Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Six pirates with automatic weapons clambered aboard our ship. As the crew hid in a safe room, I climbed up the funnel to send out an SOS...
a team protecting ships, he jumped In 2000, after a civil war in Somalia, ign vessels had begun exploiting its of a coast guard to dump waste. arving fishermen responded by ming armed groups to deter the aders and then began hijacking els. It grew into a lucrative trade h shipping lines paying huge ransoms m ship owners.
Jordan says: “Six guys jumping on a ship in the Indian Ocean have been able to extract $15million ransoms. And I totally underd why they do it.
People are shocked when I say I pathise. But these young men don’t e much to live for. Ninety per cent of country is jobless, 10% earn under day, it’s still in the middle of a war, e are no opportunities and terrorists exploiting them. o are pirate warlords who don’t get their hands dirty actually attacking the ships. The hijackers are poorly educated 15 to 21-year-olds.
“They do the hard yards while the masterminds sit in luxurious homes.
“The money they were making was massive so shipping companies realised it was cheaper to hire trained British servicemen to protect their ships.”
But hired guns on vessels of nations that ban weapons on board were soon dubbed “mercenaries”. Jordan bridles at the word – “a slur that ignores our years of service and our professionalism”.
He is a passionate campaigner for the Chennai Six – former British soldiers working on a Us-owned “floating armoury” who were held by Indian coastguards for allegedly having illegal arms.
They deny any wrongdoing but have been in jail since 2013. “It was four years last month,” says Jordan, sadly.
“Boris Johnson has not done enough for these guys who all served in Iraq or Afghanistan. It is tragic, disgusting. Ninety per cent of world trade is still conducted by sea – the things we eat, buy and wear and the fuel we use.
“If it wasn’t for people like the Chennai Six, we would all pay more.”
Piracy was eventually controlled in 2012 after the UN established Combined Task Force 150 to patrol the area. Jordan says: “It was contained by the international response, better-trained crews and most importantly armed guards. No vessel with armed guards has ever been hijacked.
“But now, instead of having highly trained ex-british military, the armed guards are guys from the Philippines with a year’s experience.
“But they are cheaper. We were paid handsomely. In 2010 a team leader might earn £500 a day. Today they’d get £100.
“Which is why we are seeing the problems starting again.” A new report reveals pirates have attacked 121 vessels worldwide this year.
After working on the ships Jordan was asked to be an adviser on Captain Phillips, the Tom Hanks movie about Somali pirates. He then took a degree in security risk management and a Masters in maritime security and has now set up a company to tackle the new pirate threat – cyber piracy.
He says: “One of the greatest risks to all industries today is cyber crime. Think of the chaos they can cause by taking out a whole company or a whole port.”
Jordan’s book has won widespread praise from military chiefs. Gen Sir Richard Shirreff, head of his former regiment, said: “This is the story of an exceptional individual...and it would make an amazing adventure movie.”
Jordan jokes: “I quite like the idea of Tom Hardy in the lead role.”
Or perhaps Johnny Depp – if he wants to play a real pirate hero.