Chapter 6

Sue and I had coffee while watching the radar. The blip became more apparent as we came closer. I told Sue that we would be passing whatever it was on the port side and had her get on top of the salon with the binoculars to watch for it.

Almost as soon as she climbed up she hollered at me, "It's a boat but it looks like it's upside down." I pushed the M button and started lowering the sails while turning to circle the boat.

Dewey arrived topside and I told him what Sue had said. We finished taking down the sails and turned on the fans to start the engines. We moved closer to the boat until Sue yelled again, "There's someone holding onto the side of the boat."

Dewey cut the power and we lowered the dinghy. I put on a life jacket and climbed down to the dinghy and started the motor. The sea was about two feet, gentle swells but large for the small dinghy. As I got closer to the overturned boat a hand waved at me. I eased up to the person grabbed his hand and pulled him into the dinghy.

"My wife is under the boat. I made her get under the boat in case those men came back. She won't know you are here. You have to go under to get her."

I took the man back to the boat and asked Sue to put on a life jacket to come with me on the return trip. I told her what I needed to do and that she needed to keep the dinghy, nose first, up against the overturned boat.

Guessing that the air pocket would be at the rear of the boat, I dove overboard with a plastic flashlight hoping the seawater wouldn't short it out instantly. I came up under the boat in the anticipated air pocket and turned the light on, saying I'm here to help. Hands immediately grabbed me. The woman told me she was so tired and that she was having trouble staying conscious. She had a life jacket on so she would have continued to float but would have probably been banged around by the boat if she had been unable to hold on to the thwarts.

I asked her if she were ready to get dry and she said yes. We dove from under the boat and came up next to the dinghy. I pushed, and Sue pulled the lady on board. I pulled myself into the dinghy and caught a rope that was attached to the bow of the overturned boat. We towed it back to the schooner and helped the lady up the ladder. I tied off the dinghy's towline and the line to the overturned boat, and climbed on deck.

Dewey said that he expected company. He had radioed the Coast Guard and they were on their way, but they were at least forty minutes out. He had spotted another boat, coming fast from the direction of the shore. The man kept saying, "They're coming back, they're coming back, you need to run!"

Dewey told the agitated man to go into the salon with his wife and sit tight for now. Sheila got them blankets and coffee. Dewey and I went to the salon and armed ourselves with rifles from his stash, along with several magazines each. Dewey had real M-16s that used the 5.56 mm ammo. I loaded the magazine and put a round in the chamber. I sent Sue for our pistols and had her get Dewey's while she was down there. I pulled another M-16 out and loaded it for Sue. If nothing else she could spray rounds at them.

When she came back up, I told her to lie down on the top of the salon so she would have cover and, if she were needed, to point and shoot, just spray some rounds in their direction. See if you can hit a fuel tank, their motor, or them if you can, but just use up a magazine and put another in. I handed her five magazines and helped her up on the salon roof.

The boat was coming fast and looked to be about a twenty-five footer. I hoped it was some land guy that was curious about the overturned boat, but I somehow knew better. Dewey called the Coast Guard back and explained that we might be under siege soon. They said they were full speed already and had dispatched a rescue chopper that should be overhead within ten minutes.

Dewey was the captain, but combat was my area of expertise. I had Dewey first turn off everything but our running lights and had him sit on the deck with the steel railing between him and the approaching boat. I told him to level his rifle barrel on the railing but to keep his head down as much as possible. If anyone made a hostile move, shoot, don't think about it, just shoot.

I stood between Dewey and the salon, near the helm. I made sure I was in a shadow and kept my rifle down to my side so it wasn't visible.

The boat cut power and turned to drift sideways toward the boarding platform. The overturned boat was between them and the platform so we had some protection.

I could see a guy standing on the bow and two more in the cockpit area. I couldn't see any of their hands. I told Sue and Dewey in a low voice, "Watch their hands."

The guy on the bow hollered, "Hello the boat."

I yelled back, "I'm right here, what do you want?"

"I came to help with the overturned boat. I heard you talking to the Coast Guard."

"We're fine, we don't need help, the Coast Guard will be here any time."

"Not in time to save your asses, give it up and we'll board you, or we'll scuttle your boat with you on it."

It was strange, none of them were making a move. Something was up for them to make those kind of threats. I whispered for Dewey to watch the area where the boarding ladder was then told Sue to watch the opposite side of the boat to make sure no one tried to climb aboard that way.

I raised my rifle and said, "Back away now or I'll sink you where you are and make sure you're chum by the time you hit the water."

That did it; the guy on the bow brought his hand from behind his back. He was fatally slow; I put a bullet in his chest before the gun cleared his belt. I turned my rifle toward the two in the cockpit and fired four rounds at them, knowing I hit them twice each. I heard a round go off from the top of the salon and turned to see a guy trying to climb over the rail. I fired twice hitting his face and facemask with both rounds. He fell back into the water. Dewey was holding his gun on a guy with his hands up that had come up the boarding ladder.

I yelled for Sue to keep watch; there could be more of them. I circled around the boat, my rifle pointed over the side, making sure there weren't any more attempting to board us.

I hollered at Dewey that I was going to board the pirate boat and secure it for the Coast Guard. I put the rifle down, but pulled the 9 MM and climbed down the boarding ladder. I stepped on the overturned hull and into the back of the pirate boat.

The two guys in the cockpit were a mess. An M-16 can make a mess with civilian rounds. The rounds are softer and tumble faster. Both guys were dead, so I pushed them to the back of the boat and idled the engine back shutting it off. I went forward to check the guy there but he was done for. I picked up his pistol, grabbed the bowline and jumped back onto the overturned hull, grabbing our boarding ladder. I tied the boat there and climbed up the ladder.

I could hear a helicopter, so I went to the helm and took out the flare pistol, dropped a shell in it and fired straight up. Dewey and Sue both had the guy that had come up the boarding ladder covered, so I went over him for weapons. He had a pistol and a knife. The gun was an ancient .38 that might or might not work, but I unloaded it anyway and had the pirate lay on the deck face up. I told Dewey to make sure he shot the guy in the head or the chest if he moved so he wouldn't scratch up his teak deck. I sent Sue to put coffee on for the Coast Guard guys. I put my pistol against the guy's head and told Dewey to call the Coast Guard and advise them that the boarders had four casualties and we had taken one prisoner.

The chopper turned on his spotlight and began searching around our boats. You could see that he was being thorough; he was checking in a slow controlled sweep. He stopped over one area and kept getting lower and lower. The P.A. on the helicopter announced, "Remain still in the water. We will drop a rescue bascket for you. If you make a threatening move, we will respond."

The helicopter was about ten feet from the water when a rescue swimmer jumped into the water. A basket was lowered and the would-be pirate was put into the basket. He was lifted into the helicopter, next they dropped the basket for the crewman.

Dewey told the search and rescue helicopter that there should be a body somewhere near our port bow, as we had repelled a boarder at that point. They swept the area and settled on a spot. The crewman jumped in the water again and loaded the body into the basket and had it hauled up, the crewman caught a ladder and climbed up to the chopper.

I asked the guy lying on the deck, "That's six of you, it that all of you or is there more."

He answered, "No, that's all."

I had Dewey radio that the captive advising the attackers had been a group of six, so all were accounted for.

The helicopter hovered over the attackers' boat, shining the light on the bodies. They radioed back to us that the cutter was nearing and they were going to take their captive and the corpse they'd recovered back to base.

Fifteen minutes later the cutter came along side. Dewey threw over fenders and tied them to us. They came aboard and immediately cuffed the bad guy. They interviewed the couple in the salon and had the two board the cutter. One of the crewmen had been inspecting the attackers' boat and came back to report it was one that had been recently stolen. Apparently these guys had been attacking boats for the cash people had. If they were not given enough, they would flip the boat and leave the people to die. So far no one had died, because this area had a lot of boat traffic.

The officer on the cutter asked if I could tow the overturned hull south a few miles as they needed to get the couple to land as soon as possible. They had been in the water for over twelve hours and should be looked at by a doctor. I asked him what he wanted to do with the attacker's boat.

He snorted and said, "Sink it." He then laughed and said, "Belay that. I'll detail a crewman to bring it in."

He designated a man for the gruesome duty who said he wasn't getting on that bloody boat without a cup of coffee. One of the other crewmen disappeared and came back on deck with a tall Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee. The man deftly climbed down the boarding ladder with one hand and calmly stepped across the overturned hull into the bloody boat.

He used a flashlight until he found all the lights. The inboard fan came on before the gas motor started. I climbed down and released the line so the Coast Guardsman could put the boat in gear and move away.

Dewey called down to me to push the dinghy around so we could get it up on the hoist. We pulled it out of the water and secured it, and next doubled the rope to the overturned boat. We would have to tow it slowly, so it was going to take a while to get there.

The Coast Guard officer gave us the coordinates to put into the GPS, and left to take the survivors to the hospital and the captured guy to some kind of jail.

Dewey started the engine and set the course into the autopilot advancing the throttle about ten percent. We watched how the boat reacted to being towed upside down and decided we could go a little faster. We were able to move along at about twenty percent power without the towed boat surging back and forth.

Dewey said, "I still have two hours for some sleep. Sheila and I are going below and sleep. Wake me up at four."

Sue came up to me and asked, "Can I put this rifle away now. You're going to have to teach me how to shoot one of these things. When I shot at that guy, I missed him a mile. If I had used the pistol, I would have put one between his eyes. It really scared me that I missed by so much."

I gave her a hug and said, "You did good. Hearing you shoot made me turn to see the guy coming over the rail. You did exactly right. Go put all the rifles on the couch in there and we'll clean them before we stow them. Don't put the magazines away. I want to refill them first."

Sue went below and came back with coffee for me. She said, "Let's let them sleep. I'm too wound up right now to even think about sleep. We'll take a long nap in the morning."

She paused and asked, "Are you hungry? How about I fix us some bacon and egg sandwiches?"

"Sounds great."

Sue fixed the sandwiches and served them with orange juice and more coffee. She had juice and milk along with one of her pills. We slowly made our way toward the Coast Guard station. As we came nearer the station, the boat traffic on the radar picked up. When we came to a buoy that had a "restricted area, do not enter" sign, I shut down the engine and tied us up to the buoy to keep from drifting into the base.

A skiff came roaring out to find out what we were doing. I pointed at the overturned hull and they turned around and roared back to the base. A larger boat, something like a small trawler, came out and took over our tow. The petty officer on the boat said that some people were coming out to talk to us and we should remain where we were. I shut down the engines and went downstairs to wake up Dewey.

He groggily opened his eyes and checked his wristwatch. "How come you didn't wake me?"

"Not to worry. There was no sense in making you get up. Sue and I were wide-awake. You should get up now, though. The Coast Guard is coming out with some civilians to talk to us. You might want to shave and shower real quick so you're fresh for them. Make a good impression ... we don't want to look like pirates ourselves."

I went back up to the salon and looked for a rifle cleaning kit. Once I found it, I field-stripped and cleaned the three rifles and put them back together. I found the box of rounds and refilled the magazines stowing them in their usual place under the salon cushions.

I had Sue take our pistols down to our cabin. I made another pot of coffee and waited for Dewey and the Coast Guard. Dewey was first with a cup in his hand. I told him about them taking the hull and telling us to remain where we were. Just about the time Sheila and Sue came up, the Coast Guard came roaring out in a small cabin cruiser. They had a local sheriff's deputy and an FBI agent on board.

The deputy was a good old boy and said it was too bad I didn't just finish all of them out there. Now he was going to have to house them until their trial, whenever that might be.

The FBI guy was a little pissy, asking to see our weapons, and asking why we would fire on someone so quickly.

"Get real, buddy," I said. "The three on the boat had guns, and the one coming over the rail had what looked like some kind of machine pistol. We were about fifteen miles out and that's international waters, so we are allowed to defend ourselves anyway we need to."

The Coast Guard officer told the FBI agent, "This man's absolutely correct. This was piracy on the high seas. It's every man for himself out there. They were lucky they were prepared."

He turned back to us and said, "The couple wants to thank you guys for stopping for them. They were surprised you even saw them at night. They are both going to be fine, but would have been in bad shape from exposure if they had not been picked up."

"I hope their boat is salvageable," I said. "A boat like that is a lot of money."