Local Couple Lived Through Brush With Pirates

AMELIA ISLAND, FL -- As the drama continues to unfold off the coast of Somalia, one local couple is reminded of the time their cruise ship was under a pirate attack in the same region.

Jean and Clyde Noll were passengers aboard the Seabourn Spirit when it was attacked by two heavily-armed pirate boats in 2005. The Nolls have been keeping a close eye on the current pirate hostage situation involving a container ship captain from Vermont.

"I don't understand why they don't have better protection on the cargo ship," said Jean Knoll.

Her husband, Clyde, knows how difficult a job it is to keep all ships in the area safe.

"We think it's small when you look at a map, but what is it? One hundred thousand square miles and so forth. It would take a big navy to patrol all of that . You don't know where they'll be."

In was in the early morning that the Nolls were awakened by the captain of the Seabourn Spirit on the ship's public address speaker.

"And told us he thought we were being attacked by pirates," said Jean.

"And we both looked at each other and we thought, 'WOW!' This is crazy. And then he said, 'This is NOT A DRILL,' and then we knew that it was for real!"

For hours they huddled with other passengers in the ship's inner bowels, protected from the assault of automatic rifle fire and grenade-launchers.

"The (pirate) boats were only about 18-to-20 feet long," said Clyde.

"They each had five men in them, with a man on a grenade-launcher and others with rifles."

By using a sonic boom device, the captain of the Seabourn Spirit was able to prevent the pirates from boarding.

And the Nolls' hopes are that U.S. Captain Richard Phillips will be safely returned to his ship, and ultimately his family in Vermont.

"I feel sorry for the captain because they have no regard for life out there...their own or anybody else's," said Clyde.

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