"One of those vessels belonged to us, actually; there was no harm done, so it went unreported," he said. "Everybody knows these things happen to all of us. But it is the insurance issues we face; insurance companies do not want to work with us once something like that happens to a vessel we have."

The spectacular nature of attacks in the Gulf of Aden and off Somalia's east coast makes them all but impossible to handle discreetly. Somali pirates have grown more sophisticated, dispatching armed men in skiffs from "mother" ships and securing ransoms with the aid of Mideast contacts, possibly Somali emigres.

Their operations are in a lull because of bad weather and naval patrols.

A French navy helicopter even photographed part of the Nov. 28 hijacking of the MV Biscaglia, a Liberian-flagged tanker that was carrying palm oil through the Gulf of Aden, said Carl Mason, a British security guard on the ship at the time.

The Biscaglia's three guards did not have firearms due to a shipping company fear of the potential for a deadly fight, and high-pressure water jets and a sonic device designed to incapacitate with intense sound waves failed to deter pirates who corralled the crew. With few means of resistance, the guards jumped into the water and were picked up by a helicopter with a winch.

Piracy reporting in the area is complicated by naval or merchant crew fears that legitimate fishing vessels, as well as boats smuggling people from Somalia to Yemen on routes perpendicular to commercial sea lanes, are pirates on the prowl. The situation can lead to false alarms.

... contd.