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International Stories: Promoting security in troubled waters
By Sub-Lieutenant Michael McWhinnie
April 9, 2009
 Credit: Sgt Edward Whitmore Somali families navigating a main shipping route in a tiny skiff talk to members of an approach team from HMCS Winnipeg. |
The Esquimalt-based frigate HMCS Winnipeg is currently deployed on Operation SEXTANT, Canada’s participation in Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1). The NATO task force is engaged in Operation ALLIED PROTECTOR, a major maritime security effort to deter and disrupt piracy in the international waters of the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.
While escorting a vessel carrying high-value cargo for the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, HMCS Winnipeg spotted a dhow about five nautical miles away launching three skiffs. The small open boats raced towards a passing tanker, the Motor Vessel (MV) Pacific Opal, and closed to within one nautical mile. They then placed themselves parallel to the tanker, matching her course and speed. These actions so alarmed the tanker’s master that he radioed for assistance.
“The pirates and their vessel types are indistinguishable from the local fishermen,” explained Commander Craig Baines, Winnipeg’s commanding officer. “The only conclusive way to tell is to wait for an attack to occur. As our mission is to deter and disrupt, we are forced to intercede in cases such as this when activity begins to resemble known piracy tactics.”
Winnipeg dispatched Palomino16, her embarked CH-124 Sea King helicopter, to intervene. When the Sea King reached the scene of the apparently imminent crime, the crew deployed two universally recognized visual symbols for “stop”: a large red octagon with STOP written on it (in Somali), and a C6 machine-gun, aimed and ready to fire. The skiffs broke away from Pacific Opal and left.
“The scenario proved that our tactics are effective. Whatever their intentions were, they complied with our instructions, stopped, and allowed the merchant vessel to proceed unimpeded,” concluded Major James Hawthorne, commander of the ship’s air detachment.
The quick, decisive action by the ship and her helicopter earned expressions of gratitude from the relieved merchant skipper.
Winnipeg resumed her escort duties, using Palomino16 to intensify the deterrence she projects throughout her area of responsibility. Less than 24 hours after the Pacific Opal incident, the frigate’s crew raised their alert status again, but for a different kind of concern.
While scouting and investigating contacts ahead of the ship, Palomino16’s crew saw a slow-moving skiff so heavily loaded with people — 51 individuals, including women and children — that its gunwales were almost awash. In these waters, between Yemen and Somalia, small boats are often found in distress, so Winnipeg despatched a boarding team in a rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB) to investigate.
When the RHIB reached the skiff, a member of its crew addressed the boarding team in English, saying he and the others in the skiff were migrants from Somalia heading for Yemen in hope of a better life. They were hungry after two days at sea, and they asked for food.
The boarding team provided fruit and water, checked the boat to ensure it was in fact seaworthy, and established that all the passengers and crew were healthy, aboard of their own free will, and determined to continue the journey. Winnipeg then bid them farewell and informed the Yemeni Coast Guard about the boat, its passengers and their destination.
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