Battling pirates on the high seas:
The large wooden boat didn’t show on the radar, which was unsettling. He couldn’t reach the crew on the radio, which was scary. The large boat flew no flags and was closing in, so Zac took emergency measures.
The Thousand Oaks sailor started the engine to help him evade whom he was increasingly sure were evil people. He prepared to hit the distress button, which would pinpoint his position in case of a collision. He called his parents from a satellite phone and gave them his position.
“I got my gun and waited,” Zac wrote in his blog. “We passed a couple of hundred yards apart and they stopped dead in my wake.
When guns are outlawed, only priates will have guns.
While I like the .357, I’m thinking that pirates are a 3-gun problem (rifle/shotgun/handgun).
Jim March, an activist/shooter/gun dude out in California, has used the pirate example a number of times online as a way of explaining just why an M60 or SAW is actually a perfectly valid defensive weapon.
Probably sounds kooky to most, as I’d imagine the majority of people don’t think we actually have pirates anymore, but obviously we do.
I’m thinking belt-fed machine guns and grenade launchers. Just the other week there was a story of pirates making off with a ship containing Russian tanks. God only knows what all they’ve got on board.
Plus there’s the whole issue of trying to send directed fire from a bolt gun, or even a semi-automatic toward a ship’s occupants, that are floating on a boat, from your boat. Never tried it, and don’t know anybody that has, but it can’t be easy to actually land a hit.
JB- well I was thinking non class 3, but If you can afford the boat and the radar I guess you can afford the best tools for the job.
Wonder what the gun laws are in international waters?
I agree, partially, but I don’t see any reason why folks should have to pay $20k-$30k for a belt fed machine gun when they should cost between $1-$3k. I’ll admit there’s very little reason for somebody on terra firma to own such a device for self defense, but on the high seas it’s obvious that there’s a practical reason.
There aren’t any to the nest of my knowledge, and if there are there isn’t any organization tasked with enforcing them.
What an experience!
My dad used to operate a sailing charter in the Virgin Islands. So many pleasure boaters were being hijacked by drug runners that, if your vessel was approached by an unknown craft, it was important to be able to bring a couple of stainless steel shotguns on deck. Not to “brandish”, but just to let them see that you were armed. A lot of the drug runners liked to “change ships” to evade the DEA and Coast Guard.
There may not be restrictions in international waters, but you can bet that there are in national waters. It is actually very difficult to legally carry weapons for self defense on boats that travel internationally.
Actually most sailors do not like to be armed. They believe it can escalate the hazards from robbery to murder. Americans are the odd group, as most Americans will carry arms. On international seas a yacht can be armed, but port regulations can vary significantly. Most ban any handguns and shotguns and rifles have to secure in an arms locker that can be locked. The port officials have to be notified.
Law does follow the flagged vessel but England and Mexico will jail people who bring in arms whether personal or not. Most sailors check all port regulations to make sure they do not violate them.
A handgun is only good as a last resort. The Remington stainless steel shotgun is considered a marine weapon and has been standard on most American yachts for decades.
But many pirates are very well armed and sailors are using water pumps and sound systems to deter pirates. Some recommend picking up a cheap AK47 in Thailand and have that for defense and then toss it overboard when they get to the Mediterranean. I personally think a cheap rifle is a good think to have onboard.
It is recommended that a safe area be on most yachts and sound alarms placed on deck. Watches are necessary in many areas to avoid collisions and attacks.
Most yachts try to join up and convoy in dangerous areas. The Somali coast and Gulf of Aden are the worst. Attacks happen 200 miles from the coast. The merchant freighters are the main targets. That is because ransoms are paid for the crew. The cargo is secondary.
The Ukrainian freighter with the 32 T 72 refurbished Soviet tanks that was pirated off Somalia has brought the piracy up to international concern and making the need to stop piracy as a priority matter.
The simple method blowing the pirates out of the water is not used due to concern for crew and the ship and cargo. The owners of the freighters do not want their ships destroyed or crews harmed.
Since the freighter was not a flagged US vessel the US Navy has no legitimate interest to attack the vessel. That is why they just held the freighter and waited for the Russian to take action if they wanted. The US just prevented the unloading of cargo and allowed the pirates to freely move on or off the ship.
I have friends who left to sail around the world last September. They said that years ago in the Caribbean, not the British, but the French that all the port authorities asked was about the arms and if declared no problem. British areas are quite different.
In conversation with other yachters the topic of robbery came up and the other yachters said since my friends had an American flag that it was unlikely to be boarded at dock since international opinion was that Americans are armed.
So Americans in most areas are safer due to idea that we are crazy armed folk who shoot back.