oceans destroyed by oil spills. No one wants to see the environment polluted. Greenpeace is just wasting time and money on these stunts and also putting peoples lives and livelihoods in danger. That is NOT the way to accomplish their goals. They need to go fight their battles where they might actually do some good. Go to the courts, go to the legislatures, go to the people who are responsible for MAKING the RULES and get the rules changed!

Even better, or more effective in any case, they should spend their resources on trying to find some way to convince people to lower the population! To stop having so many babies! If we could/would lower the human population, then pretty much ALL of our problems would be solved, or at the very least minimized. THAT would be the greatest service to the planet, why don’t they go do THAT instead of trying to stop people from getting the resources they NEED to survive and to enjoy a decent standard of living?

Personally, I would like to see every person on this planet able to enjoy a GOOD life. I would like to see them have everything they need to live on and opportunities for enjoyable, fulfilling work. Not slaving away all day in dangerous conditions for barely enough food to get them through another day. Get people into a place where they are not so concerned about their own bare survival and they become a little more concerned about the rest of the planet around them.

Russia’s Imprisonment of Greenpeace Freelance Photographer Crosses the Line

Russia’s Imprisonment of Greenpeace Freelance Photographer Crosses the Line | gCaptain

I wasn’t there so I can’t vouch for what really happened, but from reading the news I would think that YES, the Greenpeace activists could and should be charged with multiple violations.

Yes, the photographer/journalist has certain rights (here in the USA- maybe not in Russia!). I think he knew very well what he was getting into. Greenpeace has done this kind of stunt before (and not only on the Disco)!

The Arctic Sunrise violated ALL the rules of maritime traffic. There are 500 meter security zones around drilling operations. Greenpeace surely knew that. The vessel captain and crew absolutely must know that! They’re even marked on the charts! It is illegal for ANYONE to enter that zone without asking and being granted permission from the rig.

The Arctic Sunrise at the very least helped the Greenpeace activists in their attempts to board the Russian rig. That boarding can certainly be seen as piracy. It is of course illegal even if they did not intend to harm anybody or steal anything. It is a dangerous place and could have resulted in a major accident (which of course would have been blamed on the drilling company).

Of course I don’t want to see the Arctic ruined by oil spills either. But I can’t agree with Greenpeaces’ tactics. Either they fight to change the laws so that there will be no Arctic drilling, or they fight to change peoples minds.

The ONLY way we are ever going to not NEED the oil is for people to limit the growth of the human population. Either that, or come up with some miracle energy source that is cheap, efficient and can replace everything we use oil for today. There is nothing even close to oils ability to provide the things we NEED to survive now.

WISTA Forum Highlights Personal Cost of Piracy

WISTA Forum Highlights Personal Cost of Piracy.

It would be nice if more people cared about the risks mariners take to get them all their goodies daily. In the USA, over 90% of our trade is by sea. The threat of piracy is real and growing and NO, they are NOT like Johnny Depp!