Nine Gulf boardings in nine hours - Sunday, February 13 will go down in HMAS Adelaide's log book as a busy day.

The hectic time came when there was a mass break-out of suspected smuggler vessels.

Adelaide, along with other ships, had been guarding the Kwawr-Abd-Allah waterway.

While doing three compliant boardings in the coalition holding area aimed at validating the bona fides of ships proceeding to and from Iraq, six potential smuggler vessels tried to run the gauntlet out of KAA.

Adelaide gave chase and stopped a total of six cargo dhows, ranging in size from 700 to 1200 tonnes.

All six were boarded with two potential oil smugglers diverted to the Coalition holding area for detailed inspection. The other four were found to be carrying dry goods and were released.

Adelaide checked 77 vessels since she began operations in the Gulf.

One sanctions violator gave himself up, obviously frustrated by the effectiveness of the coalitions blockade.

By LEUT Fenn Kemp