Grand theft nautical The Pirates of the Gulf II

The aft deck of a fully laden crude carrier is only 10 to 13 feet above the surface of the sea. Motoring up to the ship, the pirates hooked grapnels connected to ropes and fastened to aluminum ladders onto the railings above, scaled the hull, rushed the bridge and commandeered the ship. It was proba...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational herald tribune
Main Author Burnett, John S
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Paris New York Times Company 06.12.2008
EditionInternational edition
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Summary:The aft deck of a fully laden crude carrier is only 10 to 13 feet above the surface of the sea. Motoring up to the ship, the pirates hooked grapnels connected to ropes and fastened to aluminum ladders onto the railings above, scaled the hull, rushed the bridge and commandeered the ship. It was probably over in minutes. The Sirius was just a target of opportunity. Pirates had no idea that they were about to capture a potential floating bomb. It is not the crude oil that is volatile. You can douse a cigarette in the stuff. It is the vapor from the cargo that is vented into the air that is explosive. For this reason, no one is allowed on deck with a camera, flashlight, cellphone or a plastic cigarette lighter in his pocket. One can imagine the captain of the Sirius Star pleading with his captors not to shoot their guns on deck. No one wants to contemplate the effects of an exploding tanker laden with 300,000 tons of crude oil. To place this ship in some perspective, the Exxon Valdez, which ran aground in the Gulf of Alaska in 1989, carried 53 million gallons of crude oil. The Sirius is carrying nearly 84 million gallons. If that amount of crude were to escape, the environmental damage to the Indian Ocean and the East African coast would be catastrophic.
ISSN:0294-8052