My thoughts were interrupted by an insistent clicking noise close by. Coming out of my reverie I was startled to see a man on one of the fishing boats about 5 feet away pointing an AK47 at me

Seems the gunboat had ‘locked on’ to either us or our escort.

The last of the line gangs soon depart, the vessel and all hands start to breath a little easier.

The Karachi reported a valve failure in the engine room and was taking on water north of Luzon – the 22 man crew was preparing to abandon ship.