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Wednesday, November 27, 2013
As captain of the Neptune tugboat, Viktor Nikolsky spends his days
gently directing giant cargo vessels in and around the vast port of St.
Petersburg, Russia.
It's a job that requires
patience, concentration and flawless planning. But life on the water
wasn't always so rigidly structured -- far from it.
Behind the sailor's
steely visage lie memories of distant shores, daring adventures and a
terrifying ordeal at the hands of pirates.
A boat in the distance
Nikolsky hesitates when recalling the moment he realized armed bandits were fast approaching his ship off the coast of Somalia.
As the first mate of the MV Faina,
Nikolsky was in charge of 21 crewmen and cargo aboard the Ukrainian
operated freight vessel transporting aging Soviet military equipment to
the port of Mombasa, Kenya, via the Gulf of Aden.
"We knew that the
Somalian region was very dangerous for navigation and we planned our way
to stay 250 miles from the shore," Nikolsky explained.
On the September 25,
2008, however, the ship's second officer approached Nikolsky to inform
him he had spotted two small dots in the distance moving towards the
Faina at speed.
Despite sailing more
than five times the recommended distance from the coast as a precaution
against hijacking, the fast moving dots were speedboats carrying heavily
armed pirates.
The assailants boarded the Faina and searched below the ship's decks, quickly realizing they had chanced upon valuable cargo.
"When they saw what kind
of cargo they were surprised," Nikolsky said. "They put the prize for
liberation to $50 million dollars. The usual prize for liberation was
approximately not more than $1 million."
Hostage at sea
The discovery of the
military cargo signaled the beginning of a four month standoff between
the pirates and a host of parties with an interest in reclaiming the
ship, including NATO, the U.S. Navy and the Kenyan government.
A U.S. Navy ship kept watch of the Faina from a distance while pirates patrolled the decks.
Bargaining chips in the
middle of all this were Nikolsky and his crew. At the time of the
attack, the ship's captain, Vladimir Kolobkov, had taken seriously ill,
tragically passing away a week later. This meant Nikolsky was in command
when the pirates attacked.
They decided to separate
him from his colleagues. Nikolsky remained under guard on the ship's
bridge while the remaining crew members were held in a small cabin
roughly 14 meters across.
"I spent all my highjacking life on the table like that (pointing to a small dinner table) without anything."
As the days and weeks
passed, Nikolsky began to talk to the leader of the pirates, eventually
gaining his trust. He negotiated better conditions for the hostages as
well as permission to go above deck to get some fresh air.
"The crew was under
control all the time. I insisted (they) must have a rest, must have a
walk at the open air. Because if a person lies (down) all the time, he
will have a problem with his stomach.
During these breaks, the crew would talk to each other and even plot to take on the pirates if the opportunity arose.
At one stage, when it
looked as though a ransom would not be achieved, the pirates intimated
they would transfer the crew to Somalia in order to obtain a separate
ransom for each individual. Nikolsky said his heart sank at this moment.
Free at last
Finally, on the February
5, 2009, an agreement with the pirates was reached which saw them
receive $3.2 million, a fraction of what they originally asked for. They
left, and the ship and crew free to go.
For Nikolsky, it signaled the end of four months of unrelenting pressure.
"We couldn't believe
it," he said of their moment of liberation. "We were afraid that the
pirates when they left the vessel left some explosive."
"I asked the commander
of the navy (who boarded the Faina shortly after the pirates
disembarked) to check everything. He told us that everything was clear
and all the pirates left the vessel."
The Faina sailed into the port of Mombasa, Kenya, a few days later where Nikolsky was reunited with his wife and family.
On their return to Russia, the family resolved that Viktor should seek a job that would be less unpredictable than life at sea.
That decision has led
Nikolsky to St. Petersburg where he navigates vessels 10 times the size
of his own into and out of the city's harbor.
But while he enjoys being close to his family, that itch for life at sea still remains.
"Sometimes when I dream I
see the very clear water and my ship moving over the clear water in
open sea," he said. "But I spent at sea all of my life, 45 years ...
(and) now I like my village, I like my job here."