A French captain who knows his pirates has some advice for other sailors:
“When you see them coming, it’s too late.” A year ago, Patrick Marchesseau
watched helplessly as a band of Somali pirates hijacked his ship and took
him and his crew hostage in the turbulent Gulf of Aden. The pirates held him
captive aboard Le Ponant, the 288-foot (88-metre) luxury sailing yacht he
was captaining, before French commandos freed him and others in a raid.

“It’s not worth shooting at them,” Marchesseau said of the pirates, speaking
by telephone Wednesday from the Egyptian coast, where he is once again on Le
Ponant. He even sailed the ship through the dangerous Gulf of Aden last
week,this time escorted by military forces. “(Pirates) are more armed than you,
and life has, I think, a bit less importance in Somalia, based on what I’ve
seen,”he said.

Piracy has exploded off the East African coast, and ship captains, shipping
companies and international military forces are struggling to find an
effective way to stop the attacks. Marauders armed with rocket-launchers and
machine guns have already attacked 79 ships this year and are still holding
280 crew members and 15 ships hostage, according to the International
Maritime.