Somali pirate waters safer if you're French?

by David Jones, HM Forces/Sail-World on 5 Dec 2010 In a world exclusive deal with Britain's Daily Mail, Paul and Rachel Chandler are giving a 'blow by blow' description of their ordeal, in episodic form. In one episode, something of the workings of the mind of a Somali pirate is divulged, and a reason why these days it may be safer for French sailors in Somali waters than any other nationality.

MOMENTS after storming aboard Paul and Rachel Chandler’s yacht, the pirates’ leader began haranguing them with one question that was clearly of vital importance to him.

‘Nationality? Nationality?’ he shouted repeatedly in thickly- accented English, as the couple were taken below decks at gunpoint.

Amid the chaos of the assault, the British red ensign that had fluttered proudly from the Lynn Rival’s stern had been torn down, and they quickly realised that the gang chief, Bugas, was terrified that they might be French.

They had no idea why he was so anxious about this; it only became clear to them much later.

Six months before their kidnap, when another band of Somali pirates hijacked a yacht from Brittany cruising in the same stretch of ocean, French commandos had staged a ruthless rescue operation.

In a ferocious gun battle, the captured skipper, Florent Lemacon, was tragically killed, but as the boat was retaken, two of the pirates were also shot dead and the rest were captured.

In another episode, the luxury yacht Le Ponant, which had been hijacked by pirates, was also freed by French commandos who stormed the vessel, with no loss of life for the crew.

Sanctioned by the French Defence Minister, Herve Morin, these were both shows of force designed to send out a message to the pirates – that one nation, at least, was no longer prepared to stand by and let them plunder the seas with impunity.

So when the Chandlers assured Bugas they were British, his relief was immediately obvious.

‘The pirates don’t mess with the French any more, says 60-year old Paul. Their forces are too gung-ho.

‘But I think they see the other Western navies who patrol the area as a bit of laughing stock.