PIRACY on the high seas, given a romantic gloss by films such as Pirates of the Caribbean, is a growing risk to seafarers, with 340 deaths since 1992.

The number of attacks has grown fivefold since the late 1980s, from 50 a year to more than 250 in each of the past seven years, according to a report by MPs. Last year there were 264 reported attacks, including an attempt to hijack the Seabourn Spirit, a cruise ship carrying British passengers, off Somalia.

More than 650 passengers and crew were taken hostage from ships last year; 152 were injured and 11 remain missing. Victims are often thrown overboard and left to drown. In 2003 British officers on board an Isle of Man-registered supply ship were held hostage until a ransom was paid.

The Commons Transport Select Committee said: “The UK Government and the international community generally ought to be ashamed that they have failed to put effective measures in place to prevent the present high level of piratical attacks on seamen.”

The report found that romanticised portraits of roguish but lovable buccaneers undermined efforts to have the problem taken seriously. “Modern images of pirates, for example, in advertising, toys, films and press references frequently refer back to 18th-century instances of piracy which are decoupled from the barbarity that has consistently characterised this crime,” the report says.

“The Government must now consider what imaginative and practical measures might be taken to broaden the public understanding of piracy as a brutal and cowardly crime.

“There is nothing remotely ‘romantic’ about the perpetrators of these appalling crimes, or their detestable activity.”

The MPs said that practical action by the Government was “woefully lacking” and it had done little to tackle the problem, beyond agreeing an international security code that was widely ignored.

The report said that the Government should “press much harder” for naval and police vessels to have the right to chase pirates across international borders. An agreement allowing “hot pursuit” has been reached between Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, covering the Malacca Strait. But no such rights exist in other areas plagued by pirates, including Somalia and the Gulf of Guinea.

The committee rejected the idea of firearms for crews, concluding that this would expose them to greater risk. It accepted evidence from the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, which said that “pirates would be more likely to use lethal force if they feared that they would be at risk from firearm-wielding seafarers”.

The report condemned the many shipping companies that force officers to work more than 84 hours a week while at sea. “There is evidence that the resulting tiredness makes ships an easier target.”

The MPs also urged the Government to take steps to protect information about the movement of ships. Pirates are increasingly gaining access, via the internet, to ship-tracking systems, allowing them to target high-value cargoes.

The report said that the Government’s ignorance about the source and nature of ten pirate attacks off Iraq last year was “a matter of gravest concern”. It called on the Government to consider deploying additional Royal Navy vessels in the area.

Brian Orrell, general secretary of the ships’ officers’ union Numast, said: “This is an excellent report that correctly highlights the need for the UK to take the international lead in tackling piracy and armed attacks on merchant ships.

“The report endorses our concern that piracy has the potential to develop into an even more serious threat. Ministers ignore the terrorist threat to shipping at their peril.”

• Most of the 302 passengers on the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit last November were asleep when the captain said “stay inside, we are under attack”. Two boats were making a dawn raid, 100 miles off the coast of Somalia. Norman Fisher, 55, was on board. He said: “I saw a small boat with about five people in it. They had some kind of a rocket launcher, which they fired at the ship. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.” The crew defended the ship with a device that directs soundwaves towards a target. It appeared to work because the pirates left without managing to board.

Explore UK News

• Crime News

• Education News

• Health News

• Scotland News

Times Recommends

• The Times celebrates its 225th birthday
• Heath discussed IMF loan during 1974 crisis
• Britain’s loneliest café opens for business