Sep 13th, 2012 at 10:00AM: Nearly two years after being released by Somali pirates who stormed their sailboat and held them hostage for 13 months, Paul and Rachel Chandler are finally ready to get back on their boat, the Lynn Rival. This time they won't be going anywhere near Somalia, but they refuse to rule out a return visit if the situation there improves.
The Chandlers have spent much of the last two years writing a ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
pirates posts
Interview With Paul And Rachel Chandler: British Couple Taken Hostage By Somali Pirates
Sep 13th, 2012 at 10:00AM: Nearly two years after being released by Somali pirates who stormed their sailboat and held them hostage for 13 months, Paul and Rachel Chandler are finally ready to get back on their boat, the Lynn Rival. This time they won't be going anywhere near Somalia, but they refuse to rule out a return visit if the situation there improves.
The Chandlers have spent much of the last two years writing a ...Tonga Shipwreck Discovered, Believed To Be Pirate Treasure Ship
Aug 12th, 2012 at 4:00PM: A recent discovery made by divers in Tonga could hold a missing puzzle piece to an age-old mystery. A local diver in the Ha'apai group of islands last month found wreckage believed to be a pirate vessel containing treasure that sank in 1806.
The Port-au-Prince, a British privateer, was attacked by local warriors after arriving in Tonga, with King Finau 'Ulukalala II ordering the crew to be ...Museum Month: Madness And Badness At Psychiatric And Crime Museums
May 12th, 2012 at 10:00AM: It's no secret amongst my friends (and I suspect, most of my readers) that I'm obsessed with the more sordid aspects of humanity. Why? Hell if I know. As with most things, I blame my dad, the veterinarian. I'm pretty sure a childhood spent playing necropsy assistant has something to do with it.
My love of forensics is only the tip of the iceberg: psychiatry, taxidermy, eating weird shit and ...Quirky hotel amenity: Pirate tuck-ins for children at Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island
Nov 12th, 2011 at 3:00PM: What better way for a child to end a day full of swimming and sea than to be tucked-in by a pirate? At the Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island, in Florida not only does Pirate Luis Aury provide a bedtime story, but Princess Amelia and a blue and gold macaw make an appearance, as well. Children will also be given cookies and milk as well as a treasure chest full of loot. The tuck-ins can be scheduled in ...Dolly Parton's 'Pirates Voyage' replaces 'Dixie Stampede' in Myrtle Beach
Jun 6th, 2011 at 5:00PM: Pirates and mermaids have taken over Dolly Parton's popular Western-themed Dixie Stampede theater show in Myrtle Beach, hoisting the Jolly Roger where cowboys had previously performed stunts for 19 years.
The Dixie Stampede dinner show, which is still running in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee and Branson, Missouri, closed its doors in South Carolina last year. After an $11 million renovation that ...Hiking in France's Basque Region
May 31st, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The Basque region straddles the border between northeastern Spain and southwestern France. For the past five days I've been hiking in Spain's Basque region, and today I and my group are crossing the border into France.
One of our Basque guides, Josu, says the culture on the other side of the border isn't as strong. While only 28% of Spanish Basques can speak Basque (Euskara), that number goes ...Blackbeard's pirate ship gives up its anchor
May 28th, 2011 at 12:00PM:
A pirate ship owned by the notorious Blackbeard is being investigated by archaeologists, who have just retrieved one of its anchors.
The Queen Anne's Revenge, was grounded in 1718 while trying to enter Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina. Blackbeard had just come from blockading Charleston until he received a ransom. Currently the wreck lies in only 20 feet of water, as easily accessible to ...Archaeologists to raise 17th century shipwreck
May 14th, 2011 at 1:00PM:
The shipwreck of a 17th century merchant vessel off the coast of England is going to be raised from the sea, the BBC reports.
An armed merchant vessel that plied the high seas sank in the Swash Channel off the coast of Dorset more than 300 years ago. Underwater archaeology teams have been studying the wreck and have found cannon, pottery, and an intriguing face of a man carved into the ...Captain Kidd's pirate ship to become underwater museum
May 7th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
The submerged wreck of Captain Kidd's pirate ship will become a "Living Museum of the Sea" reports Science Daily.
The Quedagh Merchant was found a couple of years ago just off the coast of the Dominican Republic. It's only 70 feet from the shore of Catalina Island and rests in ten feet of water, so it's a perfect destination for scuba divers or even snorkelers.
Underwater signs will guide ...The spread of Somalian pirates
Apr 20th, 2011 at 2:00PM: Should we be concerned by suggestions that terrorists are taking clues from the Somali pirates and considering hijacking ships across the Indian Ocean for reasons other than ransom?
Absolutely.
There is increasing evidence of links in Somalia between the mafia-like organizations that run most of the pirating and the Somali-based terrorist group Al-Shabaab, which controls most of southern and ...How to pirate-proof a ship
Apr 19th, 2011 at 12:00PM: Razor wire, Gurkhas and sonic weapons are being routinely deployed on ships sailing in the pirate-infested waters off the Horn of Africa in an attempt to pirate-proof ships of all kinds. While ships try to go through the Suez Canal, pirate attacks on pretty much anything sailing off East Africa are rising and extra measures are being taken to protect the ships and their passengers.
A 25-nation ...British woman rowing across the Indian Ocean
Apr 14th, 2011 at 8:30AM: British ocean rower Roz Savage just can't seem to stay at home. The adventurous 43-year old has already conquered both the Atlantic and Pacific, and now has her sights squarely set on rowing across the Indian Ocean as well. She set out from Fremantle, Australia yesterday and is now making her way to Mumbai, India in a voyage that is expected to cover more than 4000 miles and take four and a half ...Dubai tour company offers pirate hunting cruises off horn of Africa
Apr 1st, 2011 at 10:30AM:
After years of murders, kidnappings, and heists, the lawless sea near the horn of Africa seems to be getting worse. A Dubai firm is capitalizing on these pirate infested waters with a strange new form of pirate tourism. The tour company, Dubai based Seahunters LLC, sells both 7 and 14 day cruises embarking from Salalah, Oman and Abu Dhabi, UAE. Unlike the quintessential cruise, the cruisers ...It's time to end Indian Ocean "Adventures"
Mar 24th, 2011 at 1:00PM: With news that seven Danish sailors, including three children aged 12 to 16, had been captured by Somali pirates in the Indian Ocean on Thursday, February, 24, it's time to reevaluate the legacy of four Americans shot to death by pirates in those same waters off eastern Africa just two days before the Danes issued their distress call.
In the obituaries of the four Americans killed aboard their ...Somali pirate ordeal ends with death of religious Americans
Feb 22nd, 2011 at 4:00PM: They were on year seven of a ten-year around-the-world voyage, passing out bibles from New Zealand to Alaska to Fiji and all points in-between. Their voyage came to a tragic end today as Somaili pirates shot and killed captives Jean and Scott Adam of Southern California and Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle of Seattle.
US forces had been trailing the captured m/v Quest when shots were heard on ...10 breeds of pirate - Somalis to Vikings to Japanese Pirate Ninjas
Feb 21st, 2011 at 11:00AM:
A yacht carrying a quartet of Americans was recently seized by Somali pirates, the latest in a string of hijackings that reaches back millenia. According to MSNBC, the seized yacht, the "S/V Quest," is owned by Jean and Scott Adam - a couple on a worldwide quest distributing bibles. While they no doubt expected to spread the word far and wide, they were certainly not expecting to be boarded by ...2010 -- a record year for Somali pirates
Feb 8th, 2011 at 8:30AM: For all the "extremes" of the natural world in 2010 – record-setting rainfalls, droughts, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions – man managed to rack up some big numbers too.
Particularly those persistent Somali pirates who picked up the pace on the Indian Ocean, ramping up attacks on cargo boats, cruise ships and private yachts. According to an end of the year report by the Piracy ...Piracy reached record levels in 2010
Jan 18th, 2011 at 9:30AM:
Pirate hijackings in the Red Sea and nearby waters reached their highest levels ever, the Associated Press reports.
Pirate hijackings worldwide claimed 1,181 hostages and 53 vessels, a rise of ten percent since 2009. Of these, 49 ships were taken by Somali gunmen in the Red Sea or nearby waters in the Indian Ocean. Somali piracy has been the biggest problem area despite an international fleet ...Gun-toting Mexican "pirates" shoot to kill on border lake
Oct 1st, 2010 at 2:30PM: One man is presumed dead, and his wife was able to get away. The couple was jetskiing on the Falcon Lake reservoir. They crossed to the Mexican side of the water, according to Zapata county Sheriff Sigfredo Gonzalez, where they came under fire. The shooters are believed to be "Mexican drug operatives," the San Antonio Express-News reports. Two "boatloads" of men unleashed a torrent of bullets, ...Talk like a pirate, win a trip to Aruba
Sep 19th, 2010 at 11:00AM: As you must surely know, today is Talk Like a Pirate Day. This year, while you shiver your timbers, you can also win an amazing trip to Aruba courtesy of our friends over at NileGuide. Simply chart a course over to that contest page, enter to win and you and your first mate could soon could be flying down to Aruba on JetBlue, sailing on a pirate ship, dining inside a replica of a 16th century ...
