Common Sense Answer to Pirates

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by vintageray

Piracy in other places does happen though and the shotgun with double O buck might save your ***.

Yeah, worked a treat for Sir Peter Blake.

[vintageray]

They ralaxed their guard at Macapa and he had only a rifle with which he wounded one of the pirates with a shot before the rifle malfunctioned. If they hadn't relaxed their guard and had a more proper weapon, shotgun with double O buckshot, it might have turned out differently.

[conachair]

Originally Posted by Patient

One statisitic you cannot easily find,

I don't think you can easily find any statistic regarding yacht piracy. There are so few incidents and every case is so different how can anyone say anything about what response works.

Apart from maybe not going there if it looks that bad.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Make sure people mention to their wifes they will need to roll over and take it too.

Or you

[windships]

I know the shipowner whose ship was attacked the other day. The crew locked themselves in the Steering Flat for 16 hours. 2 passed out from heat exhauston. No toilet, sink or water. It was a desperate and unplanned attempt that needs to be rethought. Modifications are currently under way to provide a better situation. In annother instance, another guy I know had his ship siezed by the pirates and it sat in Somalia for 4 months. The Pirates stole every item including personal items on board. The officers crew were kept in the duty mess for 4 months, wearing nothing but a pair of overalls. A "negotiation" team relieved the pirates on arrival in Somalia, and the daily threats began. A whole sub industry of air charter pilots, ex commandos, supply vessels etc have spun off to protect the money transfer. It is a costly business.
As far as yachts go, the Somali's realise there is not much money in yachts. The British couple that have been there for almost a year, I think, had friends and relatives raise $400,000 and was delivered to the pirates. They simply said, it's not enough and kept it.
There have been recent pirate attacks around Asia. Generally these are robbers, not hijackers. As usual there is an exception to the rule. Last year a British couple were attacked by 3 Myamar fishermen off Thailand, the husband killed - he resisted them and the situation escalated. I think there is much about this in this blog. From my perspective, be vigilant, let them know you've seen them and make them think there are many on board. Throwing stuff at them will be pointless if they shoot you. There was a very successful capture of a robber in New Guniea last year when the young guys pulled out a spear gun. That said, you have to be prepared to pull the trigger...... And the consequences in most countries will be dire. Not every one sees "self defense" as an absolute right.

Keep the guns at home, stay away from known areas, plan your transits in daylight and it's helpful to have a few big guys on board.

Safe sailing.

[David_Old_Jersey]

One of the things that took me a longggg time to realise (discover ) was that sometimes their is no good answer to a given circumstance.

Will a Gun solve my Pirate Problem? Will rolling over? Will singing them a medley of ABBA's greatest hits?..........IMO likely that none of them will result in a "good" answer.

FWIW although I would not be offering up any female crew - can't say I would be taking a bullet to protect anyone's honour. There's or mine

Payback would be an interesting challenge - but for that need to be still alive.........

[capn_billl]

And this goes to the original point being made. The shipping companies are responding by using their collective brain power instead of rushing for the nearest firearm. Something I've found quite stiking over these past few years of pirating in that area is the overwhelming lack of violence thus far. These pirates are, by most accounts, a disparate/disorganised group yet somehow they've managed to engage in this otherwise repulsive activity without resorting to maiming and killing crews of the targeted vessels en masse.

Excuse me??? But isn't Kidnapping, and Armed robbery, and seizing a vessal by force an act of VIOLENCE???? I dont find these things acceptable social behavier. Obviously talking to ANY pirate isn't going to work. Explaining that their behavier is bad isn't either. A good talking to ,(assuming you even speak their language), may work with a recaltrant 2 year old, but not with a grown man who has obviously chosen greed over the value of your life. Minimal loss of life??? Yes! You don't get as much ransom for a dead man, or a destroyed ship. If the piracy goes bad you end up with a sunk vessal and dead crew, and you have to do the whole thing over again from the beginning. In all the piracy cases that were resolved, friendly forces arrived before the pirate mother ship, and the pirates seeing a complete loss agreed to a trade. These people recognize only the law of the jungle, ...Deadly force. Anything else, you are only deluding yourself. If I had a choice between a .50 cal and a small handgun, I would choose the .50 cal obviously. But since I dont have that choice, anything is better than nothing, dead is dead. a .22 kills you just as dead as the .50 cal. You have a slight edge over the pirates, dead you aren't worth any money. Better, unless you are prepaired to defend yourself, ... stay out until the situation improves. Otherwise you will just end up making a donation.

[boatman61]

Excellent idea.... jet bike rentals use a similar device to protect their bikes... anything looking suspicious... flick a switch and they slow to a stop... its a non-violent response and if it works a damn sight safer.

Originally Posted by Aussiesuede

And this goes to the original point being made. The shipping companies are responding by using their collective brain power instead of rushing for the nearest firearm. Something I've found quite stiking over these past few years of pirating in that area is the overwhelming lack of violence thus far. These pirates are, by most accounts, a disparate/disorganised group yet somehow they've managed to engage in this otherwise repulsive activity without resorting to maiming and killing crews of the targeted vessels en masse.

It's abundantly clear that their interest is economically motivated, and I think provoking them with threat of violence will have a very predictable result. The next time they go after a vessel the will go in with guns ablaze and are much more likely to engage in random acts of violence for the hell of it. Violence begets more violence and where we now have situation where the offending party has indicated no discernable appetite for escalating violence. Why on earth would anyone want to escalate the situation from where it is currently to one which INCLUDES violence. Seems pretty ignorant to actually invite an escalation as opposed to seeking means of de-escalation, as these shipping companies seem to be doing.

Currently BOTH the pirates and victims have shown considerable restraint and neither has displayed an appetite for maiming or killing to be a part of the equation. The party who chooses to add violence to the equation will only have itself to blame for all the predictable mayhem that will most definitely ensue.

I may have come up with the perfect weapon to defeat these scumbags!

An electromagnetic pulse device can be constructed for a bit under a thousand dollars and attached to a RC speed boat like the one in the following video. The boats travel at 60mph with a range of 3 miles on the open seas. One could attach the emp to this boat, grab the binoculars, and simply guide it towards the offending pirate skiff. As the emp nears the skiff, it'll fry the ignition and the pirates will sit dead in the water as you sail merrily away! The look on the faces of the pirates as the rc boat circled them would be priceless. Could even include onboard video to enhance the experience!

[capn_billl]

The EMP while an excellent example of thinking outside the box, only works with electronic ignition, it will have no effect on distributer, magneto combo's. The old hand crank motors used by pirates will probably not be affected.

[AllezCat]

I just don't get why there is no effort on the part of the military to stop it.
They are involved in wars nearby and don't mind dropping bombs into a village to kill someone with "minimal" collateral damage(sorry about the kindergarten).
Bunch of guys with banana clips in the middle of the ocean?? - there is no ambiguity and no possibility of collateral damage.
Just seems too easy to "disrupt" them in the ocean with modern weaponry- no need to go to their country and perform social engineering. When a few dozen fail to return they may rethink their occupation...

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by AllezCat

I just don't get why there is no effort on the part of the military to stop it.
They are involved in wars nearby and don't mind dropping bombs into a village to kill someone with "minimal" collateral damage(sorry about the kindergarten).
Bunch of guys with banana clips in the middle of the ocean?? - there is no ambiguity and no possibility of collateral damage.
Just seems too easy to "disrupt" them in the ocean with modern weaponry- no need to go to their country and perform social engineering. When a few dozen fail to return they may rethink their occupation...

I think I can answer this.

Until now most of the political outcry has been on behalf of the poor innocent Somali's. As a result most of the military countries have treated this as a law enforcement operation, (I.E. if you catch them in the act try to capture alive, (arrest), and take to home country for a trial, read rights, hire free lawyer, etc...). To someone on the edge of starvation, sitting in a cell and getting three good meals a day is a reward not a punishment. Waiting for someone to commit a crime and gathering evidence for a trial is not an effective method of stopping systematic piracy, (that is really beyond piracy, is more like an evolved form of warfare with the full cooperation of the parent society). A full retaliation with an ultimatum, followed by an asymetrical response is the only way this will end. If this had been applied at the beginning a small response would have sufficed. Now it will have to be ugly or they will never take it seriously.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

The EMP while an excellent example of thinking outside the box, only works with electronic ignition, it will have no effect on distributer, magneto combo's. The old hand crank motors used by pirates will probably not be affected.

With the revenue they're making they've probably got the latest fastest hi-tech motors they can buy..

[Ruf361]

if you read anyones reports on pirates, Markj comes to mind, you will see that is not the case. its hard to even tell they are hostile sometimes. they are in trash boat that could be fishing or pirates. The threat of violence on the cruisers part seems to be enough to detour them instead of actually inciting violence. I believe mark said something along the lines of a shark in the water
You dont have to be the fastest swimmer in the bunch, just faster than 1 person.
if you choose to carry a firearm or not seems to be less important than making the pirates think you are not going to be easy prey.
i am still in favor of just staying away

You are probably being sarcastic though, this rendering my post pointless

[boatman61]

Not being sarcastic... maybe realistic... its easy enough to make a very fast boat look like a piece of trash... a century's old ploy and one advocated by some on here as an anti theft precaution against theft of engines/dinghy's etc....
shiny attracts attention..

[MarkJ]

Thanks Ruf361. Someone actually reads my posts! Just be tougher than some of the others in the convoy. But it does mean some other cruiser will be taken.

Originally Posted by windships

Last year a British couple were attacked by 3 Myamar fishermen off Thailand, the husband killed - he resisted them

We anchored in that bay late last year and it gave me the willies... I didn't tell Nicolle is was the place where the guy was killed (it was actually just along a bit, about 400 meters) and I made some vague excuse and put the security hatch in and locked the windows.
Little fishing boats putt-putted past a couple of times that night and I was awake for every one of them. We could see the glow of the large trawlers of the type the murderers came from.

I was up anchor at the first flush of dawn and the hell out of the place.

As I understand it was an isolated incident, nothing like the organized piracy, and the murder may possibly have been avoided, so the wife of the deceased said, if the situation was handled differently. The 3 were scared, hadn't eaten for more than 3 days and were sure they would be killed if caught by the fishing boats they were enslaved on... They had nothing to lose and they were blocked too close to their 'goal'. That was, possibly, a case to give in and get food into them asap…


Mark