What's Your Opinion? Firearms or Not?

[zardinuk]

I think a powerful, high-capacity handgun would be ideal. A USP 40/45 would be good. Keep a few clips handy and wait until the pirates board your ship before you let them have it. At close range the handgun is just as good as the AK, and you'd be in a much better position, waiting in your hiding spot with the gun pointed at the door.

How many people have had their boat torn apart by customs? Anybody had a gun sniffing dog board the boat?

I've heard the argument that giving the thieves what they want may yield better odds of survival, but I wouldn't want anybody to have their way with me or my wife. I'd rather kill them. And to be honest, if I were to kill some thieves that boarded my boat, I would dump their worthless carcasses in the ocean without reporting it, so perhaps these numbers are off.

The handgun may not have the range of a shotgun, but I think you'd be much, much better off engaging them after they step aboard the boat.

If you don't want to chance the law, a make-shift flame thrower could be very effective. Fuel and a pressure sprayer.

[Lancerbye]

Anyone got a 105 Howitser for sale. Mounted on the foredeck I hear that these would be a rather good deterent to keep the nasties off your boat. I wonder what the availability of shells are for that. Maybe an Army and Navy surplus store. TIC

[Boracay]

Has anyone tried linning up the calvary when sailing in shark infestered custard?

To me it makes a lot more sense to line up the local police/army/navy etc. than to arm myself to the teeth.

For less than the price of a reasonable weapon I'm sure they would help.

[44'cruisingcat]

Cruise around the world in a heavily armed boat - sounds like being in the Navy. Except they get paid for doing it.

[hellosailor]

"Has anyone tried linning up the calvary"

Too sad to even ROFL. Where on earth do you think any government patrol boat is going to escort you for 200-1000 niles AT SEA simply because you say "Papa, I'm afraid!" ?

First, you insult them by suggesting their may be pirates in their waters. Then you offend them by suggesting they can waste thousands of dollars escorting your vessel, without offering to slip them a coupe of grand in mordida.

You know what they say down south?
"That dog ain't gonna hunt."

And that's even before the political problems (sanctioned piracy) start.

[zardinuk]

All the pirate stories I've read seem to be mostly human traffickers, so you probably wouldn't feel to good about blowing up a boat full of women and children. The best weapon would be a remote controlled, deck mounted mini gun. Maybe a button you press and the gun comes out of a flush mounted, low-profile hatch.

YouTube - The power of the mini-gun

You can buy them in the US, last one sold for over 100k though.

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by zardinuk

All the pirate stories I've read seem to be mostly human traffickers, so you probably wouldn't feel to good about blowing up a boat full of women and children. The best weapon would be a remote controlled, deck mounted mini gun. Maybe a button you press and the gun comes out of a flush mounted, low-profile hatch.

You can buy them in the US, last one sold for over 100k though.

Kill 'em all, let God sort them out.

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by zardinuk

All the pirate stories I've read seem to be mostly human traffickers, so you probably wouldn't feel to good about blowing up a boat full of women and children. The best weapon would be a remote controlled, deck mounted mini gun. Maybe a button you press and the gun comes out of a flush mounted, low-profile hatch.

You can buy them in the US, last one sold for over 100k though.

This version is even smarter and track's target's.

YouTube - Hail 2 The Robotic OverLord

It is especially good at tracking yachtsmen with firearm's onboard that think that every boat that comes close is a pirate.

Dave

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by 44'cruisingcat

Kill 'em all, let God sort them out.

The quote above is attributed to Arnaud-Armaury, the Abbot of Citeaux, and "spiritual advisor" to the lbigensian Crusade.
Pope Innocent III ordered the Albigensian Crusade, to purge southern France of the Cathari heretics. It began in the summer of 1209, with their first target - the town of Beziers.
The Catholic faithful in Beziers refused to give up the Catharis among themselves. The crusaders invaded.
When Arnaud-Amaury was asked whom to kill he replied "Kill them all. God will know his own."
They did.
The crusaders slaughtered nearly everyone in town, over 20,000, either burned or clubbed to death.
Thus they achieved their goal of killing the estimated 200 heretics who were hiding in the town among the Catholic faithful.

But, as I recall, aren’t we advised to save six (for pallbearers)?

[zardinuk]

Originally Posted by cat man do

It is especially good at tracking yachtsmen with firearm's onboard that think that every boat that comes close is a pirate.

Pfff, Japanese firearms? Not likely.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by zardinuk

Pfff, Japanese firearms? Not likely.

Your assumption that the superscript on that video is Japanese is incorrect. It is Korean.

Pfff.

TaoJones

[rdbeales]

What about becoming a privateer? Do US, British, and French governments still license private vessels for combat operations? Like in the good old 18th century.

[hellosailor]

"Do US, British, and French governments still license private vessels for combat operations?"
No, there was an international treaty accord in which the US and others agreed to stop doing that. Vaguely, after the War of 1812 and the Treay of Paris? or Vienna?
Any of the signatories could still issue letters of marque and reprisal, but none of them are likely to abrogate the treaty agreement and do so.

[Pblais]

Any of the signatories could still issue letters of marque and reprisal, but none of them are likely to abrogate the treaty agreement and do so.

Most private ships are not really set up to install modern naval weapons. In the early privateer days the ships were more similar to the commercial ships of the day and they all used about the same weapons while many of the larger military ships had many more guns. Privateers were mostly bent on attacking commercial vessels since it was "where the money was". The typical "split" was 1/3 for the Crown, 1/3 for the Admiralty and 1/3 plus the captured ship to the Privateer captain. The crew shares came out of the captains share. So for a license to steal it wasn't a great deal. You could still get blasted and the Admiralty would not come and bail you out. The real problem was you couldn't attack anyone that the country was not at war with. Seems logical until you figure out there was no "news" except by word of mouth from ship to ship and the wars would start and end before you might knew it.

It all came to an end eventually because it was more an ineffective tool for trade wars than military battles. Screw up the commercial ships of the competition more than anything else. Back when the Crown got a serious cut it was more common since it's only a piece of paper and costs the King little. The early days the US Navy were such a joke the Privateers were more a patriotic symbol than anything military.

In the end most countries figured out it was all bad for business as a whole and even a war can't be fought without commerce. Military embargo was then the preferred method and still used today.

[rdbeales]

I was just kidding. The whole idea is to avoid or deter conflict, not seek it out right. But the history is interesting. I wonder how seriously that element of historic maritime law has been researched, globally, not just with regard to Western colonial powers...Maybe I can find some books