Yo Ho Ho Matey!

The Pirates of the Atlantic have been rubbed out for years now, but a new group of pirates is surfacing off the coast of Somalia. I was reading an article I found on Reuters Alert net about pirates seizing a Japanese ship carrying Benzene that was originally bound for Israel. Apparently the hijackers (pirates) struck a deal with the shipping company for the safe release of the crew.

I'm sure if had this been back in the 1600's or 1700's or maybe even the 1800's the pirates would have been a little more malicious then the report states. The times have certainly changed, but they must change, life would stagnate without change. Anyway, the article reports that the hijackers and the owners had struck a deal for the safe release of the crew. One of the pirates came forward with a ransom sum, $500,000. Now half a million is quite a bit of money, but if they had hijacked a different ship, they probably could have plundered more than half a million dollars worth of goods.

The U.S. Navy was even called in, they open fired on runner ships leaving the seized vessel. Apparently there has been several ships hijacked in the same area this year. I'm sure the U.S. Navy will be around to try and prevent further hijackings, but that's not to say there won't be anymore. Hm, modern day pirates, not something you hear about every day is it?

Image source: Wiki media Commons
News Article: Somali pirates leave Japan-owned ship, crew safe