SV Quest, the yacht captured by pirates off the coast of Oman

The four yachtsmen on the SV Quest, kidnapped on Friday in the Arabian Sea south of Oman, have been shot, in a sudden and tragic end to their capture. Details of events are still unclear, but it appears they were killed by their hijackers during an exchange of fire with a nearby US warship. One of the captured crew had sailed recently with Club member, Malcolm Lewis-Jones on his yacht Amber Sea. (Read his tribute to Phyllis here).

Their deaths mark an escalation in the war waged by pirates against all those using the Suez Canal route to return to Europe from the Pacific. Until now, most hijackings have ended without loss of life, though often after the payment of substantial ransoms.

Four pirates are reported to have died in the fight, while 13 have been captured by the USS Sterett, a guided missile destroyer which was shadowing the hijacked yacht.

The four sailors all came from the west coast of America. The yacht’s owners, Scott and Jean Adam, were from Marina del Ray in California, and their crew, Phyllis Mackay and Bob Riggle, sailed with the Seattle Singles Yacht Club. Scott Adam had recently become a member of the Cruising Association.

Phyllis Mackay, was a friend of long-standing LSC member Malcolm Lewis-Jones. Phyllis had sailed with Malcolm on Amber Sea’s voyage from Gibraltar to Antigua.

They were boarded some 250 miles off the coast of Oman, indicating that they had taken a route that took them north and east, as far as possible away from Somalia.

The Adams had their 58 foot Davidson pilot house built in New Zealand in 2004, and had sailed it from there to Alaska, and onwards through the Pacific. They had briefly joined the Blue Water Rally in Thailand, but left it last Tuesday to make their own way to Oman. The Blue Water Rally have issued a statement expressing the shock and sympathy of the organisers and participants.

The Club extends its sympathy to the families and friends of all those killed in the attack.