Navy's "Overwhelming show of force" led to pirate take-down

A ‘classic message in a bottle’, tossed into the Indian Ocean by sailors trapped on their ship by pirates, ensured Royal Marines were able to free them.

The Royal Navy officer who led the operation to free the 23 crew of the Italian bulk carrier Montecristo today gave details of the dramatic rescue – which has earned the men and women under his command global recognition, and the gratitude of the Italian government.

The Montecristo was liberated from 11 pirates – who were promptly arrested – by a team from RFA Fort Victoria aided by the American frigate USS De Wert on Tuesday afternoon.

That rescue came at the end of a 36-hour operation, including a dash across 550 miles of ocean, concluding, said Capt Gerry Northwood, in charge of a Royal Navy counter-piracy task force based on Fort Victoria, in “an overwhelming show of force” which made the modern-day buccaneers surrender.

The brand-new 56,000-tonne Montecristo had been making its way to Vietnam carrying scrap metal when she came under attack on Monday.

Her crew had taken precautions to protect their ship from pirates – the upper deck was covered with barbed wire in a bid to thwart any hostile boardings and there was an impregnable ‘citadel’ to retreat to if pirates got aboard.

Armed with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, pirates did indeed get aboard the Montecristo on Monday some 620 miles off the Somali coast.

The crew retreated to their citadel in the engine room – where they were safe and from where they could steer the ship.

Capt Northwood said a distress signal was picked up initially from the merchant ship, but then “everything went quiet” as the pirates cut off all communications from the Montecristo.

With the faster De Wert in the lead and Fort Victoria – which normally serves as a ‘one-stop supply ship’ for Royal Navy vessels providing food, stores and ammunition – following, the two ships sailed for 30 hours to reach the Italian cargo ship’s position.

Capt Northwood said:

“When the US frigate arrived, we hoped the pirates would surrender."

They did not – nor did they feel threatened by the presence of a maritime patrol aircraft overhead. But the British and Americans were able to observe that the pirates did not hold any hostages – they were not parading them on deck.

It was at this point that a member of the Montecristo’s crew climbed into the funnel and threw a message in a bottle over the side.

Thanks to a flashing device to reveal its location, that bottle was picked up by the De Wert’s sailors – and the message passed on to Fort Vic.

Capt Northwood said:

“It said: There are 11 pirates on board with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenades, all communications on the ship are down, and the crew are safe, in the engine room, and have control of the engines and steering.

"The crew’s final comment was: Please help."

“And that’s what we went in to do.”

Fort Victoria’s Lynx helicopter was sent up in the air to circle the ship, and when that failed to persuade the gunmen to give themselves up, Royal Marines and Royal Navy teams hit the water in sea boats and Offshore Raiding Craft – a “collective overwhelming show of force”, said Capt Northwood.

“At that point they got the message and came out on deck and surrendered."

"Our boarding teams were then able to go on board, detain the pirates and search the ship to make sure there were no pirates hiding. Then we got a message to the crew to tell them everything was safe.”

Montecristo is now back in the hands of her crew and continuing on her way. The Italian Foreign Ministry has thanked the British and American personnel involved in what Rome calls a “brilliant operation”.

Fort Victoria has now resumed her counter-piracy duties under NATO’s Operation Shield. With the monsoon season ending, anti-piracy experts warn that activity is likely to increase.