NAIROBI, Kenya — It is becoming a familiar tale of the Somali seas: A retired couple sets out for the trip of a lifetime, sailing around the world in a relatively small yacht, blogging all the way, sharing adventures of meeting people, seeing exotic locales and experiencing the thrill of being totally free.
This is what drew Jean and Scott Adam, an American couple from Southern California who have been sailing the globe for the past six years, to steer toward waters off the Somali coast.
“Djibouti is a big refueling stop,” Jean Adam, a retired dentist, wrote on the couple’s website. “I have NO idea what will happen in these ports, but perhaps we’ll do some local touring.”
But on Friday afternoon, their adventure took a hazardous turn when pirates hijacked their sailboat, witha total of four Americans on board, attacking several hundred miles off the coast of Oman, the U.S. military said.
There has been no radio contact with the Americans since they put out an SOS, officials said. It is a strikingly similar case to that of Paul and Rachel Chandler, sailors from a London suburb seeking adventure in similar waters in 2009. Their boat was hijacked by Somali gunmen, who held them for more than a year.
The U.S. Navy has pleaded with ship owners to stick to designated shipping lanes when passing through the Arabian Sea, where pirates continue to strike with impunity despite the presence of dozens of warships. The Navy sometimes provides escorts for convoys and the ships travel in numbers, for safety.
“But we can’t track everything, we can’t track everybody, it’s too large of an area,” said Bob Prucha, a spokesman for the military’s Central Command, on Saturday.
He added that it was “common knowledge” howdangerous those waters were.
Maritime analysts in East Africa said a notorious pirate gang from northern Somalia had captured the Americans and was taking them to one of their many lairs.
Somalia has languished without a functioning central government for more than 20 years, and once pirates take hostages back to their dens, there are very few options for a rescue.
U.S. military officials would not indicate their next move.
But the last time Americans were hijacked by Somali pirates, the Navy sent several warships, and a Navy SEAL team ended up shooting three pirates dead, capturing a fourth and freeing an American merchant-marine captain.
All this happened at sea.
The captured pirate, Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse, was brought to New York and sentenced to 33 years in U.S. prison Wednesday. Piracy analysts in East Africa said people in Somalia’s pirate communities had already begun talking about trying to work out a prisoner swap with the four freshly snatched Americans in exchange for Muse, something U.S. officials are not likely to approve.
Somalia’s pirates are getting increasingly bold - and vicious. Several hostages have recently been badly beaten and some have even been forced at gunpoint to accompany pirates on raids.
Though the Russian, American, Chinese and other navies are prowling up and down Somalia’s coast, the pirates have continued to seize dozens of vessels in the past year.
Ransoms have shot up from a few hundred thousand dollars to now typically $4 million or $5 million.According to Ecoterra International, an organization that monitors piracy attacks, more than 50 captured ships are in the hands of Somali pirates, with at least 800 captives.
Though pirates prefer large oil tankers, which typically lead to fatter ransoms, they usually will not spare a sailboat.
The Chandlers were released in November after their friends and others paid around $1 million in ransom.
A South African couple seized in their sailboat last year is still in captivity.
A French family in a yacht also was hijacked a few years ago, and French commandos accidentally killed the skipper when they staged a rescue attempt.
The Adams had been cruising around the world for more than six years, from New Zealand to Tahiti to the Galapagos to Hawaii, China and India. Ecoterra officials said it was unclear who the other two Americans aboardwere. One of the last posts on the Adams’ website indicates that they were leaving Bombay, India, for Oman, and then sailing onward to Djibouti.
Their home has been the Quest, a blue Davidson 58 Pilot House Sloop, since they started an “around the world” trip in 2004, their blog said.
“As a retired dentist, Jean has always had an interest in the biological sciences and the natural world around us all (otherwise known as God’s creation),” the site said.
The couple’s site lists hobbies, such as reading, photography, religion and boats, and shows pictures of sparkling coves, sherbet-colored sunsets and an orangutan.
Jean Adam wrote that she wanted to blog as much as possible but “since this trip is a reflection of our life and because life on a moving boat is unpredictable, we expect this trip to hold some unexpected surprises !”
Front Section, Pages 14 on 02/20/2011