Yarrr!

Do you remember my posts about Australians? Well, here's one about something even more exciting than Australians... Pirates!

There has been a sharp rise in the number of people killed at sea by pirates, according to experts.

The International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting centre in Malaysia says 30 mariners were murdered in 2004 - half of them in waters off Nigeria.

That figure made the year one of the bloodiest since the centre started collecting statistics on piracy 15 years ago.

However, the number of attacks in 2004 actually fell.

There were 325 acts of piracy recorded last year, against 445 reported in 2003.

Indonesia accounted for more than a quarter, with 93 raids in its waters - down from 121 the previous year.

This, of course, reminds me of the infamous fishing pirates of 2003. For more information about pirates, visit Captain Cutlass' Brethren of the Coast.