Garvin’s Survival Story: Pirates in the Persian Gulf

We’ve been posting our subscribers survival stories lately, and they just keep getting better.

Today Garvin tells us his story of surviving a pirate raid in the Persian Gulf.  Check it out here:

 We had left the Persian Gulf just before the war started having delivered our cargo to the Navy and sailed down the east coast of Africa around the cape and up to Camaroon to pick up cargo. After waiting for a load birth for 10 days we finally got into port. After 3 days of loading we were down so heavy that you could literally  step from the pier to the ship without using the gangway.

On April 10th we were loaded and would leave port that day. At 04:30 I went to the Engine room and started the fuel purifier to fill the tank of the in-port generator out on deck. I then went to the Generator room to monitor the filling of the tank. With my ear muffs on and the Generator running I was oblivious of the fact that we had been boarded by Pirates.

I was not until I saw movement out of the corner of my eye that I turned to see seven men untying a drum of oil from the handrail. They lifted it over the rail and dropped it into the river.Two of them went over after it and started swimming it away. I picked up a steel mallet that was in the generator room and went out side figuring that the sight of a big white guy would scare them off.

One guy came at me with a knife, I ducked down and hit him in the side of the knee. It broke like a stick of wood and he went down screaming . Meanwhile the others had a second drum untied and it went over the rail with two guys after it to swim it away.

A second man came at me also armed with a knife. I had just finished the first one off when the second attacked. I came up swinging and hit him in the side of the ribs. He doubled over and I hit him again.

This time right between the eyes and he dropped. The last man stopped trying to cut the third drum loose and went over the side rather than come at me. I went around the side of the house to find that we had been boarded by about thirty men who had stolen anything that was not attached to the ship.

The whole thing didn’t last 5 minutes . The captain called port security, when they showed up I showed them the two bodies on the stern. They threw them over the side and walked away.

We sailed that day for the U.S. and nothing more was done about it that I know of.

That’s my survival story. Hope it is what you wanted .

RGDS
Garvin Durrant
Chief Eng
U.S.M.M.

You can see the previous posts here:

Your Survival Stories – Part 1

Your Survival Stories Part 2: Ray’s Rwanda Story

Your Survival Stories – Part 3

Your Survival Stories – Part 4: Richard’s Sailing Story

Your Survival Stories – Part 5: Ann’s Wilderness Survival Story