Hostile Seas: A Mission in Pirate Waters

by J.L. Savidge

In late 2008, piracy around the Horn of Africa escalated dramatically, threatening the passage of international merchant ships through a critical waterway. Not only were ships carrying goods to North America and Europe affected, but also vessels entrusted with food aid for a Somali population suffering the effects of prolonged drought and civil war.

In response, the Canadian government redirected naval frigate HMCS Ville de Québec from the Mediterranean Sea to Somali waters to escort pirate-menaced vessels carrying World Food Programme aid to Mogadishu. Told from the perspective of a ship's officer, Hostile Seas is a personal account of life on board a deployed navy ship that explores the tension between military imperatives and individual needs as a succession of hijackings brings into focus the reality of Somali piracy.

Genres: Nonfiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

JL Savidge alternates between civilian and military work, incorporating her interest in culture and social justice into each. Hostile Seas is her first book. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Reviews

[Julie Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

As an author of Canadian naval history and a retired Naval Reserve officer, I've read many, many books on the Royal Canadian Navy and the Royal Navy. Hostile Seas is different, which is why I enjoyed it so much.

This book tells the story of one Canadian frigate's deployment in the pirate-infested waters off Somalia in 2008 escorting vessels delivering UN food aid into Mogadishu to the people. But it is not all about the ship's tactics, strategies, and events, it tells the personal story of what it is like to serve on her.

The author, JL Savidge, is a female Naval Reserve intelligence officer and she tells the reader what life on board a deployed ship really means: the boredom, the lack of privacy and sleep, the anxiety of doing a good job, the too few shore leaves, the dangers, and the tensions arising between the military imperatives and personal needs during an escalation of merchant ship hijackings. Savidge gets us right into her head and setting—most naval memoirs don't, and certainly don't do it from a female perspective.

Hostile Seas is a good read that also opens our eyes to the value of the Canadian navy's work in dangerous places. Recommended.

[Julia Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently read Hostile Seas hoping to learn more about piracy off the coast of Somalia and Africa, an issue that has been covered frequently in national and international news over the past few years. What I received, however, was not only a very informative book on one woman's perspective of piracy while living aboard a Canadian ship that had been deployed by the UN to help deliver food aid to Somalia -- but also a very entertaining and engaging read. Hostile Seas is well written and a very good book. It provides an interesting perspective of what it is like to live aboard a navy ship as a female officer, so it is interesting from a navy culture perspective, but JL Savidge also provides a simultaneously well researched and first hand account of piracy, exploring how it has affected the international community as well as the politcal, social, and economic issues that have led so many Somalian men to become pirates. JL Savidge writes with confidence and a discerning eye for detail, and engages the reader from start to finish. All in all, a very enjoyable and worthwhile book!

[Lara · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Hostile Seas. It was insightful in terms of the Canadian military, and life aboard a navy ship in a part of the world beset with conflict and piracy. It is an interesting window into the hierarchy of the navy, as well as a well researched story of what causes young men to be driven into piracy. JL Savidge writes an engaging story that keeps you captivated until the very end. I highly recommend this book.

[Bob Charlton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well-written, gripping account of life aboard a Canadian navy ship, the efforts to combat piracy as well as the social and cultural conditions that give rise to it. This engaging account is a must-read.

[Cynthia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was very interesting to read about events that I witnessed from someone else's perspective. It proves that all witnesses remember events differently, but also brought back some great memories of my time on board HMCS VILLE DE QUÉBEC.