Last Wednesday at Limehouse, Paul and Rachel Chandler presented a narrative of their experience of being captured by pirates near the Seychelles and held hostage for 388 days. They refer to this dryly as their ‘Somalia Excursion’.
Paul, a civil engineer, and his wife Rachel, an economist, decided to retire early and go cruising in 2005. By the end of 2007, they had done enough shakedown cruises in the Med and headed for the Red Sea.
After sailing around the Indian Ocean, they headed back towards Africa and in October 2009… the Seychelles.
What was unusual about the Chandlers’ capture at the time is that
- it happened 600+miles offshore and
- normally pirates don’t target small yachts. Cargo ships are more lucrative targets.
Organisation of Pirates
Previously pirates had not been seen so far offshore (usually they were limited by the amount of food and ammo their tiny boats can carry.) These pirates were able to overcome these limits by using an (often captured) ‘mother ship’ to launch smaller boats from to look for targets.
Pirates were:
- heavily armed – with AK47’s, grenades, etc
- in boats packed with food, gas and people – little room, little shelter
- with very basic means of communication – had handheld GPS, no radar, no satellite phone…
And in general, pirates are:
- desperate
- with a short expected lifespan
- usually not experienced and are on their first (and only) mission. Most that go out do not succeed and do not come back alive. The goal/dream is to do one mission and make enough money to set them up for life.
The Chandlers’ pirates were no exception.
When the Chandlers’ were taken to Somalia where they were held for 382 days
- they were guarded by 5 to 20 men at all times who carried machine guns
- they were fed 3 times a day and given water, but ultimately experienced malnutrition as it was all carbs and goat liver
- moved repeatedly
- sometimes separated
- housed in tents and mud huts
- not beaten, except once when they tried to refuse to be separated
Government positions on negotiating with pirates:
- France & USA: have made active attempts to rescue their citizens taken hostage with varying success rates
- Italy: flatly refuses to negotiate with pirates for hostage release (do not pay ransoms). They further freeze the accounts of hostages so that their family cannot pay ransoms either.
- UK: flatly refuses to negotiate with pirates for hostage release (do not pay ransoms).
- The Chandlers are British. The only rescue attempts made were by their family who ultimately negotiated and paid £600,000 for their release. Also a Somali-born London taxi driver was also involved in helping ensure their release.
- (The UK Foreign Office claimed they were ‘doing everything within their power to effect their safe release’. According to the Chandlers, there’s no clear insight on what actual action this might have been, if any.)
Lessons learned
- First 6 days (or so?) after capture are critical – news blackout recommended (while negotiations/ rescue attempts made).
- Pirates want to ensure publicity and world awareness to drive up ‘the value’ of the hostages.
- (Unfortunately, the Chandlers’ family were not given this advice when the Foreign Office spoke to them.)
- Have an EPIRB or a way to make distress signals.
- Paul did manage to set off their EPIRB. It was only on for 30 minutes (until the pirates found it.)
- However, this did get the message out that they were in distress and their family were informed.
- Carrying guns or grenades is not going to help you out against what the pirates are carrying. And there’s an excellent chance that it will aggravate/escalate the situation.
- If you are in business, a foreign aid worker, journalist or perhaps a celebrity you would have access to insurance to pay ransoms and other support.
- This is helpful once you are captured – but also can serve to make you a target in the first place.
- The Chandlers’ did not have insurance or backing and the pirates refused to believe that a rich country like the UK wouldn’t pay for them.
- Therefore they continued to hold them hostage waiting for ‘the big prize’ money to arrive.
- It may be a helpful strategy for hostages to make a connection/ relationship with the pirates
- so they will treat them better.
- This is not realistic/feasible for women hostages due to the status of women in countries that pirates come from.
Controversy
- The Chandlers say they had no idea of the pirate risk in the area.
- They say they had researched this online and talked to yachts that had recently come through the area.
- They note that while in undeveloped areas of the world it is difficult to get online to get up-to-date info.
- They did most of their research while on trips to the UK, so research was not done at exactly the time they were leaving to sail the Seychelles.
- They say no one checking them out of the country (the Victoria Coastguard at the Port of Victoria) as they left mentioned anything about pirate risk.
- Media reports and yacht forums cast doubt on whether they really could not have known about the risks.
- The UK Foreign Office confirms their site had an online warning of pirates in the Northwest Seychelles at the time.
Final Outcome
- The Chandlers’ were released unharmed after 388 days.
- They did/do not seem to have long term mental or physical problems as a result of their experience.
- Their family paid about £600,000 in ransom.
- They are rebuilding their boat. It was recovered by an Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship – a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence – and brought to Portland UK for them.
- They wrote a book about their experience.
- They are going sailing again. This time to Brazil.
Conclusion
Prevention is the best answer
Find recent reliable knowledge on where pirates have been reported is your best planning preparation. Then avoid these areas completely.
- The Can Opener and I will check every site and other info sources we can find before we go anywhere, to make sure of the areas we are sailing in.
- We will avoid anything with even a hint of warnings against it. It’s just not worth it. There are too many beautiful areas to explore where the odds are so much better.
- There must be more detailed info on how to survive a hostage taking. This research is on our ongoing ‘research to do’ list.
- It would be tempting just to blame the Chandlers – but it’s also true that sometimes sh*t happens no matter how much you prepare.
- Most importantly, prevention is better than cure.
- Here the link to the noonsite.com pages with piracy info on it.
Definitely a lot to think about and digest here. Everything has good and bad sides. Piracy is an extremely big ‘down’ side.
It’s a serious topic to weigh/research/prepare/inform oneself about that sits on the other side of the beauty and dreams of paradise.
Paradise is worth it. But best be prepared.
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
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