<p>FEISTY pensioners used deck chairs to fight off Somali pirates who tried to  hijack their cruise ship on the Indian Ocean, passengers and the vessel's owners  say.<br /><br />&nbsp;They sprang into action when pirates tried to board the <em>MSC  Melody</em> off the Seychelles on April 25. <br />"Some passengers saw the pirates  approaching and sounded the alarm. But the security guard had seen them already.  The passengers were taken to their cabins, with lights off," Sarah Longbottom of  MSC Cruises said.<br /><br />"Mr and Mrs Rowlands were on the deck. Beryl Rowlands  threw deck chairs at them," she said, adding that the ship had about 1000  passengers and 500 crew on board.<br /><br />There were 74 Australians on the ship  at the time.<br /><br />No-one was injured in the incident, which came amid a surge  in piracy off the coast of Somalia, where ransom-seeking pirates attacked more  than 100 ship in 2008 and another 114 so far this year.<br /><br />The owner of MSC  Cruises, Gianluigi Aponte, praised the way the ship's crew and passengers dealt  with the attack. "We are very proud that our crew proved to be able to promptly  tackle the emergency," he said.<br /><br />"At the moment of the attack, the ship  was 600 nautical miles (1111 km) from the Somalian coast, in an area that is not  considered dangerous, and 180 nautical miles (333 km) from Seychelles."  <br /><br />Ian and Jessie Moakes from Mansfield, central England, were on the MSC  Melody to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary.<br /><br />"Some holidaymakers  threw tables and chairs to repel the pirates," Moakes, 62, a retired police  officer, told the <em>Sun</em> newspaper.<br /><br />"It could have been much  nastier. There were bullet holes in the ship." <br /><br />Australia's Department of  Foreign Affairs and Trade said 69 passengers and five crew members were  Australians, some of whom may be dual citizens and travelling on other  passports.</p>