pirates

Cruise Ship Outruns Pirates

Cruise ship, the Nautica had a scare this week when the 30,000-ton luxury cruise ship outran pirates off the coast of Yemen. The Nautica, part of Oceania's cruise line, was in an area patrolled by international anti-piracy task forces when two small skiffs pulled aside and tried to intercept it. The ship sped up to its full speed of 23 knots or 27 mph. One of the small boats closed in and fired on the ship but it was able to pull away. While we've seen smaller passenger yachts targeted, the pirates haven't been known to go after the larger cruise ships before, keeping mainly to the bigger cargo vessels. The Nautica managed to escape without damage or injury to its 684 passengers and 400 crew.

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Tags: cruise ship, CruiseShip, nautica, oceania, pirates, yacht, yemen

Abramovich's New $350 Million Megayacht Will Have Missile Defense System

by Jared Paul Stern (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich's new $355 million, 555-ft. Eclipse, designed to be the world's biggest, will have a military-grade missile defense system to keep the oligarch safe. My colleague Deidre Woollard first reported on initial plans for the Eclipse back in January. Now further details are emerging about the megayacht (rendering above), which when completed next summer will be 25 ft. longer than Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid's 530-ft. Platinum, currently ranked as the biggest yacht in the world. Secrecy surrounds the Eclipse, but sources tell the London Times that an antiballistic missile defense system is being installed by AST, a company with close ties to both the Blohm + Voss shipyard in Hamburg, where the yacht is being built, and the German defense ministry.

The Eclipse is also being equipped with armor plating surrounding the bridge and Abramovich's master suite, as well as bullet-proof windows. There's also a submarine that can be launched underwater and dive to a depth of 160 ft. that doubles as an escape pod, as well as two helicopter pads. Civilian ships are not allowed to carry weapons and so have to limit themselves to defense systems, but Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz gets around this by having his 482-ft. yacht registered as a Royal Saudi Navy vessel, said to be equipped with French-made Exocet missiles. Pirate attacks on luxury craft are on the rise of late. Abramovich owns three other megayachts already: the 377 ft. Pelorus, the 282 ft. Ecstasea and the 160 ft. Sussurro.

Gallery: Abramovich's Megayachts

Tags: Dubai, Eclipse, Ecstasea, megayacht, Pelorus, Pirates, roman abramovich, RomanAbramovich, russian billionaires, RussianBillionaires, Saudi Arabia, SaudiArabia, sheikh mohammed bin rashid, SheikhMohammedBinRashid, Sussurro, Yacht

Luxury Yacht Seized by Pirates

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Yachts & Sailing

A luxury cruise yacht has fallen afoul of pirates off the coast of Somalia. The AFP reports that the French authorities have been working to free Le Ponant and her 30-member crew. The 32-cabin, four-deck yacht was sailing between Somalia and Yemen when the pirates boarded on Friday. The ship was not carrying any passengers but is due to offer a cruise from Alexandria in Egypt to Valletta in Malta on April 21-28. Passage on this cruise starts at 2,205 euros.

Pirate attacks are common in the area of Somalia at the mouth of the Red Sea and recently the French navy had to escort World Food Programme boats through Somali waters because two of the agency's boats have been stolen. Somali pirates usually chose cargo vessels but nearly boarded a cruise ship in 2005. The pirates generally have GPS satellite and modern communications systems and heavy firepower.

Gallery: Le Ponant

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Tags: le ponant, LePonant, pirates, somalia

Pearl Black Vodka

by Nicole Weston (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Spirits

I suspect that Captain Jack Sparrow would rather have a bottle or three of Tortuga Rum, but Pearl Black Vodka, a super-premium spirit made by Luxco, which also makes Pearl Pomegranate Vodka, was given to the cast and crew to toast the success of the newest film in the Pirates of the Caribbean series. Pearl Black has won praise for its super-smooth taste, a result of a careful selection of ingredients and repeated distillation and filtering.