If this is true, this would be a very interesting development that kind of slipped through the cracks last year. I first read about this in John C. Payne’s book on piracy on page 104. I was kind of surprised to find such information, and I decided to do a little snooping around on the web. The only reference I could find for this was in the ECO Terra publication I posted below. That is it. Nothing mentioned in the media and nothing mentioned on the Puntland Government website. I even scanned through the Puntland Government constitution to see if they had an Amendment that authorizes their government to issue a Letter of Marque. It did not.(although they did come up with a new constitution later on that summer, so maybe their older one had it in there)
That’s not to say they did not issue one. It is just surprising to me that there has been nothing mentioned in the media about such things. So hopefully with this post, the Puntland Government can confirm or deny what Mr. Payne printed in his pretty extensive book about the subject of piracy.
If this is true, I believe this would be the first modern use of the LoM in over a century. (Or at least half a century if we can ever get a confirmation on the Airship Resolute LoM that was supposedly issued by the US during World War Two.) –Matt
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From the ECO Terra publication.
MT SEA PRINCESS II and her crew of 15 seafarers (including 8 Indian and 2 Yemeni sailors) is free. The coastal fuel transporter, a 1,902 gross tonnage Oil Products Tanker built in 1977, was bound to deliver 2,000 tonnes of diesel fuel to the disputed Island of Socotra, when it was seized near Jabal Al Kalb off the Bir Ali coast by an armed gang on 3rd January 2009. The St Vincent & The Grenadines flagged ship is owned by Hodduia Shipping Comp. and managed by OSSCO from Hodeidah in Yemen.