Cruising sailors of the world mourn..

by Nancy Knudsen, Editor on 24 Feb 2011 Without doubt this is the most reluctant editorial I have ever written, one during which I know that all cruising sailors who set off to follow sunsets around the world will be mourning the deaths of four of our ilk who have come to an untimely – and unexpected – death at the hands of Somali pirates. Unexpected, because we all thought they just wanted ransom.

The broad facts are clear. Nineteen pirates were aboard the Quest with the crew - Scott Adam, his wife Jean, of Orange County, California; and Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle, of Seattle, Washington – when they were being forced to sail from the point of their seajacking – 190 nautical miles southeast of Masirah Island in Oman - to Somalia. Four U.S. Navy warships were trailing them: USS Enterprise, an aircraft carrier; Guided Missile Cruiser Leyte Gulf; and Guided Missile Destroyers Sterett and Buckley.

Two pirates came on board the Sterett to negotiate, and remained overnight. The next morning at around 8.00am a rocket propelled grenade was fired at the Sterett, and small arms fire was heard immediately afterwards from the yacht. Following that 13 pirates moved onto the bow with their hands up in surrender. SEALs sped to the yacht, finding four pirates below decks, two of them dead. They killed the other two, one with a gunshot, one with a knife. The four American sailors had already been shot. Two were already dead, and first aid was administered to the two who were still alive. They died shortly after.

These are the facts, but two major questions remain.

Question 1 is about the pirates's actions. The facts seem to indicate that there was an altercation between the pirates. So was this a cold-blooded killing of the four cruising sailors, perhaps by

instruction from ashore? Or was it an act of panic by twitchy pirates because they were being followed by the four American ships? The difference IS important, because if it is the former it raises the general state of piracy in the area to a whole new level. Published ad hoc pirate statements after the incident can be discounted as normal 'gung-ho' responses, from pirates unassociated with the incident. It also raises questions about the fate of South African cruising sailors Deborah Calitz and Bruno Pelizzari, still in the hands of Somalis in Somalia.

Question 2 concerns the Quest: Why did the crew of the Quest, confirmed to be unarmed, and having specifically joined a rally in order to take them through the pirate zone, suddenly depart the rally? According to Peter Seymour of the Blue Water Rally, the Quest decided to split from the rally on 15th February. According to friends of the Adams, why they would do this is a mystery, yet to be answered.

Sail-World Cruising joins the rest of the cruising world in mourning for the lost sailors, the first such deadly incident in the long sordid history of piracy in waters surrounding Somalia.