City man fought off pirates.Byline: By Anna Jeys A MIDLAND man who battled pirates to save a cruise ship from attack has been awarded a bravery medal from the Queen. Michael Groves, 41, from the Birmingham area, fought off an assault on the Seabourn Spirit cruise liner when a dozen Soma-lis opened fire on the boat with rocket launchers and machine guns. The cruise liner, carrying 300 crew and passengers, was targeted by insurgents 100 miles off the coast of Somalia in November 2005. But as Mr Groves was fired at, he unwound un·wound v. Past tense and past participle of unwind. unwound unwind a high pressure hose and aimed the jet at the attackers, forcing them to flee. The former policeman collected the Queen's Gallantry Medal The Queen's Gallantry Medal (QGM) is the third level civil decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth.[1] It was instituted on the 20 June1974 to replace the British Empire Medal with oakleaves. at Buckingham Palace yesterday. Mr Groves, a security and safety officer for Seabourn Cruise Lines, was injured ing the mtoomuch tod o lastfromthefir works for the company. He said: "We're still recovering. Shock waves from the Long Range Acoustic Device The long range acoustic device (LRAD) is a crowd-control and hailing device developed by American Technology Corporation. The equipment weighs 45 pounds (20 kg) and can emit sound in a 15 to 30° beam (only at high frequency) from a device 33 inches (83 cm) in - the alarm we activated - the blast has damaged my hearing. I have tinnitus. "We thought we were done for. "The Queen asked me when it was and she recalled it. 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." |
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