1) The Silver Whisper cruise ship took extra precautions as it sailed through the Gulf of Aden, an area known for pirate attacks, including closing public areas and reducing communications. 2) While the captain acknowledged the threat of pirates was real, he assured passengers the odds of an attack were low given the cruise ship's speed, large size, and coordination with naval forces patrolling the area. 3) The pirates surveilled the Silver Whisper twice but ultimately did not attack, finding the ship an unattractive target due to its defenses and coordination with naval forces.

1. Ships refuse to let pirates vex voyages
Silver Whisper sails Gulf of Aden with abundance of precaution
By Gene Sloan
USA TODAY - May 15, 2009
ABOARD THE SILVER WHISPER — From the glass-enclosed Panorama Lounge, high atop this 382-passenger
luxury vessel, veteran cruiser Pierre Monney of Palm Springs, Calif., has a glorious view of one of the most infamous
waterways in the world: the Gulf of Aden.
Somewhere over the horizon, he knows, lurk the pirates that have given this sun-drenched sea passage between
Somalia and Yemen such a bad name. But for now, all he can see is one other vessel: an oil tanker that, like the
Silver Whisper, is heading westward to the Red Sea.
"I almost wish we would see a few pirates just for the experience," says the retiree, 64, between sips of tea served on
fine china by white-jacketed waiters. "It would be great cocktail talk when we get back home."
Long a menace, Somali pirates have grown more brazen over the past year, attacking more than 100 vessels,
including several cruise ships. Despite the growing threat, cruise lines continue to send ships through the waterway,
and passengers such as Monney continue to sign up for the voyages (though not as strongly as in the past).
The cruise industry relies heavily on the Gulf of Aden to move vessels coming from Europe through the Suez Canal
to Asia and back. Cruisers are drawn to the ports in the region, including Egypt's Safaga (gateway to the Egyptian
ruins of Luxor) and Jordan's Aqaba (for the ruins of Petra). Globe-circling ships such as the Silver Whisper, operated
by Silversea Cruises, often pass through the gulf once or twice a year.
Cruise line executives say the odds of a cruise ship being attacked while sailing through the gulf are low. Even if an
attack occurred, it would be almost impossible for pirates to get aboard a cruise ship, they say.
Still, every major line that passes through the gulf (or sails along the eastern coast of Somalia, site of the attacks on
the cargo ship Maersk Alabama and cruise ship MSC Melody in April) has begun placing its ships on alert.
On this cruise, a 15-day voyage from Dubai to Athens, captain Ignazio Tatulli has closed off nearly all deck areas to
passengers during the two-day gulf passage, as well as many of the interior areas of the ship. In a "clarification talk"
with passengers a day before the Whisper enters the gulf, Tatulli emphasizes that this has been done in an
abundance of caution.
When trying to hijack ships, Somali pirates fire automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades toward the bridge
in the hopes the deck crew will abandon their stations, forcing the ship to stop, Tatulli says.
"The pirates don't like passenger ships," he says, noting that the shape of cruise ships makes them difficult to breach.
With promenade decks often four or five stories high, "it is very difficult for (pirates) to climb on board."
Cruise ships also travel fast — the Whisper speeds through the gulf at nearly 20 knots — which makes them difficult
to catch vs. slower cargo ships, and there are too many people on board a cruise ship for pirates to control.
Tatulli, a native of Italy who lives in Michigan when not at sea, notes that naval forces from a coalition of countries
have beefed up patrols in the gulf in recent months. There now are 30 warships in the area — up from only two a
year ago. The Whisper is constantly in contact with the coalition forces and follows a 5-mile-wide corridor that they
watch over. If pirates attacked, he says, a helicopter could be overhead within six minutes.
With so many public areas off-limits, passengers attend lectures in the show lounge, which remains open, and head
to other indoor activities such as dance classes and trivia contests. Even the Internet cafe is closed; Tatulli has shut

2. down all communications to and from the ship. And though a small area around the pool remains open for sunning,
the pool itself is drained as a precaution in case the ship needs to zigzag.
The possibility of such sharp maneuvers also has prompted staff to remove liquor bottles and glasses from open
shelves in the ship's bar, tape up displays in the ship's boutiques and batten down items on board that could be
thrown about.
Monney praises the captain for preparing for the worst.
"I don't think anyone on this ship is concerned," says the retired city planner, a Silversea regular who boarded the
vessel nearly a month ago in Singapore.
"It would be tough to take over this ship. They'd be facing the whole crew and, of course, the passengers. We'd take
our forks and knives and go at them."
In addition to relying on coalition forces, the ship is carrying a mobile acoustic device that can shoot sound waves so
powerful that it would break the nose of an attempted hijacker from hundreds of feet away. During the passage, the
crew also fixes fire hoses to the sides of the ships, which the captain says would be used not to hit attackers with
water but to signal to them that they have been seen.
One countermeasure not on board? Firearms. Even if pirates use them, "if you open fire back, then you open a
situation that can lead to catastrophe because then you have crossing fire," Tatulli says.
Tatulli says pirates aren't out to kill anyone. "They're in it as a business. The more ships they can hijack, the more
(ransom) money they get."
In the end, the pirates decide the Whisper is unappealing. The ship passes uneventfully through the Bab el Mandab
Strait into the Red Sea — and safety.
Later, Tatulli acknowledges that he and his lookouts detected pirates in small skiffs checking out the Whisper twice
during the passage. The brief visits from the pirate boats went unnoticed by passengers, but the crew had little
trouble spotting them and were ready to react, he says.
The pirates, however, just turned away.