 “Prepare to repel boarders” |
A British vacationer is being hailed a hero after he thwarted gun-toting pirates attacking a cruise ship — by throwing a deck chair at them.
Wyn Rowlands was celebrating his 62nd birthday with a dream cruise onboard the MSC Melody near the Seychelle Islands when he spotted armed pirates in a speedboat trying to clamber on to the vessel. Quick-thinking Wyn, a retired engineer from Bangor-on-Dee, picked up a deck-chair and flung it down at the gang before raising the alarm.
The ship’s captain, Ciro Pinto, was then able to out-manoeuvre the pirates to prevent them boarding the cruise ship.
The MSC Melody and its 1,000 passengers and 500 crew were 600 miles off the coast of Somalia — notorious for pirate attacks — when the incident happenedon Sunday evening. “Mr. Rowlands was on deck with his wife when he saw the pirates approaching and firing automatic weapons,” a spokeswoman for the MSC Melody told Sky News Online.
“He is understandably very proud that his rapid response helped save the day.”
Ha! Take that scoundrels!
I think you need to hang every pirate from the yardarm to get them to stop.
No ‘keelhaul’ them …. Imagine a 1,000 ft. keelhaul!
No buffet for you!
Kudos! Don’t they have skeet shooting on cruise ships anymore? Load up the 00 and have a contest.
they owner should give him a lifetime of free cruises.
Way to go! About two weeks ago, didn’t I suggest pots of boiling oil to throw at pirates attempting to board ships? Similar idea, making use of what was available.
Okay, my turn….Great picture! I wouldn’t mind boarding the pirate in the foreground!
what a load of bullshit
I bet the cruise ship charges the passenger for the deck chair.
The Melody is a tub.
That thing has been around since izods were the rage.
No wonder the pirates could even get close to it. Its a wreck and no wonder that guy was over sixty its meant for that crowd.
Pirates wouldn’t had gotten much. In fact once they boarded and smelled and saw the poor condition of it they might have left out of embarrassment for the cruisers!
Damn thing should be reef fodder now.
Cursor_
The pirates will bring their own deck chairs… and then what will we do?
Did Green Peace come after him for polluting the ocean?
Were any seakittens hurt in the making of this story?
WE ARE NOT GETTING THE WHOLE TRUTH!
like chuck said.
Did MSC Cruises bill Rowlands for the deck-chair?
If the pirates are minors can their parents take legal action for the assault?
This story would be very different if the pirates had shot Rowlands yes he was brave and yes he was lucky.
Don’t these ships have lookouts posted when they are off the coast of Somalia? or in other troubled waters?
I’m not condoning violence in any shape or form but I did listen to a report on the CBC that indicated that since the collapse of the Somalian Government a number of years ago, they have no Coast Guard to defend their waters.
Since then, ships from all over the world have been over-fishing and dumping nuclear waste in their waters. The locals think the pirates are heroes.
Again, the violence isn’t cool but there are other sides to this story.
Peace.
/T.
Catapults…
Cats wont like it, but Neither will those rubber boats..
You really have to wonder about someone TRYING to climb up 100′ of Outer hull..to get to the top.
Wait a minute. I have never sen a speedboat with a 600 mile range. There must be a mother ship these smaller boats are operating off of. Send a jet to hunt that down and blow it off the water.
Hey paddler. What century are you living in?
If anyone dared to fire on any boat not actively and presently engaged in an act of piracy, they’d have lawyers lining up to file suit in whatever national or international court that would hear the case.
Why isn’t private industry stepping up to the plate to guarantee security of their own ships?
Oh yeah I know why, because taxpayer funded military ships are FREE for their use.
#11 /t.
Its incumbent upon the Somali’s to patrol and protect their shores. If some unscrupulous country dumped their trash and stole their lunch – its still the fault of the Somali’s for not getting their act together and protecting their waters.
So, no justification for piracy. Pump lead into pirate heads..
#16 So by your rationale, its the victims fault when they get beat up by a bully, because they are not tough enough?
Its the home owners fault when someone steals their TV, because they didn’t have enough security?
The Iraq War is Iraq’s fault for having a shitty army?
That’s neo-con logic if ever I heard it!
#16, Miss Maria,
That waste is actually buried along the coast, not dumped in the water. The local commanders sold the rights to bury the stuff so don’t you go a blaming someone else.
As for the fishing, it is down around the globe.
key word..
INTERNATIONAL WATERS
#17 Hugh Ripper
Your analogy does not scale. Individuals in society entrust law enforcement agencies and a military with the responsibility for safety and vigilance.
Somalia, as a country, is not an individual entity. As such there are no “international cops” to watch their backs when some bad boys come in to kick their sand castles. Its their (Somali police, militia or military) responsibility to provide that cover. They failed. Boohoo. Losers.
Now they want to kick our sandcastles – I don’t see why we should have any mercy for their weaknesses?
If it was one of those wooden Adirondack chairs, he could have really fucked them up. They are just young knee grows.
#18 Fusion
OK. Then let these “deprived fishermen” capture and hold those treacherous “commanders” for ransom. Let them do what they want. I am the last one to shed a tear for that.
Why bother us, Americans? It’s their misfortune that some of their countrymen lack moral fiber and betrayed their own land and future generations.
Its their fault. They need to face the consequences if they decide to project their frustrations on us, the most powerful country that has ever existed.
#20 Neo-con logic at work. If you can exploit ‘loser’ countries and get away with it, alls fair.
In any case, I agree that if they want to engage in piracy, there will be repercussions. Besides, the whole thing is a distraction and fist shaking exercise.
#23 High Ripper
Neocon, Paleocon.. call it what you want.
But the basic premise has remained true for ages and will remain true for ages to come.
Might is right.
The weak and the meek will (and should) perish.
#24 I’m assuming you aren’t a Christian. Whatever happened to the meek inheriting the earth, I wonder.
So I’m assuming you see nothing wrong with the Nazi’s marching into Poland, because ‘might is right’. Exterminating the Jews was acceptable because ‘might is right’. Murdering thousands of people by flying an aircraft into a building is just a part of evolution, because ‘might is right’. Drug gangs taking over neighbourhoods is OK because ‘might is right’. Beating up your wife when she gives you some lip is cool, because ‘might is right’.
Sounds more like a testosterone fuelled nightmare world to me.
I gotta be missing something.
1) HOW did throwing the deck chair slow the pirates? Did it foul the engine? Did it frighten the nasty pirates?
2) The article states they were firing automatic weapons. Yet, our intrepid chair tosser had to raise the alarm. Was it the middle of the night and everyone had their hearing aids turned off?
3) What were the frisky lads shooting at? Flying deck chairs? If they’ve started shooting first and boarding later, then we may be entering a new era in buccaneering.
4) they were within deck chair throwing distance, so our intrepid engineer did indeed toss one. Then he ran to sound the alarm. Then the ship (with it’s ulta modern engines?) popped into ultra mode and outmaneuvered the decrepit pirates. Seems to me Sister Mary’s “knee grows” would have shinnied up their rope ladders faster than Mr Engineer could hit the alarms. And, since those cruise ships take a long time to do any kind of maneuvering, the “pirates” must have been taking a nap.
4b) If the pirates are, as they claim, environmental activists, maybe their failure to board the ship was due to them trying to recover the chair from the waters so as to not endanger any wildlife.
Oh, never mind. I’ll just wait for the TV movie.
#25 Hugh Ripper
I don’t know why you are injecting righteousness and morality into the discussion. Those are just local effects; no effect on long term trends in history. No matter how just or righteous one is – its military power that wins.
So, in your own example, if the West were not “mightier” than Nazi Germany in facing up to the atrocities, crushing Germany and liberating the concentration camps, then yes, more Jews would have been murdered.
The West won by sheer military might over an overwhelmed Germany, not by meditating over religion or stiff upper lip claims of “righteousness”.
Drug gangs don’t take over neighborhoods at their will because we have repercussions waiting for them in the form of police/ military action. Not because they believe in some religion or the power of righteousness.
Those beliefs end where the barrel of an AK-47 begins.
#27 I injected morality into the argument because IMHO the ‘might is right’ philosophy is absolutely immoral, and the idea that the weak should be culled doubly so.
The 3rd Reich was built upon a ‘might is right’ philosophy, so you see it lead to a cycle of violence and destruction where no-one really wins.
The idea that its useless to have morality because ‘might always wins’ seems to me to be an excuse to loot and kill with a free conscience. It might be OK in a computer game, but in the real world it is repugnant.
#26. Nimby- Yes, I wondered about all that myself. LoL! Except for 4b. In the immortal words of Ricky Ricardo…….Lucy, you got some “splainin’ to do”.
#29 McCullough said,”Yes, I wondered about all that myself.”
I knew you were an intelligent man!