It issued a statement after an anti-piracy maritime group insisted it should be allowed to negotiate a payment for Paul and Rachel Chandler.

This picture of Mrs Chandler was released on Sunday

The Foreign Office said concessions would only “encourage” future kidnaps.

The Chandlers, of Tunbridge Wells, Kent, were captured while sailing towards Tanzania on 23 October.

The latest news of the couple emerged on Sunday. They spoke of their ordeal through a news agency which had been allowed to send a photographer when they were examined by a doctor last week.

The Chandlers said they were being badly treated and were in urgent need of help.
The pirates have threatened to kill the couple if their demands for $7m (£4.4m) are not met.

‘Green light’

Nick Davis, chairman of the Merchant Maritime Warfare Centre, which provides anti-piracy advice and training, said the Chandlers’ captors were running out of patience.

“The door is open for them to be released. Somebody needs to pick up the gauntlet and run with it,” he said.

“For the amounts involved, I don’t think it’s worth trying to bring anyone to justice. We just need to get Paul and Rachel home.

“We are the people who know what needs to be done, we can do it, we just need to be allowed to do it.”

Mr Davis said he could not do anything without the “green light” from the Foreign Office and the Chandlers’ family.

He said the pirates would need to feel they were talking to somebody with the authorization and means to secure the release.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said it had “never attempted to block any activity by Mr Davis”.

“Although there is no UK law against third parties paying ransoms, we counsel against them doing so because we believe that making concessions only encourages future kidnaps.

“This is why the government does not make or facilitate substantive concessions to hostage takers.”

‘Please help’

The couple were examined by a surgeon on Thursday and Mrs Chandler was reportedly in a poor state of mental and physical health.

Mr Chandler was being held at a separate location from his wife

Mrs Chandler, who was being held in a separate location from her husband, told the news agency AFP: “I’m old, I’m 56 and my husband is 60 years old. We need to be together because we have not much time left.”

Mr Chandler appeared in better health than his wife but was also under extreme stress, AFP said.
“I just want to say please, to my government, get me and my wife out of here,” he said.
“We have no money and we can’t pay a ransom. We just need the government to help, anyone who can help us out of here.”

A Downing Street spokesman said the government was in regular contact with the Chandler family.

“The prime minister’s view is that hostage taking is never justified and we would like to repeat the government’s call that Paul and Rachel Chandler should be released immediately and unconditionally,” he said.

“We are doing everything we can to secure their release.”

From here on forward, I will be updating the amount you see on the right hand side of the page as donations arrive.

I am hoping that this will give the pirates some assurance that someone else is trying to raise the money who is not bound by British Government rules.

If the government can’t make this happen, then the people will!

Repeated responses from the British Government have stated that they will not participate in negotiations with pirates.  While the ransom was first set at $7 million, several weeks ago the pirates agreed to a much lessor amount of $100,000.  The funds were raised however the exchange was blocked by the government.

CNN affiliate ITN has reported in separate telephone interviews that the couple pleaded for help and said they were fearful of being days away from death.

During the conversation with Rachel Chandler, she said “dying would actually be an easy way out” and that she wanted to see Paul “at least once before we die.”   She also told the reporter that she had not seen her husband for two weeks since they were violently separated.

“I’ve broken a tooth because I was hit on the head with something, probably the butt of a gun…I don’t know…and yes, so we have been physically attacked.”

Rachel continued to say, “They’ve just told me that if they dont get the money within for or five days they’ll kill one of us.”

In tears, she asked for a message to be passed along to her husband.   “The message to him is hang on for me because I hope – my biggest hope – is that I shall see him at least once before we die.”

She added: “It’s hard not to feel , well, dying would actually be an easy way out.  It’s hard to explain but it is when you’re all on your own in this country and you’ve no idea where you are and no idea when something might happen and whether I’ll see Paul again.  It’s just very, very despairing”

During a separate telephone interview one day earlier, Paul Chandler, 59, described how they were separated and savagely beaten.

“We tried to stay together and they threw us to the ground and whipped us and beat Rachel with a rifle butt and I was dragged off, taken to a different location.”

“I was allowed to telephone her about 12 days ago.  She said she was being tormented all the time and then she said she was giving up.   They’ve lost patience.  They set a deadline of three or four days, if they don’t hear, then they say they will let us die.”

“We’re held in solitary confinement effectively.  You know it’s just [like being] treated as a captive animal.”

It was not clear under what conditions the captives, who have been in sporadic telephone and video contact with journalists, had been allowed telephone access. ITN said both conversations had been shared with the British Home Office and his family.

Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s official line on hostages says “the government will not make substantive concession for hostage takers, including the payments of ransom.”

Pirates have been very active off the east coast of Africa in the past several years, operating out of lawless Somalia.

Last week, pirates attempted to hijack an Indian crude oil vessel 105 nautical miles from Somalia, the EU’s anti-piracy naval force said. The pirates opened fire on the ship and were later arrested.

Piracy on the high-seas reached a six-year high in 2009, according to the International Maritime Bureau, which monitors shipping crimes.

Military of Defense - the Wave Knight- watched as Paul and Rachel Chandler were kidnapped

While this isnt NEW news, its news none-the-less and worthly of posting. 

According to a BBC article on Friday November 13th, 2009, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker – the Wave Knight – watched as Paul and Rachel Chandler were forced off their yacht, the Lynn Rival.   Details of the Navy operation were leaked to the press by an anonymous crew member.  It was revealed that the RFA Wave Knight had come within 50ft of the couple’s yacht at one point. 

A Ministry of Defense spokesman said:  

“Every effort was made by the Royal Navy and the international maritime fleet to locate the Lynn Rival. We did everything we could possibly do without further endangering the lives of Paul and Rachel Chandler. We do not comment on operational detail but RFA Wave Knight did very well under the circumstances.”

An official account of the kidnap released last month said only that a Royal Navy vessel had found the couple’s yacht empty, without disclosing that the couple were within sight at the time.

In a phone call on 29 October, the couple, from Tunbridge Wells, said they were initially moved from their yacht to a container ship, the Kota Wajar, which had also been seized by the pirates.

It is thought they were then moved to another ship anchored off the eastern coast of Somalia before being taken to the mainland.

The pirates have issued a $7 million (£4.3 million) ransom demand but the British government has insisted it will not make any ransom payment.

It has been a busy day for me with other commitments, as it will be for the next week, however I will keep looking for new articles.  if I find any that offer anything we don’t already know, I will post them.  Thank you to all the people (and there have been A LOT) that have come to this site.  It also tells me that people DO care about helping to get Paul and Rachel Chandler released from their captors.   It tells me that we might be closer to finding a solution to this whole Somali pirate problem.

A few minutes ago I found this clip from CNN that shows a video about the kidnapping:  http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/20/rugman.somali.pirate.hostage.itn