Panic, most likely. Apparently, it's a pretty swell gig if you can get it since most companies just pay the ransom and be done with it. They even have "ransom insurance" nowadays for merchant sailors in the area.
I mean, hell, the crew won back the ship unarmed against folks toting AK-47's and rocket propelled grenade launchers. I think seventeen boy scouts and a really smart ferret could do the same through a series of hilarious shenanigans.
