Britain has suffered its first pirate attack for almost 200 years.
Though these modern pirates aren't as brave as they used to be - pirates 200 years ago would have had to have nerves of steel to dare to take on the Royal Navy.
This was the first recorded pirate attack to hit the British coastline since the 1820s.
These modern day pirates struck on the River Mersey in Liverpool...
The pirates of the River Mersey
Skull-duggery ... map shows latest attacks, but Liverpool piracy was more Sparrow or Pugwash than Blackbeard
By TOM WELLS
The Sun
BRITAIN has suffered its first PIRATE attack in nearly 200 years — on the Mersey in Liverpool.
A cargo ship was boarded by two Scousers disguised as deck hands.
But they left with nothing after crew rumbled the pair and chased them off.
The ship’s foreign owner reported the raid to the International Chamber of Commerce’s Maritime Bureau.
Officials logged it as an “attempted pirate attack”, making it the first recorded incident to hit our coastline since the 1820s.
It means Britain joins notorious piracy hotspots around the world on the ICC’s map of the latest attacks.
The Liverpool raid — among 110 across the globe in the last year — was rumbled when the moored ship’s lookout officer saw two men acting suspiciously on the dockside.
When the pair tried to board they were confronted and asked for ID. After failing to produce any, they made off down the gangplank. One was arrested, but his partner escaped.
An ICC source said: “The last real act of piracy on Britain’s shores was so long ago that records are very sketchy.
“In the heyday of piracy — during the late 1700s and early 1800s — it was known for merchant ships to be attacked by particularly daring brigands. But I doubt if anyone would have tried what these two chaps did at that time in history given the reputation of our Royal Navy back then.
“If a pirate was caught there was very little mercy shown.” The source added: “These guys were hardly from the Captain Blackbeard school of piracy — in fact they were more like Captain Pugwash. They were dressed up as stevedores — deck hands — but the disguises weren’t great and they got rumbled before they’d barely set foot on deck.
"In all honesty, it probably goes down as one of the worst pirate attacks in history. Even Captain Jack Sparrow would be embarrassed by their efforts.”
An ICC spokesman said yesterday: “The police were alerted immediately and this was formally categorised as an attempted pirate attack after we received a report from the ship’s owners.”
thesun.co.uk
Though these modern pirates aren't as brave as they used to be - pirates 200 years ago would have had to have nerves of steel to dare to take on the Royal Navy.
This was the first recorded pirate attack to hit the British coastline since the 1820s.
These modern day pirates struck on the River Mersey in Liverpool...
The pirates of the River Mersey
Skull-duggery ... map shows latest attacks, but Liverpool piracy was more Sparrow or Pugwash than Blackbeard
By TOM WELLS
The Sun
BRITAIN has suffered its first PIRATE attack in nearly 200 years — on the Mersey in Liverpool.
A cargo ship was boarded by two Scousers disguised as deck hands.
But they left with nothing after crew rumbled the pair and chased them off.
The ship’s foreign owner reported the raid to the International Chamber of Commerce’s Maritime Bureau.
Hotspots
Officials logged it as an “attempted pirate attack”, making it the first recorded incident to hit our coastline since the 1820s.
It means Britain joins notorious piracy hotspots around the world on the ICC’s map of the latest attacks.
The Liverpool raid — among 110 across the globe in the last year — was rumbled when the moored ship’s lookout officer saw two men acting suspiciously on the dockside.
When the pair tried to board they were confronted and asked for ID. After failing to produce any, they made off down the gangplank. One was arrested, but his partner escaped.
An ICC source said: “The last real act of piracy on Britain’s shores was so long ago that records are very sketchy.
“In the heyday of piracy — during the late 1700s and early 1800s — it was known for merchant ships to be attacked by particularly daring brigands. But I doubt if anyone would have tried what these two chaps did at that time in history given the reputation of our Royal Navy back then.
“If a pirate was caught there was very little mercy shown.” The source added: “These guys were hardly from the Captain Blackbeard school of piracy — in fact they were more like Captain Pugwash. They were dressed up as stevedores — deck hands — but the disguises weren’t great and they got rumbled before they’d barely set foot on deck.
"In all honesty, it probably goes down as one of the worst pirate attacks in history. Even Captain Jack Sparrow would be embarrassed by their efforts.”
An ICC spokesman said yesterday: “The police were alerted immediately and this was formally categorised as an attempted pirate attack after we received a report from the ship’s owners.”
thesun.co.uk
