Johan Schupp was the second mate on the Barataria ship, captained by Markus Rohde, that was used to transport Karl Rask's weapons. Simon Dedrick, the third mate, had been extorted by Osman Xasan Muhamad into letting his pirate crew onto the ship. Dedrick faked a man overboard report to Schupp, who ordered the engines to stop and the crew started looking for the man in the water. However, as they were distracted Osman's crew boarded the ship and took the crew hostage.