The Long Range Acoustical Device sends earsplitting noise in a concentrated beam. Its maker, American Technology Corp. of San Diego, doesn't know of any cruise lines other than Miami-based Seabourn that have installed them, said A.J. Ballard, the company's director of military operations.
But Callahan questioned why the Spirit was about 100 miles off Somalia, which has no effective government and is ruled by warlords. The International Maritime Bureau has for several months warned ships to stay at least 150 miles away from Somalia's coast because of an increase in pirate attacks.
"That place is teeming with high-speed stolen vessels," Callahan said.
Many cruise lines have tried to avoid the area, but vessels going from the Mediterranean to Asia or Africa must pass through there.
Seabourn spokesman Bruce Good said the line hasn't decided whether to change its routes. But he said the Spirit was on its highest alert while there.
"As far as we're concerned, the incident is behind us. We are now in the next phase, getting people where they need to be and continuing with what we do for a living, which is make people happy on board," he said.
Seabourn has said it appeared the attackers were pirates whose motivation was robbery. But Petersen doubted that was the case, because he said pirates would have tried to disable the ship's steering and propulsion if they wanted to get onboard. Witnesses said the attackers shot grenades toward passengers.
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Monday the attackers might have been terrorists.
Either way, cruise lines fear that their image as safe havens of fun could be tarnished. After the Achille Lauro hijacking, the eastern Mediterranean cruise market had a sharp decline in traffic. The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks forced cruise companies to offer heavy discounts to lure leery passengers onto ships, and ticket prices are only now getting back to pre-attack levels as the industry is having a year of record profits and traffic.
Because no one was killed in the Spirit attack, travelers probably won't be spooked, said Jeff Sharlach, chairman and CEO of The Jeffrey Group, a public relations firm that runs crisis management teams for companies like FedEx Corp.
"You want to avoid making it into a bigger news story than it is naturally. Sometimes if you respond too aggressively, you make it more frightening than it is," said Sharlach, whose company doesn't work with cruise lines.
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On the Net:
International Council of Cruise Lines: http://www.iccl.org
Carnival Corp.: http://www.carnivalcorp.com
Seabourn Cruise Line: http://www.seabourn.com
