Reflections on Somali pirates, Canadian warships and rigors of flying

It's been more than a week since I returned from nearly two weeks aboard HMCS Winnipeg, the Canadian warship that had been participating in a NATO-directed counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden. Here, in brief, are some of the things I learned:

Flatlanders at home on sea

GULF OF ADEN -- There is a saying among the Manitobans on this ship that Prairie dwellers make the best sailors.

The theory is that those who grew up staring at the flatlands somehow are less susceptible to seasickness.

It's a theory.

"Absolutely," said able seamen Whitney Barham when asked about a flatlander's capacity to endure rough seas. "I think we're just tougher somehow. And we have more fun. You get a bunch of Manitobans on the water and you're going to have a good time."

Perspective: Months of Monday

GULF OF ADEN — It’s Monday again. Sailors will tell you that every day at sea is a Monday, right up to the day before you get to port. Then it’s Friday.

Finding a solution for the future of trade

GULF OF ADEN -- The member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are negotiating to extend and expand the highly successful counter-piracy mission in the waters off Somalia.

There are also talks underway to clarify once and for all the legal framework for counter-piracy missions so that more suspected pirates can be brought to justice.

Portuguese Rear-Admiral Jose Domingos Pereira da Cunha, the senior officer in charge of Standing NATO Marine Group One, said Friday it is essential for NATO warships to continue patrolling the pirate-infested waters to ensure that citizens around the world are not punished by increasing prices for the goods shipped through this critically important trade corridor.

It is hoped a new and larger NATO task force could be in place by July 1, a spokesman for the rear-admiral said. The majority of ships in Standing Marine Group One is expected to complete their current deployment at the end of June.

Counter-piracy mission to be extended

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG — The member countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization are negotiating to extend and expand the highly successful counter-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden, the senior officer in charge of Standing NATO Marine Group One said today.

There are also talks underway to clarify once and for all the legal framework for counter-piracy missions so that more suspected pirates can be brought to justice.

Portuguese Rear-Admiral Jose Domingos Pereira da Cunha said it is essential for NATO warships to continue patrolling the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden to ensure that citizens around the world are not punished by increasing prices for the goods shipped through this critically important trade corridor.

It is hoped a new and larger NATO task force could be in place by July 1, a spokesman for the rear-admiral said. The majority of ships in Standing Marine Group One are expected to complete their current deployment at the end of June.

Our sailors finding true justice elusive

GULF OF ADEN -- News that a Swedish warship had arrested nine suspected Somali pirates in these waters was met with mixed emotions on this Canadian frigate.

Aboard one of the 50 of so warships cruising this critically important shipping route, the crew of the Winnipeg applauds the work of any ship that is able to not only fend off a pirate attack, but also bring the alleged perpetrators to some form of justice. That opportunity to arrest a pirate and see him taken before a court of law has been one aspect of the anti-piracy mission here that has evaded the diligent crew of the Winnipeg.

On a half-dozen occasions, the Winnipeg has stopped and boarded suspected pirate vessels. Just last week, the ship had its best day in the gulf, seizing a significant cache of automatic weapons, ammunition and rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) launchers, the weapon of choice for discerning pirates. But there was just the slightest hint of muttering among some of the crew about the fact that these pirates, as was the case each and every time before, had to be released.

It is growing increasingly difficult to determine who is winning the war in the Gulf of Aden.

Crew pulls in biggest haul yet

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG -- There was a moment when navy Lt. Mike Baker had to wonder if his instinct was going to hold true.

For more than an hour, the HMCS Winnipeg boarding crew he led had conducted a painstaking search of a fishing skiff in the Gulf of Aden. The sailors were sent to intercept the skiff after the crew on Winnipeg's helicopter -- a Sea King nicknamed The Palomino after a Winnipeg nightclub of the same name -- spotted two suspicious boats a few kilometres outside of the ship's patrol box.

Drifting through the emerald-blue water, some 80 kilometres south of the Yemen coast but only a few kilometres away from a shipping corridor jammed with merchant vessels, the sun bore down like a sledgehammer, amplifying the heat and humidity.

The white fibreglass boat presented a challenge. Its deck was stuffed with piles of tangled nets, buoys, grappling hooks and other fishing tools. Below deck, there were bags of clothing, some food, bilge water that smelled like it had escaped from a sewage-treatment plant and enough cockroaches to feed a lifetime of nightmares.

Practicalities of pirate prosecution raises questions

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG in the GULF OF ADEN — With his frantic tone, the captain of the Maria K. left no doubt that he was facing a world of trouble.

Without warning, a light-blue skiff with nine pirates fired several rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) launcher at the Maria K. The captain attempted evasive maneuvers but like most of the slow, awkward merchant vessels that travel the trade route through the Gulf of Aden, they were sitting ducks.

And then, at the last moment, the pirates disengaged and headed toward another container ship, the Maersk Virginia. Perhaps because the pirates got up close to the Maria K. and found she had troublesome counter measures, or perhaps because the Maersk Virginia held the promise of more robust loot, the chase was on with new quarry.

The radio on the bridge of HMCS Winnipeg vibrated with the rapid-fire transmissions going back and forth between the two merchant ships and several warships in the area. Although this incident was outside the Winnipeg's patrol box, Commander Craig Baines immediately steered his frigate towards the coordinates of the Maersk Virginia, and sent word to ready Winnipeg's Sea King helicopter, for immediate dispatch.

Kenya courted to prosecute pirates

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG in the GULF OF ADEN -- Canada is actively seeking an agreement with Kenya to prosecute suspected Somali pirates arrested by Canadian warships, Defence Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday.

Following a tour of HMCS Winnipeg, Canada's contribution to a NATO anti-piracy task force in the Gulf of Aden, MacKay said negotiations are underway between a number of interested nations and Kenya to accept pirates arrested in the act of attacking commercial vessels.

"We're working through diplomatic channels with countries here in the region, most notably Kenya, as other countries have been able to do, to establish a means or a process to prosecute those who are involved in piracy here," MacKay told reporters.

"There are precedents in place that allow for countries like Canada to strike an agreement, an accord or memorandum that would allow for the arrest and then turning over of suspected pirates and evidence necessary to prosecute."

Dan Lett reports from HMCS Winnipeg

Free Press reporter Dan Lett files a report from the HMCS Winnipeg.

Defence minister tours HMCS Winnipeg

ON BOARD HMCS WINNIPEG in the GULF OF ADEN — Canada is actively seeking an agreement with Kenya to prosecute suspected Somali pirates arrested by Canadian warships, Defense Minister Peter MacKay said Thursday.

Canadians engaged in age-old battle

SALALAH, OMAN -- Think of HMCS Winnipeg as the thin grey line.

Looming over the dock in this port city, the haze of 40-degree temperatures and dust of the surrounding desert giving the ship a discernible glow, Winnipeg is all spit and polish and sharp edges.

The Canadian frigate is nearly one and a half football fields long, and weighs nearly 5,000 tonnes. And in its current mission patrolling the expansive waters of the Gulf of Aden, Winnipeg and a handful of NATO warships are all that separate the commercial vessels containing trillions of dollars in cargo from the grips of a new generation of pirates.

The pirates are fast, fearless and -- given that they originate from the mayhem that is Somalia -- they are unrestrained by law. They have swapped their sails for small skiffs and 300-horsepower outboard engines, and cannons for rocket-propelled grenade launchers.