Thagarr's Pirate News!

[Thagarr]

I agree with you mate, and the sad thing is, it's doubtful any of them will see justice served... not that there could really ever be any justice in this case.

Space Station to Track Ships From Orbit

The current system used to keep tabs on ocean vessels is very limited but ships' signals reach space.


Two new receivers soon to be tested from the International Space Station could help fill holes in the current system used to keep tabs on ships traveling across the world's oceans.

In addition to helping ships avoid collisions and enabling authorities to track vessels, the enhanced detection system may help deter ship hijackings.

"Clearly the possibility to monitor the correct route of ships in the open seas can be a big advantage for discouraging pirate attacks," said the experiment's project manager Giovanni Garofalo.

VHF radio signals transmitted by a ship's transponders are currently limited in horizontal range to about 40 miles. That leaves a vessel's identification and navigation data available only when it is along a coastline or when it is within range of another ship.

Yet signals from the Automatic Identification System -- which are required on international vessels bigger than 300 metric tons, cargo ships more than 500 metric tons and all passenger vessels -- travel much farther vertically, all the way to space, where theoretically they could be picked up by satellites.

Rest of the story here:
http://news.discovery.com/space/ships-tracking-space-station.html

 

[Stallion]

Well, if they can use the ISS to track them, why not use it to get rid of them as well? Just install a

up there too!

 

[Thagarr]

I want one of those!! That would sure come in handy!

 

[Thagarr]

Pirates Seize Ship Carrying 2,300 Hyundai's

A ship carrying 2,300 Hyundai's and Kia's was captured by Somali pirates about 600 miles off the coast of Somalia late Friday, The Car Connection reports.

Not to make light of something as serious as a pirate attack, but PR manager at Hyundai Motor America Dan Bedore tweeted that: "Even Pirates seem to be switching to Hyundai."

He also ReTweeted @Hyundai’s official response: “We hope for the prompt and safe return of the 25 crewmen aboard the Asian Glory.”

No one aboard was injured in the attack.

The autos were headed for Saudi Arabia from their home port of Ulsan when the hijack occurred just before reaching EU-patrolled international shipping channels.

It is expected that the pirates will hold the ship for ransom, just one of at least 11 also currently being held by Somali pirates.

Original story here :
http://www.businessinsider.com/pirates-seize-ship-carrying-2300-hyundais-2010-1

 

[Stallion]

I wonder which of those lines that PR guy said first - would make a big difference on how the company looks. Even if it was a joke, it was pretty tacky.

Who would want to steal a bunch of cars from a company who couldn't even come up with their own unique name anyway? Hyundai just sounds like what a Honda employee would say if some dude ran up and squeezed 'im in the nads! Nothing against their cars, but, come on, people!

Kia... well, let's just say they might as well drive them all right off the ship right now! Here at least, they're only a few thousand cheaper than the other companies whose products they make clones of, and after seeing how miserably the first generation of their cars failed crash tests, I'd have to be nuts to go near one! On the other hand, I do have to confess I took one of their Souls for a spin. First and last time I'd ever be caught in one of their cars. :

Rant over.

 

[Captain Maggee]

I didnt know Dr Cox was on the forum
(Yes I enjoy Scrubs alot and Dr Cox's rants are good as, even if he puts JD down and I apparantly look and act like [apart from stuff with Turk] him)

 

[Thagarr]

[imgleft]http://forum.piratesahoy.net//public/style_emoticons/default/24.gif[/imgleft]Absolutely brilliant mate!

See now Stallion?? It's that kind of insightful commentary we need on the blogs!!

My rants are dull and boring in comparison, you Sir, have it down to an art form!

 

[Stallion]

Put that kind of stuff in a blog? Really? It might scare some people away from PA. :

 

[Thagarr]

If I am willing to take on the entire UN and multimillion dollar corporations, the least you can do is offend an odd person with no sense of humor here and there! :

Seriously though, your sense of humor comes out much better in your writing than mine does in mine, I honestly do think your sense of humor(twisted as it is! would be great in that format! I thought I would absolutely hate writing them when I first started doing it, SWS had to threaten me with several pointed objects!! I really have enjoyed very much writing them though! It doesn't have to be pirate related or nautical at all mate, I just write what I am familiar with. My next one will be about a movie that has nothing to do with pirates, although it is related to ocean transport.

 

[Thagarr]

Just when I was starting to feel the slightest bit of sympathy for these thugs, so much for that then!

Somali pirates holding Britons issue terrifying ultimatum: Pay £1.9m or yacht couple die

By David Jones
Last updated at 9:46 AM on 09th January 2010


Pirates holding a British couple issued a terrifying ultimatum yesterday: 'Pay up or we'll shoot them.'

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, the Somali gang which snatched Paul and Rachel Chandler from their yacht in the Indian Ocean said time was running out
after negotiations to free them stalled.

In a chilling exchange, they also revealed that 55-year-old Mrs Chandler has been brutally beaten and needs medical treatment.

The captors are demanding $3million (£1.9million) and have set a two-month deadline for the ransom to be paid.

If their demands are not met, they will kill the couple in March, one of the kidnappers told the Mail.

'We are giving an ultimatum of two months from January 1. If we are not paid $3million we are ready to shoot them,' he said.

'It is becoming too expensive to hold these people. By March, they have to decide or we will be done with them.'

The man, who gave his name only as Noor, gave horrific details of the Chandlers' life in captivity.

Mr Chandler, 59, and his wife, from Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were kidnapped at gunpoint in October as they sailed from the Seychelles to Tanzania.

They have since been moved every 48 hours and have been separated from each other despite their desperate pleas to be kept together.

In one shocking episode, the helpless couple clung to each other and begged for clemency until their ruthless captors resorted to force to beat them apart.

Mrs Chandler, an economist, was injured in the attack. She will be treated by a doctor in Somalia, according to her captors, but the episode has escalated fears for her safety.

A second gang member, who claimed he was the pirates' negotiator, said: 'The woman was unfortunately beaten. She was injured but we have arranged for her to get medical treatment.'

Rest of the story here :
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ying-ultimatum-Pay-1-9m-yacht-couple-die.html

 

[Thagarr]

'Office pirate' hits Maersk for $263K, feds allege

By LEVI PULKKINEN
SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

First, it was pirates off East Africa.

Now, federal prosecutors in Seattle claim Maersk Inc. -- owner of the MV Maersk Alabama, captured by pirates in April -- has been hit by a thief of a different sort.

In charging papers, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney's Office for Western Washington claim a clerk at Maersk's Sumner office stole more than $250,000 from the shipping giant through a long-running wire fraud.

Federal prosecutors have charged Sumner resident Virginia Lee Uy with wire fraud, alleging the 47-year-old bilked the company through a scheme involving falsified billing statements sent to vendors.

From June 2006 and continuing until her termination in June 2009, federal prosecutors claim Uy sent bogus check requests to obtain payments from her employer. To do so, she is alleged to have altered invoices and purchase orders for supplies, then absconded with the checks issued by Maersk.

In a separate scam, Uy allegedly over-billed Maersk for vendor services, prompting the company to send excessive payments to vendors. The vendors would then refund the excess payment to the Sumner subsidiary where Uy was employed, allowing her steal the checks and deposit them in bank accounts she controlled.

Prosecutors claim Uy repeated the frauds at least 116 times before she was caught. In total she's alleged to have made off with $263,600.

Searching Uy's workspace, investigators allegedly found faked check request forms and evidence that she had copied her supervisors' signatures in order to pass the fraudulent documents.

Days before she was fired, Uy apparently sent a check request to a metal fabricator asking that a check be sent via Federal Express. Court documents indicate federal authorities seized that package upon its arrival.

The company brought the allegations to the attention of federal investigators in September, prompting Immigration and Customs Enforcement to launch an inquiry.

Charged earlier this week, Uy has not been jailed in the case. She has not yet entered a plea.

Original story here :
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/414012_WIREFRAUD08.html?source=mypi

 

[Thagarr]

The Russian frigate Neustrashimy returning to pirate infested waters.

New Russian Navy task force to patrol Somali waters

A new task force from Russia's Baltic Fleet will join international efforts to fight piracy off the Horn of Africa, a Russian Navy spokesman said on Tuesday.

The task force led by the Neustrashimy (Fearless) frigate will replace the Admiral Chabanenko destroyer from Russia's Northern Fleet, the spokesman said, adding that Russian warships would continue regular patrols near the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden in 2010.

"This is due to continued pirate attacks on peaceful civilian vessels, and also a real threat for sailors who are Russian nationals," the spokesman said.

The Neustrashimy completed an anti-piracy mission in February 2009. The upcoming deployment will be the Neustrashimy's second tour. The frigate's armament includes SS-N-25 Switchblade anti-ship missiles, SA-N-9 Gauntlet SAM, a 100-mm gun, torpedoes and depth charges. The frigate also carries a Ka-27 ASW helicopter.

The Russian task force comprising the Admiral Chabanenko and a support ship arrived in the Gulf of Aden in late November for Russia's anti-piracy mission.

The Russian Navy has maintained a constant presence off the Horn of Africa, with each fleet dispatching warships on a rotational basis. Russia joined international anti-piracy efforts off the Somali coast in October 2008.

Pirates based in Somalia, which has been without an effective government since 1991, hijacked more than 35 vessels in 2009, and have already seized two this year.

MOSCOW, January 12 (RIA Novosti)

Original story here :
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100112/157518324.html

 

[carmenara]

I might be silent but that doesn't mean I'm not contemplating.

And back to my 220 ships for Build Beta.

 

[Stallion]

If I am willing to take on the entire UN and multimillion dollar corporations, the least you can do is offend an odd person with no sense of humor here and there! :

Seriously though, your sense of humor comes out much better in your writing than mine does in mine, I honestly do think your sense of humor(twisted as it is! would be great in that format! I thought I would absolutely hate writing them when I first started doing it, SWS had to threaten me with several pointed objects!! I really have enjoyed very much writing them though! It doesn't have to be pirate related or nautical at all mate, I just write what I am familiar with. My next one will be about a movie that has nothing to do with pirates, although it is related to ocean transport.

Well, in that case, I think I'll give it a go. How do I go about setting one up?

I'd have gotten back to you sooner, but I finally got around to installing Dawn of Discovery last night, and lost something like six straight hours to it. Haven't run across a game like that in ages. Although my settlement did run out of money, though. : Whoopsies. :blah:

 

[Thagarr]

You can set the blogs up in your profile, in the drop down menu click on settings, the same place where you manage note and change your password etc. In the settings menu, click on the blog tab, you should see "Create a Blog (1/2)" read it! Then put a little check in the "I agree" box. Then set a title for your blog, you only need to do this once, but you can set up multiple blogs. The rest of it works pretty much like posting on the forum, although the blogs can use HTML tags as well as BBcode. The HTML tage are really handy for re-sizing pictures, here is a good list of basic HTML tags. You can use a combination of BBCode and HTML, just be sure and turn HTML on with the drop down menu. If you want to use HTML code you can change it with the first drop down menu at the bottom of the editor. The second drop down menu is to set your blog entry as either Publish or Draft, be sure and and set it to Publish after your finished writing or it won't show up in the list. I am really looking forward to reading your first one Stallion!

I understand exactly what you mean about Dawn of Discovery, it's pretty easy to kill a good 6-8 hours! The game looks absolutely gorgeous as well!! And they have really tweaked a lot of the annoying things with the Anno series, parts are still annoying, but in a good way! : Setting up a functioning economy is key and can be a real pain! Every time you change anything, or add new buildings it can really upset things. I am currently on the 5'th mission of the campaign and keep going in debt as well!

SWS, I read your blog, I'll comment later, I am off to work for now!

 

[Stallion]

Weird - it won't allow me to set it to Publish. :huh:

 

[Thagarr]

That would be a problem... does it even give you the option to publish?

 

[Stallion]

I can change the default status for new entries to Publish, but it still makes every entry I've tried to do a Draft. In the editor, it just says "Add this entry as... Draft", nothing else. :?

 

[Thagarr]

Sounds like something Keith will need to look into, I'll let him know your having problems.

 

[Thagarr]

Reuters FACTBOX update!

FACTBOX-Ships held by Somali pirates

Jan 14 (Reuters) - Pirate attacks around the world surged 38.5 percent in 2009, with suspected Somali pirates accounting for more than half of the 406 reported incidents, the International Maritime Bureau said on Thursday.

Here is a list of ships under the control of Somali pirates:

* WIN FAR 161: Taiwanese tuna boat, seized on April 6, 2009.

* AL KHALIQ - Seized on Oct. 22, 2009. The Panamanian-registered ship carried 26 crew, 24 of them Indian. It is owned and operated by SNP Shipping of Mumbai. The 38,305 dwt bulk carrier was seized west of the Seychelles.

* THAI UNION 3 - Seized on Oct. 29, 2009. Pirates on two skiffs boarded the tuna fishing boat with 23 Russians, two Filipinos and two Ghanaians on board.

* FILITSA: Seized on Nov. 10, 2009. The 23,709 dwt cargo ship had a crew including three Greek officers and the rest Filipinos. The Marshall Islands-flagged ship had been heading from Kuwait to Durban, South Africa, when it was attacked 500 miles northeast of the Seychelles.

* THERESA VIII: Seized on Nov. 16, 2009. The chemical tanker was hijacked in the south Somali Basin, northwest of the Seychelles. The 22,294 dwt tanker had a crew of 28 North Koreans. The captain of the tanker died from gunshot wounds sustained during the hijack, a Somali pirate said.

* MARAN CENTAURUS: Seized Nov. 29, 2009: The tanker was sailing from Kuwait to the Gulf of Mexico when it was seized near the Seychelles. The tanker had nine Greeks, two Ukrainians, one Romanian and 16 Filipinos on board and was carrying around two million barrels of crude oil.

* NESEYA: Seized on Dec. 18, 2009. The Indian dhow with 13 Indian crew members was seized off the coast of Kismayo in southern Somalia.

* SOCOTRA 1: Seized on Dec. 25, 2009: The Yemeni-owned ship was captured in the Gulf of Aden after it left Alshahr port in the eastern province of Hadramout. There are six Yemeni crew aboard.

* AL MAHMOUD 2: Reported on Dec. 28, 2009. The cargo vessel left Yemen's southern port of Aden on Dec. 18, with 15 sailors and a captain on board -- all Yemenis.

* ST JAMES PARK: Seized on Dec. 28, 2009. The UK-flagged 13,924 dwt chemical tanker had been sailing to Thailand from Spain with a chemical used to make plastics when it sent a distress signal from the Gulf of Aden. Its 26 crew members were from Bulgaria, Georgia, India, the Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine.

* NAVIOS APOLLON: Seized on Dec. 28, 2009: The Panama-flagged 52,000 dwt bulk cargo vessel was seized about 800 miles off the Somali coast, north of the Seychelles. The vessel was sailing from the U.S. to India with a cargo of fertiliser. The Greek management company confirmed there were 19 crew.

* ASIAN GLORY: Seized Jan. 1, 2010. British-flagged vehicle carrier, hijacked approximately 900 miles north of the Seychelles. The 25 crew aboard consists of eight Bulgarians, including the captain, 10 Ukrainians, five Indians and two Romanians. * MV PRAMONI: Seized Jan. 1, 2010. The Singaporean-flagged 20,000 tonnes dwt chemical tanker was hijacked in the Gulf of Aden on route from Italy to India. The 24 crew consists of 17 Indonesians, 5 Chinese 1 Nigerian and 1 Vietnamese.

Rest of the story here :
http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLDE60D0SC20100114?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0