In August 2001, a Chinese fishing boat sailed off the coast of Somalia. Although it was a fishing boat, the crew was not seen to go down the net to collect the net, but there were several pirates with guns standing on the deck.
The captain in the cockpit, also pointed at by a submachine gun at this time, could do nothing but obey the orders.
It turned out that this fishing boat encountered pirates while operating at sea, and the pirates only left the captain to drive the fishing boat, and all the other crew members were locked in the bottom cabin by the pirates.
The arrogant pirates would not have thought that they would be killed at this time, and after a day, they would be pointed at gunpoint and shrunk on the deck and trembling...
A notorious Somali pirate
Somali pirates have always been notorious internationally. All ocean-going ships passing through Somali waters, as long as they are targeted, can only consider themselves unlucky and pay a huge ransom.
Since Somali piracy is so rampant, why doesn't the Somali government suppress it?
This is because there are some ties between Somali pirates and the Somali Government.
In 1991, Somalia declared its independence, but former President Barré was ousted from office due to the intervention of external forces. In order to push him to power again, Barre's supporters began a new round of armed riots.
The unrest has plunged Somalia into a state of anarchy, with a difficult life for the country and a shortage of supplies.
In order to possess a limited amount of materials, scrambles were frequent, eventually evolving into violent incidents, and became more and more intense, spreading outward.
Over time, some violent groups took advantage of the opportunity to occupy the coast and gradually evolved into pirates.
Somalia is located on the African and Asian plates, close to the Gulf of Aden, which is the sea artery for access to the Mediterranean and Atlantic Oceans through the Suez Canal.
Another feature of the Gulf of Aden is that the waterway is narrow, which is very conducive to piracy.
These pirates were very arrogant, and there were no ships they dared to attack except warships. The world's second largest oil tanker, sirius, and Ukraine's arms ships, have all been hijacked by pirates.
Pirates hijack ships for a sky-high ransom. After sirius was hijacked, the United States was commissioned by Saudi Arabia to negotiate with pirates, and in the end, it only ransomed from $10 million to $3 million.
When pirates choose their targets, they disregard their nationality and attack whenever they feel it is profitable. Moreover, the pirates are also very cunning, the division of labor is clear, after selecting the target, they will often send spies into the high seas to facilitate the response.
2. Fishing on the high seas mixed with "internal adultery"
Since pirates are often found in Somali waters, why do fishing boats go fishing in the high somali seas?
Distant-water fishing vessels are different from offshore fishing vessels in that they consume a lot of money and need more catches in order not to lose money. The waters around the country have limited resources, and there are many local fishermen who have been fishing for a living for generations, so in order not to compete with them, fishing boats have to go to the high seas to fish.
In the eastern part of the Somali Peninsula, there is the famous "Somali Fishing Ground".
In the summer, the southwest monsoon will create ocean currents in the Somali Sea, the surface of the sea flows, the lower sea rises, bringing rich fishery resources, forming a natural large fishery.
Therefore, as soon as the season comes, distant-water fishing vessels from many countries come here to fish.
The same is true of Chinese fishing boats.
A fishing vessel belonging to Fuzhou Yongfeng Ocean Fisheries Company, numbered Fuyuanyu No. 226, under the leadership of captain Fang Jiabai, set out from China in June 2000 to fish.
Generally speaking, when an ocean-going fishing vessel goes to sea, in order to have a care, it is two ships that act together, and this time it is the Fuyuanyu No. 225 of the same company that operates with no. 226.
There are a total of 18 people on the No. 226 ship, most of them are the compatriots of captain Fang Jiabai, the distant-water fishing is very hard, and it is at least a few months to go to sea, although the salary is high, but there are many unexpected situations at sea, and the risk is very large.
When going to sea, in order to protect the safety of the crew, Chen Jinping, the owner of Yongfeng Fishery, hired two Somali security guards through an international security company.
On 16 August 2001, two Somali security guards boarded a fishing boat at the local port of Bossaso.
(Fuyuanyu No. 226)
Seven days later, Fuyuanyu 226 drove to the target area, ready to carry out fishing operations, and captain Fang Jiabai was also staring at the instrument in the cockpit.
At this time, in addition to the Chinese crew and The Somali security guards, there was also a Somali fishery inspector and four local crew members on board.
Just when everything is working closely.
Suddenly, there were several gunshots from the deck, which frightened Fang Jiabai, but he immediately remembered that there were two armed security guards on the ship, and he calmed down slightly.
Sure enough, it didn't take long for the gunfire outside to stop. One of the security guards came in with a gun.
However, before Fang Jiabai could inquire about the situation, the security guard raised his gun and pointed it at Fang Jiabai. This made him confused about the situation.
Subsequently, the security guard pointed to the south of Fang Jiabai's gun and signaled him to drive the boat to that side, and the terrified Fang Jiabai had to do so.
After a while, a Somali crew member walked in and handed Fang Jiabai a note with a string of Arabic numerals written on it: 6,000,000, with a dollar symbol attached to it.
Fang Jiabai suddenly realized that the Somali security guards, fishery officials and crew members on the ship were all pirates. They wanted to hijack the ship for $6 million.
Three times in the dangerous situation, the two requests for help failed
Seven pirates left Fang Jiabai to sail the ship, driving the rest of the Chinese crew to the bottom cabin and imprisoning them.
While driving the boat, Fang Jiabai was nervously calculating in his heart. According to the meaning of the pirates, the ship should be driven to their old nest, and at that time, the life and death of a ship of people can only depend on the mood of the pirates.
There are also 17 compatriots on board, most of them are their own compatriots, and their brothers are also on board, no matter what, they must find a way to get out of trouble, and they must not let the pirates succeed!
However, at this time, the gun was pointed at, and Fang Jiabai could not be allowed to have more movements.
Just when he was desperate, Fang Jiabai suddenly moved in his heart, and he remembered that fuyuanyu no. 225 was also going to sea with him. And No. 225 is 12 nautical miles away at the moment, and if it can be contacted, there is hope of rescue.
Fang Jiabai took advantage of the pirates' lack of attention and hurriedly picked up the high-frequency microphone equipped on the ship and prepared to contact No. 225.
Unfortunately, he had just pressed the call button when he was spotted by pirates. A gunshot frightened him into putting down the microphone quickly, and he did not dare to make any other movements.
Soon, the pirates told Fang Jiabai a coordinate and instructed him to drive the ship towards here.
The area where pirates speak of 50 degrees east longitude and 7 to 8 degrees north latitude is the area where pirates are most active.
Silently reciting this coordinate, Fang Jiabai suddenly thought that there was a high-frequency microphone in the cabinet next to the driver's platform.
In order to be able to get the microphone smoothly, Fang Jiabai deliberately made a fake action, taking advantage of the pirate's lack of reaction, quickly hid the high-frequency microphone in his hand, and turned on the call switch.
At the end of the microphone, it is Fuyuanyu No. 225, Fang Jiabai while controlling the fishing boat, while constantly chanting the coordinates of 7 degrees 8 degrees north latitude in his mouth.
The pirates who were monitoring Fang Jiabai in the cockpit didn't think much of it, thinking that Fang Jiabai was just talking to himself.
On the other end, Liu Yongqiang, the captain of Fuyuanyu No. 225, found the clue after receiving the message.
Under normal circumstances, Fang Jiabai, as the captain of the ship, will not always read a coordinate, associated with the pirate activities in the nearby sea, Liu Yongqiang immediately judged that the No. 226 fishing boat must have been hijacked by pirates and is going to Fang Jiabai's repeated coordinate position.
After making a judgment, Liu Yongqiang immediately contacted the company to report the situation, and ordered Fuyuanyu No. 225 to stop operations and drive the boat in the direction of No. 226.
Has been chasing for two hours, did not catch up with the 226th, the company side reminded Liu Yongqiang, the front of the pirate activities are frequent, can not go forward, otherwise, did not save the 226th, this ship also put in.
Liu Yongqiang could only helplessly stop and wait for the company's side of the arrangement.
The message had been sent for several hours, and Fang Jiabai had not waited for a response, he was a little desperate.
Fourth, the resourceful captain calmly relieved the difficulties
But he wasn't willing to sit still.
Through observation, Fang Jiabai found that these pirates did not seem to be able to understand the dashboard and radar map, in order to confirm, he deliberately made some sailing actions contrary to the pirate's instructions, and the pirates did not notice.
Since pirates can't sail ships, it's much easier to do. Fang Jiabai decided to quietly reduce the speed of the ship first, try to drag out the time as much as possible, and wait for the right time.
After the initial panic, the crew of the bottom cabin gradually stabilized, but they were not sure what to do next, so the crew suggested that they could change the captain to see if the captain had any ideas.
At 12 o'clock in the afternoon, the crew finally got the consent of the pirates, let the first mate sail the ship, and change the captain down to rest.
Coming to the bottom cabin, Fang Jiabai saw that most of the crew members were very desperate, and he understood that if he wanted to save himself, he must first mobilize everyone's emotions, and there were many people with great strength, and he could definitely think of a way.
Fang Jiabai introduced the above situation to the crew and told everyone that if they did not resist, there would be only one ending, just like everyone saw on TV, either killed or imprisoned.
If they resist, they still have a good chance of winning. The pirates only have two guns, and the crew that goes to sea is strong and strong, and the number is the advantage, as long as the method is appropriate, it will definitely be able to subdue the pirates.
After mobilizing everyone's emotions, a group of people began to discuss how to avoid the surveillance of the pirates and go out of the bottom cabin.
The crew came up with several proposals, but after discussion, none of them worked, and despair began to spread again.
At this moment, a crew member suddenly remembered that there was also an abandoned skylight in the bottom cabin, which led directly to the deck. The news instantly ignited enthusiasm, and a veteran crew member immediately went to check it out.
Fang Jiabai pulled him aside, pointed to the sky outside, and told him that it was easy to be detected by pirates during the day, and it was not until night.
Subsequently, they began to develop an action plan.
First, by changing shifts, let the cockpit people go down and tell everyone the location of the two gunmen. Then the captain Fang Jiabai and his younger brother Fang Jiaxian each led a team of people to control the two gun pirates separately, so that the remaining pirates would not be able to deal with the numerical superiority of the crew.
After the plan was made, Fang Jiabai went to the cockpit to change the first mate, and everyone was not decadent, and began to recuperate, and when the captain changed shifts again in the evening, he began to act.
Five wise pirates successfully rescued themselves
Due to the huge wind and waves on the day, the fishing boat stopped early for safety.
The wind and waves seemed to be getting bigger, the ships were shaking with the constant waves, and several pirates were dizzy and tired. So after leaving two pirates on guard with guns, they let the rest of the pirates rest.
Such a situation is undoubtedly the best for the crew that is about to act.
At 1 a.m. on August 24, captain Fang Jiabai came down from the cockpit and told everyone that the situation was better than everyone expected, and now the two armed pirates were in the restaurant, just in time to split a team to deal with the sleeping pirates.
Everybody get into action right away.
Confirming that the skylight was available, the Fang family now took the lead, followed by Fang Jiabai and the crew, rushing to the restaurant.
Thanks to the quiet of the day, the pirates thought that the Chinese crew, like everyone else, would not resist in the slightest, at this time, the pirates were relaxing in the restaurant watching TV, and the safety did not expect that the Chinese crew would rush in.
Entering the restaurant, Fang Jiabai held a wooden stick, and without saying a word, knocked the pirate's head.
Before the two pirates could react after being suddenly hit by a stick, they were crushed to the ground by the crew who rushed up.
Seeing that the crew had successfully captured the gun, Fang Jiabai's heart was half relieved.
The other team also went well, and the sleeping pirates were subdued before they could react.
Checking the crew on the ship, only one crew member was injured while grabbing the gun, and the others were unscathed, Fang Jiabai finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Next, Fang Jiabai contacted Liu Yongqiang, the captain of Fuyuanyu No. 225, and soon the two ships converged, and after discussion, they agreed that the Somali port could not go anymore and drove the ship directly to Yemen.
On August 27, at the port of Aden in Yemen, the Chinese consul general in Aden led the staff to greet them at the dock, and the crew finally met their relatives in the motherland.
The pirates were also handed over to Somalia by the Yemeni police, and fishermen in the port of Aden gave a thumbs up after hearing the story of the Chinese fishing boat, praising the bravery and wit of the Chinese crew.
postscript
In 2008, according to the resolution of the United Nations and with the permission of the Somali government, China established a naval escort formation, and as of January 2019, China has escorted more than 6,600 Chinese and foreign ships, effectively ensuring the safety of this route.
Today, the once arrogant Somali pirate organization has gradually disappeared, and the Gulf of Aden Strait is no longer their world!