Pirates on Board a true Story

I am a German retired Shipmaster. (see picture)

.A few years ago, when I took over command of a tanker in Singapore, the Captain whom I was supposed to relieve, told me, that he had pirates on board about a month ago. These pirates had dismantled and stolen the whole ship"s safe with everything that was stored in it. Therefore he had to keep the ship"s cash in a pülastic bag stored in the file cabinets.

So far so good, or maybe not so good. However, he gave me the handover notes for me to read and sign. I counted the ship's cash, which amounted to 17.300,-US$, and he left.

We sailed from Singapore the next afternoon, bound for Widuri in Indonesia to take over a cargo of crude oil.

Since the area was known to be pirate infested, I remained on the bridge until we had passed this area. By then it was well after 23:00 hours.

First thing I did when I arrived in my cabin was to pour me a stiff drink, turned on some musik and sat down on my couch to relax before I would retire on the sack.

The next thing I knew was that my door opened, and four pirates entered my cabin armed with machettes.

When pirates pay you a visit, it is not very prudent to play the hero, because you will be a hero for only a very short time. Thereafter you are dead. Anyway, one of these pirates prssed the point of his machet into my neck, which made me feel kind of uncomfortable. So I told them: „ Take it easy, you guys. I will kooperate, what can I do for you.“

Iwas ordered to strech my arms out, and they tied my wrists with a pink plastic string, which they had obviously brought with them. My wristwatch was gone at t5he same time. Now they wanted to know where the money is.

I told them:“ Gentlemen I am very sorry, but you are too late. Your collegues have been on board four hours ago, and they have stolen the whole ship's safe. Ther is no more money on board.“ And then I made a mistake. I started laughing. This apparently annoid them, because they were shouting at me in their own language, which I could not understand.

They marched me into my bedroom, ordered me to lay down on my bunk, and tied my ankles with another plastc string. Thereafter they threw a blanked over my face, so I could not watch them anymore. However, I heard them when tey runsacked my cabin. They opened cabinets, pulled out drawers, and turned them upside down to empty them.

After a while one ofthe pirates came close to my bunk. And informed me, that tey were going to leave my ship. He also asked me to give them eive minutes time before to rise the alarm. I anwered him, that I could not guarratee that, because he had stolen my wristwatch.

Beside my bunk was a telefone. With my bound wrists I wqas still able to pick up the receiver and to dial. I called the Chief Ebineer, and told him to come to my cabin immediately and to bring a knife with him, what he did.

After he had cut me loose, we went into my livingroom. It was a mess.

I sad: „Well, Chief, I think we have deserved a drink“, and opened my refrigurator only to discover that the pirates had stolen my whisky as well.

No big deal. I called Sparky /radio operator) who waqs in charge of the slopchest, and told him to come to my cabin with a bottle of whisky. I needed him anyway, because I had to send a message to the company, informing them that we had uninvited visitors, and that the ship's cash was gone.

I was not in the mood to clean up my cabin. That could be done by the Szeward in the morning.

After the bottle was empty ( in the Tropic whisky evaporets real fast ), we decited to call it a day andto put our heads down.

The next morning after breakfast, I checked for missing items. My expensive binockulars, my camera, my wallet with money and creditcards, and my wintercoat were missing. What these pirates want to do with a wintercoat in Indonesia I coultn't fathom, but it was gone.

Very much to my surprise, I found the old plstic bag with the ship's cash to be still in the files cabinet. Apparently my new friends had been unable to imagine that someone in his right mind would store 17.300,- in a plastic bag.

What now? I had reported to the company that the money had been stolen by the pirates. If I would put that money into my üocket, nobody would be the wiser.

However, a shipping company has no choice but to tust their Captains. If I would cheat them now, I would have to live with that. Therefore I decided to correct my earlier message, and tell the company that the ship's cash was still on board.

My Chief Mate told me: „ Captain, you are an idiot, but at least you are a honest one,“

As a captain you have a lot of free time. Especially during long voyages. My experiences with pirates inspired my to write a book. „ Pirates of the Southchina Sea“ This book is fiction, and has nothing to do with my personal experiences.