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Back to SSG 20
Photo: Bent Mikkelsen
The captain of the Danica White tells the story:
A very special voyage
Captain Niels Peter Nielsen was captain of the Danica White during the 82-day capture off the coast of the more or less lawless country Somalia in East Africa. SSG paid a visit to Captain Nielsen’s home in Denmark to hear his own words on the very special voyage.
“The Danica White was held mainly by gentlemen soldiers off the coast of Somalia. Shortly after coming onboard they behaved nicely apart from some nasty hints of execution. They had their own cook, their own provisions and when we ran out of cigarettes, they even provided us with cigarettes from the stocks ashore”, the captain says.
The voyage started at Sharjah, U.A.E, with a cargo of drilling equipment bound for Mombasa in Kenya. The Danica White was hi-jacked by a group of 15 persons on the open sea some 210 nautical miles off Somalia. Captain Nielsen was on the bridge that Friday morning, when there was suddenly a loud bang and later some voices talking fast. Within seconds a number of heavily armed and very young soldiers were in the wheelhouse demanding all valuables from the crew. They immediately altered course in order to reach the Somalia coast.
”They were rather friendly when they realised that we did not make any resistance”, says Niels Nielsen. ”There was one English speaking person in the group, who was between 20 and 30 years old”. ”The youngest solider claimed to be 16 years old, but he looked more like 13.”
First 24 hours
The first 24 hours the Danica White, now with a crew of 15 plus the original five, steamed toward the shore without any interference. Late Saturday afternoon the American destroyer USS Carter Hall turned up on the horizon and began to call the ship.
”I was instructed not to make any contact with the American warship”, explains Niels Nielsen. ”They have nothing to do with us in our waters”, said the leader of the hi-jacking group. The American destroyer sailed around the Danica White from 15:00 to about 21:00. During this time they constantly tried to contact the ship on the VHF, and ”alerted” the Danica White by firing warning shots over the bow and over the stern.
”The hi-jackers became really afraid that they would be attacked and took their positions in the bridge-wings with the rest of the Danica White crew as shields, in case …”
Niels Nielsen was worried even from his position in the wheelhouse. Luckily the US warship decided not to launch a boarding team. Instead they fired on the three boats used by the hi-jackers, at that moment being towed by the Danica White.
Desperation
”The efficient US guns managed to hit all three boats (one large and two smaller ones), and one of the ABs was ordered to cut the towing line. This changed the whole situation”, says Niels Nielsen. ”The hi-jackers’ plan was that they would leave the ship at about 20 nautical miles from the shore with their loot, nothing more, according to their original plans and confirmed by their conversation during the days onboard.”
The loss of three boats made the hi-jackers rather desperate as the boats were hired from somebody else, and now they had to cover the losses. So instead of leaving the Danica White they were forced to take the ship and claim a ransom to gain money to pay for the boats.
The voyage for the hi-jackers seemed to be rather well-planned, as they arrived with their own cook and their own provisions.
”The only inconvenience was that the Somali cook worked all day and only left the Danish cook some two-three hours per day for his cooking for the crew”. The two ABs on the Danica White soon became friendly with the Somalians and started eating their food. Niels Nielsen describes the Somalians as pigs in the sense that they never cleaned anything and after eating their supper on the aft deck it looked like a rice field.
At anchor
On Monday, the third day of the hi-jacking, the Danica White was anchored 1.7 nautical miles off the coast of Somalia, some 26 nautical miles south of Kobyo, and just outside a private port.
”The ship was equipped to be anchored with 110 tons of bunkers onboard as well as sufficient provision taken onboard at Sharjah, including 20,000 cigarettes”, says Niels Nielsen. The same day a note of ransom was mailed to H. Folmer & Co, the managing owner of the Danica White, for a sum of USD 1.5 million. Then they started waiting for an answer.
”The mate, the cook and the two ABs remained in their own cabins onboard, while I was more or less forced to bunk on the bridge”, says Niels Nielsen. ”My bedroom was not used, but my saloon accommodated five-six Somalians eating, smoking and chewing khat, which was brought onboard in large quantities after arrival on the coast”.
The hi-jackers or soldiers from the Somalia Marines were onboard in a nine-day turn.
During the 82 day stay at anchor, the South West Monsoon started to pass the area. This forced captain Niels Nielsen to keep the main engine running in order to ease the pressure on the anchor chain. Also the two auxiliary engines were running during the stay. There was high consumption of fresh water, as the Somalian soldiers were very keen on taking showers. Three times the ship ran out of fresh water, but again the hi-jackers showed gentlemen style. On one occasion two tons of fresh water was delivered in 20 litre containers from the facilities ashore and sailed out in a small dingy. Later one of three trawlers lying (Somalia Marine’s fleet) with a fresh water generator supplied nine tons of fresh water.
During the first month the temperature outside was ”only” 21–22° C, in August it was up to 25° C and with a lot of wind and Indian Ocean swell.
Negotiations
From day one at anchor there was contact from the hi-jackers with the office in Copenhagen, where the Police had placed a negotiator to handle the talking with captain Niels Nielsen as middleman and interpreter between the office in Copenhagen and the hi-jackers. The negotiations took a long time, as shipowner Jørgen Folmer was not willing to pay the full amount right away. Slowly and day-by-day the offer was raised a little to a final sum in the neighbourhood of USD 750,000. The hi-jackers needed at least USD 570,000 to cover their losses.
The final offer was given on a Friday in August and accepted the following Monday, but it took nearly another ten days before the ship was released and the last soldiers left the vessel.
Just before this happened, the soldiers took the last loot from the Danica White. The two TVs in the mess rooms, one of the ABs’ and the captain’s private computers and two portable air condition units were stolen as well as computers from the offshore mud lock stowed in a container on deck. The rest of the cargo, drilling pipes and oil-based mud in big bags, was never touched by the soldiers.
Free at last
”We had the best possible service during the flight back to Denmark from Djibouti and also during dinner at the best hotel in Djibouti. We looked forward to similar treatment in the future after leaving our ship … Ten seats on a private jet, a three course dinner, and wine was something highly appreciated after the days at anchor”, says Niels Nielsen.
”We were met at sea by the French warship Brisson and called up by a Danish liaison officers as well as a civil servant from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We were in fact asked to leave the Danica White, which was sailed by a French crew and the Danish officer in order to give investigators an opportunity to take technical evidence for a future trail”, explains Niels Nielsen. ”We did not bother and were happy to enjoy the French hospitality onboard the Brisson”, the captain adds.
”I must compliment the Government coverage to the families. H. Folmer & Co went to the police with all addresses to the next of kin and they, along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, took good care of the families. Meeting every week in Odense and daily telephone updates and all travel expenses paid, that is really good service for citizens”, Niels Nielsen says with a smile.
//Bent Mikkelsen
Latest update 23-10-2007 14:35 |
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