MY Le Ponant

Le Ponant is a three-masted, commercially operated French luxury yacht operated by Compagnie du Ponant. The ship carries up to 67 passengers in 32 cabins. It was built 1991 by the SFCN shipyard in France.

Facilities
On board, Le Ponant has two restaurants. The Karukera Dining Room provides French cuisine and the outdoor Le Diamant restaurant is for more informal meals. There are two lounges; the Emeraude Lounge which is the main entertainment lounge, and the Saphir Lounge, a lecture hall with internet computers.

2008 Somali pirate attack
On April 4, 2008, Le Ponant was seized by Somali pirates in the Gulf of Aden while en route from the Seychelles to the Mediterranean. The ship carried no passengers at the time of its capture, but all 30 crewmembers were taken hostage; one Cameroonian, six Filipinos, 22 French, and one Ukrainian. French forces – including the aviso Commandant Bouan – and a Canadian CH-124 helicopter from HMCS Charlottetown (FFH 339) were monitoring the yacht after its seizure.

The hostages were released without incident on April 12.

Following the release, French helicopters from the Djibouti military base tracked the pirates to the village of Jariban. French commando marine and GIGN operating from the frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Jean Bart and the cruiser FRENCH CRUISER Jeanne d'Arc moved in when the pirates attempted to flee in the desert. A sniper disabled the get-away vehicle, and the commandos were able to capture six men. Local officials claimed that three people died in the raid, with a further eight wounded, but France denied this. Troops also recovered some of the ransom money paid by the owner of the yacht for the release of its crew. The six captured pirates were flown to Paris, where they faced trial in 2012.