Set during a period of dramatically escalating piracy, Hostile Seas is a personal account of a mission on board a naval warship in the waters off Somalia.

In late 2008, piracy around the Horn of Africa escalated dramatically, threatening the passage of international merchant ships through a critical waterway. Not only were ships carrying goods to North America and Europe affected, but also vessels entrusted with food aid for a Somali population suffering the effects of prolonged drought and civil war.

In response, the Canadian government redirected naval frigate HMCS Ville de Québec from the Mediterranean Sea to Somali waters to escort pirate-menaced vessels carrying World Food Programme aid to Mogadishu. Told from the perspective of a ship’s officer, Hostile Seas is a personal account of life on board a deployed navy ship that explores the tension between military imperatives and individual needs as a succession of hijackings brings into focus the reality of Somali piracy.

 

J.L. Savidge alternates between civilian and military work, incorporating her interest in culture and social justice into each. Crossing Lines is her first book. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

J.L. Savidge's profile page

Hostile Seas gives a human face to extraordinary events going on very far from the safe haven of a Canadian reader’s home.

Quill & Quire

Hostile Seas is Savidge’s first book. We can only hope that there are more.

Chronicle-Herald

An engaging, informative read

by Bob Charlton

A well-written, gripping account of life aboard a Canadian navy ship, the efforts to combat piracy as well as the social and cultural conditions that give rise to it. This engaging story is a must-read.

Recommend

by Lara Heaton

I really enjoyed reading Hostile Seas. It was insightful in terms of the Canadian military, and life aboard a navy ship in a part of the world beset with conflict and piracy. It is an interesting window into all aspects of life in the navy, as well as a well researched story of what drives young men into piracy. JL Savidge writes an engaging story about her personal experience that keeps you captivated until the very end. I highly recommend this book.

I loved this book

by JuliaMills

I recently read Hostile Seas hoping to learn more about piracy off the coast of Somalia and Africa, an issue that has been covered frequently in national and international news over the past few years. What I received, however, was not only a very informative book on one woman's perspective of piracy while living aboard a Canadian ship that had been deployed by the UN to help deliver food aid to Somalia -- but also a very entertaining and engaging read. Hostile Seas is well written and a very good book. It provides an interesting perspective of what it is like to live aboard a navy ship as a female officer, so it is interesting from a navy culture perspective, but JL Savidge also provides a simultaneously well researched and first hand account of piracy, exploring how it has affected the international community as well as the politcal, social, and economic issues that have led so many Somalian men to become pirates. JL Savidge writes with confidence and a discerning eye for detail, and engages the reader from start to finish. All in all, a very enjoyable and worthwhile book!