Seabourn Spirit is a German-built cruise ship completed in 1989. The luxury liner travels between Europe and Africa, and is owned by the Seabourn Cruise Line. In early 2005 it was rated the best small cruise ship by Condé Nast.[4] In 2015, she will be departing the Seabourn fleet in April 2015, and will enter service for Windstar Cruises in May 2015.[5]
On 5 November 2005 at 5:50 am, while Spirit was underway 115 km off the coast of Somalia with 115 passengers, the ship was attacked by two pirate speedboats launched by a mother ship.[6]Machine guns were fired as well as rocket propelled grenades at the cruise ship, and the remains of an RPG's rocket motor wedged itself in the wall of a room[7] and was disarmed by sailors from USS Gonzalez after the attack.[8] It was reported that a second RPG bounced off the stern.[4] No passengers were injured, but the ship's Master-at-Arms, Som Bahadur Gurung was hit by shrapnel whilst attempting to combat the raiders with a Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD). The sonic device repelled the pirates by blasting a powerful sound wave.[9]
The motor of a rocket propelled grenade (RPG), shown after striking the Seabourn Spirit
The ship then altered course to Port Victoria in the Seychelles for repairs rather than the originally-planned Mombasa in Kenya.[4] The ship then sailed to Singapore and returned to its original schedule.[4]
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Norway
Bahamas[1]
