How do you say “YARRRR!” in Somali? The crew of the MV Maersk Alabama heard it again, when it was attacked by Somali pirates for the second time this year.
The last time, it looked pretty bad for awhile. The captain was taken hostage, but a cracker-jack U.S. Navy sniper team took out the pirates and was able to recover the captain, the crew and the ship. It was one of the most publicized interactions between the Navy and pirates since President Thomas Jefferson sent American ships into the Mediterranean to take on the Barbary pirates.
Seven months later, the ship was attacked again, but this go ’round the crew had security guards who fired back at the pirates, while also blasting loud noises at the would-be plunderers.
“Due to Maersk Alabama following maritime industry’s best practices such as embarking security teams, the ship was able to prevent being successfully attacked by pirates,” said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, the commander of the U.S. Navy Central Command, in The New York Times. “This is a great example of how merchant mariners can take pro-active action to prevent being attacked.”
That’s Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach up there, with one of the many buccaneer decorations in his office in Lubbock. Now, being pirate-y in an area of the country so dusty that it rains mud is one thing, but the Tech program has been burnishing its privateer image for several years.
As his team raced onto the field, he gazed into the stands filled with screaming fans and wondered about the several thousand “cadets” from Texas A.&M. clustered in one end zone. They wear military uniforms and buzz cuts, holler in unison and stand at attention the entire game. “How come they get to pretend they are soldiers?” he asked. “The thing is, they aren’t actually in the military. I ought to have Mike’s Pirate School. The freshmen, all they get is the bandanna. When you’re a senior, you get the sword and skull and crossbones. For homework, we’ll work pirate maneuvers and stuff like that.”
Yarr.
So, we weren’t surprised when this image graced our Internets. You just can’t tame a pirate.
