Dangerous Waters: Modern Piracy and Terror on the High Seas

Here's a little food for thought from this enlightening, thought- and emotion-provoking book: The latest Very Large Crude Carriers, even larger than our stereotypical ideas of a supertanker, are easier to rob than a semi. Probably easier to hijack, too. Certainly, in the case of terrorirsts, easier to hijack than a passenger jet. How easy? It happens regularly now, and it takes less than 20 pirates to take over a supertanker. Why don't we hear about it more? Big oil companies and shippers don't want to report it for two reasons. One, they're afraid of driving up insurance rates; two, they're afraid of showing how vulnerable they really are. Now, courtesy of further information in this book, let's think about a possible hijack. One deliberately wrecked VLCC or supertanker would shut down the Straits of Malacca and cripple much of Asia's, and the world's, economy. Oil ships both east and west here, with Indonesia a major, OPEC producer and Japan and China to the north and northeast, India to the west, and Australia to both southeast and southwest, all major importers. With Muslim fundamentalists in Indonesia, and Sumatran separatists, alongside of a crumbing post-Suharto nation, this is a flashpoint, anyway... not to mention organized crime here and in the South China Sea, plus Abu Sayaf in the Philippines. Supertankers aren't the only ships that could be hijacked, though. Burnett talks about ships that are already hijacked, not for their cargo, but in and of themselves for reuse, after suitable "chop shop" work. This is a great book to learn a lot about modern shipping, and to get a huge wake-up call about the seriousness of modern piracy.

_Dangerous Waters_ is an excellent book by John S. Burnett, a revelatory work that showed me a whole new world I had little idea existed, the world of modern pirates. Pirates are unfortunately thought of as dashing romantic figures of the earlier centuries, perhaps a threat during the age of sail or suitable for a Hollywood movie, but not a threat today. Burnett contradicts this stereotype, showing that pirates are alive and well in the 21st century, a threat to everything from the lives of sailors at sea to quite possibly international security, with 335 assaults worldwide and 241 seafarers killed, held hostage, or wounded in 2001. Indeed attacks are up 400 percent since 1992, with over 2000 sailors having been taken hostage in the ten years from 1992-2002. The pirates today are a mixed bunch and can be found all over the world and can be anyone from a highly trained guerilla warrior to a rogue military unit (such as in Indonesia) to part of an international criminal gang or cartel. Pirates might also be part of international terrorist organizations (particularly Abu Sayaf out of the Philippines, which has strong links to Al-Qaeda as well as Asian crime syndicates and the heroin trade) or even simply local down-and-out fishermen who see a rich prize steaming by and can't resist (he states that poverty has driven many to piracy in the Caribbean, in Nigeria, Bangladesh, and elsewhere). Burnett writes that pirate weapons can vary from knives and machetes to modern assault rifles and grenade launchers. Pirates have even been known to have an insider in the crew of a ship, planted there to assist in a plan act of piracy. The reader will discover that pirates can attack any ship - ranging from small private yachts to the largest of the supertankers - in any locale, including port or on open, international waters. The goal of the pirates can vary from robbing the ship's safe and the sailors of their personal possessions (such as money and jewelry) to the ship's cargo (be it millions of dollars in petroleum or on a private yacht the expensive electronics) to the ship and the sailors themselves, the former turned into a phantom ship that is used to smuggle weapons, drugs, or illegal immigrants, the latter fodder for a thriving international kidnapping trade (that is if the crew are not simply killed and dumped overboard). Pirates can be found anywhere in the world though the main areas that they seem to operate in are west from Indonesian waters to as far east as Taiwan and the Philippines (favoring the vital shipping lanes through the Malacca Straits and the dangerous waters of the South China Sea), as well as off the coast of Brazil, off the Somali coast of East Africa, and West Africa. The Malacca Straits in particular are a vital area plagued at times by pirates; as $500 billion in goods passes through it annually, sometimes as many as 600 ships a day going through the Straits, which in some places are less than a mile wide, it is a target rich env

This is a "must read" for anyone who sails any size boat or ship. It's also a crucial contribution to the ongoing discussion over homeland security measures. But even landlubbers safe in their LaZ Boys will enjoy the well-written, frightening tales of viscious knife-wielding criminals.

This book is extremely well-writen and contains both first and second hand accounts of piracy. More important than the individual tales that Burnett weaves together is the overall theme. Virtually no ship is completely safe from piracy and piracy has been increasing at alarming rates.I heard this author on the radio, and was so capitivated by the subject matter that I later bought this book. I was not disappointed. Burnet opens with his tale of pirates boarding his sale boat. He later travels on two large commerical ships. While traveling on these boats, he blends firsthand accounts of piracy prevention and secondhand accounts of attacks on commericial ships.That these pirates have success while using very primitive tools and methods is very alarming.As for shotcomings, I would have preferred more information on piracy in the caribbean. The book focuses on the biggest hotspot, the Malacca Straights near Singapore.For those who doubt the authenticity of the subject matter, I suggest you type "piracy report" into google and check out the weekly reports provided by the International Chamber of Commerce. The link was provided by the author.

I have never had much interest in stories about the sea but you don?t need to be a lover of swashbuckling tales to find Dangerous Waters a good read. In fact, this is one of the most compelling books I have read. It is shocking, terrifying, and I could not put it down. Attacked while sailing in a yacht off Indonesia, Mr. Burnett responded by conducting a detailed investigation into modern day high seas piracy. It included voyages on ships transiting the most high-risk areas and time spent alongside those in the frontline in the battles against the increasingly organized gangs who rob, steal and hijack ships. I was amazed to discover that there are actual gun battles between pirates and those hired to keep them off ships. The book makes a particularly powerful case when assessing piracy in the aftermath of 9-11. The use by an oil company of life-sized dolls strapped to the railings of their crude oil tankers to deter potential attackers is made all the more laughable in a world where terrorists have already plotted to seize or blow up ships.In his book, Mr. Burnett concludes that terrorists will attempt to sever the conveyor of crude oil from the Persian Gulf to refineries all over the world with attacks on Very Large Crude Carriers. One of these predictions apparently came true when terrorists attacked the French tanker off the Yemen coast in October. Burnett makes some other frightening predictions that cannot help but make us all wonder about the vulnerability of every ship at sea, including passenger ferries, cruise ships, yachts and even those ships carrying recycled nuclear waste.Mr. Burnett has written a book that provides a rich and rare insight into life at sea today. His narrative, while occasionally tending a bit toward the dramatic, is smooth, sometimes witty, and oftentimes reminiscent of the observations and descriptions of the best writers of fiction.Marcel Zandstra