The Shrine

I don't know how much you fellows have been following the hilarious antics of these Somalian pirates, but here's a quick recap for you.

Somalian pirates are making out like bandits. The two high profile heists that have occurred were their hijacking of the Sirius Star (a Saudi oil super tanker filled to the brim with oil) and a Ukrainian cargo ship that had a bunch of tanks and munitions on board that they were delivering to a country in Africa. Well, they haven't gotten the ransom for the Ukrainian ship yet, but hopefully it will go better than their experience with Saudi Arabia. The ship they were carrying the 3 million american dollars in sank and most of them drowned. Some swam back to shore, and apparently one dead pirate washed up one shore with his share of the money (see link).

Please take care if travelling through the Suez Canal.

I think piracy worldwide actually went down last year.

Don wrote:I think piracy worldwide actually went down last year.

Depends what kind of piracy you're talking about

Wasn't there a story a month or two back about the French (or someone) driving around on a cruise ship filled with soldiers? It sounded like quite the hilarious trap. Also the one beforehand where a cruise ship outran the pirates... that was classic.

I've been keeping up to date on that story as well. It should be noted the tanker they ransomed for 3 million dollars had over 100 million dollars worth in oil.

Well the other one they held up had a bunch of tanks, but it's not exactly easy to sell or move a couple million barrels of oil or 30 tanks.