My take on piracy is that it is almost entirely directed at commercial shipping. I have passagemaker Fred Caron, currently cruising Southeast Asia, researching the subject for an article in the next edition of Circumnavigator. Here is quote from an email of Fred's: >Since receiving an e-mail you passed on to me, I >have been looking into small craft piracy in >this part of the world. We are near the >epicenter of all the talk. Frankly, I am >surprised to discover that small craft piracy is >nonexistent. > >At least for now, I am defining piracy as the >act of boarding a vessel at sea by aggressive >and perhaps armed person or people intent on >harming the crew, stealing the vessel or the >vessels content. > >I’ve talked to crews from all over the world, >some just passing through and others who have >been in these waters for years; the stories are >the same. No small craft piracy! On the other >hand, big ship piracy has been a flourishing >business in and around the Strait of Malacca at >least before the December 26th tsunami but >that’s another story. > >I have not met one person with a firsthand >account of piracy and none of them have heard of >any crews who have been pirated. This area is >void of piracy stories. Even the guys running >the SSB net have no piracy tales to tell. > >I have not finished but it looks like cases of >deck thief and cases of a drunken fisherman crew >intimidating crews do occur but piracy does not --Georgs -- Georgs Kolesnikovs Editor and Publisher, Circumnavigator http://www.circumnavigatormagazine.com