71 Early detection of potential attacks must be
the first line of defence, action to prevent the attackers actually
boarding the second, but there will be incidents when attackers succeed
in boarding a ship. The majority of pirates and armed robbers are
opportunists seeking an easy target and time may not be on their side,
particularly if the crews are aware they are on board and are raising
the alarm. However, the attackers may seek to compensate for the pressure
of time they face by escalating their threats or the violence they
employ. When attackers are on board the actions of the master and
crew should be aimed at:
-
.1 securing the greatest level of safety for those
on board the ship;
-
.2 seeking to ensure that the crew remain in control
of the navigation of the ship; and
-
.3 securing the earliest possible departure of
the attackers from the ship.
72 The options available to the master and crew
will depend on the extent to which the attackers have secured control
of the ship, e.g., by having gained access to the bridge or engine-room,
or by seizing crew members who they can threaten, to force the master
or crew to comply with their wishes. However, even if the crew are
all safely within secure areas, the master will always have to consider
the risk to the ship the attackers could cause outside those areas,
e.g., by using firebombs to start fires on a tanker or chemical carrier.
73 If the master is certain that all his/her crew
are within secure areas and that the attackers cannot gain access
or by their actions outside the secure areas they do not place the
entire ship at imminent risk, then he/she may consider undertaking
evasive manoeuvres of the type referred to above to encourage the
attackers to return to their craft.
74 The possibility of a sortie by a well-organized
crew has, in the past, successfully persuaded attackers to leave a
ship but the use of this tactic is only appropriate if it can be undertaken
at no risk to the crew. For an action like this to be attempted the
master must have clear knowledge of where the attackers are on the
ship, that they are not carrying firearms or other potentially lethal
weapons and that the number of crew involved significantly outnumbers
the attackers they will face. If a sortie party can use water hoses,
they stand an increased chance of success. The intention should be
to encourage the attackers back to their craft. Crew members should
not seek to come between the attackers and their craft nor should
they seek to capture attackers as to do so may increase the resistance
the attackers offer which will, in turn, increase the risk faced by
members of the sortie party. Once outside the secure area, the sortie
party should always stay together. Pursuit of an individual attacker
by a lone crew member may be attractive but if it results in the crew
member being isolated and seized by the attackers, the advantage turns
to the attackers. Crew members should operate together and remain
in constant communication with the bridge and should be recalled if
their line of withdrawal to a secure area is threatened.
75 If the crew do apprehend an attacker, he/she
should be placed in secure confinement and well cared for. Arrangements
should be made to transfer him/her to the custody of officers of the
security forces of a coastal State at the earliest possible opportunity.
Any evidence relating to these activities should also be handed over
to the authorities who take him/her into custody.