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Back to 18/2008
PIRACY SPECIAL: A 54-day visit in hell
One day after the distress call is sent the Lehmann Timber is still adrift in the waves. First Mate Ardo Kalle awaits the helicopter bringing emergency rations from the ship that responded to the distress call.
Photo: Lehmann Timber crew.
On May 28, pirates from Somalia hijacked the merchant vessel Lehmann Timber. The story is unique because of the constant media coverage it received, meaning the events could be followed almost online. Here, First Mate Ardo Kalle tells his story to SSG readers. All photos were taken by the crew during the fateful voyage.
The crew of the Lehmann Timber only came ashore on July 21, but their situation had been closely monitored in their home countries since early June. Captain Valentin Bartashov is a Russian citizen and First Mate Ardo Kalle a citizen of Estonia. There were also four Ukrainian officers and nine crewmembers from Myanmar on board.
The Lehmann Timber was launched from a Chinese shipyard on 18 April. Metal cargo was loaded into the hold and onto the deck in China. The ship was to arrive in Germany and immediately proceed to a dock for replacement of the original Chinese-installed engine room and bridge equipment and to be transformed from its existing Rina class to the Germanischer Lloyd class. In early May the vessel embarked on its maiden voyage to Europe.
Nowhere to run
The attack came in the afternoon on May 28, 170 miles off Somalia. First Mate Ardo Kalle describes the events:
“We knew the area was dangerous. At about half past four in the morning a helicopter appeared, circled above the ship twice and flew away. We nevertheless felt safe until we noticed two boats tailing us. There was nowhere to run and nothing to do, no point in hoping that a water jet from a fire hose would stop anyone.”
“I was at the stern and saw them at a distance of 2–3 cable lengths. When one of the boats reached us the hijackers began shooting with machine guns. The captain tried to manoeuvre the vessel to create a wave to repel the boats, but as we were moving slowly and with low free board, we basically couldn’t do anything to prevent their approach. We sent out the distress signal a minute or two before they boarded the ship. First they rushed the bridge and ordered us to stop the engines. That was about as much they could say in English, at least their leader.”
Poor fishermen
Nine men boarded the ship from the two boats. Within a couple of minutes one vessel some 16 miles away replied to the distress signal. The next day a ship further away also responded. Unfortunately, the crew of the Lehmann Timber were no longer being allowed to talk. Mr Kalle explains:
“The pirates said that they were just fishermen stranded out at sea. They said they didn’t want to kill us. They needed food, water and fuel to get back. We gave them food and water. When they discovered that we had no petrol, they ordered us to take the ship closer to the coast (10–15 miles) so that they could reach land with the little petrol they still had.”
During that first hour the crew hoped that someone would come to their rescue. Some hours later, when it was growing darker and the ship was moving towards the coast, a helicopter appeared and a military vessel began tailing the Lehmann Timber, sending signals. Mr Kalle continues:
“By 22.30 we had come so close to the coast that the captain allowed the ship to drift and told the pirates that he had done what they wanted. They replied that the location was unsuitable for going ashore as there was military activity in the area, and gave the captain a new heading. They kept giving us new headings and we kept following them for three days.”
The hijackers took everything the crew had on board. Only one small digital camera was saved and with it the crew managed to document the heavy list and also the bullet holes all over the ship. One bullet was fired into the bridge compartment just efter the captain had sent the distress call, putting a hole trough a monitor. Photo: Lehmann Timber crew
Coastal command
Mr Kalle confirms the suspicion that the pirates were acting on the orders of some kind of organisation:
“From the second day on, they were constantly on the radio and we could sense that an organisation was giving them their orders.”
Mr Kalle also confirms media speculation that the pirates may even have been following events as they were covered by the Russian media:
“The pirates had mobile phones and were constantly making calls. Their leader would sometimes say surprising things, and none of us understood where he got the information. He knew things before we or anybody else could have known them.”
Money came up on the second day.
“The captain had passed on their demand and we received a phone call on the evening of the same day. The two negotiators told us that it was not their first such situation, that we should remain calm as it was all just a game and we had nothing to be afraid of”, says Mr Kalle.
Fearing that the crew, caught in the middle, could simply be overlooked, the father of the captain, himself a former seaman and now a businessman in Kaliningrad with connections in Germany, contacted Russian and German media. He was later accused by the crewing company of aiding terrorists for doing so. Mr Kalle confirms fears that without help from the media the crew’s patience would not have been enough:
“We were running out of fuel, water and food.”
“During the first three days the captain steered the ship alone,
and I’m still amazed he managed to do it without falling asleep.”
Stuck on the bridge
Mr Kalle explains that while two engineers were in the engine room and the cook in the galley, all of the other crewmembers had to sit in the bridge:
“For quite a long time, especially during the first week, we didn’t know what to expect from these people. The grenade launcher was always pointed at the captain and there were two men with machine guns on either side of him. The rest of the pirates were standing next to the radio station and the guards regularly changed places. When we dropped anchor on the third day, about a dozen more men came aboard.”
“During the first three days the captain steered the ship alone, and I’m still amazed he managed to do it without falling asleep. At anchor we began regular watches and were able to make entries in the logbook.”
The pirates wanted money. This is confirmed by Russian journalist Mikhail Voitenko who, on June 19, spoke on the phone with both the captain and Mohammad Ali, the representative of the pirates on board the vessel. They now wanted to continue to a more suitable place for the money handover off Somalia.
“During negotiations the sum they demanded, USD 3 million, was reduced and the starting offer of USD 200,000 made by the shipowner was raised. They spent several weeks bargaining”, says Mr Kalle.
On June 21, Valentin Bartashov, Captain of the Lehmann Timber, took part in a live broadcast on the Moscow Echo radio channel and announced that on the following day the ship’s diesel generators would be switched off so as to retain the emergency supply of five tons of diesel fuel needed to start the main engine and leave the anchorage site. He also mentioned that although the shipowner had recommended using the dry rations from rescue rafts, the pirates would not allow the crewmembers onto the deck.
By this time a ransom of USD 750,000 had finally been agreed upon and discussions began as to how that money should be delivered.
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The hijackers left dirt, litter and leftovers of their drug khat all over and the brand new Lehmann Timber was turned unrecognizable. The upper picture shows First Mate Ardo Kalle’s cabin after the hijackers left the ship. Photo: Lehmann Timber crew
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Distress call
On the evening of July 8, the pirates finally left, but this was not the end of the terrible journey for the crewmembers. Mr Kalle recalls that the pirates spent the whole day dividing up the cash:
“The Tanzanian tug that had brought the money out stayed beside us the whole time. We had to launch one of our rescue rafts to send the delivery guy back to the tug. They weren’t able to give us any water or fuel because the waves were too high. We were barely out of the 200-mile zone when engine failure set in. We stopped the main engine and started drifting, and the engineers did their best to repair the damage.”
On the evening of June 12, when the main engine died completely and the ship was still some 200 miles east north east of the island of Socotra, the crew sent an SOS signal.
A list of 35 degrees
The following day the ship was approached by the USCGC Monsoon and a helicopter dropped some rice and water. Mr Kalle describes the emergency:
“They kept an eye on us until the tug arrived. The crew really wanted to be transferred onto the vessel since it offered us better chances of survival. There was a level 9 storm and the ship was listing 35 degrees on both sides. We were afraid that the deck cargo would begin shifting.”
The physically and mentally exhausted crew nevertheless decided not to abandon ship. The Dubai Moon tug from the United Arab Emirates arrived on July 15. A tedious crawl of 2 to 2.5 knots began, only going up to 3.5 to 4 knots when the weather improved. The Lehmann Timber eventually moored at the Port of Salalah at midnight on July 20.
They all survived. One day before calling port, all crew pose in their best clothing. In the middle row with a white overall is Captain Valentin Bartashov, to his right is the Chief Engineer and farthest to the right stands the brave photographer Sergiy Atakuziyev. First Mate Ardo Kalle holds the life buoy. Photo: Lehmann Timber crew
Madli Vitismann, Editor, Estonia.
Latest update 26-09-2008
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