As pirates armed with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades closed in on a luxury cruise liner off Somalia's coast last weekend, crew members fended them off with water hoses and an electronic device that blasts an earsplitting noise.
The device, developed for U.S. warships after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen, unleashed a piercing barrage nearly twice as loud as a smoke detector, while passengers huddled in a dining room away from windows. Capt. Sven Erik Pederson called for full steam ahead, taking the 10,000-ton Seabourn Spirit as fast as it could go. Pederson eventually outran the pirates, who were in small boats, and sought refuge in the Seychelles, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean.
''These guys bit off more than they could chew,'' said Bruce Good, spokesman for Miami-based Seabourn Cruise Line, a subsidiary of Carnival Corp. ``The ship is seven decks high and 439 feet long. It takes a certain amount of stupidity or audacity to attack something like that.''
The pirates approached in one, maybe two boats measuring 25 feet long about 100 miles off the Somali coast Saturday morning. The Spirit doesn't go very fast -- it has a cruising speed of just 16 knots, or 18.4 miles an hour -- so crew members countered with hoses and a nonlethal weapon called a Long Range Acoustic Device, Good said.
Developed by American Technology Corp. of San Diego, the device transmits a high-pitched, piercing noise in a directed beam, without affecting its operators or anyone outside its target range, such as the ship's passengers.
Pederson, the captain, apparently tried to ram the pirates before changing course for the Seychelles, Good said. ``I think they just discouraged the heck out of them.''
By Monday, a U.S. Navy team had inspected the Spirit and removed remnants of a rocket-propelled grenade. Seabourn said it would evaluate future sailings off the Somali coast, leaving open the possibility that it would return. And the passengers -- none of whom was reported to have been injured -- prepared to resume their voyage to Singapore on Thursday.
''The captain did a wonderful job. We had a cocktail party last night and the captain was given a standing ovation,'' Bob and Gayle Meagher, who were among 19 Australians aboard the Spirit, told The Courier Mail of Queensland, Australia.
The Spirit, one of three ships operated by Seabourn, carried 151 passengers and 161 crew members. Its passengers -- who paid $5,000 or more for the 16-day voyage departing Egypt -- included 48 Americans, two from South Florida, Good said, declining to disclose their names.
The attack comes amid one of the best years on record for cruise-ship companies. More than 11 million people are expected to take cruises this year, up from 10.5 million in 2004, according to the New York-based Cruise Lines International Association.
Analysts following the cruise-ship industry have long warned that demand for cruising would fall off if it no longer was seen as safe. But Jake Balzer, an analyst for Guzman & Co. in Coral Gables, said he doesn't think that will happen as a result of the attack.
''It turned out OK, so the fact that there was an event and the cruise line handled it well might mean it's not necessarily a negative for them. If anything, it could be a positive,'' Balzer said.
Good said Seabourn was now focused on making sure its passengers get to where they need to be, such as lining up flights for passengers between Mombasa, Kenya -- where the Spirit was headed before the pirates attacked -- and the Seychelles. He said he knew of no passengers who asked to be let off the Spirit.
''They're having champagne and caviar in the Seychelles right now. They're OK,'' Good said, adding that the incident hasn't hurt bookings, either.
'I had one e-mail from a woman saying, `My husband and I were considering several cruise lines, and after we read about what your captain did, we're going with you.' That's gratifying,'' Good said.
The Spirit travels near the Somali coast just twice a year during repositioning cruises from the Mediterranean to south Asia, where it spends the winter. Avoiding the region isn't necessarily an option, said Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines in Arlington, Va.
''It's simply an area that must be traversed if you're going from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean or southeast Asia,'' Crye said. ``What we hope is that order is restored in Somalia and these thieves are dealt with effectively.''
Somalia's 1,880-mile coastline has seen a sharp rise in piracy this year, with 25 attacks reported since March 15, according to the International Maritime Bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce. That's up from two attacks off the Horn of Africa in 2004. A United Nations-chartered vessel carrying food aid was taken hostage in June near the same spot where the Spirit was attacked.
The Spirit is believed to be the first cruise ship to undergo such an attack since Palestinian terrorists killed a passenger aboard the Italian-flagged Achille Lauro in 1984.
Bruce McIndoe, chief executive officer of iJet Intelligent Risk Systems, which monitors security for travelers, said Seabourn should have known better than to get within 100 miles of Somalia's coast. He said the International Maritime Bureau has been warning ships for the past month to stay at least 150 miles away.
''They shouldn't have been there,'' McIndoe said.
By AMY MARTINEZ
Source: Miami Herald