Immediately famous maritime historian, mariner, and host of the favored maritime YouTube web page “What’s Going On With Transport?” Sal Mercogliano posted a reference to the Crystal Symphony crusing the Pink Sea:
Sure, the Crystal Cruises ship truly transited the harmful Strait of Bab el-Mandeb and sailed via the Pink Sea the place Houthi rebels beforehand fired missiles and struck industrial vessels. The Houthis in Yemen have exerted management of Pink Sea to the west and the Gulf of Aden to the south by attacking industrial vessels within the space. Yemen’s Houthis have focused numerous ships owned or operated by the U.S. and/or Israelis corporations or ships they decide are heading to Israel utilizing cruise missiles, drones, and anti-ship ballistic missiles.
One of many first ships focused was the Galaxy Chief, managed by an Israeli delivery magnate, which the Houthis boarded and sailed to Yemen. YouTube movies have been broadly circulated exhibiting Houthi forces hijacking the Galaxy Chief ship by way of helicopter and holding its crew at gunpoint on the Pink Sea.
The assault by the Houthis was a effectively orchestrated army train and a far cry from a skiff operated by Somali pirates at sea.
The Houthis’ assaults on industrial delivery has included vessels unrelated to Israel and have included ships not owned by Israeli or U.S. corporations. Round 60 ships have been attacked by the Houthis, one UK-owned cargo ship sunk and three mariners have been killed.
In response to my inquiry on Twitter the place I requested Crystal Cruises “WTF?” the cruise line tweeted that the Crystal Symphony was allegedly crusing with out passengers on a repositioning voyage to the Mediterranean. It additionally claims that it was “escorted by U.S. Navy as customary precautionary measure.”
I additionally requested Crystal Cruises for the identify of the U.S. warship which allegedly escorted the cruise ship previous the harmful straits between the Gulf of Aden and the Pink Sea. (Crystal ignored the inquiry prompting me in the present day to make a Freedom of Info request for the knowledge from the U.S. Navy). If the U.S. Navy was actually concerned, why on earth would a U.S. army vessel discover itself escorting a non-commercial vessel, significantly a pleasure cruise ship flagged within the Bahamas? Why ought to U.S. sailors danger their lives defending a trip cruise ship flying the Bahamian flag?
The query additionally arises what, if something, did Crystal Cruises pay the U.S. Navy for the extraordinary providers of a U.S. army escort of a Bahamian flagged cruise ship via this harmful space?
No less than one different cruise ship just lately sailed via these extremely harmful waters. I discovered via a Twitter submit that Ponant Cruises’ La Champlain cruise yacht was crusing via the Pink Sea in the present day:
Cruise traces have the choice to keep away from the Pink Sea and the chance of a Houthi assault, however some corporations seem like motivated by avoiding the associated fee and inconvenience of crusing round South Africa. Financially strapped traces, like Crystal Cruises, which we final reported on two years in the past when it was avoiding collectors and having its ships seized earlier than it lastly filed for chapter, suits squarely on this class. Risking harm or loss of life to its crew members clearly weren’t vital concerns to Crystal Cruises.
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April 3, 2024 Replace:
@NoamRaydan, a senior fellow on the Washington Institute (a suppose tank finding out American pursuits within the Center East) reported on Twitter yesterday that the Crystal Symphony got here underneath assault when it was crusing within the Pink Sea, in keeping with the United Kingdom Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO)
The UKMTO acknowledged that the Grasp of the Crystal Symphony reported that “they had been hailed by an entity claiming to be the Yemini Navy who requested that the vessel activate its AIS (Computerized Info System). Shortly after the hailing, a crew member of the vessel reported that they heard suspected gun pictures.” (The incident reportedly occurred at evening).
This completely contradicts Crystal Cruises’ declare that the U.S. Navy escort was a “customary precautionary measure” or that the voyage was “safely and efficiently” accomplished.
Picture credit score: Map of assaults – HAARETZ; La Champlain – Ponant Cruises; Crystal Symphony – Bahnfrend – CC BY-SA 4.0, commons / wikimedia; Galaxy Chief – Mail On-line; information and map picture of Houthi assaults on Crystal Symphony and industrial vessels – the United Kingdom Maritime Commerce Operations (UKMTO) and NoamRaydan, a senior fellow on the Washington Institute.
