Weapons and Cruising

[wildshore]

Originally Posted by John A

I suppose that I should clarify my comment.
These gun threads all have the same theme. It's us vs them. Everyone is going to kill us or rob us, therefore we must expect it amd plan for it. Carry a gun and be prepared to shoot first. Do clever things to keep the pain to a minimum. Lock yourself in every night.
Outfit your boat and turn your back on your former life to go cruising and then worry yourself silly to protect your loved ones from what, the boogie man?

You newer posters should realize that these gun threads pop up about every three weeks. They have since the first boater chat room in the '80's. Do a search within this forum. They all have the same theme: us vs them.

These threads will bump and bounce along for awhile and then someone really spins out of control and the mods shut it down.

What I've tried to do is to inform people that based on my experience, cruising was a worry free adventure of my lifetime. No guns, no problems!

What I should do is not open and read gun threads!

Nicely put. The fact is we're at far more risk from lightning, food poisoning, and heat stroke than pirates. True now as it was even in the GAOP (golden age of piracy in the late 1600's). The scariest thing on board a boat is the ocean....

[Not Sure]

Originally Posted by wildshore

Speaking of archaic artillary, I wonder if you could get away with black powder? Stick a nice .75 flintlock in a glassed frame and hang it prominently in the cabin as a decoration. . .. . .in case of piracy, break glass....

Unfortunately, even on dry land blackpowder can be rendered useless by moisture (which is why pistoleros such as Wild Bill Hickok purportedly would fire then reload his Colt .36's every single day). Of course, in listening to this threads originator, simply the mere sight of him waving the .75 should probably be sufficient to scare off the majority of 'pirates'.

!Sigh! Too bad you're no longer allowed to mount cannon on sailing vessels. How cool would that be....Catalina pinnaces factory sprouting with cannon...and Blackbeard, errr....'DangerCell' running around on deck waving a ramrod.

[PieRatPeat]

Apparently when things were very grim for the Brits after the fall of France they had to scramble to pull together more convoy escort and support ships. One of their biggest challenges was finding enough functioning weapons to arm all the various trawlers, tugboats and miscellaneous floating junk they drafted into His Majesty's convoy escort service.

To solve this problem the Royal Navy apparently contracted with the firm of Holman Brothers, Ltd for a series of pneumatic and steam powered mortars, capable of launching small grenades. Originally conceived as for a close support role, they also found use as an anti-aircraft weapon. As the Wikipedia article points out, when a projectile exploded it left a puff of black smoke which convinced German flyers that the ships were armed with a larger weapon, with obvious effects on morale and bombing accuracy.

Now I've read quite a few books on scientific research in support of World War II, so I'm not sure which one I got this last tidbit from, but I do recall reading about the Holman mortar in several. It was a simple weapon so tended to work when it was needed, so it was popular with its crews. In addition to the obvious role in discouraging German attacks, given the smooth bore, simple steam-powered mechanism and 1000 foot range, it was apparently a favorite pastime of Holman mortar crews as they returned to base, to take turns firing various things at each other's ships. Potatoes from the galley were especially popular as they were "self chambering" - simply push it down the tube, if too large, the sharp edge of the tube cut off any excess, and you were in business. A whoosh of steam, and the spud was on its way towards your adversary.

By 1941 production of "real" weapons eventually caught up with demand so plans for later versions of the Holman were phased out, but various sources indicate that the weapon claimed at least a dozen aircraft while serving on convoy support runs. Not bad for the world's largest spud gun...


More details on the Holman mortar's history here:

Holman Projector - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


And a really great book about the history of British R&D during the war years is Most Secret War, but R.V. Jones. My copy is many years old, but I just did a quick google and it does seem to still be in print. Highly recommended and at almost 600 pages, a great addition to your sea chest for a long voyage...

- peterd

[wildshore]

Its a SIGNAL gun, thats all....

Originally Posted by Not Sure

Unfortunately, even on dry land blackpowder can be rendered useless by moisture (which is why pistoleros such as Wild Bill Hickok purportedly would fire then reload his Colt .36's every single day). Of course, in listening to this threads originator, simply the mere sight of him waving the .75 should probably be sufficient to scare off the majority of 'pirates'.

!Sigh! Too bad you're no longer allowed to mount cannon on sailing vessels. How cool would that be....Catalina pinnaces factory sprouting with cannon...and Blackbeard, errr....'DangerCell' running around on deck waving a ramrod.

[Mule]

Originally Posted by MoonlightShadow

The reason we Brits are not allowed guns, is because we might use em to shoot all our politicians and investment bankers.

And the problem of shooting all the politicians and investment bankers is???????? Sounds like a plan to me.

[Mule]

For night intruders how about a roll up slat carpet. You know slats strung together that will rollup filled with very sharp nails, fishooks with barbs even, placed stragicaly so when the intruders jump on board you have "nailed them".

Better watch the dog, cat and best not to forget it is there.

[sneuman]

Fatty Goodlander, with more nautical miles under the keel than most of us will ever see.

Unarmed but Uneasy - Cruising World

[goboatingnow]

Ita an American thing right, this obsession with guns ( and gun threads) if your that scared them stay at home, leaves more cruising spaces for the rest of us.

Ps please put this thread out of it's misery.

[mesquaukee]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Ita an American thing right, this obsession with guns ( and gun threads) if your that scared them stay at home, leaves more cruising spaces for the rest of us.

Ps please put this thread out of it's misery.

Perhaps those that are obsessed with guns are scared of staying at home. Have you seen the stats of the number of people who were shot with their own guns at home. The number is higher than the number of intruders who were shot while breaking into a home.

If I had a gun I would go cruising just to protect myself from an intruder who would shoot me with my own gun in my house.

Perhaps that could be a convincing argrument one could use on ones wife to convince her the cruising life is much safer than being at home with a gun.

Could be a marketing strategy, buy a gun and go cruising.

[John A]

The ones that want to take a gun cruising, are the sameones that keep a gun in their homes and cars, for protection from those "other" people.

Most gun deaths are suicide (over 80%) next is shooting a family member, or someone who knows the other person, then there's acidents, followed by murder during a crime, and I think less then 5% are while protecting ones self. How many times do you hear about someone shooting one of those "others"?

Only people who've never cruised think about taking a gun.IMO

Those of us who cruise or have cruised just yawn.

[LakeSuperior]

Originally Posted by John A

The ones that want to take a gun cruising, are the sameones that keep a gun in their homes and cars, for protection from those "other" people.

Most gun deaths are suicide (over 80%) next is shooting a family member, or someone who knows the other person, then there's acidents, followed by murder during a crime, and I think less then 5% are while protecting ones self. How many times do you hear about someone shooting one of those "others"?

Only people who've never cruised think about taking a gun.IMO

Those of us who cruise or have cruised just yawn.

Give us a reference on your numbers sir. A quick google of all gun deaths statistics and looking at multiple sites shows no basis in reality for the above.

[LakeSuperior]

"Just as the majority of gun owners are civilians, so
too are the majority of gun victims.
Of the estimated 1000
deaths by gunshot each
day, around 250 occur in a
war or armed conflict. The
remainder are homicides
(56%), suicides (14%) and
unintentional gun deaths
(5%). Nine out of every 10
people shot dead are boys
or young men."

http://www.iansa.org/un/documents/GlobalCrisis07.pdf

Also, check the homicide rate by country in this article. 8 of the top 10 deadliest countries are here in the Americas.

[James S]

I think we need to try and get back on track here...
The Original Posters question is legalities around how to have a gun on board.
Thanks guys.

[Factor]

Originally Posted by DangerCell

Are there some destinations where it is more trouble than it is worth?

Yep - Australia - if you come here please leave your guns outside the door, thanks very much.

[mesquaukee]

Originally Posted by Factor

Yep - Australia - if you come here please leave your guns outside the door, thanks very much.

Up here in Canada we feel the same (even though we have more guns per person than the US and 1/6 the death by gun rate of the US).