M/V Lady Jean Peterson
Chapter 27
By BobbyG
"Bugger. Sorry everyone, I have to call dad, seems there is a problem." He left the saloon wondering what he was going to have to deal with this time, so were the crew.
"Hi dad, what's up?"
"You will love this, Jerry O'Brian escaped four days ago and he is definitely out of the country. Somebody's head should roll for this cock up as it's likely he has been in contact with those Somali's Umar and Yassin and we need to talk about what happens now. MI5 and anti terrorist people are on there way here and you need to be as well, they should be here any time now, I will send Charlie."
"Ok, I need to let the guys know first but we don't have much time to get something together before we sail. See you in about half hour dad." He called the crew to return to the saloon if they were not already there.
"Well, whoever was guarding O'Brian fucked up and he escaped four days ago apparently and to make matters worse, he is out of the country. It must be assumed he has contacted the Somali's and they are now aware that we are expecting them when they attack. MI5 and others are on their way to dad and I'm being picked up. This of course changes everything and off the top of my head we have to plan as though the Somali's know we are going to be waiting for them and have weapons. I will be asking for more armed men, we will just have to wait on that. Right Andrew I need a cuddle, I doubt I will be back until tomorrow." They went to their cabin and cuddled in.
"This is going to be so weird, me on board without you."
"Same for me at home without YOU!" Another quick cuddle and Andrew saw Scott off.
When he arrived two officers from MI5 and two anti terrorist officers where sitting with William. After introductions and Scott with a large orange juice one of the visitors started.
"Ok, no points for being here and of course there has been a major balls up and quite a number of very red faces with at least two sackings. O'Brian has been very cleaver, much more so than his two minders. After he was interviewed he was taken to a farm house up north that is often used by us and there he would remain until his trial which would take place after the attack on your ships. During the whole time we had him he became very cooperative, never gave a problem and was totally repentant about his actions and was prepared to accept any sentence he was given. In other words the perfect prisoner and that's what he wanted the guards to think of course and it worked. O'Brian waited for a few days. As normal one of them unlocked his door to hand him his breakfast but walked into a fist which flattened him. He then went into the kitchen and grabbed the other bloke and threw him in with his mate and locked the pair up. He emptied their wallets and took both mobiles and car then drove to London. He must have used the stolen mobiles to contact people and we can assume it was friends of the two he planned the attack with. He was eventually picked up on CCTV getting on a ferry at Dover but not off so he must have had a change of clothes and appearance, it is also likely he got a lift off the ferry. So, we are afraid it must be assumed those people we chucked out will know you will be waiting for them Captain and with armed personal on board."
"Great, just thank those two for buggering us up won't you. We are due to sail tomorrow but I'm going to have to think this through and the first obvious answer is get the army or navy involved."
"Thought you would ask that and the answer is "no." You have ex military who have been cleared to use weapons under license." Scott knew that only included Paul and Mathew but wisely kept his mouth shut. "I know it sounds daft but serving military cannot be use as it could be seen that this is a military crew operating from a civilian ship and that believe it or not, is illegal. Scott, you are being supported from high places including the military but none of them will ever admit to it. You just happened to find like minded people as yourself and they are convinced this piracy will end when ships have armed protection on board but they will only ever be ex military or those who satisfy the licensing authorities to carry out armed escorting, serving military can only operate from naval ships. "Ok, so we can't be further armed, but I wonder what support we will get IF they send more boats armed to the teeth and the possibility of injury or worse because if we find ourselves up against even larger numbers I will claim I will be justified to fire in self defence. I don't need a comment on that because I already know I and the shooter would be in deep trouble if my action ended up with any of them dead. Thanks for your time, I now have to talk to my father and send for three of the crew." They were being told this meeting was over. He saw them off and called Paul and told him he, Neil and Reggie were to pack a night bag and a car was on it's way. "Tell Jan she has the ship."
Even though time was fairly limited William knew that although they talked about how to proceed Scott was running different senarios through his mind and by the time the others arrived he would come up with no more than thoughts to be discussed, but he came to realise options were fairly limited, just a change on how to manage the whole situation and one idea that was going through his brain. To help him develop this idea he called the helicopter guys, Peter and Jimmy up in Yorkshire and after they had spoken Scott said he would call back the next day.
They all settled down only this time with champagne, Scott had already told them they would not be sailing the next day. He had another surprise even for his father when he invited Brenda to join them. He told them William would be telling her every thing anyway so why not be part of the meeting. What he did not say was he wanted William to see that he regarded Brenda as a full part of all that was being discussed in this saga.
"Right, dad and I have been chatting since the visitors left and I just want to give you my thoughts and afterwards throw it open to discuss but bring any ideas of your own into it." At that very moment Andrew sent a photo of his nob with the message. "The situation I guess is serious but I thought I would give a SLIGHT distraction. Love you my man xxxx" Scott relaxed and got into his stride.
"Lets start with the advantages we have. We have two GPMG's plus 400 rounds each, two snipers rifles plus 100 rounds each, two assult rifles, one on our bridge and one on Bob Taylor's plus 5/30 round magazines each rifle.
We all know about the water cannons and how effective they are at close range and of course the midship cannons which will be set to hot as usual. The bullets which have proved themselves thanks to Marcell and the stern grenades which I am sure could come into their own this trip. We now have 18 tubes and two more reloads but they will be limited to one firing only because I will not have crew on deck to reload while they are shooting at us. The searchlights have also proved their worth and will definitely be used when I need them. That brings me to the helicopters and I really don't have to say more except without them we could have found life very difficult, but I have wondered since the O1 attack they may now have a weakness. We know these pirates are well armed and have mother boats, skiffs, radar, sat navs and powerful backing with money. Buying that lot must be a huge cost but goggles would cost next to nothing and if they had them and covered their mouths the tear gas could become ineffective. I have no idea if they have cottoned on to this but I may have come up with something else that could work and it's possible even better than tear gas. I would imagine that a mixture of oil mixed with sand dumped on a skiff from back to front, to be nautical, would cause quite a problem if they are soaked enough and everything on board. IF they have goggles they would be useless and more than likely they would have to take them off. So, if the boys had one container of each they would get two cracks at them............, and now I've said that out loud I'm suddenly not so sure. What do you think?"
They kicked it around for some time and after Brenda had bought in another bottle they more or less agreed it could work very well. "Why not just oil Skip. The sand would give a problem I suppose but it may clog the outlet valve? I think old engine stinky oil would be an even bigger issue for them. Firing a AK47 or RPG covered in oil would I guess be near to impossible or at the very least it would severely spoil their aim." Reggie was quite pleased with that.
"Nice idea Reggie, anyone else?"
"How about instead of sand, why not mix iron filings with the oil. Imagine that mix down the back of your shirt, or even worse down the front of your pants!" Neil grinned at them and knew he had got it right, until Brenda piped up.
"I'm glad I'm on your side you lot, but if it was me, I would fill both of the containers with petrol, cover several of the boats then fire off a couple of those grenade things and watch the buggers jump over board!" Everyone looked at Brenda.
"Yeah Gods Brenda that's GOT to be illegal! But my word we will fill 4 of them and at least they will be ready to use. I have spoken to Peter and Jimmy today and I will ask them if the containers we have can spray oil with iron filings mixed in and you Andrew and Theo need to get both and empty 4 tear gas containers and fill them with the oil mix, but first I will have to wait until the lads from Yorkshire tell me it can be done and if we have to modify the cylinders that will be used. Ok, there will be more to talk about the Jean and how we go about improving our defences, but now we need to talk about what we don't know, Paul?"
"As I see it IF they have been told we will be waiting for them my guess is they will know we are armed because when O'Brian was arrested the coppers told him we would be. Obviously we don't know how many boats they will have or the number of armed men to attack us, but we do know there are usually six all with AK47's and an RPG, but again, they could have more boats and men now they are bound to know about us. I am positive they will attack but more than likely with more boats. Another thing I am sure about Skip is they won't give this up, it too big for them to do that. The paymasters wont care about possible losses to their men or us, all they will be thinking about is a massive payday. It's going to be quite a fight Skip."
"It will be I am sure of that. I have been thinking about how we should go about fucking them up and I THINK we can."
"Are you going to give us any thoughts about that now Skip?" Scott would rather have had more time but it was right to tell them what he had thought so far.
"As the Jean is much more secure than the 06 I will be transferring you, Mathew and Jan over to the O6 tomorrow before she sails and you will have to find two more shooters to be armed with the assult rifles or you and Mathew keep them until you need them, which I think would be the better option. At the very least it will prove I am right about no pirate boarding with armed security on board and I am more than confident you will stop any of them succeeding, but It could be more difficult as I will assume they will send many more boats to attack us. I will also send Royston over with a medical pack to support Bob's medics and if I am lucky to get this guy Barnes Willis by the time the O6 sails, he will be going with you as well, I want an independent take on what could happen if we are attacked and we all know it's going to happen.
They had slept and after handshakes and hugs to his father and Brenda, they were now back on the Jean and Scott addressing his crew. He repeated the above and could now continue.
I have already ran this through Paul, Neil, Reggie and my dad last night and as they didn't laugh their balls off I'm hoping the rest of you wont either.
I am basing my response on two senarios, an attack that will see six boats or more going for both the Jean and the O6 at the same time, OR, and this could be the right thinking, all their boats will attack the O6 and attacking both sides at the same time. If they are able to board and take her they will threaten the Jean that unless we surrender to them, they will start throwing crew over board. If we find ourselves in that situation, I will have no choice.
When Paul, Mathew and Jan transfer to the O6, Paul will take charge of the defence of the ship with Captain Taylors approval. I rang him before we left home and he is as pissed off as me that the cat could be out of the bag and the pirates will by now know we will have armed men on board, even though they don't know how few.
When the O6 comes back out we will sail a further 50 miles south east which will increase the distance from the Somalia coast to 200 miles. This will give us more time and them using up more fuel. As soon as we get to our course I will reduce speed until we are two miles astern of the O6, we will still have a five mile radius from the Hawk radar of course which means we be able to cover three miles ahead of the O6. Also by falling two miles behind the O6 it should tell us how they intend to attack. When it becomes obvious how they will carry it out, I will respond accordingly but I have already made my mind up how the helicopters will be used and who will support the boys. That will be you Andrew and Theo. When I know there is likely to be an attack you will both go to the hangar and refuel and fit new containers when they return. Marcell, I will fly you off first to attack but when you land you will prepare to fly off bullets when I say and it's obvious what your targets will be. Jon, you will fly off after your boyfriend when I say and attack targets as I tell you. When you land you will stay at your station and take Marcell's machine off to attack, by which time Andrew and Theo would have refuelled your helicopter and replaced with what ever container I say, which brings me to my last couple of points. By 11 o'clock you Paul, Jan and Mathew should have got your weapons, ammo and gear over to the O6. I am going over now and talk to Captain Taylor and then phone our helicopter boys and find out whether the oil will be a good option to dump on anyone who attacks us. Second point. I hope to be able to sail in two days at the latest and will sail at full speed until we catch up but as Paul wont be with us I need to appoint a temporary first officer who will take over all the shit he has to do, and that appointment goes to........? _______________________________________________________
It would have been Kevin's 61st birthday on the 9th May. Took a few days off. I hope you are all safe and coping with this dreadful situation as best you can. Best wishes.
winchesterbornbred@hotmail.co.uk