A French warship has intercepted two suspected pirate boats in the Gulf of Aden and arrested eight Somalis on board, the French navy says.International naval patrols are credited with helping deter most recent hijack attempts off Somalia, with only two ships captured last month.
But pirates still managed to hijack a cargo vessel with 28 Egyptian crew members on board on Thursday.
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« The Next Step in The Franken-Coleman Senate Race | Main | Bird News »
Pirates Captured
Category: Climate Change • pirates
Posted on: January 2, 2009 8:23 PM, by Greg Laden
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TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/89349
Comments
Well, the British eliminated the death penalty for piracy a few years back, so I guess it might as well be the French.
Posted by: Russell | January 2, 2009 9:23 PM
No, I think the French are going to trade the pirates for carbon futures.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 2, 2009 9:28 PM
France eliminated the death penalty over twenty years ago just after the socialists came to power. The entire EU has eliminated it, unlike the U.S. Nah, Nah, Nah.
Both russell's and greg's comments are ignorant French-bashing. Jay Leno would be proud. You didn't say anything a few weeks ago when a German ship stopped a piracy, did you?
What do you have against pirates? You have super-rich multi-national corporations sending their crap-erh, goods-around the world. Why shouldn't some of these forgotten people get a share? How is it different than different countries demanding payment of rights of passage?
Posted by: bernarda | January 3, 2009 2:42 PM
Bernarda: in what way is my joke about the flying spaghetti monster ignorant French bashing? Personally, I totally object to French bashing and I never, ever do it. Seriously.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 3, 2009 2:50 PM
My excuses Greg, but I didn't understand your reference, and in fact I still don't.
Posted by: bernarda | January 3, 2009 3:23 PM
He's talking about the inverse relationship between global temperature and the number of pirates in the world. It's a central tenet of Pastafarianism. If they killed the pirates, global temperature would rise, so they are worth carbon credits!
Posted by: Inoculated Mind | January 3, 2009 3:47 PM
I saw an item that some ships have used high pressure water sprays to successfully deter pirates. A better material might be fire fighting foam. The advantage of foam is that it doesnt disperse as readily as water and it blocks vision. A few inches of foam on a windshield would completely obscure vision through it. Evasive maneuvers by the ship being pursued would be a lot more effective if the pirates were rendered blind by foam.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_fighting_foam
A slippery deck would help too.
Posted by: daedalus2u | January 3, 2009 6:51 PM
Until the Yellowstone quake-swarm, no-one put quite the effort into capturing pirates, because they served the useful purpose of impeding global warming.
Now, with the prospect of volcanic winter, priorities have shifted to locking up all pirates everywhere: we'll need all the heat we can get.
See? See?
Posted by: Pyre | January 3, 2009 7:12 PM
Greg: "Personally, I totally object to French bashing and I never, ever do it."
As opposed to French baisers, right?
Posted by: Pyre | January 3, 2009 7:31 PM
Um. Greg, didn't you get the memo? We subsitute the word "Freedom" for "French" now. So, you never, ever engage in "Freedom-bashing."
Am I getting this New Patriotism thing right?
Posted by: MIke Haubrich, FCD | January 3, 2009 8:10 PM
Mike: That is so Newt. You need to get with the program and get more Anne.
Posted by: Greg Laden | January 3, 2009 8:45 PM
For some reason that thought really ... frightens me.
Posted by: MIke Haubrich, FCD | January 3, 2009 9:02 PM
The mother wanting her poor son returned because he was really a victim and so young.... hogwash, he was ready to exicute the Captain, prosicute him. or take him back where you got him and drop him off, late at nite ..... when no ones around.
Posted by: Gohot | April 21, 2009 2:24 PM