Tag: Pirates

Pirates to Captain: Just Tell Us Where the Tourism Boats Are

by Michael Yessis | 05.14.10 | 11:53 AM ET

Chilling story by Sean Flynn in the latest GQ. He recounts the sagas of two hijacked boats in the Indian Ocean and tells how tourists—and tourism—are increasingly targets of pirates. One exchange:

“Tourism?” One of the pirates was close now. “Tourism boat?”

Roucou nodded. “Yes.”

The pirates broke into wide smiles, congratulating themselves, celebrating.

“Where is tourism? Where?”

“No tourists,” Roucou said. “There are none. They’ve all gone.”

The pirate scowled, then dispatched a few of his men to search the Explorer. They returned, confirmed there were no passengers on board. The pirates were no longer pleased.

“Where tourists? Where?”

The tourist boats were a few hours to the south, three of them near Assumption Island. Roucou had seen them earlier that day: the Sea Bird, the Adventurer, and the Hebridean Spirit, with nearly 200 passengers and crew among them.

“There are none,” Roucou told the pirates. “There’s only us.”

He’d answered quickly and surely, but the pirates did not believe him. Eight of them took most of the crew to the aft deck, and three stayed with Roucou and his chief engineer in the wheelhouse. One of them used the Explorer’s satellite phone to call a contact in Somalia, who spoke perfect English. He put Roucou on the line with a man named Abdi.

“Tell them where the tourism boats are,” Abdi said, “and they will let you go.”