Imagine you’re in your room aboard the Seabourn Spirit cruise ship when the captain’s voice comes over the public announcement system:

“Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, all ship: Stay inside. Stay inside. Stay inside. We are trying to stay—” a crack of static cuts him off. “—to run away from them now. Stay inside everybody. This is a real alarm. Please stay inside.”

You rush to the window and see two small motorboats speeding toward your cruise ship, engines roaring.

Then gunfire erupts. Panicked, you retreat to the bathroom.

Moments later, an RPG slams into your cabin. Shrapnel tears through walls, splinters fly, and debris rains down. Miraculously, your hiding spot holds.

For passengers aboard the Seabourn Spirit, this was no nightmare. It was reality—the first-ever Somali pirate attack on a cruise ship. See video of the attack below:

Fortunately for those on board, security officers Michael Groves and Som Bahadur Gurung were ready to fight back.

The Seabourn Spirit’s crew leaps into action

The Seabourn Spirit was less than 100 miles off the Somali coast on November 5, 2005, when two pirate boats closed in, armed with rifles and rocket-propelled grenades. Michael Groves, a former Royal Navy officer and the ship’s security officer, rushed to the deck. He told the BBC that the moment he stepped outside, he was under attack.

“As soon as I went on the deck, I came under automatic fire straight away,” Groves said. “A rocket grenade blew me off my feet.”

Knocked to the ground, Groves scrambled back up, disoriented but determined. He grabbed the ship’s high-pressure hose and turned it on the attackers, blasting their speedboats with powerful jets of water. But the pirates weren’t backing down.

A direct hit leaves passengers in panic

The attackers fired more RPGs. One rocket struck a stateroom, ripping it apart. “They hit us with rocket grenades, RPGs,” passenger Charles Forsdick told the Associated Press. “There was a woman in her cabin, and she was fortunately in her bathroom, but the rocket grenade went right through and blew the whole cabin out.”

Inside the Seabourn Spirit, fear took hold. “When he [the captain] said this is not a drill, I thought, oh boy, we’re going to have to abandon ship. It’s on fire,” said passenger Gean Noll.

As passengers huddled in the restaurant for safety, the pirates kept up their assault. RPG after RPG smashed into the ship as the speedboats circled, looking for a way to board.

Groves held his ground. “The pirates were circling around the ship,” he recalled. He knew they wouldn’t stop unless he made them.

The ship’s Master-at-Arms makes a sacrifice

Som Bahadur Gurung, the ship’s Master-at-Arms and a veteran Gurkha, rushed to activate the Long-Range Acoustic Device (LRAD), a sonic weapon designed to repel attackers. But before he could, a bullet struck him.

“I saw a spray of blood, and he just went straight down,” Groves said. “I thought he was gone, but he opened one eye. He looked like half his head had been blown off.”

Groves dragged Gurung to safety and took control of the LRAD. The device emitted a concentrated blast of sound, disorienting the attackers. Covering their ears, the pirates finally pulled back.

For thirty harrowing minutes, Groves used the LRAD and evasive maneuvers to keep the Seabourn Spirit out of the pirates’ grasp. Eventually, they abandoned their attack.

Survivors question why the ship was so close to danger

The Seabourn Spirit sustained only minor damage, but the psychological scars lingered. Passengers like Edith Laird, whose daughter witnessed the attack, were deeply shaken. “My daughter saw the pirates out of our window,” she said.

In the aftermath, questions arose. The ship was reportedly sailing just 68 nautical miles from the Somali coast—far closer than the recommended 200 nautical miles. Critics questioned whether the cruise line had ignored maritime warnings in pursuit of a shorter route.

A royal commendation for the heroes

For their bravery, Michael Groves and Som Bahadur Gurung were honored at Buckingham Palace on May 16, 2007. Queen Elizabeth II awarded Groves the Queen’s Gallantry Medal and Gurung the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery.

“The Queen asked me when it was and recalled it,” Groves said. “She said she had read the citation and was surprised we only had a hose and LRAD device on board. She said it was very courageous.”

Their heroism turned what could have been a catastrophe into a story of survival, proving that even in the face of modern-day piracy, courage and quick thinking can save lives.

For a deeper dive into this harrowing event and how modern cruise ships prepare for piracy, see the video embedded below: