In December 2008, a Chinese cargo ship was sailing in the Gulf of Aden when suddenly two dinghies approached the cargo ship, and the cargo ship was slower and was chased by the dinghy. A group of pirates with live ammunition immediately rushed onto the cargo ship and fired wildly at the cockpit!
The Gulf of Aden is a sea area between Yemen and Somalia that is extremely important in its geographical location. It is the main road between the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea, and even between the Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean, where a large number of ships pass through every year, and it also provides opportunities for some unscrupulous "adventurers", and Somali pirates have also emerged in this area. They gained a lot of wealth by plundering and extorting ships passing through the area, and their equipment was constantly upgraded, and they even had heavy weapons such as bazookas.
On December 12, 2008, the Chinese cargo ship Zhenhua 4 departed from Port Sudan after completing its transportation mission. This is a cargo ship mainly responsible for transporting large port equipment such as harbor machinery, which belongs to semi-submersible barges, with a relatively low dryboard and only 4.5 meters from the sea, which is to facilitate the loading and unloading of equipment, but also provides an opportunity for pirates to climb.
To return to Port Sudan, you will inevitably pass through the waters of the Gulf of Aden, and you may be targeted by Somali pirates. Therefore, the crew members have a certain psychological preparation for the attack, and the ship has also held many anti-piracy exercises to train the crew to fight against pirates.
Captain Peng Weiyuan is 57 years old this year, and he has been out to sea many times, but he has never experienced a battle. At about 12 o'clock on 17 December, he looked around as usual and saw that two white dinghies had followed the cargo ship, and the distance was getting closer. The cargo ship tried to turn to avoid the dinghy, but the dinghy followed more closely and chased after it. Who else would do that in a place like the Gulf of Aden? Definitely a Somali pirate!
Peng Weiyuan immediately issued a full-ship alert and ordered Zhenhua 4 to make a sharp turn in an attempt to get rid of the dinghy. But Zhenhua 4 is a cargo ship after all, and it is inconvenient to steer and not as flexible as a dinghy. The dinghy also sped up and headed straight for Zhenhua 4, where the crew could already see the pirates wielding all kinds of weapons in the distance, and they were about to board the ship!
Peng Weiyuan saw the situation and immediately ordered all the personnel to assemble. Everyone put on their hard hats, picked up iron rods, and headed to the helm. Empty beer bottles were also collected, filled with flammables, and made into "earth incendiary bombs". At the same time, the crew is also actively seeking help from the outside world, on the one hand contacting the International Maritime Bureau, they have a wealth of experience in dealing with piracy. On the other hand, the situation is informed domestically.
As the pirates drew nearer, Peng Weiyuan ordered the entire crew to shout "leave" to the pirates in English, hoping to avoid fighting. But the pirates obviously did not eat this set, or the closer they got. Soft can't work, you can only come hard. Peng Weiyuan ordered the throwing of earth incendiary bombs at the pirates. The pirates, however, seemed determined to do the ticket, dodging incendiary bombs while preparing ladders while shooting at the crew. But because the crew found cover, the pirates did not hit a single shot.
Seeing that the pirates were about to board the ship, the crew was inferior in equipment, and it was naturally impossible to confront them head-on. Peng Weiyuan ordered the entire crew to move to a more sturdy cockpit. The retreat also dismantled the ladder from the main deck to the helms, creating obstacles for the pirates.
The crew had just finished assembling in the cockpit when the pirates began boarding the ship. There were a total of 9 pirates on board the 2 dinghies, and they left two to guard the ship, and the remaining 7 people boarded the Zhenhua 4. The pirates were armed with live ammunition and equipped with automatic rifles, bazookas and other weapons. But when they got on the boat and prepared for a big fight, they found that no one on the boat could be seen. They began to look for the helm building, trying to control the ship, and found that the ladder to the helms was gone.
The pirates were furious, and none of them caught them, and they were blocked from their way. In order to vent their anger, they immediately raised their guns and shot at the driving building, but due to the long distance and complete lack of aiming, naturally there was no shot.
The pirates changed their strategy and attacked the life cabin instead, trying to smash the hatch and enter the cockpit from the life cabin. But Peng Weiyuan had already taken precautions, the hatch was impregnable, and the pirates could not open it. Angry pirates fired violently at the hatch with submachine guns, but the quality of the hatch was so good that it remained motionless despite being hit with bullet marks.
The pirates were gone, but they were not willing to return empty-handed, and tried to climb up through the life deck, but the crew was prepared. With high-pressure water guns, the pirates fell to the ground one by one, very embarrassed. There were also many broken glass bottles on the ground that had been dropped before, which were stuck on and on the feet and bodies of the pirates, who were barefoot and cried wolf, and were in pain.
At this time, the pirates had been attacking for more than an hour, but they could not attack for a long time. The pirate leader offered an armistice, and as long as the crew gave them shoes, they would retreat. As a result, after the crew fulfilled their promise and actually threw their shoes at them, the pirates changed their minds again and put on their shoes to continue the attack. The crew, furious at this perfidious act, continued to fire back at the pirates with high-pressure water guns and incendiary shells.
The two sides fought each other for more than three hours, and finally a Malaysian helicopter gunship arrived, and immediately fired a fierce shot at the two pirate dinghies, sinking one of them. Another pirate ship immediately docked next to Zhenhua No. 4, and the helicopter was afraid of accidentally injuring Zhenhua No. 4 and did not dare to continue shooting, so it went back to call for reinforcements.
On the other hand, the pirates, seeing that they could not take the steering tower, simply ignored the crew, but destroyed the ship's facilities with guns in an attempt to force the crew out. But this was their last madness, and the Anti-Piracy Center heard that Zhenhua 4 had been attacked, sent a large number of reinforcements, and even a Malaysian warship. The pirates naturally did not dare to fight with the regular army, and at four o'clock in the afternoon, the pirates saw that reinforcements were coming, hurried back to the boat, and ran away in ashes.
After returning to China, all the crew members of Zhenhua 4 were commended by the company, and the Chinese Navy also sent warships to the Gulf of Aden to escort them. Don't panic when you encounter danger, otherwise it is easier to show flaws. Even if the enemy is strong and we are weak, we must try our best to use wisdom to deal with it, and persist for a while, and we will always encounter a turnaround.
