Seabourn Spirit

"Seabourn Spirit" is a German-built 5-star cruise ship that first sailed in 1989. The luxury liner travels between Europe and Africa, and is owned by the Seabourn Cruise Line.

Pirate attack

On 5 November 2005 at 5:50 am, the ship was attacked, 115 km off the coast of Somalia, by two pirate speedboats launched by a mother boatBomb experts tackle missile, The Herald Sun, 2005-11-08] . The ship carried 151 passengers, none of whom were injured, although machine gun shots were fired as well as rocket propelled grenades. An unexploded grenade wedged itself in the wall of a roomRebuilding Africa tourism, Christian Science Monitor, 2005-11-08] and was disarmed by sailors from the USS|Gonzalez|DDG-66|6Cruising into hell, The Daily Telegraph (Australia), 2005-11-08] after the attack. The ship's Master-at-Arms, Michael Groves, was hit by shrapnel whilst attempting to combat the raiders with a long range acoustic device (LRAD). The sonic device repelled the pirates by blasting a powerful sound wave. The ship also destroyed one of the pirate vessels by running it over. Groves and fellow British colleague Som Bahadur Gurung (an ex-Gurkha) were honoured for their bravery by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday 16 May 2007, receiving the Queen's Gallantry Medal and the Queen's Commendation for Bravery respectively. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6664677.stm BBC News: 'I beat pirates with a hose and sonic cannon'] ] Cocktail party follows pirate attack, The Courier-Mail,2005-11-08]

References

* cite news
url = http://www.cbc.ca/cp/world/051105/w110544.html
title = Cruise liner Seabourn Spirit attacked by pirates off coast of Somalia
publisher = CBC News
date = 2005-11-05
* cite news
url = http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=e6c2bc93-85f8-4509-bd2e-9d1ea1dd9b3f
title = Machine-gun toting pirates attack ship
publisher = National Post
date = 2005-11-06
* cite news
url = http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SYD20076.htm
title = Unexploded grenade left on US cruise ship
publisher = Reuters
date = 2005-11-07
* cite news
url = http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/11/07/somalia.pirates/index.html
title = U.S. Navy boards ship after pirate attack
publisher = CNN
date = 2005-11-08
* cite news
url = http://news.independent.co.uk/world/africa/article326582.ece
title = Somali 'mother ship' directs attacks by pirates
date = 2005-11-12
publisher = The Independent
* cite news
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6664677.stm
title = 'I beat pirates with a hose and sonic cannon'
date = 2007-05-16
publisher = BBC News Online

External links

* [http://www.marad.dot.gov/headlines/advisories/ADV_0503.htm MARAD ADVISORY 05-03 (28 OCT 2005)]
* [http://www.seabourn.com/default.asp Official Seabourn corporate site]