The night-walkers of Uganda

6
Discussion
Do you think Mrs. Salisbury was right to pull up the strawberry plants? Why / why not?
No strawberries and cream for fruit pickers 
Level 1 
l
Elementary
a buyer
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Modern pirates
Level 1 
l
Elementary
1
Key vocabulary
Fill the gaps using these key words from the text.
pirate armed cabin safe (n) grenade
navy cargo crew target chaos
1. A
is a small bomb that someone throws or fires from a gun.
2. The people who work on a ship are called the ship’s 
.
3. If someone is 
, they are carrying a weapon, usually a gun.
4. 
is a situation where everything is confused and in a mess.
5. The things that a ship carries are called its 
.
6. A 
is a strong metal box with a lock used to store valuable things and money.
7. A 
is someone who attacks ships while they are sailing in order to steal things from them.
8. The 
is the part of a country’s armed forces that fights at sea.
9. A
is a private room on a ship.
10. A
is something that someone plans to attack.
2
Find the information
Look in the text and find this information as quickly as possible:
1. Where do most modern-day pirate attacks happen?
2. How many pirate attacks have happened since 1992?
3. How many people have died in these attacks?
4. When was the ‘golden age’ of the pirates?
5. What percentage of world trade goes by sea?
6. How much did the pirates steal from Captain Newton’s ship?
Return of the Pirates
A large container ship was sailing across the South China Sea on its way to New Zealand. It was evening 
and Captain Peter Newton was in his cabin. As the ship passed the Indonesian island of Bintan, nine armed 
men came into Captain Newton’s cabin. They held a knife against his neck and tied his hands with rope. 
The gang leader told him to open the ship’s safe. The pirates took the $20,000 they found in the safe and 
used a rope to leave the ship.
There are many Hollywood films about pirates but now real-life pirates are very active again. During the last 
ten years attacks by modern pirates have increased by 168%. Since the attack on Captain Newton’s ship 
in 1992, there have been 3,583 attacks by pirates around the world, and 340 people have died in these 
attacks. Last November, a cruise liner called Seabourn Spirit was attacked off the coast of Somalia. The 
pirates who attacked the ship used grenades.
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The 17th century was the golden age of the pirates. European countries colonised the Caribbean and pirates 
such as Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach and ‘Calico’ Jack Rackham attacked trading ships. During the 18th and 
19th centuries, the navies of the great powers controlled the seas and attacks by pirates were rare. But now 
pirate attacks are on the increase again. There are two main reasons. Firstly, shipping companies are trying 
to save money so they do not spend much money on security. Secondly, there is no international law to 
control pirates.
Most modern-day pirate attacks happen in the South China Sea. More than a third of last year’s 266 
reported pirate attacks happened there. The seas around lawless countries are particularly dangerous. The 
Indian Ocean coast of Somalia has had a lot of pirate attacks.
Modern pirates use inside information, satellite phones and tracking technology to plan attacks on ships with 
valuable cargo. They attack the ships using ropes and special hooks. It is very difficult to climb onto a
moving ship and some experts believe that many pirates have had military training. Captain Newton says 
that pirate attacks are increasing because there is almost no danger for the pirates.
‘Our ships don’t have armed guards and nobody is going to come after you because you are in international 
waters,’ he says. ‘As soon as pirates are on your ship, there is nothing you can do if they are armed and you 
are not.’ The pirates feel safe because many shipping companies do not report pirate attacks. They think 
it is cheaper to lose $20,000 in cash than to pay much more money for insurance. In October 2002, there 
was a suicide attack on a French oil tanker in Yemen. After that the cost of insurance increased by 300% for 
ships entering Yemeni waters. 
Navy vessels sometimes keep pirates away but they do not often arrest them in international waters. The 
US navy recently arrested some pirates who attacked a Thai fishing vessel off the coast of Somalia, but had 
to free the men because neither the Thai government nor any other government wanted to put them on trial. 
Shipping companies are trying to save money and now there are only 20–24 crew members on modern 
container ships. Usually, just two crew members sail the ship at night. Sometimes only five or six people are 
up and working on a ship which is the size of two football pitches. This means that the risk of a pirate attack 
is very great.
There has been an increase in pirate attacks in oceans with a lot of warships. There were no attacks in Iraqi 
waters in 2004, but last year there were 10 attacks on oil tankers and cargo vessels near Basra. Ships are 
easy targets for terrorists. Attacks in a key area like the Suez Canal could cause chaos. About 90% of world 
trade goes by sea. ‘Piracy isn’t fantasy,’ says Andrew Linington of the ship officers’ union in London. ‘It is 
happening every week. It is an advertisement to terrorists that it is easy to attack ships.’