9781422285107

It had been more than two hundred years since a United States- flagged ship was hijacked by pirates. To most people, pirates were only real in Johnny Depp movies, or as Halloween cos- tumes. In the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf region, though, pirates were becoming all too real. The country of Somalia had a struggling economy, and its citizens were desperate. Some turned to criminal acts as a way of life. Armed with guns and rockets while patrolling the waters in small boats, Somali pirates had begun to make headlines. They hijacked commercial ships dozens of times and demanded large ransoms from other countries. When these payments arrived, some in excess of a million dollars, the pirates would allow the ships to sail away. The United States government was very aware of the problems with pirates in the region. Thankfully, and intelligently, the pirates had steered clear of American vessels…until now. The container ship Maersk Alabama was sailing off the coast of Somalia in 2009. The 500-foot (152-m) ship carried a 20-person crew

Words to Understand AK-47s a type of assault rifle mayday an international distress signal ransoms money that is paid in order to free someone who has been captured or kidnapped

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