More details on the capture of the M/V Magellan Star.  The crew and the ship management company kept their heads and their sense of humor when the ship was boarded by Somali pirates on Wednesday.   When the pirates boarded the ship, the officers and crew disabled the engine and retreated to a hidden safe room.  As reported by the BBC:

The hijack began on Wednesday when pirates boarded the 8,000-tonne container ship, which flies the flag of Antigua.

But after searching the vessel for three hours, they were unable to locate the crew, according to the ship’s German owners, Quadrant.

The pirates then phoned the shipping company in Hamburg to ask where the crew were hidden.

“They were told the crew was on holiday,” said spokesman Juergen Salamon.

“They then asked how to switch the engines back on, but were told they were broken.”

A group of 24 marines swooped on the German-owned M/V Magellan Star and took control of the ship from nine pirates who had captured it on Wednesday.

The marines launched their assault from aboard the USS Dubuque, after the Turkish frigate TCG Gokceada responded to a distress call from the Magellan Star.