An American couple, who have been cruising and doing an around the world voyage since 2002, have been attacked and captured by Somali pirates.  The 58-foot Laurie Davidson-designed racer/cruiser, s/v Quest was making its way to Oman under radio silence when the pirate attack occurred in the Arabian Sea.  The last reported location by their SPOT satellite signal is shown below.



Jean and Scott Adams, along with two crew members, were making their way under radio silence in pirate waters.  The yacht was about 275 miles from the coast of Oman, in the middle of the Indian Ocean, when the pirates struck Friday February 18, 2011.  They tried to put an SOS signal but the pirates just intercepted them.  The organizers of the Blue Water Rally identified the American crewmenbers sailing with the Adams as Phyllis Mackay, 59, and Bob Riggle, 67 -- both from Seattle, Wash.

Jean is a retired dentist who has a wide interest in natural and biological sciences.  Not much information is available on Scott.  The couple lists their sailing address out of the Marina Del Rey Yacht Club.  Their vessel was built in Christchurch, New Zealand, where it was delivered and the vessel sailed it back to the Los Angeles.

The Adams distributed bibles to natives in normally difficult to reach places, such as, villages in Fiji, Central America and New Zealand.  Their sailing vessel enables them to travel to many different locales while conducting their Christian ministry.  When they left Los Angeles, they ordered Catholic Bibles from the American Bible Society and NIV Bibles from the International Bible Society.  Their ship was loaded down with the religious books stored under the floor boards.  In twist of fate, the Adams' missionary work will face its greatest challenge -- getting the pirates to turn their evil ways around.

The couple embarked on their multi year trip around the world, which started with the Del Rey Yacht Club's cruising/race to Puerto Vallarta, in February of 2005. The trip included  El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, the Galapagos, the Gambiers, Marquesas, Tahiti and across to Bora Bora, on to the Cook Islands, the Kermadecs, the Bay of Islands and Auckland, New Zealand.  The latest leg of their journey began this winter went from India to the Mediterranean, by way of the Arabian and Red seas. The couple was planning to sail to Crete in the spring before continuing to Istanbul.

The situation could be dangerous for the hostages. Somali pirates have been known to torture their captives and use them in negotiations. The Associated Press was told by a Somali pirate early this week that the pirates would begin to intentionally go after Americans in response to the trial that sent another Somalian to the brig.  The attack happened just one day after the sentencing. Abdiwali Abdiqadir Muse was sentenced Thursday to 33 years in prison.  Muse kidnapped a US flagged merchant ship in 2009.

The fate of  the s/v Quest and the lives of their crew remain uncertain at this point.   The US military is monitoring the situation.  The Somali pirates risk a grave mistake if the military deems it is threatening the lifes of US hostages.  That would be a departure from the pirates' business model where they kidnap large merchant ships for ransom from the corporate owners.  Causing harm to the yachties would not help their cause and eliminate chances of any ransom.

The world sailing community and governments need to pressure the Somalian government to become  proactive in order to halt these pirate attacks on private yachts.  At the same, time yachts deciding to transit the area are doing so under great peril.