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| A pirate boats end off Somalia, courtesy Deutsche Marine |
The last two weeks have been very busy for NAUTICAL LOG and we have not been on the Internet much so have not been Posting - what do you mean you didn't notice!! Of course when one is away from the Internet things continue to happen and with the volume of data pouring out continuously it is quite impossible to catch up. Still during the absence we had our 70,000 visitor which was quite a milestone and frankly one we did not envision when we commenced the voyage in this Blog.
It is remarkable and makes one frustrated, angry and not knowing how to proceed when NAUTICAL LOG looks at all these visitors from all over the world and sees how little public concern there is for the seafarers held captive as hostages by pirates. We rarely if ever get a comment about the situation and while there are mentions on several Blogs of piracy events only gCaptain® has a regular weekly update of the overall picture - and it is grim.
To date NAUTICAL LOG has placed a paragraph on the piracy situation after each Post. We have contacted the various National Maritime Authorities and the rather useless International Maritime Organization (IMO). In addition we wrote to the International Court of Justice and received in reply - nothing!
Which tends to reinforce the NAUTICAL LOG viewpoint that the Authorities, Shipowners and Ship Managers could really care less about the 300 of our fellow seafarers held hostage by pirates off the coast of Puntland, Somalia. These persons face mutilation and or death every day in captivity. Reading recent comments in the United States by political entities does not encourage one to hope that there is any intention whatsoever to rescue these hostages. Recently an Owner said that they had a "Right" to pay the "ransom" and forget about the crews!! So if you or a family member end up in captivity do not expect anything from the Authorities and or Owners.
It is quite impossible for NAUTICAL LOG to understand this viewpoint towards ones crew, so all that we can do is continue to place our comment after each Post and not let things slide into complete oblivion - do not worry we shall not be asking for your help in any way whatsoever from now on - we know you are not interested. But just perhaps there is someone else reading this out there who is interested , someone in the Legal or Political fields perhaps, who can get the results that so far have eluded NAUTICAL LOG. It is going to take someone quite exceptional to move the Maritime Authorities to action.
Good Watch.
3 comments:
I find it sad that maritime publications overlook this issue. This is something affects ALL of us even if we try to pretend it doesn't. Those products we buy or even the ones we export get there because of people who turn their lives over to seafaring. I give back what I can, usually through volunteering for ministries and strongly encourage others to do the same.
Instead of these useless campaigns to make us feel good but are self serving to certain people (IE Kony 2012) we should focus on real issues, and this is certainly one of those real world global issues.
Thank you for your blog Captain.
Piracy in general is a strange legal issue. 'Legal' as opposed to 'common sense', of course. Pirates operate outside the law - outside any law, so the problem becomes a question of 'which legal jurisdiction can charge them with a crime?' To date, no one has been willing to grab that bull by the horns; thus so much 'catch and release'.
The mariners being held hostage come from many countries; most of those countries having no blue water navy capable of mounting a defence or of attacking pirate bases. Those countries alas have too many mariners and thus too little incentive to rescue those being held. The companies owning the vessels have little incentive - sailors are easy to come by.
A grim situation for the honest working sailor.
BUCK: Your are mistaken as to pirates being outside the law. They are in violation of International Maritime Law and any Nation may seize and try them for piracy. It requires only one quality of that Nation the will to do it known as GUTS.
Good Watch
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