Pirates Aboard!

In 1895, Joshua Slocum, the first man to sail alone around the world, scattered thumbtacks on the sole of Spray to repel an attack by intruders on Tierra Del Fuego. In December 2001, an attack on Sir Peter Blake's yacht in Brazil resulted in his death. "Pirates Aboard!" deals with recent cases of piracy studied by author Klaus Hympendahl, who interviewed the victims of about 40 cases. He asks them what lessons they learned from their hostile encounter and what they would suggest others do differently to avoid (or just survive) similar incidents. He then gives an appraisal of which areas in the world are the most dangerous, including Somalia, the Gulf of Aden, Venezuela, Guatemala, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and parts of Brazil. This invaluable document suggests what preventive measures sailors can take and advises how they should deal with stress, aggression, and fear when faced with a confrontation.