Yep you read it right, he was killed by PIRATES! No I'm not talking about the Pittsburgh Pirates I mean actual, true to life pirates! How in the world did this happen!? I didn't know Pirates still existed! This is crazy! http://msn.espn.go.com/moresports/news/2001/1206/1290955.html <b>America's Cup champ Blake dead at 53</b> <i>PARIS -- Sir Peter Blake, who led New Zealand to the America's Cup sailing championship in 1995 and 2000, was killed by pirates in the Amazon, his race sponsors said Thursday. The Jour J agency, which represents the Paris organizers of the Louis Vuitton Cup, said the 53-year-old Blake had been on an exploratory trip when he was killed. Blake and his crew had just returned from dinner on shore when a group of masked men, some wearing motorcycle helmets, rushed aboard their boat, One News, a New Zealand television station, reported. Blake was shot twice, the station said. "It appears that these fellows, whoever they were, just appeared out of the blackness, the river, the mouth of the river, and before anybody knew anything about it they were at gunpoint," Alan Sefton, one of Blake's friends and a spokesman for his expedition group, told One News. In March 2000, Blake said he had received letters from someone threatening to kill him and harm his family. "We've always got crank mail, but it has been going beyond that recently," Blake said at the time. "So we have taken all the precautions we were advised to take." In November 2000, Blake went on a three-month study of wildlife in the South Pole region. He then traveled to the Amazon for several months of sailing. American skipper Dennis Conner, a three-time America's Cup winner who was beaten by Team New Zealand 5-0 in 1995, was impressed with Blake's determination. "He was a hero and role model for the New Zealand people and obviously a winner that was focused and accomplished his goals, whether it was winning the round-the-world race or the America's Cup," Conner said Thursday. After Blake won in 1995, Governor General Dame Cath Tizard said it was her country's proudest day since Auckland native Edmund Hillary became the first man to climb Mount Everest in 1953. The America's Cup was the only major sailing trophy that the self-proclaimed "Nation of Sailors" hadn't won, and Team New Zealand beat its archrival with one of the most dominating performances in America's Cup history. "It's only the second time in history that it's left America," Blake said at the time. "I think that's pretty damn good. I think the Americans are going crazy. It'll be a very popular win everywhere." Bruno Trouble, an organizer of the America's Cup and a friend of Blake, told France-Info radio that Blake "went through life like lightning. Peter was an extraordinary leader of men ... he had an amazing charisma. I think that he was actually hiding his shyness." Blake was appointed in July as a goodwill ambassador of the United Nations Environment Program. Before that, he headed the Cousteau Society, an environmental group founded in 1973 by the late undersea explorer Jacque-Yves Cousteau. "I've seen lots of things I want to show kids," Blake said last year. "I've gone, `wow,' `fantastic' and `marvelous.' I want to capture some of those now, and get young people interested in the environment." Blake, born in Auckland, announced earlier this year that he was relinquishing control of the New Zealand syndicate. He was knighted in 1995. Blake also won the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989, and took the Jules Verne Trophy in 1994. He is survived by his wife Pippa and two children. </i>
Yes it is. It's not even safe to go for a nice sail in the river or anything, now you have to worry about freaking pirates. Insane.
...and my wife wants me to visit her native country of Peru? (right there next to the amazon.)...Hell NO!!!
you mean pirates like this?? i guess when you're robbed/murdered on a boat the correct term is pirate?!? rH
Wtf do you mean now? There have always been pirates, and this guy just ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time.
There are Pirates all over the South China Sea. They mostly go after tourist boats and small cargo boats killing all aboard, taking their posessions and then sinking the boat. It's truly sad when something like this happens.
I was thinking the same thing until I looked in the Guiness Book of World Records. They have a record for the place you're most likely to be robbed/killed by pirates. The say southeastern Asia is the most dangerous spot for piracy which sound like more of place for pirates than the Amazon!!! They also state that around 1,500 acts of piracy have occured in the past 10 years (150 per year) there, with an astounding cost of about $100 million per year from pirates. They say modern pirates have automatic weapons and speed boats which are a complete 180 from the pirates we know of with cannons, swords, one-eye, and sails. So yes, sadly it/they still exists.
<B>They say modern pirates have automatic weapons and speed boats which are a complete 180 from the pirates we know of with cannons, swords, one-eye, and sails</B> I much preferred the swashbuckling, one-eyed kind of pirates.
MARINE SECURITY Piracy report reveals major increase in attacks in 1999 London, 24 January 2000 - The number of reported piracy attacks worldwide for 1999 rose nearly 40% compared with 1998 figures and almost tripled compared with 1991 according to the ICC International Maritime Bureau in London (IMB). In its annual Piracy & Armed Robbery Against Ships report for 1999, the IMB reports a total of 285 separate attacks on ships either at sea, at anchor or in port. While the number of crew killed has declined, the trend to violence is giving renewed cause for concern. Figures released by the IMB show that pirates carried guns on 53 occasions and that knives were used twice as often as in 1998. Once again, the majority of piracy attacks in the last year took place in South East Asia with the number of attacks in Indonesian waters almost double that of last year. The International Maritime Bureau has estimated that annual losses to piracy amount to some $200million. The losses get worse as pirate attacks become more bold, violent, and increasingly frequent. Vessels are reported to have been boarded in 217 instances and on 11 occasions pirates fired upon the ships they were targeting. A total of eight ships were hijacked in 1999. Pirates have murdered crews and seized whole ships with their cargoes, sometimes with the tacit support of local officials from neighbouring states. It is impossible for those ashore to fully appreciate the trauma pirate attacks cause, both physically and mentally. A British couple placidly sailing their rented yacht around the Greek island of Corfu in May '97 could hardly believe what was happening: masked men brandishing grenades and assault rifles suddenly boarded their boat. The gang stripped the couple of their possessions and the boat of its navigational gear, their ordeal ending when they were rescued by Greek coastguards. "The 1999 Annual Report highlights that modern piracy is violent, bloody and ruthless. It is made all the more fearsome because its victims know they are alone and defenceless," said Captain Jayant Abhyankar, IMB Deputy Director. IMB is a specialized bureau of ICC Commercial Crime Services, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce. The annual report draws attention to IMB's recent initiative to take the fight against piracy onto the Internet with weekly updates of attacks and warnings. The service, which has been well received in the shipping world, is compiled from daily status bulletins broadcast via satellite from the Piracy Reporting Centre. Posting the information on the Internet means shipowners and land based authorities are able to access the updates as well as ships at sea. The address for the weekly report is to be found at: www.icc-ccs.org: Because incidents of piracy conjure up images of Treasure Island, legislators are often unwilling to take it seriously. There is however an International Law of the Sea regarding Piracy. http://members.tripod.co.uk/Bodyguard458/pirates.html
Well excuse me! It's not like you hear reports of pirate attacks on the news everyday! That's amazing. Now that I think about it I guess it's not all that surprising, but still shocking.
This is a handout picture from the Amapa state government shows a group men suspected of taking part in the robbery and murder of New Zealand yatchsman Peter Blake after being arrested by the state police in the Amazon city of Macapa, state of Amapa, Brazil on Friday Dec. 7, 2001. Seen from left: Jose Iranir Colares Cardoso, 25; Reni Ferreira Macedo, 21; Antonio Goncalves de Lima, 36; Janio dos Santos Gomes, 41; Juscelino Pastana Rocha, 24; Ricardo Colares Tavares, 23; and Isael Pantoja da Costa, 27. (AP Photo Marcellus Favilla-Governo do Estado de Amapa via AE) -- This is what modern day pirates look like... rH
