I can’t say anything about the roots of this story and I don’t plan to dig further… I need to think about my own skin too. Understand that as you will.” —Mikhail Voitenko, editor of the Russian maritime Bulletin Sovfrakht., speaking about the “hijacking” of the Arctic Sea
While it might seem like an unusual morphing of the movies Inside Man and The Hunt for Red October, the account of the cargo ship Arctic Sea is far stranger than either fictional account. Based on information developed through our extensive investigation, we can authoritatively state, without hyperbole, that the mysteries surrounding the MV Arctic Sea as deep as the Atlantic waters where it navigated and its “alleged” secret cargo as potentially dangerous to an unsuspecting, distracted populace as the coastal rip tides produced by a late summer hurricane.
Imagine a 4,000 ton, 100 meter commercial cargo ship, manned by a crew of 15, equipped with an automatic identification system (AIS), a satellite navigation beacon, and state of the art communication equipment, including satellite phones and the cellular telephones of the crew, laden with $1.2 – $1.8 million of cut lumber and manned by a crew of 15, suddenly and inexplicably “disappearing completely off the grid” for two weeks—allegedly at the hands of eight-(8) hijackers or “pirates.” Now, imagine the pirate attack of this low value target taking place in a busy transit area that has not seen an act of piracy since the 17th century.
That’s what reportedly transpired with the Arctic Sea, a Russian managed commercial cargo ship sailing under a Maltese flag and owned by the Finnish company Arctic Sea Ltd. The Russian management is from a sister company based in the Russian city of Arkhangelsk that reportedly provides “technical support” to the company and its sole vessel. Arkhangelsk is also the home of the 15 man crew of the Arctic Sea.
