Lowestoft Defender seized by the Spanish...

[photodog]

I see from the mail... (bad vibes be a upon them...)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...mali-pirates-held-port-Spain-forced-stop.html
That the former Omani gunboat which was donated to Lowestoft as museum ship , known as the "Lowestoft defender". Has been seized by Spanish Coastaguards on her way to act as a anti piracy patrol vessel Off east Africa...

I especially love the mocked up gun on the foredeck...

What madness lies behind this?

 

[Wansworth]

They havent forgotten the Armarda........

 

[TimBennet]

I especially love the mocked up gun on the foredeck...

When she was berthed in Penryn it was obviously not a mock up.

But whether it still worked I have no idea.

But obviously a bunch of completely delusional fantasists.

 

[pampas]

Gun breaches have been welded and are to be replaced when they get there if they are allowed to go through Suez canal.
trashed my mooring and crushed somebodys little boat when departing, but denies that he did even though its on video,

 

[wadget]

Sailing to east africa via Tenerife??

Its hardly cape size.

 

[Bajansailor]

We have a sister ship here which our Coastguard have been trying to flog off for a few years now.
(They were both built by Brooke Marine, to a standard 37.5 m design, and they were the most popular OPVs around then).
There was some interest shown a couple of years ago in our vessel by an outfit who wanted to send Trident out to East Africa to protect their ships from the Somalis - might be the same bunch.....
Here is a photo of our vessel Trident, taken about 20 years ago :
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=1734924

But if these folk on Defender were going to East Africa, presumably via the Mediterranean, how did they pitch up in the Canaries, which is way off the rhumb line?
Unless they didnt want to go through Suez, and were planning on going around the Cape instead?
(Edit - Wadget beat me to it!)

 

[pampas]

Done a runner at night when the guards were not present. boarded by SAS style people and now arrested (In "Clink) in Dakar. Spanish authorities would not release the vessel as its sanitary and waste systems were not up to the standard for a "Pleasure Yacht" as described in the ships papers and fined him £34000. as reported in The West Briton.

 

[robertj]

Gun breaches have been welded and are to be replaced when they get there if they are allowed to go through Suez canal.
trashed my mooring and crushed somebodys little boat when departing, but denies that he did even though its on video,

What's happening about the damage?

 

[macd]

Sailing to east africa via Tenerife??

From the article, attributed to the Defender's owner:
He has flatly denied that the crew are mercenaries heading for Somalia, saying the claims are ‘nonsense’. Instead, he said, they were sailing to Senegal in West Africa to discuss the vessel being used to deter illegal fishing.

Dakar (see post #7), last time I was there, was still in Senegal.

 

[pampas]

What's happening about the damage?

nothing, denied all knowledge, most of the gear renewed now, not a happy bunny. They say your past catches up with you, his will, as he has not paid the fine to the Spanish, so expect another arrest when back in the EU.