Pirate vessel seized off Somalia by U.S. Navy

Remember the pirates who harassed small luxury ship Seabourn Spirit in November of last year? Well, by making such a bold move these pirates raised their profile to the point where the U.S. Navy has sent a guided-missile frigate to hunt them down--successfully.

The U.S.S. Winston Churchill had responded to a piracy alert on January 21 related to merchant shipping from the International Maritime Bureau, discovered a suspicious vessel about 50 miles off the coast of Somalia, and shadowed it overnight. Come morning, the Churchill hailed, chased, and eventually fired warning shots at the traditional dhow, eventually forcing its occupants to surrender themselves and their vessel.

Indian mariners onboard the dhow, as it turns out, had themselves been taken hostage by the well-armed pirates and were grateful for the Navy's rescue. The pirates had been using the dhow as a platform for launching attacks on other merchant vessels for six days. No word on whether these particular pirates had any connection to the attack on Seabourn Spirit.

Although it's not common knowledge outside of maritime circles, piracy of merchant vessels on the high seas is a prevalent problem world-wide, and nowhere more so than off the coast of Somalia which has no effective government. The only reason the mainstream media is covering the issue today is due to the extremely unusual and brazen attack on the Seabourn Spirit.