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Piracy in the News

Pirate attacks, ship wreck discoveries, movie announcements, tall ships, and more.  Pirates and historical nautical concerns show up in the news quite often.

News media articles are given in order of appearance, most recent at the top.

Good Source of News on Piracy:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/piracy

 

February 2010

2/10/10
Tepee Town site to become pirate attraction Tepee Town site to become pirate attraction
Historic City News
The St. Augustine local news desk has learned that Pat Croce is moving his Pirate Soul Museum from Key West to the former Christmas Shop and Tepee Town site on Avenida Menendez, according to the St. Augustine Report...

2/10/10
Penelope Cruz Joining Pirates of the Caribbean
Source:Heat Vision 
   
Penelope Cruz is in negotiations to join Johnny Depp in the Rob Marshall-directed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, reports Heat Vision.
    ... Cruz's character is expected to be "Sparrow's foil and equal in many ways."
    ...Shooting will take place in Hawaii this summer.

2/09/10
Group Tries to Save the Last Parrot Species Indigenous to Mainland U.S.
Courthouse News Service
TUCSON (CN) - The thick-billed parrot, a pine seed-loving, social bird with a call like human laughter, has been on the federal Endangered Species List for 36 years, but the government has never developed a recovery plan for the bird, environmentalists say in Federal Court.

2/06/10
A swashbuckling surgeon from history
by Danny Shaw, for The Evening News
Mark Kehoe’s hobby is role-playing as pirate character Mission the Surgeon. Mr. Kehoe participates in re-enactments as a captured British Royal Navy surgeon forced into service. He has collected several antique surgical instruments and has researched the practice of surgeon stealing among pirates.

 

 

January 2010

1/11/10
Sailing past disabilities
by Claudia Calleja, TimesOfMalta.com
  
Every day for the past week, John Xuereb would wake up aboard a sailing boat and manoeuvre his wheelchair to the morning crew meeting where the daily tasks were assigned.
    Whether it was watching out for other ships up on deck, assisting in the mess or helping with the cleaning, chores were rotated among the crew irrespective of the fact that some had disabilities...

1/6/10
Star Clippers Pulls Out Of Southeast Asia
Cruise Critic
   
Star Clippers is the latest cruise line to alter its itineraries because of the threat of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
    For more than a decade, the tall ship operator has based a 170-passenger clipper ship in Thailand for a winter season but has announced that this winter will be the last until the piracy situation improves...
    Although serious precautions have been taken in the past for Star Clipper's Indian Ocean crossings, the vessel could be particularly vulnerable to attack, as a relatively slow-moving, exotic-looking square rigger. Sailing vessels, albeit much smaller ones, have proven a target for pirates in recent months; British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler are still being held in Somalia after their yacht was hijacked by pirates in October last year...

1/6/10
Lawyers: State erred in Salter-remains case
by Betty Mitchell Gray, Washington Daily News
   
Lawyers for the state acknowledged in a special session of Beaufort County Superior Court on Tuesday that the state archeologist did not follow proper procedure in 1986 when the archeologist unearthed the remains of a man believed to be a member of Blackbeard’s pirate crew...

1/2/10
Somali pirates hijack fourth vessel in a week
CNN
   
Pirates off Somalia have hijacked two more vessels in the Gulf of Aden, the European Union naval force said Saturday -- the third and fourth vessels they have captured this week.
    The British-flagged Asian Glory was seized off Somalia late Friday, the naval force said. The nationality of the pirates was unclear, because the hijacking happened outside of the force's operations area, it said. ...
    Also Friday, Somali pirates seized the Singaporean-flagged chemical tanker M/V Pramoni, also in the Gulf of Aden, the naval force said. The 20,000-ton chemical tanker was carrying a crew of 24 and was heading to Kandla, India, when attacked, the naval force said...

1/2/10
2 Ships Reported Hijacked Off Somali Coast
by The Associated Press

    A cargo ship and a chemical tanker have both been hijacked by pirates in the perilous waters off the coast of Somalia, bringing to four the number of ships seized in the past week, officials said Saturday.
    The multiple hijackings indicate that piracy remains a serious problem a year after an international naval armada began deploying off Somalia to protect shipping...

 

December 2009

12/30/09
A Record Year For Pirate Attacks
by Corey Flintoff, NPR News

    Despite a year of beefed-up patrols by the world's strongest navies, piracy continues to be alive and thriving around the Horn of Africa and far out in the Indian Ocean. Analysts say the pirates appear to be better funded, organized and equipped.
    On Sunday, Somali pirates released the De Xin Hai, a Chinese bulk carrier with about two dozen crew members that was captured Oct. 19. The Chinese government described the return of the vessel as a "rescue," but a Somali pirate claimed that he and his gang collected a $4 million ransom for the ship...
    ...But pirates still carried out a record number of attacks in 2009, according to the Piracy Reporting Center of the International Maritime Bureau. The center, based in Kuala Lumpur, said pirates attacked more than 200 vessels this year, and succeeded in hijacking at least 47 of them.
    About a dozen ships are currently being held for ransom. They include a Greek-owned cargo ship and a British chemical tanker, both seized Monday by pirates...


12/28/09
Somali Pirates Seize 2 Ships, Hold 45 Crew Members
by The Associated Press

    Somali pirates seized a ship carrying fertilizer from the U.S. in the Indian Ocean and a British-flagged chemical tanker in the heavily patrolled Gulf of Aden — the first merchant vessel to be hijacked in the gulf in nearly six months, officials said Tuesday...
    ...After the latest hijackings, pirates now hold 12 vessels and 263 crew members, Choong said. Pirates anchor their captured crafts near Somalia's shore in the pirate strongholds of Haradhere and Hobyo. International forces can't rescue the vessels without risking the lives of the crew, leaving negotiated ransoms as the only safe means of resolution...
    ...The U.K.-flagged tanker St James Park was the first merchant vessel to have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden in nearly six months, Choong said. He said the ship issued a distress message Monday, seeking help after it was attacked...
    ...Three hours after the St James Park was hijacked a Panamanian-flagged carrier with 19 crew members was seized by pirates off the southern coast of Somalia. The ship is managed in Greece, he said.
    Greece's Merchant Marine Ministry said the Navios Apollon was carrying fertilizer from the United States to India. It was taken 240 nautical miles northeast of Seychelles, it said. The crew was comprised of one Greek and 18 Filipinos, it said...

 

12/28/09
The largest Viking ship in modern times on the slipway
by Mikkel Thommessen, Havna.com

Article in Norwegian. For an imperfect English translation - click on first flag to the left above the title (the British flag, other translations also available)
    In January 2010 started the construction of the longest, largest and best Viking ship built in modern times.  The ship will be named Draken Harald Hårfagre.
    The ship is approximately 35m long and 8m wide, displacement is about 70 tons. The ship will be built in oak, and it gets a 300 sqm large sails of silk. The sail will be delivered by Seglloftet on Jøa in Fosnes municipality. Seglloftet has 25 years experience in the subject and has supplied sails for many Viking Copy Scroll.


November 2009

11/09/09
Ceiling Plank Removal Begins: Restoring the Charles W. Morgan
Mystic Seaport Videos on YouTube
Shiprights at the Henry B. DuPont Preservation Shipyard begin removing the ceiling planks from the hold of the Charles W. Morgan. With the ceiling planks removed, they can get to many of the ships frames that need to be replaced.

October 2009

10/21/09
Divers recover anchor from reputed Blackbeard ship
Associated Press
BEAUFORT, N.C. – An anchor from a shipwreck thought to be Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge, was so unstable that divers in North Carolina retrieved it Wednesday rather than waiting until next year. Divers raised the 4.5-foot, 160-pound grapnel, or anchor, from the wreck in the Atlantic Ocean near Beaufort on Wednesday and will display it Thursday at the North Carolina Maritime Museum in Beaufort. The anchor originally had four prongs, but now has 1 1/2...

10/16/09
Somali pirates seize Chinese ship with 25 crew
Associated Press at MSNBC
NAIROBI, Kenya - Somali pirates seized a Chinese cargo ship Monday with 25 people onboard, a naval spokesman for the European Union's anti-piracy force said, in the first successful attack on a Chinese vessel since the country deployed three naval warships to the region...
Same story is Also Here

10/16/09
Downtown Atlanta could get pirate museum
by Leon Stafford The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Local businessman Richard Lea said he hopes to construct a facility dedicated to pirates ... The attraction, called "Pirate World," would include exhibits, trunks full of treasure and a recreated ship deck, complete with cannons and a steering wheel that visitors can turn to navigate the vessel through a virtual storm...

10/8/09
State's 'Pirates' ship too dirty for Calif. Washington's official state ship, the venerable Lady Washington, is no longer welcome in California. By Ross Anderson, Special to the Seattle Times
    Despite its 4,442 square feet of sail power, the ship also employs a 60-year-old diesel engine that fails to meet California's air-pollution standards...

10/7/09
Top 5 blunders of Somali pirates:  Somali pirates attacked a French Navy ship by accident Tuesday night. Five suspects are in custody. Christian Science Monitor, by Matthew Clark | Staff writer

    Lately, those once fearsome Somali pirates have been behaving more like Keystone Krooks than savvy organized criminals.
    Yesterday, they bit off more than they could chew by attacking a French Navy ship off the coast of their lawless country.
They thought it was a cargo vessel....

10/7/09
'On Stranger Tides' Author Tim Powers Discusses How His Story Fits Into A 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' Universe
MTV Movies Blog by Adam Rosenberg

    Late last month, On Stranger Tides author Tim Powers confirmed that Disney does indeed plan to use elements of his book for the forthcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. ...
    ... "About a week ago my agent wrote and said, 'You're now able to say that in fact Disney did option the book,'" Powers told the Los Angeles Times in an interview. "That happened a while ago, it'll be three years in April."

10/7/09
How Somali pirates hijacked the Lemaçons's sailing trip of a lifetime
The Observer, by Jason Burke

When the Lemaçons – Chloé, Florent and their son Colin – were captured by Somali pirates during their sailing trip of a lifetime, it triggered a rescue mission that went disastrously wrong. For the first time Chloé talks about life on the boat, the kidnapping – and the killing of her husband

 

 

September 2009

9/18/09
10 great places to swashbuckle down

Avast, ye mateys! Saturday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day (talklikeapirate.com), the perfect time to roam like a rebel. Colin Woodard, author of The Republic of Pirates, shares with Sarah Sekula for USA TODAY his favorite spots to don an eye patch and yell 'Arrr!'


9/7/09
Man Fires Cannonball Into Neighbor's House
KTLA, Los Angeles

UNIONTOWN, Pa. - A Pennsylvania history buff who recreates firearms from old wars accidentally fired a 2-pound cannonball through the wall of his neighbor's home. William Maser, 54, fired a cannonball Wednesday evening outside his home in Georges Township that ricocheted and hit a house 400 yards away. The cannonball, about two inches in diameter, smashed through a window and a wall before landing in a closet. Authorities said nobody was hurt. State police charged Maser with reckless endangerment, criminal mischief and disorderly conduct. No one answered the phone Friday at Maser's home. He told WPXI-TV recreating 19th century cannons is a longtime hobby. He said he is sorry and he will stop shooting them on his property, about 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh.

9/6/09
NOT PIRATES AFTER ALL:  Missing channel pirate ship carried Russian arms for Iran
By Mark Franchetti in Moscow and Uzi Mahnaimi in Tel Aviv, 
London Times

... “Clearly the Israelis played a role in the whole Arctic Sea saga,” said a Russian military source. “Peres used the incident as a bargaining chip over the issue of arms sales to Arab states, while Israel allowed the Kremlin a way out with its claims to have successfully foiled a piracy incident.”

9/4/09
'24' director drifts to 'Sea Witches' film

Hollywood Reporter.com
Veteran "24" helmer/executive producer Jon Cassar has been tapped to direct "The Sea Witches," a Canadian feature about female pirates. The project, from Toronto producers Shaftesbury Films and MacRury Here Prods., has Malcolm MacRury ("Deadwood") writing the script, and Peter Meyboom, Scott Garvie, Christina Jennings and MacRury sharing producer credits. Producers are eyeing Brazil or Australia as possible locations, and will pitch the project at the IFP market in New York this month as part of the No Borders International Co-production Market to fill out financing.

9/3/09
Teaching the "Slave Ship" to Prisoners Inside Auburn Prison
By Marcus Rediker,CounterPunch Magazine

   ...While I was a visiting scholar at Cornell’s Society for the Humanities, Noelle Brigden, a graduate student in the Cornell’s Government Department, kindly invited me to meet with her prison class on “Pirates and the Political Order.” I eagerly accepted...

9/1/09
Delhi concerned: Trained Pak men 'guiding' pirates off Somalia coast 13
Pranab Dhal Samanta, in New Delhi News

Authorities have confirmed the first case of alleged Pakistani involvement with Somali pirates in a revelation that has raised concerns here about a possible link between piracy and suspected terrorist groups.

9/1/09
Peek Inside a Pirate Crew at the Magic Kingdom
Disney Insider

    "It's good to be goofy! It's the pirate mentality."
    So says Dan Wise, and he ought to know. Dan is a Pirate Master at the Magic Kingdom Park, and it is his task to turn Guests into scurvy buccaneers ready to set sail with Captain Jack Sparrow himself. It's all part of The Pirates League experience - Guests can experience a transformation from their everyday selves to full-fledged pirates, with Pirate Names, makeover, hidden treasure to discover, and much more. Do you have the desire to explore the Spanish Main and unleash your inner corsair? Dan shared the secrets of The Pirates League with the "Insider," and we're prepared to brave the wrath of the pirate brotherhood and spill the beans to you.
    As you've come to expect from Disney, The Pirates League is much more than a makeover and take home a picture – Guests enter a piratical world, with denizens who stay in pirate character and a ...

 

August 2009

 

8/27/09
Spielberg eyes Crichton's Pirate Latitudes for DreamWorks
By Jeremy Kay, Screen Daily.com

Steven Spielberg will produce and may direct the late Michael Crichton’s unpublished novel Pirate Latitudes after DreamWorks Studios acquired film rights ... Crichton was writing Pirate Latitudes before his death last November. His assistant found the manuscript and HarperCollins will publish the novel on November 24, 2009. The story takes place 1665 as pirates plan to infiltrate Port Royal, one of the world’s richest and most notorious cities, and raid a Spanish galleon filled with treasure.

8/14/09
Fort Pierce Museum Gets Lifeboat From Pirate Rescue
POSTED: 7:17 am EDT

FORT PIERCE, Fla. -- A Treasure Coast museum dedicated to Navy SEAL history will house the lifeboat in which a sea captain captured by Somali pirates was held and eventually rescued.

8/9/09
Pirates take over Beaufort
News-Times, Published: by JENNIFER ALLEN
“Fire in the hole!” echoed from voices in the crowd of more than 1,000 Saturday as pirate re-enactors shot cannons at the Meka II and Ada Mae in Taylors Creek from Grayden Paul Park during the second Beaufort Pyrate Invasion.

8/2/09
Navy's New Pirate Catcher

The U.S.S. Independence
[More information here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Independence_%28LCS-2%29

8/1/09
Boat in Somali piracy case to be displayed in Fla.
The Associated Press

The National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum in Fort Pierce says it will permanently display the 28-foot lifeboat used in the hijacking of the cargo ship Maersk Alabama in April.

 

July 2009

7/30/09
Sunken Flagship Replica Destroyed By Fire
SKY News

A replica of the 17th-century flagship of the Dutch East India Company has been destroyed by a fire in the Netherlands.  The three-mast Prins Willem had been a tourist attraction in the northern Dutch port of Den Helder since 2003. ...

7/30/09
DIscussion, photos and video of Prins Willem Fire on Eurobricks Forum

7/30/09
Fire guts replica of 17th-century tall ship
The Associated Press, The State, South Carolina's Homepage

AMSTERDAM -- Fire consumed a replica of the 17th-century flagship of the Dutch East India Company in the northern Netherlands on Thursday. ...

7/24/09
Explorers Find Ancient Shipwrecks
By ALESSANDRA RIZZO, Science News, World News
   
Archaeologists have found five well-preserved Roman shipwrecks deep under the sea off a small Mediterranean island, with their cargo of vases, pots and other objects largely intact, officials said Friday. The ships are submerged about 300 to 500 feet off Ventotene, a tiny island that is part of an archipelago off Italy's west coast between Rome and Naples. ...

7/15/09
Piracy doubles in first six months of 2009
ICC Commercial Crime Services (CCS)

Kuala Lumpur, 15 July 2009 – Piracy attacks around the world more than doubled to 240 from 114 during the first six months of the year compared with the same period in 2008, the ICC International Maritime Bureau’s Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB) said today....

May 2009

5/17/09
Author defies idea that Blackbeard was English
By Jerry Allegood, Baltimore Sun Newspapers
   
Most historical accounts contend that the notorious pirate known as Edward Teach or Thatch was from Bristol, England. But Kevin P. Duffus said his review of archives and genealogical research indicates that Blackbeard was probably Edward Beard, son of a landowner in Bath in Beaufort County. ...

5/17/09
The Piracy Business: All The Headaches, But No Suits
by Gwen Thompkins, NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday
   
Pirates in Somalia say their work is all about business. And the business includes training new pirates, testing ransom money, and even drawing investors. Learn about a pirate called "Milksucker".  (These modern pirates need to look to Blackbeard and Calico Jack for a lesson in picking nicknames).  Listen to the report. ...

5/15/09
Pirate bones could be in that box, author says State rejects request for DNA test on 18th-century remains from Bath
by Jerry Allegood, The News & Observer
   
A Raleigh author is attempting to reopen the 274-year-old estate of a Beaufort County man he thinks was once a member of Blackbeard's pirate crew -- and whose bones may be stored in a box in Raleigh.
    Kevin P. Duffus, a writer and filmmaker, says he needs access to the estate of Edward Salter, a landowner and merchant who died in 1735, to help confirm that the state has Salter's remains. With the backing of some of Salter's descendants, Duffus is seeking to have DNA testing done on bones that the state Office of State Archaeology recovered from a gravesite in Bath 23 years ago. ...

Battling Piracy Around The World
Home page for NPR's excellent 6 part series on modern piracy given below.  Features an interactive map of pirate attacks. ...

5/9/2009
In Anti-Piracy Fight, Yemen May Be Part Of Problem

by Kelly McEvers, Morning Edition, NPR, 6th in a series

The government of Yemen, which is just across the Gulf of Aden from Somalia, is trying to portray itself as part of the solution to piracy in the region. But others say that Yemen — which is itself a failing state where sympathy for the Somali pirates runs deep — might be part of the problem. ...

5/8/2009
As Piracy Insurance Gets Pricier, Owners Try Guards

by Tom Gjelten, Morning Edition, NPR, 5th in a series
With twice as many attacks in the first three months of this year than in the same period last year, piracy has become a huge — and costly — problem for ship owners, especially those whose vessels go near Somalia.  Ship owners, like all businessmen, look at the bottom line: Time is money, and when pirates attack one of their ships, owners typically just want to get the whole thing over with as quickly as possible. So they pay the ransom. ...

5/7/2009
Former Piracy Hot Spot Sees Huge Drop In Attacks

by Michael Sullivan, Morning Edition, NPR, 4th in a series
Five years ago, when people talked about piracy, it was Southeast Asia, not Somalia, that was getting all the attention. Back then, about 40 percent of attacks reported worldwide happened in or around the vital waterway between Malaysia and Indonesia known as the Strait of Malacca. Roughly one-quarter of the world's trade and about one-third of its oil pass through the strait each year, and pirates took advantage of the slow-moving, tempting targets with numbing regularity. Today, though, those attacks have fallen off dramatically, largely due to greater regional cooperation and increased resources to stop piracy. ...

5/6/2009
In Somalia, Piracy Is An Attractive Career Option
by Gwen Thompkins, Morning Edition, NPR, 3rd in a series
For nearly 20 years, Somalia has endured political chaos and bloodshed. The impoverished country's 10 million people are living without a formal economy or a functioning central government.  But, known for their pragmatism, they survive. For many Somalis, choosing a line of business is the most practical decision of all. What works is right, and what doesn't work is wrong. That is why piracy has taken hold in the country: It's a multimillion-dollar industry that works. ...

5/5/2009
Pentagon Looks Beyond Force To Counter Piracy

by Tom Bowman, Morning Edition, NPR, 2nd in a series

A review of U.S. efforts to combat piracy on the high seas is nearing completion. Military options are under consideration, but experts agree that the ultimate answer to the piracy problem will also require political solutions — addressing issues such as poverty, lawlessness and instability in the pirates' countries of origin. ...

5/4/2009
An Old Scourge, Piracy, Is New Again
by Corey Flintoff, Morning Edition, NPR, First in a series

Piracy is flourishing off the coast of Somalia, despite an intensive effort by an international fleet of warships to protect the busy shipping lanes between Africa and Asia. What once seemed an archaic crime is back and putting a serious strain on the world's purse strings. ...

 

 

April 2009

4/30/2009
Behind The Business Plan Of Pirates Inc.
by Chana Joffe-Walt, All Things Considered, NPR

... the issues of criminality and the potential for violence aside, a closer look at the "business model" of piracy reveals that the plan makes economic sense.  A piracy operation begins, as with any other start-up business, with venture capital. ...

4/30/2009
Maersk Alabama captain says ships should have armed officers
Man held captive by Somali pirates testifies before the US Senate as Congress considers ways to combat piracy
Associated Press

Commercial ships working pirate-infested waters should be protected by an armed corps of senior officers backed by the government, the captain of a US ship attacked by pirates told Congress today as he called for all to operate under a clear chain of command. ...

4/30/2009
Rescued Captain Testifies In Congress
All Things Considered, NPR

Capt. Richard Phillips who was taken hostage from his ship by pirates and later rescued by U.S. Navy Seals testified Thursday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. He spoke about the experience and what he thinks the U.S government can learn from it. ...

4/25/2009
The Profitability Of Piracy
Weekend Edition Saturday, NPR

Host Scott Simon explores the intricacies of the pirate economy with Dr. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. ...

4/21/2009
Prosecution Of Pirate Raises Many Questions
All Things Considered, NPR

The surviving Somali pirate from the thwarted hijacking of the Maersk Alabama was to be charged Tuesday in U.S. federal court. Stephen Rademaker, former assistant secretary of state for international security, talks about how the government might makes its case. ...

4/16/2009
Somalia spoils fun for make-believe pirates 
By MOISES MENDOZA Copyright 2009 Houston 
the recent worldwide furor over real-life Somali pirates raises a pressing question: Should people really be romanticizing murderous pirates — even old ones? ...

4/15/2009
Ron Paul: Bring back private pirate hunters
Agence France-Presse

Rep. Ron Paul, a Republican, and a handful of conservative theorists say it's time the U.S. Congress used the technique, pioneered by European powers in the 18th century as a way to wage naval warfare cheaply. ...

4/13/2009
You are being lied to about pirates
By Johann Hari, San Francisco Bay View
Behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as “one of the great menaces of our times” have an extraordinary story to tell - and some justice on their side. ...

4/5/2009
Hampton Roads pirate crew starts work on its own boat
By Mark St. John Erickson

    John Glass ... can often be found alongside other members of the living history group known as Blackbeard's Crew, leading them in their attempt to build their own pirate ship.
    Measuring nearly 50 feet from stem to stern, the two-masted Luna is no small wooden boat — and its transformation from a decaying 20th-century yacht into a convincing replica of an early 18th-century topsail sloop is no small endeavor. But with lots of sweat and a healthy measure of public generosity, Glass and his comrades hope to have its frames rebuilt, its lines reshaped and its rigging raised in time to help Hampton celebrate its 400th birthday in 2010. ...

 

 

March 2009

3/23/2009
Studying the Culture of Piracy 
By Marisa Taylor, Wall Street Journal Blogs

University of Chicago anthropology professor Shannon Lee Dawdy has introduced a new course this spring called “Intensive Study of Culture: Pirates,” and student interest has been avast — er, vast — she had to expand the class size from an original maximum of 90 students to 150. ...

3/19/2009
U of Chicago offers pirate class 
 
ABC7News

The University of Chicago is offering a course called "Intensive Study Of A Culture: Pirates." More undergraduates registered for the anthropology class than almost any other course for the spring quarter. ...

3/9/2009
Arrrgh mateys, shipwreck could be pirate vessel 
State archaeologists get their hands on artifacts from a mysterious shipwreck
By John Pope

Nearly 200 years ago, a ship sank in the Gulf of Mexico, about 35 miles off Louisiana's coast. It stayed, undiscovered, on the seabed, about 4,000 feet below the surface, until 2002, when a crew happened upon the wreckage while checking out a pipeline. ...

3/9/2009
Pirates Past and Present Appear in N.C. Museum Exhibit 
Monday, March 09, 2009

FoxNews.com, Associate Press
Blackbeard has a starring role in a new pirate exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of History.

 

 

February 2009

2/3/2009
Treasure Hunters Say They’ve Found a 1744 Shipwreck
New York Times
Exciting discovery of the H.M.S. Victory, with tons of gold and maybe more than 100 cannons.

 

 

January 2009

1/26/2009
US to hand over any suspected pirates to Kenya
Guardian.co.UK

1/19/2009
Navy bid to scuttle the curse of pirates
British Press Story from 'The Sun' Page 9
    A ROYAL Navy warship will today join a new international team of pirate hunters. HMS Portland has been ordered to track down gunmen before they can hijack merchant ships.
    Once pirate boats have been identified , Lynx helicopters filled with snipers will be scrambled from the Type 23 frigate. The Royal Marines will then board for close combat with the pirates - who use machine guns and grenade launchers to overpower crews then blackmail ship owners.
    The US-led mission expected to involve ten nations - is an assault on chaos in waters off the Somali Coast. Pirates pocketed £100 million in ransoms last year after more than 100 attacks. Previously, navies were unable to arrest the marauders due to international law. But a series of agreements are being brokered with African governments such as Kenya who have agreed to try to lock them up.
    American Vice Admiral Bill Gortney said "We have to make it unpleasant to be a pirate - we want to capture them."
    [Thanks to Chris Walsh for sending us this story -- Jamaica Rose]

1/17/09
Death at sea: how pirates' triumph ended in disaster
Five drown after collecting ransom, but rewards are too great to deter hijackers
Guardian.co.UK

1/12/09
Solving the problem of piracy
Radio program THE WORLD, PRI
How piracy has been nearly wiped out in the Malacca Straits, and how these lessons might apply to Somalian piracy.

1/11/09
Pirate's body washes ashore with $153,000 in pocket
Continuing from the two stories below
Guardian.co.UK

1/11/09
Pirates drown after supertanker freed

Continuing from the story below:  5 pirates and the millions of dollars were lost in rough waters.
TV New Zealand

1/10/09
$3M Ransom Parachuted to Tanker Pirates
PIRATES ''GOLDEN PARACHUTE' DROP
AIRPLANE DELIVERS $3M RANSOM AT SEA
5 SOMALI HIJACKERS DROWN IN GETAWAY
By Todd Venezia
Somali pirates scored a haul of booty yesterday that would have shivered the timbers of Long John Silver, when they were paid a $3 million ransom to release a Saudi supertanker they hijacked last year.

1/9/2009
Prosecuting Pirates: No More Walking The Plank
by Corey Flintoff, NPR

Nations that have captured suspected sea robbers now have to decide what to do them. The problem is that no nation seems to want to take on the cost and complication of prosecuting pirates.

1/9/09
Hijacked Saudi oil tanker Sirius Star on the move
Guardian.co.UK

1/6/2009
French Warship Thwarts Pirate Attack
Morning Edition, NPR

On New Years Day, a French warship, the Premier Maitre L'Her, captured eight alleged pirates in their skiffs as they tried to board a Panamanian-flagged cargo ship.

 

 

December 2008

No date
Pirate threat prompts Hapag-Lloyd to evacuate cruise ship near Somalia
USA Today Blog

No date
Cruise ship passengers describe 'pop, pop, pop' of gunfire as pirates attacked
USA Today Blog

12/06/08
Pirates walk the plank as pixies take over at Disneyland
SignOnSanDiego.com

12/06/08
Disneyland Drama Centers on Jack Sparrow, Pixies, Flashing

NBC News

12/06/08
Girls Prompt Disneyland to Can 'Jack Sparrow' Actors

KTLA News

12/06/08
Shipwreck clues could clear Blackbeard of sinking his ship to swindle his crew
Telegraph.co.uk

12/06/08
Avast me hearties, thar'll be a pirate fest

SignOnSanDiego.com

12/04/08
Cruise passengers describe "cheeky" pirate attack
The Associated Press

 

 

November 2008

11/22/08
'We consider ourselves heroes' - a Somali pirate speaks
Guardian.co.UK

11/21/08
Beating the raiders
How the Malacca straits were reclaimed
Guardian.co.UK

11/20/08
Efforts to tackle epidemic hindered by lack of internationally agreed definition
Guardian.co.UK

11/19/08
Piracy and ransom payments: Risky business - safe transactions
Guardian.co.UK

11/18/08
Life with the pirates of Somalia
Fascinating Photo gallery
Guardian.co.UK

 

 

May 2008

 

5/20/08
Great Guns on Alderney! The Alderney Elizabethan Shipwreck Gives Up its Guns
PR Web

 

 

February 2008

2/28/08
Brief Encounters: Matthew Stackpole - History in the making
By CK Wolfson, of The Martha's Vineyard TIMES Online
    He was all by himself when he went outside to dance - to leap and jump actually - in the field that surrounds his West Tisbury home. Matthew Stackpole had just received word from Mystic Seaport that they wanted him to join them in helping to restore the last surviving wooden whaling ship, Charles W. Morgan. So it was with exuberance that he went outside to dance to the elusive melody of things having gone exactly right...

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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