I have a mountain of interviews to transcribe and photos and videos to edit about my recent trip on EU-NAVFOR‘s flagship Vasco da Gama from Mombasa to Mogadishu. So I won’t write anything about it for now. But in the meantime here is an interview I did with the ship’s Public Information Officer, Pinto (I am no doubt spelling that wrong). It’s in Portuguese, but a rough translation is: There are many more people on a warship than on a merchant ship (20 compared to 220), but in a third of the space. Socializing and communication is better on a warship than, in my experience, on a merchant vessel. Pirates are organized criminals and the way they treat hostages is inhuman. I have never wanted to go to Portugal but now, after a week in the company of 210 Portuguese (and 10 international staff), I do.
Here is a picture of me with Lt.-Cmdr Pedro Semide, head of logistics. And some onions.
