Piracy is down off of the horn of Africa. The pirates prey on low, slow vessels who now mostly carry armed guards. The guards have realized that they can shoot as many pirates as they would like and there isn't much the pirates can do. An armed wooden boat doesn't have much chance against an armed steel ship and the chances of death are pretty high for the attacking pirates. More so than has been reported in the news, I've heard pirates screaming over the VHF radio to try and surrender once their prey started shooting back.u00a0 I've heard of attack helos distroying an attacking pirate vessel that quietly sinks with no word to the outside world. u00a0The structure is an experenced pirate will raise money by selling shares in the venture in the local villages to cover the costs of the boats, weapons, intellegence ect. A bunch of local teenagers are hired on shares to fill out the crew which usually has an english speaker and a couple of older men who know what they are doing along. The first pirate aboard the attacked vessel gets a huge bonus along with the head pirate and the negotiatior. The captured ship is anchored off the coast and guards who make less than the attacker pirates hold the vessel until the ransom is paid. The pirates leave, once all of their cell phones are seized to prevent some of the pirates from setting up their fellow pirates once the money is paid. The ship then proceeds to Salaala and onwards. u00a0We still do the pirate drills but we haven't seen anyone who looked like a pirate in a couple years, while five years ago we saw them every time through the Gulf of Aden.