Pirate Hunters Our World

World. We join the crew of the British Royal Navy frigate to see

whether the patrolling of the Indian Ocean is making it the world

any safer from Somali pirates. Western navies are hunting Somali

pirates in the Indian Ocean. Desperate men from a failed state

are trying to hold the world's shipping trade to ransom. Criminal

gangs who are proving difficult to deter. Can this show of force rid

the high seas of these ruthless bandits? HMS Cornwall is on a

counter-piracy mission off the Somali coast. These seas are now

the most dangerous in the world. Pirate gangs look for anything from

small yachts to large cargo vessels to make their fortune. From the

ship's helicopter a detachment of Royal Marines practice fast-rope

descents. This year alone, there have been more than 140 pirate

attacks and HMS Cornwall is preparing to confront them. The

Marines go through room clearance drills with the Cornwall's crew

playing the role of the pirates. Get down, put your weapon down!

out! Kneel down. This, in theory, is how they deal with a hostage

situation. In reality, such confrontations are rare, not least

because of the increasingly ruthless nature of the pirates.

Earlier this year, a pirate group killed their four American hostages

when they were surrounded by US warships. Few navies would risk

this kind of rescue. Each night, the ship's senior officers are

briefed on the latest intelligence about pirate activity. They have

been charting the course of attacks in the area. The captain thinks the

presence of warships like the HMS Cornwall is making life more

difficult for the pirates. We have forced them into a rethink. They

have not had a successful pirate attack for over a month now, so I

think they are struggling to understand what the multinational

forces are doing. They are under considerable pressure in the camps.

Particularly with respect to the Danish prisoners. That is probably

leading them to pause. The next morning the HMS Cornwall's Lynx

helicopter takes to the skies, combing the vast horizon for any

suspect vessel. Up here, you get a real sense of the challenges they

are facing. There are 20 or so warships patrolling a vast ocean of

millions of square miles. To give you a sense of scale, that is like

having half a dozen police cars patrolling the whole of Western

Europe. The flight observation officer photographs each passing

ship or boat. He is on the lookout for tell-tale signs like ladders or

weapons. From a distance, this could be the kind of boat that

pirates might use. But on closer inspection, it is only carrying

livestock. Modern-day pirates do not fly any flags to signal their

intent. It is a challenge. We have seen a lot of nothing on this

deployment. There is a lot of blue sky and a lot of blue sea. The

challenge there is to maintain focus, trying to keep everyone on

point for weeks on end when they are just looking at the same thing.

There are frustrations. But the Royal Navy play by the rules. I go

through peaks and troughs, wondering whether we can succeed

militarily. And the bigger question: can we actually defeat

pirates at sea? Obviously Somalia being unstable means there will

always be pirates coming out of Somalia until that issue is

resolved. It is a challenge keeping the ship's 250 crew focussed. Weeks

at sea often without a pirate in sight. Days filled with the

routines of exercise, drills and eating. And a few reminders of home.

Today, the galley is serving spotted dick. This is not

necessarily what every sailor expected carrying out counter-

piracy patrols. We would like to be making more of an obvious

difference, catching more people. I understand that, politically, in

the grand scheme of things we will make a difference. We are

discouraging more than catching. That is a bit frustrating. We would

like to see more catching of people. We are more of a deterrent. The

Americans, Koreans and Pakistanis... They get the go-ahead to do it.

we catch pirates we may have to release them, but while we have

them... And so it is worthwhile? Is it making a difference? I think it

has got to be. Otherwise why are we out here? More than 500 miles from

land, an object has been spotted drifting in the ocean. Captain

David Wilkinson has been called to the bridge. They identify a Somali

skiff, the kind of speed boat that pirates use to board merchant

vessels. Commander Wilkinson orders the Marines to investigate. They

load their weapons and take to their boats. Cornwall's crew

provides cover. It will soon be surrounded, with no chance of

escape. Have they got that hands in the air? There is certainly a

suspicion that this vessel is involved in piracy because it is

500 miles away from land and in a known piracy area. That said, it

will be much harder to prove that they are in fact pirates. This

skiff is about 150 miles away from an attack that took place five days

ago. During that attack some of the pirates got dislocated from the

action. There is every chance that these guys have tried to make their

way home independently and run out of fuel. The marines board the

vessel and the two Somalis claim to be fishermen, but they have no

fishing gear. Neither do they have any weapons. Eventually they are

taken on to the Cornwall for questioning, but without any proof,

this is now just a rescue operation. My gut feeling is that it looks

like a pirate and smells like a pirate, so it probably is. We have

two people in a pirate skiff from Somalia 600 miles away from home in

a pirate operating area. I am burdened by the highest level of

proof. What I can prove is that I have two chaps in a boat lost at

sea. Therefore, my international obligations are clear. I had to

invoke the Safety of Life at Sea regulations and that was very clear

to me at the outset. The two men will be treated as guests until the

Cornwall is closer to land. Even if they were involved in piracy, a

brush with a warship may not prove to be much of a deterrent. For

young men in Somalia, piracy has become a lucrative business with

tens of millions of dollars for the release of cargo ships and crew.

Its considerable arsenal is more than a match for the AK-47s of the

pirate ship. The crew carries out firing drills throughout its

deployment in the Indian Ocean. The ship's 4 1/2 inch gun can fire 25

rounds per minute, up to 12 nautical miles. They are more

likely to use the machine-guns around the deck. -- that surround

the DEC. They use a buoy as a target. Simulation for firing on a

skiff. But so far on this mission, none of these weapons have been

fired in anger. It costs more than $50 million a year to keep a

warship like this patrolling the Indian Ocean. There are several

piracy attacks every day. Dozens of nations are prepared to make the

investment. This is one of the world's main arteries for trade.

The quantity of items coming to the UK from the Indian Ocean is

absolutely huge, and the pirates have an immense effect on us at

home by putting our sailors' lives at risk and our country's supply of

The Cornwall has already had some success. Just before we boarded

they caught this group of Somalis. A search revealed weapons and

hostages. They admitted their intent to carry out piracy. But

even that was not enough to send them to court. This is, in fact,

the closest they got to jail: the Cornwall's cage used for temporary

detention. Few countries are willing or able to prosecute

pirates. Certain countries, they have the arrangements set up but I

do not know the ins and outs of that. As long as I do my job

professionally I am happy that if it goes to court they will be tried

and they will be dealt with correctly. If they get released,

they get released. That is not part of my authority. I cannot do

anything about that. While Western nations try to work out what to do

with these criminal gangs at sea, Somali pirates are still holding

more than 500 people hostage along with dozens of merchant ships.

There has just been a report of a pirate ship a few miles north of

the Cornwall's position. Once again, the ship is launched to search the

area. This time the captain thinks they may have their prey. We saw

the vessel this morning, the aircraft has flown over the top,

they are preparing for an attack, they have ladders. I am pretty

certain this is our man. If they were going to see us, they would

have done. By night, the Cornwall becomes a ghost ship, its deck

lights are turned off and engines run low. It is closing in on the

mothership to get a closer look. Here below in the nerve centre, the

operations room, they use sophisticated surveillance to

assess their target. They are within one mile of it. They need

certain things to board, these ladders, their technical ability,...

It could be as simple as getting him to throw his ladders over the

side so he cannot board and then he has to go home. Then he has got to

explain why he has come back empty- handed again. As a last resort, the

Cornwall could use some of its considerable firepower to disable

the other vessel. The captain requests permission from London to

launch an attack the next morning. Daybreak and there is an added

complication on the horizon. This is a big merchant ship that came

within one mile of the suspect pirate vessel. She has given her

position away. It is a cat-and- mouse game. We have manoeuvred at

high speed to get between the pirates and the merchant ship to

provide protection. There is a chance that the pirates will spot

him early, and that is when we are going to pounce. After escorting

the merchant ship to safety, the Cornwall returns for the kill.

While down below, the Marines prepare for a possible boarding

mission... On deck the crew don protective clothing. Weapons are

loaded and aimed to take out the boats. From the bridge, the Somali

interpreter broadcasts a final warning to surrender. There is no

response. Just as they prepare to open fire there is movement on the

deck. This is the captain. A hostage situation is in place.

Weapons remain tight. helicopter which has been

monitoring the situation from the air returns to confirm that the

suspect pirate ship is armed. When we were on the scene there were a

couple of guys milling around the upper deck. Everything cleared out

for the ship to close in and as we closed in we were told stop, stop,

stop, a hostage situation. We are off now to see what has actually

happened. With hostages, the mission was to risky. The Cornwall

passed on information to a nearby US warship which was able to target

at night. 36 hours later, the Americans achieved the take down on

that vessel. The skiffs have gone and the vessel is now making its

way back to Somalia. They got nowhere for all that fuel. Back in

sight of land, the Cornwall prepares to release the two Somali

fishermen they picked up earlier. They are given enough petrol and

water to make it back to shore. Commander Wilkinson offers them

advice as their boat is lowered back into the water. I suggested

they should go back to the pirate leaders and explain to them that,

on this ship, they had been treated appropriately. Some of the

instances we have seen of merchants being harmed physically and

mentally is not the way to go forward. They need to take that

message back to the pirates. The other message is that if you are

found out here again, things won't be as easy the next time around.

The two guests that have been on board the Cornwall for the last few

days have been released near the northern coast of Somalia. Most of

the crew believe they were involved in some way in piracy. Even if they

were pirates, this is probably exactly what would happen to them,

caught and then released. In fact, none of those picked up by the

Cornwall, even the 17 who admitted they were pirates, have ended up in

court, let alone jail. For the crew, it is hard to swallow. They spend

all this money on it and... They can't prove anything. Even if they

were pirates, this is exactly what you would have had to do. It is

frustrating. A little bit, yes. It gets on your nerves after a while.

It is frustrating. There isn't enough bullets or jail cells

stopping Somali people taking to piracy. What we have to do is make

it unprofitable. Every time they come out, they see a warship and

that turns them away. I do not know whether we are winning or losing

and maybe I should not have to worry too much about that. We

deliver our mission and what I hate to think about his if there was not

the Navy out here it would be like the Wild West. This is the last

voyage for HMS Cornwall. When she returns home she will be

decommissioned, a casualty of the UK defence cut. Other ships will

carry on the mission. Few seafaring nations can afford to ignore the