Security guards aboard an Italian cruise ship 500 miles off the coast of Somalia traded gunfire with pirates this weekend as almost 1,000 passengers waited anxiously in their cabins to know whether they would continue their journey as holidaymakers or hostages.
The pirates drew alongside the liner in a small speedboat on Saturday night and sprayed the bridge with automatic rifle fire. But as they attempted to board the vessel, Israeli security guards on board opened fire with pistols, forcing the pirates to retreat.
The commander of the Msc Melody, Ciro Pinto, said: "It felt as if we were at war."
The skirmish is thought to be the first exchange of fire between a passenger vessel and attackers since the start of the current wave of piracy off the Horn of Africa.
The captain's decision to use guns was praised by the ship's owners, but sharply criticised by a maritime official who said the move had imperilled passengers' lives.
"Having weapons on a passenger or merchant ship is dangerous," Andrew Mwangura of the Mombasa-based East African Seafarers Assistance Programme told Reuters.
"They should have used other means to shake off the pirates, like a loud acoustic device."
Merchant shipping firms have generally avoided arming crew or security guards for reasons of safety, liability and conformity with the laws of the countries where they dock. Saturday's attack took place 200 miles north of the Seychelles, at about 11.35pm local time.
"A boat with six people aboard drew alongside the bridge, which is located towards the bows of the ship, and began firing in bursts," Pinto said in interview with the website Corriere.it.
Attacks far out at sea have been made possible by the hijacking of merchant vessels that are then used as "mother ships".
"I was below when I saw passengers running and realised something was happening," Pinto said. He had gone to the bridge and supervised the distribution of pistols, which were kept in a safe.
"We put out all the ship's lights. The crew escorted passengers to their cabins and asked them not to leave for any reason until I gave the all-clear." He said the pirates continued firing at intervals.
"What they did not know is that we had taken up positions in the dark. When they drew close, we turned on a high-pressure fire hose so all this salt water began to come out and douse the rail on which they'd erected a metal ladder, and were going up. Then when our security people started firing, they stopped."
Pinto said that after reboarding their launch, the pirates fired at the liner for another 10 minutes.
Domenico Pellegrino, director general of Msc Cruises, said: "The passengers stayed calm."
He added: "The situation yesterday was very well handled on board. The commander showed great sang froid and acted without ever losing his composure."
The Melody, on a cruise from Durban in South Africa to the Italian port of Genoa, was last night continuing to a scheduled stop at Aqaba on the Jordanian coast.
The Spanish warship SPS Marqués de Ensenada was due to rendezvous with the liner to escort it through the pirate-infested northern Gulf of Aden.