Pirates Not Allowed

I debated about publishing the following, but I’m supposed to be

sharing my experiences so here goes. 

Another first today. Several years ago while on a business trip in

Oklahoma City, I went to my first tornado drill (tried to go outside

since I had only done fire drills before-dummy).  

I did not think we would be in the piracy area but we will be for

about two weeks.  Today I attended my first Piracy briefing. It was

very enlightening.  The Captain gave an excellent presentation

and answered questions well. He recently spent 16 months on a

sabbatical and did investigation of pirate attacks or suspected

attacks so he is well qualified to sail this area.  No problems are expected.

We are not armed but do have 3 machines that emit a sound beam if a

Vessel comes within a certain distance and does not leave when advised

to do so. Our best defense is our speed. No ship traveling over 16 knots

has ever been boarded and we will be cruising about 18 ½ knots

(Normal cruise speed 18 knots) and this additional speed is more than

the number indicates by making it much more difficult for boarding.

A sidelight of all this is that we now get an overnight in Dubai because

of our increased speed