“RULE BRITANNIA” - SOMETHING HAS GONE WRONG!!!

When Britain first, at Heaven's command
Arose from out the azure main;
This was the charter of the land,
And guardian angels sang this strain:
"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
"Britons never will be slaves."

She most certainly was not ruling the waves of the Indian Ocean, on October the 23rd the day that R.F.A. Wave Knight watched Somali Pirates stop and board the Chandlers yacht.

25 Royal Navy sailors were on board the Wave Knight which also had a crew of 75 merchant seamen.

The excuse given was the captain and or the Ministry of Defence was afraid to interfere, as such action would have endangered the lives of Mr and Mrs Chandler. However Britain also takes a hard line about not paying ransoms to pirates and hijackers, so now the Chandlers are captive their lives being threatened and with no prospect that the government will pay a ransom.

If the British government does not intend to pay ransoms, a stand I applaud, the government should take a robust attitude to piracy akin to that of the French government’s attitude.

1. The Wave Knight’s captain should have known he was to intervene, regardless of the risk of casualties. – I hope this instruction has now been made to all Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxilliary ships’ captains.
2. The government should now be gathering all intelligence about the Chandlers’ whereabouts and followed up with a special forces rescue mission – this is what the French have done on at least two occasions. This action is permitted under a UN resolution passed in 2008 which allows all nations to persue Somali Pirates on Sea and on Land.

These pirates are businessmen, they want profits not a war, if it becomes known that attacks on British vessels will result in retaliatory actions which may kill the perpetrators soon these attacks will reduce – the pirates will go for vessels flying other flags, whose governments are not so robust in their response. Getting killed or wounded is not good business at the least it cuts into profits.

In Newsweek Christopher Dickey said of the French response. That on 3 occassions between April 2008 and April 2009 the Somali pirates had seized French Yachts. The French response has become well known to the pirates and now they avoid taking any French flagged vessels. In early April 2009 Somali pirates seized a French Yacht her crew and passengers. French Navy special forces went in to free the hostages, this operation resulted in the deaths of two of the pirates, unfortunately in the process the yacht skipper got killed, but on the plus side 4 hostages including a child were freed.

The long-term solution to Somali piracy will be a stable strong Somali government. But in the short term this historic problem can only be solved with historic, and somewhat barbaric, solutions. Those who opt for a life of piracy should be aware they are “international outlaws” and as such have no rights. If one of these pirates should be killed during the course of lawful anti-piracy operations, the death should be regarded as a natural consequence of being an international outlaw. Unfortunately Capital Punishment would not be acceptable to many Nations, therefore the law abiding maritime nations need to set-up an international court, and an international prison for these pirates.

There should be a mandatory very long sentence for piracy. Say thirty years with remission of a half, minimum time spent in prison fifteen years. The prison should be located in Africa, on land leased by the maritime nations. The standards within should be in accord with those expected in an African prison, not the standards within a European prison. The aim should be, to deter others from taking up piracy as a profession, with no thought of reforming pirates.