Sea Pirates

With a U.S. warship on site keeping watch early today, Somali pirates and American seamen engaged in a standoff on the high seas after the crew of a freighter loaded with food for Africa fought off the hijackers -- who fled in a lifeboat with the captain as a hostage. The assault on the U.S.- registered Maersk Alabama cargo ship far off Somalia's coast marked the first attack against a U.S.

The freed captain of a merchant ship attacked by pirates near Somalia last month called Thursday for military protection and armed crew members to thwart attacks in dangerous waters. Capt. Richard Phillips, skipper of the Maersk Alabama, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it was the "responsibility of the U.S. government" to protect any ship flying an American flag, through military escorts or onboard squads of highly trained security forces.

The Navy SEALs who ended the pirate-hostage drama off Somalia with three deadly sniper shots began their training on a strip of the beach known as the Silver Strand. Every aspiring SEAL must pass a grueling six-month regimen at the facility here. Attrition is high: Only a quarter to half make it. Those who do then undergo another six months of advanced training. Given the elite nature of the SEALs, no one here was surprised at the success of the rescue mission, said Capt.

Pirates who seized a weapons-laden Ukrainian cargo ship off Somalia did not engage in a shootout that left three of them dead, as was claimed by Kenyan maritime officials, a representative for the group said Tuesday. There has been no dissension aboard the ship, said Sugale Ali Omar, who identified himself as a spokesman for the pirates and claimed to be aboard the hijacked vessel. "There was no shooting and there is no fighting among us," Omar said in a telephone interview.

Straddling a wooden crate filled with $1 million in cash ransom, a cranky old pirate bellows names from a notebook as his anxious, bleary-eyed minions lean against the stone walls of their cramped hide-out. The grizzled buccaneer, chain-smoking Marlboros as he taps into his calculator, checks the notebook again for outstanding loans or fines before counting out each man's share of the bounty in musty $100 bills paid to release a hijacked Thai ship off the Somali coast.

China signaled Wednesday that it may send warships to help fight pirates off the coast of Somalia, a sign of Beijing's increasing willingness to flex its military muscle. Although China has participated in United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, its navy has seldom left the Pacific region. The Global Times, a newspaper tied to the ruling Communist Party, called the possible deployment China's "biggest naval expedition since the 15th century."

PORTLAND, Maine -- Long John Silver of "Treasure Island" fame, hobbling along on a peg leg with a talking parrot on his shoulder, set the mold for Hollywood's image of a pirate. Then came Captain Hook, thirsting for revenge against Peter Pan for cutting off his right hand and forcing him to wear an iron hook.

U.S. Navy vessels pursued a suspected pirate ship in the Indian Ocean off Somalia and fired warning shots to capture its crew, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said. The guided-missile destroyer Winston S. Churchill and other U.S. naval forces located the vessel after receiving a report of an attempted act of piracy, but the ship failed to respond to orders to stop. The crew members were seized and U.S. sailors who boarded the vessel discovered small arms on board, the statement said.

Two U.S. Navy warships returned fire on suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia, killing one suspect, wounding five and igniting a fire on one vessel, the Navy said. Seven other suspects were taken into custody after the early-morning shootout, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Brown, spokesman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. No sailors were wounded in the battle, which occurred about 5:40 a.m. about 25 nautical miles off the Somalian coast in international waters.

JOHNNY DEPP has never played it safe as an actor. One of his biggest gambles was turning his Capt. Jack Sparrow character into a seafaring Keith Richards in the 2003 blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." His outlandishly funny, quirky and sometimes even effeminate performance was a risk worth taking: It brought him the Screen Actors Guild Award and his first best actor Oscar nomination.