Firsthand Account of Standing Pirate Watch in the Waters Off Somalia

The news is full of the successful rescue by U.S. sharpshooters of Capt. Richard Phillips of the Maersk Alabama. Joseph Schwartzstein, Captain, U.S. Merchant Marine, LTJG, USNR/MMR, who wrote about serving as a Merchant Mariner in a February 1st blog post and a February 2nd blog post, offered to give the readers of this blog a firsthand account of standing pirate watch -- unarmed:

In January 2007 I was sailing Chief Mate aboard the MV Perseverance, an ex-oil tanker that we converted to carry 31,000MT of U.S. aid grain to the country of Djibouti, just north of Somalia and sharing the northern border of Somalia. Aboard this specific ship I was serving as the vessel security officer.

As vessel security officer I was required to do regular security inspections of the ship and ensure that we took appropriate measures as per our ship security plan. Our security measures actually started prior to ever reaching the waters off the coast of Djibouti and Somalia.

I started the preparations for the vessel in the U.S. as the ship was loading grain. I talked with the captain in the port of Houston about specific measures that we could take and lessons learned and recommendations from different government agencies. This started with purchasing locks to secure outside portions of the ship such as the focsle, the port and starboard dog houses (machine and tool shops on deck), and storage lockers.

We also took the time to weld “locks,” which consisted of a welding a 3” stainless steel nut on all watertight and weather tight doors just above one of the “dogs” (a handle on the door). We then welded a piece of pipe on the door to insert a 3” stainless steel bolt. The idea being that we would screw the bolt into the nut and thus no matter what you did you would not be able to lift the “dog.”

We did the same to the emergency escape scuttles (escape hatches from engine room spaces on to deck). However these hatches had wheel handles so the bolt length had to be extended. We also decided that, once we arrived into the waters off Egypt, we would “lock down the vessel” to have only one entry point.

This point was on the portside of the vessel on A deck, one deck above main deck. This was done so as to minimize the ability of anyone coming aboard as moving up a deck makes it more difficult to come aboard. We also removed any outside ladders so individuals could not climb up the outside of the wheelhouse.

We also ensured that we had “buckler plates” secured to the top of the anchor hawse pipes so that no one could climb up the anchor chain should we anchor.

Underway after our security modifications

Once we completed our assessment and finished our modifications to the vessel, we briefed and started training the crew in security operations once we got underway. The training was done once a week and consisted of hands on and after action discussions.

While underway I received daily security and pirate updates from a private maritime security firm called SecureWest International. These were daily briefs on what was going on in the area. As time went on we entered Egyptian waters and began the transit of the Suez Canal.

After we exited the canal and entered the Red Sea we increased our vessel security level from MARSEC I to MARSEC II. As my discussion with the captain, we locked down the ship and limited movement in and out of the vessel. We increased our bridge watch standing team with an additional member.

The vessel being an ex-oil tanker, we were equipped with fire monitors (aka water cannons). We moved these from the stowed position and alternated them from the port and starboard side to shoot water overboard.

We opened up specific monitors so should something happen all we would have to do is start the fire pump to shoot water over the side. I had the bosun lay out fire hoses on the port and starboard sides and stern of the vessel so should a vessel come at us I could have crew go to these stations and begin shooting water over the side as per our training we did in the Mediterranean Sea.

Now we were never attacked by pirates but we did increase our watch and kept an eye on any and all small fishing vessels. While in the Red Sea we had constant contact with coalition warships relaying any information about possible attacks.

A fishing vessel approaches us about a day out from Djibouti

About a day out from Djibouti I was off watch in my state room. I had just finished lunch and went to the bridge to talk with the second mate. While on the bridge the AB on watch pointed out to the second mate a 20-foot fishing vessel coming up on our starboard side.

The second mate and I looked at the vessel to see what was happening. Once we saw the vessel coming after us, the second mate made a hard to port turn and I called the captain.

As I was calling the captain I started one of the fire pumps to start water shooting over the side. Now on most merchant marine ships the captain’s state room is very close to the bridge, so he was on the bridge within seconds.

We sounded the vessel security alarm and started to muster the crew at their stations. We had everyone mustered, I had security teams break up and ensure that the wheelhouse was locked down, and we took our positions awaiting the orders from the captain.

Luckily we were not attacked and, as we continued to sail away and swing the vessel to make it more difficult to come alongside, while we were doing this the smaller vessel altered course and sailed away.

I will never be sure that it was or wasn’t a pirate vessel. It most likely was not, but while in those waters looking for pirates is a difficult and stressful job.

I just want to point out that pirates not only operate in the waters off Somalia, but they are all over the world. There are pirates off the Straits of Malacca, coast of Brazil, China, Indonesia just to name a few.

My first experience dealing with pirates

My first experience dealing with pirates was as an engine cadet aboard the MV Sea Wolf in the summer of 1993 off the coast of Brazil. Our sister ship had been attacked by Brazilian pirates the trip before and the captain had shot and killed one of the pirates as they were fleeing the vessel with the cash they had stolen. (The Brazilian pirates actually put a price on the captain’s head and the company had to move the captain to a different ship on a different run.)

We went to anchor and actually at the urging of the Brazilian coast guard we had to pick up the anchor and steam in a big square. We had deck patrol and put lights on over the side to discourage anyone from coming alongside.

P.S. I forgot to add that, yes, we were unarmed. The best we had were fire axes and fire hoses! Most companies stopped arming their ships in the '90s. Prior to that, even if there was a gun aboard, it was usually a pistol in the captain's safe.

The only ships that have any kind of military weapons aboard are USNS ships (merchant ships owned by the Navy with Merchant Marine crews). Some government Merchant Marine ships contracted by the government will carry a Navy detachment on them as security.
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Phyllis Zimbler Miller is the author of MRS. LIEUTENANT: A SHARON GOLD NOVEL and the co-author of the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION. She also blogs at PZ the Do-Gooder Scrooge and Operation Support Jews in the Military, and she is the co-host of the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life. Her company Miller Mosaic LLC builds call-to-action websites for book authors and small businesses.

U.S. Merchant Marine Academy Graduate Always Gets Asked If He Has Any Tattoos

Here’s the second part of the guest post by Joseph Schwartzstein, Captain, U.S. Merchant Marine, LTJG, USNR/MMR. If you haven’t already, read the first part of his U.S. Merchant Marine guest post.

Kings Point (as the Merchant Marine Academy is better known) was created due to the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 to standardize training for merchant marine officers. Two years later the merchant marine cadet corps was created and given a temporary home in 1942 at Kings Point, NY. (Not so temporary now.) The school was needed to create officers to sail on all the cargo ships for the war.

What does this academy do to make merchant marine officers? At the school there are really three basic majors (out of those three there are sub-variations but there are really only three). You either study marine engineering (design, shipyard management or straight engine, which we called sweat hogs) or you study marine transportation (straight deck, logistics or operations with a minor in engineering) or dual (dualies have the joy of completing both programs in four years, i.e. doing everything an engineer does and a deckie does in the same amount of time).

The curriculum focuses on making you the best ship's officer you can be. You spend 11 months of a year in class -- that's right, 11 months a year in class. And you spend one year at sea as a cadet aboard actual merchant vessels. I spent six moths my 3rd class (sophomore) year at sea and six months my 2nd (junior) class year at sea.

During WWII the program was two years: they spent six months at school, one year at sea and then six months at school. Due to this 142 cadets died in combat during WWII.

We are the only academy to send their students into war and combat zones prior to graduation. As I am writing this there are Kings Point cadets going into the Persian Gulf, sailing into Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, and the Gulf of Aden. We are the only academy to have a regimental battle standard! Our midshipmen have served in every war since WWII.

Visited 12 countries by age 19

As a midshipman at Kings Point, by the time I was 19 I had been to 12 countries and seen most of the world. By my second sea year I had the privilege of serving aboard a naval destroyer and a navy oilier (which made me realize that I really didn't want to go active duty in the navy).

One of the things about going to the Merchant Marine Academy was going to a place that seemed forgotten about. We were always told we were the fourth arm of defense but we felt more like the forgotten service. No one seems to care about merchant mariners or the academy.

We are not the "sexy" or "hot shot" service or academy. We always did and do with less. I remember my plebe year at the school when Vice President Al Gore came out with a report to shut down the school. That was a heart breaker. You work so hard to be at the school you wanted to go to and then you hear something like that happening.

I give our alumni a lot of credit. They fought this hard, and then Al Gore came up with the idea of charging tuition. However, our alumni got even smarter and put out the idea that, if you charge tuition at Kings Point, then you have to charge tuition at the other service academies. That fired up a lot of people and the rest is history.

Personal background – from a military family

How does a nice Jewish boy end up doing this job? I come from a military family. My grandfather, a veteran of WWII, served five years as an officer in the U.S. Army with 2 1/2 years in China as a military advisor to the Chinese. My father is a West Point graduate, who was an airborne ranger serving in the 82nd Airborne. So I always wanted to go to a service academy and serve in the military.

I also had a love and appreciation of the ocean. I worked at a dive shop as a teen and always wanted to do something on the water. When I was in high school, my father suggested the Merchant Marine Academy, the Coast Guard Academy and the five state maritime academies. Kings Point became my choice after a high school visit to the school.

I remember walking into Fulton Hall (the engineering building) and seeing the diesel engine lab and steam boiler lab. These were actual engines that students used for class! I then heard about the sea year and how could you pass up a year of adventure? So I decided that Kings Point is the place I wanted to go!

As for me, after graduation I went on active duty in the U.S. Army. Shipping in the merchant marine was tight when I graduated and it was hard to get a deep sea job. When you called up Military Sealift Command, the unions or companies to ask about a position, most of the people just laughed at you. In 1996 there weren't many third mate or third engineer jobs to be had aboard ship. You could get a job as an able seaman or oiler, but not many of us wanted to sail as unlicensed.

So I got commissioned as a second lieutenant in the army transportation corps. I knew the army had boats – in fact the army has more floating platforms than the navy – and that the boats were set up very similar to merchant ships. The army gave us "army mariners" an army license to sail aboard army watercraft. It was an opportunity for me to sail and in a somewhat familiar environment.

Why you might ask I didn't go in the navy? After being on a navy destroyer as a cadet and having a dozen people on the bridge -- an officer of the watch, a junior officer of the watch, combat information center calling you every two minutes updating you on radar contacts, five lookouts and a ton of other guys -- it wasn't for me. (On the bridge of a merchant ship there’s the watch officer and a lookout or two.)

Also, you might say what about the Coast Guard? When I graduated in 1996 the only thing you could do was marine inspection and that wasn't for me. Now, however, Merchant Marine Academy graduates are doing anything and everything in the Coast Guard.

However, I ended up resigning my commission as a lieutenant (army lieutenants don't serve as officers on army watercraft). In an army boat unit commissioned officers are REMFs (rear echelon mother f***s) and then, due to a really obscure army regulation, I became an army warrant officer. Why a warrant officer? Because in the army, warrant officers serve as deck and engine officers aboard army watercraft. I served as mate and vessel master aboard a variety of army watercraft for four years.

I always get asked as a mariner do I have any tattoos. I have four, which is odd for a Jew. But what is even odder is that one is the Star of David over my heart and the second is the Shema on my right arm.

About practicing religion on the ship: I always take a pocket siddur (prayer book) with me so I can daven (pray) on the ship.

As with regards to diet, you have to be careful. A good example is that the first assistant engineer was saying how much he loved the pancakes on the ship and that he was always on his wife to make them just like the ship but could never find out why his wife’s pancakes never tasted as good as shipboard pancakes. So one morning we asked the chief steward what he did to make his pancakes so good. The answer was simple – he fried them in bacon fat!

After four years, shipping in the merchant marine started to pick up. I left the army to go back into the merchant marine. I couldn't wait to get back aboard a merchant vessel – as a dualie I’ve had the chance to sail on both my licenses as a deck officer and an engineering officer – and I’ve been doing it ever since.

U.S. Merchant Marines Bring the Bread, Butter and Bullets to Servicemen and Women

On January 27th the Merchant Marine Academy was mentioned on the BlogTalkRadio show Your Military Life that I co-host, and I have to admit I hadn’t known that the U.S. had a Merchant Marine Academy or even what the U.S. merchant marine does. And then two days later I unexpectedly got an email from Joseph Schwartzstein, Captain, U.S. Merchant Marine, LTJG, USNR/MMR, thanks to my new project Operation Support Jews in the Military.

I immediately asked Captain Schwartzstein to write for this blog about the history of the merchant marines, what responsibilities the service has today, and his own personal experiences. The first part of his response is below.

The picture above is of Captain Schwartzstein using a sextant. The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy still teaches celestial navigation as this navigation system is used on merchant ships for daily work at sea.

I always get asked "So you're in the Marines?" Which I reply actually it's the Merchant Marines, I'm a merchant mariner, the next response is "What is a merchant mariner?"

Which is always kind of funny to me because the U.S. is a maritime nation and 90% of all cargo travels by ship. But not many people know what the Merchant Marine is or what I as a mariner do.

Oh, and I'm Jewish, which usually gets "Jews don't do that!" In fact, on a recent trip to Israel during the High Holidays, I was sitting in shul (synagogue) next to an Israeli and he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a chief mate (first officer) aboard an oil tanker. He looked at me and said "I think you are the only one in the world," which struck me as odd to even hear in Israel where everyone wears a uniform.

So what is the merchant marine, and how did a "nice" Jewish boy end up being a merchant marine and graduating from the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, (Yes, there is an academy and five state maritime schools, just like West Point, Annapolis, the Air Force Academy, and the Coast Guard Academy.)

Civilian licensed officers and crew

The merchant mariners are the civilian licensed and/or documented officers and crew aboard commercial and military vessels. These vessels can range from tankers, car carriers, containerships, cable layers, survey vessels, tugs, ferries and anything else on the water! We bring the bread, butter and bullets to our servicemen and women all over the world in addition to the gas you put in your car, the car you drive or anything that might be in your house that comes from anywhere but where you live.

We have served in every war. In fact America's first naval officers were merchant mariners! That's right. Commodore John Barry and the famous Captain John Paul Jones (who is buried at the Naval Academy) all started as merchant mariners. In fact, during WWII, the merchant marine had the highest casualty rate out of any other service. The rate was 1:26 as compared to the next closest one, the Marines, which was 1:34.

What is licensed or documented? All mariners have to be licensed (officers) and documented (crew) by the U.S. Coast Guard. In order to sail on ships you have to meet certain educational and training requirements set by the U.S. Coast Guard. Once you meet these standards you are given a series of exams.

You "sit" for the exams, and once passed are given your "Merchant Mariners Document" or Z-Card, which is your unlicensed rating, such as able seaman, QMED (qualified member of the engine department), oilier, fireman, wiper, ordinary seamen, or food handler to name a few. If you are an officer you "sit" for your officer's license exam, and each time you want to move up you have to take another exam.

I have to mention that most people either go deck or engine, i.e. you either sail as a third mate to work your way to captain or you sail third engineer to work your way to chief engineer. (If you are wondering, I was one of the weird guys at the Merchant Marine Academy and went dual, meaning I got both my third mate's and third engineer's licenses. Not many do it because it's hard.)

What is the Merchant Marine Academy?

The next question is what is the Merchant Marine Academy and where is it? Is it in New London? No, that's the Coast Guard Academy, our rival. The Merchant Marine Academy – "America's best kept secret" – is located in Kings Point, NY. (West Egg for all you "Great Gatsby" fans.) It is a four-year federally funded education just like our sister service academies.

We do have a service obligation too. You have to obtain a congressional appointment to attend just like West Point or Annapolis. You have to pass a navy physical because at graduation you get a commission as an ensign in the reserves.

However, you can go active duty in any branch of service. When you graduate from the Merchant Marine Academy you either have to go into the merchant marine and also take a commission as an officer in the reserves or go active duty in any branch of the service. I have classmates serving in the army, navy (as pilots, submariners and surface warfare officers), air force (a classmate is a bomber pilot), or Coast Guard (a classmate is a helicopter pilot).

I always tell people that, if you want to go navy flight, don't waste your time at the Naval Academy, go to Kings Point. My first class year the school had so many flight and NFO (naval flight officer, the men or women who sit in the back like "Goose" from the movie “Top Gun”) slots that announcements were made for anyone who wanted to go flight to report to naval science.

Stay tuned for the second half of this guest post from Joseph Schwartzstein, Captain, U.S. Merchant Marine, LTJG, USNR/MMR.