Piracy experience by Capt. Supriyo Mukerjee,   CMS How safe are the international waters today to carry on trade across the globe? In the wake of the increasing piracy attacks on the ships across the globe, especially South East Asia, Africa, South American Coast; maintenance of the Security level in the ships has become a pivotal issue in the Marine Industry. We can gather hordes of Company Security Officers & Ship Security Officers prepared with tailored speeches on this topic! But, the more important issue lies in not talking about it; but taking some measures to curb it. It occurred to me few years back when I was the Master of a Bulk Carrier. We were passing the Malacca Strait from Indian Ocean bound for Singapore. At around 1510 hrs the Second Officer requested me to rush to the bridge. I doubted a collision danger, as the ship’s speed was at 12 knots. I rushed there within 20 seconds. To my surprise, there were no vessels except two Dhows (Asian wooden Fishing Boats).  I checked the position on the chart and reassured we were not off course. On enquiring from the Second Officer; he informed me about the two boats sailing parallel to our vessel from past 20 minutes. Both the boats maintained a distance of 1.5 nm from the Port side beam. I smelt something fishy, took hold of my binoculars & keenly observed the boats’ movements. I found nothing peculiar as they appeared to be few Indonesian or Philippino nationals on their routine fishing schedule in that continental shelf zone. I ordered the helmsman to alter course to 20 degrees starboard to maintain a distance of 3 nm from the boats. Since I did not notice any significant movement in the boats; I thought it safe to bring the ship to its earlier course due to the shallow water zone in the channel. Suddenly I observed a swift object in the Radar rushing towards us from the Starboard bow. My Second Officer immediately went to observe the movement through his binoculars. With a frightful face, he ran away from the bridge without reporting me anything. Shocking as his behavior was; so was I curious to know what happened! To my utter shock, I see a Pirate Inflatable Boat with outboard motor carrying 6 persons holding Automatic weapons. Immediately I sounded the Emergency Alarm and alerted the vessel through P.A about the incoming attack. The Company Security Manual Vessel states to keep the ‘Fire Hose’ on deck to use at any time. I ordered the Chief Officer to open the deck fire hose immediately towards those attackers. Within no time, the Attack boat had already reached 6 cable of Starboard beam. As the Chief Officer and Boson were desperately trying to start the Fire Hose, a pirate stood up on the Boat, mounted a Rocket Propelled Grenade