These pirates are no Jack Sparrow.

Amazing...over the past weekend the M/T Sirius Star, carrying some 250,000 tons of crude oil was raided by pirates off of the Somali coast of Africa. The ship, over 1,000 feet long, was forced to anchor somewhere along the rugged stretch of shoreline on that lies south of the mouth of the Red Sea. It is said vessel and the 25 crew aboard are being held for $25 million in ransom by the pirates.

Piracy has been rampant for years in this part of the world. The other hot spot for piracy is the Malacca Strait, as ships pass through the archipelago of islands in Indonesia.

According to news reports, $150 million dollars in ransom monies has been handed over to the Somali bandits over the years in order to secure release of merchant ships from their lawless hands. It is estimated that fifteen ships are still being held for ransom with their crews along the Somali coast.

Now, the Sirius Star is becomming a different story. Apparently, some Islamic militants are preparing to take the ship (owned by a Saudi shipping company) by force, as they feel the piracy is a terroristic act against Muslims. Whatever. Imagine what could happen to a fully loaded tanker when one group of terrorists attacks another group of terrorists, using rocket propelled grenades, machine guns, hell even Bic lighters. We can see an oil spill (potentially 84 million gallons) that would make the Exxon Valdez disaster (10.8 million gallons) look like a leaking bottle of Hawaiian Tropic. Someone may want to get involved.

Someone - but who? The Indian Ocean is patrolled by warships of several nations, including U.S., British, Yemen, Indian, Russian, etc. Virtually every country that has a shipping interest in the region has a naval presence out there. There are U.N. patrol craft that look for this kind of activity, but who can step in the middle of this crisis before the unthinkable occurs?

Apparently the Somali pirates are enjoying a somewhat celebrity lifestyle in their country. They are pretty much funding their homeland with ransom money. The "leaders" of this nation aren't doing much in the way of prosecuting because they know what side of their bread the butter is on.

The piracy issue has gotted so serious that major shipping lines, such as Maersk have re-routed some of their fleet to go all the way around the Cape of Good Hope on the southern tip of the continent to prevent possible contact with pirates. This adds another week of steaming time to the voyage, and the price of shipping oil will increase exponentially.

So, what now, Captain Jack?