BOSTON (AP) – A Gloucester couple attacked by pirates off the coast of Yemen during a global sailing voyage said they fended off their attackers by ramming one of two fishing boats, wounding the gunmen.

A sailor on another American sailboat that had been with the couple’s vessel opened fire with a shotgun to fend off attackers on a second fishing boat.

The attack happened in early March, about six years into Joseph Barry and Carol Martini’s voyage, as they sailed their boat Gandalf in the Gulf of Aden, between the Red and Arabian seas. Pirate attacks are not unusual in the area.

The couple’s 47-foot boat was sailing with the other American boat when they were approached by two 25-foot fishing boats. Armed pirates aboard the fishing vessels began shooting.

“There were no warnings, there were no negotiations,” Barry told Boston radio station WBZ-AM Tuesday in a phone interview from the Israeli port of Ashkelon.

The attack left about 15 bullet holes in the Gandalf, including holes in the boat’s wooden mast, Barry said.

Barry tried to outrun the attackers, but when he realized he couldn’t, he turned his steel-hulled vessel around and, at high speed, struck one of the wooden fishing boats.

“It almost cut it into two,” Barry said.

The attackers in the boat were wounded. The pirates in the other fishing boat continued shooting before a sailor on the other American boat returned fire. Those attackers were left incapacitated, and their boat also was damaged.

The two sailboats managed to get away, with none of the Americans wounded.

Pirates frequently end up the victors in such battles, Barry said.

“It’s really nice to win for a change,” he said.

Barry and Martini later made temporary repairs to their vessel before continuing on their voyage.