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According to the Cruise Vessel Security and Safety Act, cruise ships are required to have "acoustic hailing and warning devices" in certain high risk areas. These devices emit a high pitched noise that is directed toward approaching vessels and causes intense pain to the ears of the vessel’s occupants.
The reason for this law is
A newspaper in Oman published a report today indicating that a cruise ship, approximately 15 nautical miles off Masirah Island (east of Oman) "was aggressively approached by two skiffs suspected of belonging to Somali pirates" on November 23rd. The newspaper reports that the two skiffs ended their pursuit only when a shipboard private security team fired
Fairplay published an interesting article (an excerpt is available here) about the International Maritime Organization’s ("IMO") "guidance" regarding the presence of armed guards on shipping vessels.
The IMO met at its offices in London last week and discussed the issue of protecting seafarers who are employed on vessels which are increasingly being targeted by pirates. One of the issues discussed is the use
The Telegraph newspaper in the U.K. has a amazing article today by Richard Snailham about the Discovery cruise ship, operated by Discover the World cruise line, confronting a Somali speedboat as the ship sailed from Mombasa towards the Seychelles Islands.
The good news is that the pirates decided not to try and board the cruise ship. Mr. Snailham 
attributes this happy ending to "rolls of
An article today by Wolfgang H. Thome of eTurboNews (ETN) raises two disturbing scenarios:
1. It is only a matter of time before Somali pirates hijack a cruise ship, and
2. There are no plans in place to rescue the passengers when this happens.
The article is entitled "Somali Piracy – a Problem from Hell – What is the Naval Coalition Doing
Today, six crew members filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for injuries sustained when the Maersk Alabama was hijacked by Somali pirates in April. The crew members sued Maersk Line 
Ltd., the operator of the vessel, and Waterman Steamship Corp., the crewing company which hired them. They are seeking damages for physical and mental injuries and loss of income.
The seaman allege that Maersk failed to
