When you speak about rich people on a yachting adventure, your mind probably immediately visualizes Thurston B. Howell III and his wife, Lovey.

Unfortunately for 4 Americans yachting around the coast of Africa, their story was not a television comedy series. It was a tragedy.

Yesterday, Somali Pirates, who were holding the 4 Americans hostage, killed them in response to being shadowed by a U.S. Navy Destroyer.

One of the pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade at the Destroyer. Then, gunfire erupted and U.S. special forces boarded the yacht. too late. The 4 innocent Americans were fatally wounded.

Pirates had been in control of the 58-foot yacht Quest south of Oman on Friday.  They had been shadowed since then by four U.S. warships and sky-high drones, as the pirates tried to sail it to the Somali shore. U.S. officials tried to negotiate with the thugs via radio.

The owners of the Quest, Scott and Jan Adam, of Marina del Rey, California, were missionaries, who had been sailing around the world since 2004, handing out bibles. Also killed were Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, both of Seattle, Washington.

Around Christmas, they joined the Blue Water Rally, an around-the-world race. Race organizers said the Quest recently left the race despite warnings about the dangers of sailing in Horn of Africa region.

However, the Blue Water Rally admitted in a statement Tuesday that even though yachtsmen are discouraged from sailing in the region, the only other choices are to sail around the stormy and dangerous tip of South Africa or sail back across the Pacific.

The experienced yacht enthusiasts from California and Washington are the first Americans killed by Somali pirates since the start of attacks off East Africa several years ago. One of the American couples on board had been sailing around the world since 2004 handing out Bibles.

Adam, in his mid-60s, was an Associate Producer in Hollywood a decade ago, when he decided to give his life to God and enrolled in seminary, according to Robert K. Johnston, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena and a friend of Adam’s.

He decided he could take his pension, and he wanted to serve God and humankind.

Johnston and Adam started a film and theology institute. Adam also taught a class on church and media at the school.

Since 2004, the Adams lived on their yacht. They docked at Marina Del Rey for about half the year and then, the rest of the year, they sailed around the world, often distributing Bibles in remote parts of the Fiji Islands, Alaska, New Zealand, Central America and French Polynesia, Johnston said.

The Christian couple documented their missionary work on their website, S/V Quest Adventure Log.

The website has been removed.

The Adams’ friends, Riggle and Macay, were eulogized by Joe Grande of the Seattle Singles Yacht Club, where they were members, as:

Great sailors, good people. They were doing what they wanted to do, but that’s small comfort in the face of this.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton strongly condemned the killings, saying in a statement that the slayings were “deplorable”. She called for international cooperation in fighting the scourge of piracy in waters off the Horn of Africa.

If they won’t do it, we must, Madame Secretary.

President Barack Hussein Obama, was told about the deaths at 4:42 a.m. Washington time. He had authorized the military on Saturday to use force in case of an imminent threat to the hostages, according to new White House spokesman Jay Carney.

That’s fine, Mr. President.  But, it’s time for you and your Administration to quit talking about international cooperation.  You’ve tried that already.  As president, you are responsible for the lives of Americans, no matter where they are in the world.

May I suggest reading about Thomas Jefferson and the Barbary Pirates.  Just like Muslim Terrorists, they only respond to one thing…and it’s not a reasoned debate.

According to a pirate who identified himself as Muse Abdi, killing hostages

…has now become part of our rules. From now on, anyone who tries to rescue the hostages in our hands will only collect dead bodies. It will never ever happen that hostages are rescued and we are hauled to prison.

Fine. The United States needs to oblige them. You reap what you sow.