Somali pirates

Who would think with all our technology and information such acts would disappear.
Is there enough warning being passed for potential victims in the area's of incidents?
Or is there anything more to be done to avoid and future incidents from happening?

 

"Accidents" is a poor choice of word. Perhaps you meant "incidents"?

 

incident is correct, my mistake will edit it ...

 

I also fail to understand why carrying defensive weapons is illegal.

The law expects us to just be sitting ducks and there is no help to be had at sea.

 

I also fail to understand why carrying defensive weapons is illegal.

The law expects us to just be sitting ducks and there is no help to be had at sea.

 

Good question-both times.

 

If it was in normal situations, it should not be any more.
Specially because of the pirate attacks and the unrest in the world.

Keeping in mind that the attackers have heavy weapons as well but having something is better than nothing any day.

 

It appears that it is a well known fact that the Pie Rats are going to kill and Plunder

So why woulnt you just shoot at the Pie Rats if they were trying to Board your Yacht.

Repel Boarders!

Of course a few Warning Shots accross the Brow of the PieRat leader ( Right below the rim of the tagiyah) would make the followers think twice.


There were only 15 of them and I cant imaginge that they would be all that enthusiastic about tring to board a boat if you opend fire on them.


These are handy to store, short money and good for close range but you would want to have some semiauto .308s or 30-06s onboard to reach out a few hundred yards.

 

Some fact-checking here:

1. The victims weren't 'handing out Bibles in Somalia.' They were hundreds of miles away, headed from Mumbai to Oman -- to refuel and take on provisions, not to preach the gospel. Yes, they liked to hand out Bibles. But it was just something they did on the side, not the reason for their round-the-world trip.

2. They were captured by pirates, not by Islamic crusaders. Following in the grand tradition of piracy down through the ages, the successful rank-and-file pirate in Somalia spends his time and his ill-gotten gains on the three B's (booze, broads and bling), not spreading the Word of Allah and enforcing Sharia law. Or any other law, for that matter. I seriously doubt most of them gave much of a rat's arse whether there were Bibles on board, unless they could be sold to someone.

3. The only way to stop the piracy is at its source: in Somalia. There aren't enough warships to cover every square inch of the ocean that's reachable by pirates; we'd have to take out the harbors and shore facilities, then the people who are financing the pirates -- some of whom are expatriates in Europe, Canada and the US.

4. For a lot of reasons, piracy happens to be the only game in town these days for a lot of folks in Somalia who used to make a living by fishing or trade. Hundreds of them die every year, setting out in small, overloaded boats that are totally inadequate for facing the open sea. Many (if not most) of them probably wouldn't do it, if they had any decent alternatives. So a successful attack on piracy has to be two-pronged: military and economic. And the second prong should include running off the foreign trawlers, who are taking advantage of Somalia's failed statehood to suck its waters dry of fish.

 

Here's a map that shows where the victims were captured, where they were killed, and the locations of other attacks so far this year. As you can see, most of the activity isn't really very close to Somalia. It's spread over thousands of square miles of ocean.

Somalia is the base of operations because there isn't a viable government or military to put a stop to them, not because it's the nearest and most convenient place to launch pirate cruises from.

There's no denying that it was idiotic for the yacht to split off from the boats it was in company with, and head off solo through the waters where the heaviest pirate action has been taking place.

add: if that map is accurate, the yacht was over a thousand miles (1600 kilometers) from Somalia when it was captured, and about 250 miles from Oman.

 

was reading this elsewhere, what a ****
and cnn mentions some 800 more hostages and 30 boats beeing kept at the moment..
what a world, is there no way we can make it better ?

 

Yeah, I have that gun (marinized) aboard. However, I can't travel with it. It's illegal to be armed where you need it most.

In Maine, Nh, RI, etc, you are free to have it, but there is little chance you need it. Go to the islands, or Mexico or the area these pirates operate in and carrying a gun will land you in jail upon customs inspection.

Your mossberg is of little use to anyone aside from day sailors.

That's my complaint.

 

Thats just for a Backup.

Over Water you need Range & Firepower.


Why dont they put a Bounty on the Heads of the PieRats?

The USA could issue Hunting Permits to American Flag Vessels and commision them as Priviteers authorizing any weapon to be carried onboard.

 

Excellent post Troy, especially point nr. 4. Piracy thrives only in places with absolutely desperate living conditions.

I wanted to add to your reputation, buy the way, but I couldn’t, have to spread it around first.

 

Yah..Troy gets it. Intense poverty and foreign fishing fleets are the root of the problem.
Get the foreign fishing boats out , help the Somalis climb out of the stone age and stop interfering in their internal affairs. .