It looks like there is a ship that is sitting off Somalia and sending pirates to attack ships and Cruise ships that come within range. This “Mothership” has been associated with 5 attacks in the last few days.

At the center of the wave of recent attacks is a mysterious, so-called mothership that has been spotted three times since late July drifting off the northeast coast of Somalia.

“We understand that this is the vessel that is launching the speedboats that go to attack the victims,” Mwangura said. “We are still trying to discover the name of this ship, its owner, its nationality and the identity of the crew on board.”

The IMB, which called the situation completely out of control, confirmed a mothership had been involved in the attacks, which took place well off the coast.

The piracy watchdog has warned merchant ships to stay at least 200 nautical miles away from the Somali coast — an admonition that has gone unheeded.

After two years of relative calm, 32 pirate attacks have been recorded since mid-March, including raids on ships carrying supplies for the U.N. World Food Program, according to the IMB. via CNN

This story is amazing, pirates attacking in the 21st Century, all the while the ships are using modern age weapons to repel them. It is almost out of a science fiction novel.

So are you safe on a cruise ship? That is a question racing around the travel industry at the present time.

“No ship apart from a naval vessel is really prepared to protect against a waterborne assault of the sort against the Cole,” said Kim Petersen, president of maritime security consultant SeaSecure and a former cruise line security official. “Even those ships that are best equipped to cope with such a threat, in the case of the Cole, are in a difficult situation.”

Cruise industry officials said the Spirit’s successful efforts to repel the attackers validate security plans that all ships must have in place under U.S. and international law. They point out that no passenger was injured on the Spirit and just one crew member had minor injuries.via Washington Post