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PEOPLE & ARTS Monday 23 July 2018

Author tells of kidnapping by pirates he’d gone to interview

By JOHN ROGERS the pirates kept him in after
Associated Press he tried to escape by leap-
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mi- ing from an old fishing ves-
chael Scott Moore is walk- sel and attempting to swim
ing a bit gingerly these to shore. They never could
days, but it has nothing to find them and had to buy
do with the 2½ years he a new set, something that
spent imprisoned by So- delighted their captive.
mali pirates, the beatings Or the time one of the
he suffered, his time spent friendlier pirates, knowing
in chains or the lousy food Moore holds dual U.S.-Ger-
that caused him to lose 40 man citizenship, woke him
pounds. one morning to say excit-
“I got thumped by a wave edly that Germany, that
surfing off Manhattan year’s World Cup winner,
Beach the other day,” the defeated Brazil 7-1 in the
author of “The Desert and semifinal game. Moore dis-
the Sea: 977 days Captive missed the news as “more
on the Somali Pirate Coast” pirate bull----,” replying that
says with a sheepish grin. no team scores seven goals
“I’ve got a cracked rib.” in a soccer game. Then he
Otherwise Moore, freed by turned on the radio and
his pirate captors in 2014 af- learned it was true.
ter his mother raised a $1.6 Moore first thought of writ-
million ransom, looks fine. ing a book about modern-
He’s dressed casually in a day piracy when he came
dark blue shirt and jeans as across examples of it in
he sits down in the shade coastal African and south-
of the century-old art-deco east Asian nations he vis-
building that houses Los An- ited while seeking out some
geles’ downtown library to of the world’s best surf- In this June 20, 2018 photo, Michael Scott Moore, author of “The Desert and the Sea: 977 Days
talk about his latest book. ing spots for a 2010 book. Captive on the Somali Pirate Coast,” poses for a portrait at Los Angeles Public Library in Los
“The Desert and the Sea” “Sweetness and Blood,” Angeles.
goes on sale Tuesday, documenting how a loose- Associated Press
and its 49-year-old author knit band of hippies, star- and hold for multimillion- fully recovered physically “That kind of an experi-
is about to embark on a struck wanderers and U.S. dollar ransoms. from his ordeal, although it ence does damage to you
cross-country tour of read- military personnel helped Moore says he knew going took more than a year. He that takes a long time to
ings and signings. turn an ancient Hawaiian to Somalia was dangerous, laughs when he recalls that compensate for,” said An-
The page-turning thriller, sport into an international but he thought he’d taken several Asian fishermen he derson, who was AP’s chief
published by Harper Col- pop-culture phenomenon, all necessary precautions. was held captive with re- Middle East correspondent
lins, takes readers on a re- has been hailed as argu- A “fixer” with clan connec- marked, “Michael, you got when he was abducted by
lentless journey as Moore ably the best historical ac- tions arranged the trip in fat,” when they saw him Islamic militants in Lebanon
reveals the squalid living count of modern-day surf- which he was accompa- during an emotional 2016 in 1985 and held for nearly
conditions that nearly killed ing. nied by a large contingent reunion. seven years. “You don’t for-
him, the beatings he en- His plans to report on piracy of machine-gun-toting He still struggles with some get it.”
dured and the thoughts weren’t sealed, however, guards. emotional scars and takes Anderson, 70, says he’s
of suicide he weighed, until he covered the trial of But a pirate leader Moore part in a therapy called Eye glad to hear Moore is get-
along with other thoughts 10 pirates captured after interviewed betrayed him, Movement Desensitization ting counseling, adding he
of grabbing one of his cap- abducting a German car- paying off most of his se- and Reprocessing, which underwent it himself but still
tor’s machine guns (they go ship off Somalia in 2010. curity team. Moore was involves concentrating on struggled to accept how
were careless about leav- Their two-year trial, which captured on a dusty desert what happened to you emotionally damaging his
ing them lying around) and Moore covered for the road by pirates who de- while focusing the eyes. experience was.
seeing how many of them publication Spiegel Online, manded a $20 million ran- “I don’t know if it’s trendy or For now, Moore is busy with
he could kill before they marked the first case of pi- som. cutting edge,” he jokes. his book tour and working
killed him. racy prosecuted in Germa- As his mother spent years “At times, I think he still has on a feature story about
“I don’t know,” he says with ny in nearly 400 years. negotiating the price and very much trouble sleep- three men recently con-
a smile when asked how he “I really wanted to write raising money from family ing, although he says he victed of plotting to blow
survived it all. a book that had material and friends, Moore’s plight doesn’t have nightmares,” up a Kansas apartment
After several seconds of that I hadn’t seen. On pi- went largely unreported. his 78-year-old mother, building housing Somali ref-
quiet contemplation, he rates,” he says now. “And it His employer, Der Spiegel, Marlis Saunders, says in a ugees.
adds that a combination became an obsession.” asked other news organiza- phone interview from the After that he’d like to get
of giving up any immediate By the time he arrived in tions to withhold the story, Redondo Beach home back to some of the trav-
hope of freedom and living Somalia in January 2012, fearing publicity would where her only child grew el writing that took him to
in the moment helped. So piracy had become a cot- drive up the price. Almost up and became an avid many fascinating parts of
did maintaining a sense of tage industry for a nation all, including The Associat- surfer. the world when he was re-
humor while trapped in a plunged into poverty and ed Press, complied. Another ex-hostage, for- searching his surfing book.
very unfunny situation. Thus, lawlessness by years of civil “Honestly, I don’t know if mer Associated Press cor- “I don’t want to give that
the book contains several unrest. Young men unable it was better or worse to respondent Terry Anderson, up,” he says.
darkly comic moments. to find other work sailed the keep it quiet,” he says now. says it’s unlikely anyone Then he laughs as he quick-
Like the one when Moore high seas in small skiffs look- Tall and trim with graying gets completely over such ly adds, “It doesn’t have to
hid the keys to the chains ing for people to kidnap hair, Moore says he has an ordeal. be dangerous travel.”q