Back in November, a group of Somali pirates in a skiff temporarily hijacked the oil tanker MV Central Park, but were later captured with the help of the U.S. Navy vessel USS Mason, which was on patrol in the Gulf of Aden.
The group consisted of five pirates.
The USS Mason measures 509 feet long and carries a complement of 308 officers and enlisted sailors. Here’s a list of its armament:
Guns:
1 × 5-inch (127 mm)/62 Mk 45 Mod 4 (lightweight gun)
1 × 20 mm (0.8 in) Phalanx CIWS
2 × 25 mm (0.98 in) Mk 38 machine gun system
4 × 0.50 inches (12.7 mm) caliber guns
Missiles:
1 × 32-cell, 1 × 64-cell (96 total cells) Mk 41 vertical launching system (VLS):
RIM-66M surface-to-air missile
RIM-156 surface-to-air missile
RIM-174A standard ERAM
RIM-161 anti-ballistic missile
RIM-162 ESSM (quad-packed)
BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile
RUM-139 vertical launch ASROC
Torpedoes:
2 × Mark 32 triple torpedo tubes:
Mark 46 lightweight torpedo
Mark 50 lightweight torpedo
Mark 54 lightweight torpedo
A lopsided contest, in other words.
I was interested in this story, because we have several athletic teams here at Pagosa Springs High School, who compete under the moniker, “The Pagosa Pirates.” I’ve often wondered about that name, since I have always thought of pirates as sailors on the ocean, and Pagosa is about as far from the ocean as you can possibly get, except maybe in central Asia.
I’ve also wondered why a school district would allow its students to be portrayed as “Pirates”. My limited information about pirates has always led me to characterize them as bloodthirsty murderers. Which is to say, as ‘not nice people’.
But maybe my information has been wrong? Maybe pirates are actually the “good guys”?
Take, for example, the famous pirate William Kidd, better known simply as ‘Captain Kidd’. In the mid-1600s, he served as a ‘privateer’ with a commission from King William III of England, which allowed him to attack and plunder French vessels. (The French and English were not on the best of terms in those days.) In 1695, Kidd received a royal commission from the Earl of Bellomont, the Governor of New York, to hunt French ships in the Indian Ocean. Three years later, Kidd captured his greatest prize, the 350-ton Quedagh Merchant, a ship hired by Armenian merchants and captained by an Englishman. The political climate in England had turned against him, however, and he was denounced as a “pirate”. Governor Bellomont himself engineered Kidd’s arrest upon his return to Boston, and sent him to stand trial in London. He was found guilty and hanged in 1701.
I think this story illustrates the problem. You’re a “privateer” when you’re working for the government, but a “pirate” when you capture the wrong ship. Sort of like when you’re working for the IRS, I suppose.
Which brings us to the Somali pirates. From Somalia.
Somali waters are home to many types of fish, but the sustainability of its fisheries is compromised by the presence of numerous foreign fishing vessels, many of them fishing illegally. Somalia’s domestic fishing sector is small and poorly developed, whereas the foreign vessels are generally large and well developed, and have been viewed by Somali artisanal fishers as a threat to their traditional livelihoods.
Some foreign vessels are known for destroying marine habitat through bottom trawling. Unintentionally, I’m sure, but still…
After the Somali government fell apart in 1992, foreign fishing boats had pretty much free reign, until local Somalis began arming themselves and capturing the ships, and holding them for ransom. This proved lucrative — as one might imagine — and soon enough, the “pirates” were hijacking non-fishing vessels.
Good paying jobs have always been in short supply in Somalia, and piracy also provided a nice return for commercial investors. Just like it had for the English and American investors in the 1600s.
Unfortunately for the Somali pirates, the Gulf of Aden happens to be a transportation corridor, through which pass, each year, about 30 million barrels of oil. So the U.S. and the Europeans have sent navy ships to patrol the area.
The five men who captured — temporarily — the Israeli-owned MV Central Park, are no doubt pirates, in every sense of the word.
If the MV Central Park were a fishing vessel instead of an oil tanker… well, maybe I would feel differently about the whole thing.
Or, maybe not.
My main point being, I’m now feeling much more comfortable with the name of our high school athletic teams.
They might be “good guys” after all. Just misunderstood.