Pirates

Pirates
Tuesday, the 3rd installment of Disney's grossly successful
Pirates of the Caribbean franchise became available in
stores. In these stories, the pirates are generally
portrayed as good guys that are just after treasure and are
being hunted by the evil British navy. This story line,
while fun, has nothing to do with how pirates are today.

In the movies of past and present, pirates are generally
not bad people. They're portrayed in such a way that
everyone loves pirates, except for maybe Captain Hook. In
real life, particularly today, pirates are causing huge
problems. Currently, they are most troublesome around
Indonesia and off of the coast of Somalia. In Somalia, the
presence and actions of pirates are preventing food and
other necessities from reaching the starving victims of
famine and domestic fighting. In Indonesia, they're
upsetting international trade.

Modern pirates aren't nearly as willing not to kill people
as the Disney version would imply. Spitting out the word
"Parlay" is probably not going to prevent the pirates from
shooting you or a fellow crew member. Just last week in
Nigeria, one man was killed and another was injured when
the oil tanker they were on was attacked by pirates. Also,
today's pirates aren't wielding little guns and swords.
They are equipped with much more damaging weaponry and
boats that are much faster than the oil tankers and yachts
they generally attack. A power boat is also much more
maneuverable than a massive ship.

When the pirates do get on board, they are after cash,
laptops, and other such valuable things. They're generally
not after a single medallion or the heart of Davey Jones.
They're after things that can be re-sold or straight cash.
They do not care about the cargo of a ship. While the
pirates of Disney are concerned with their hats, the
pirates of today wear ski masks or disguise their identity
in some other way.

In addition to all of the other differences, today's
pirates do not operate a single ship. They have huge
networks of power boat gangs that team up on the larger
ships. Often, a boat or two will maneuver into the path of
the larger ship. This causes the ship to slow down which
allows another boat to sneak up from behind the ship and
board from the rear.

Another common misconception concerning pirates on the high
seas is that they are on the way out. From 1993 to 2003,
the number of pirate attacks actually tripled. All of these
factors should cause concern for ships in the Indian Ocean,
particularly near Indonesia and Somalia.

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Joe Devine
http://www.maritimelawsuitattorney.com