What’s next, San Fran? Scurvy?
According to a report from The New York Post, pirates are becoming a real problem in the Bay Area, with several vessels being “ransacked” and “stolen.”
Yes. Pirates.
“The open shoreline of the [Oakland-Alameda] Estuary is littered with sunken wrecks and derelict, end-of-life vessels, and crime has risen to truly intolerable levels,” former harbormaster Brock de Lappe said during a San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission enforcement meeting.
“Multiple vessels have been stolen and ransacked. Victims have had to resort to personally confronting the criminals to recover their property without the benefit of police support. Is this appropriate activity for a 79-year-old senior?”
From The New York Post:
One resident told the outlet she kayaked over to assist a man who was calling for help Tuesday night.
“They’re yelling, ‘Help me, please, please. Anybody help me.’ And I go out there in my kayak with a headlamp, and there is a sailboat drifting down the estuary, and with my kayak I towed it to shore,” said the woman, who did not reveal her name because she was afraid of retaliation.
The sailor in need was a “panicked and terrified young man” who said pirates had cut his line during a confrontation.
“If there had been any wind at the time I wouldn’t have been able to go out there and rescue this young man who had no motor and no ability to sail that boat,” she reportedly said.
The troubling piracy trend had struck the Alameda Community Sailing Center, where four of their safety boats, which are worth between $25,000 and $35,000 each, had been stolen or destroyed, Fox Business reported Saturday.
More over at The New York Post:
Pirates wreak havoc on San Francisco Bay with vessels ‘stolen and ransacked’: ex-harbor master https://t.co/Qqcull2sua pic.twitter.com/Onnh2wwEAS
— New York Post (@nypost) October 2, 2023