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To: tom pope who wrote (119628)	4/8/2009 10:25:13 PM
From: The Reaper	5 Recommendations Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 206321

I have felt for some time now that the shipowners somehow receive financial gain for letting these ships get hijacked. This piracy problem became evident during the summer as shipping business went down the crapper. It would take minimal investment for these ships to be defended with Blackwater types. Instead they prefer to have the ships hijacked and insurance cos. pay ransom. These hijacked vessels are moored offshore Somalia waiting for the ransom. Effectively taking these ships out of service for awhile and putting some of the hundreds of idle ships back online. There have been upwards of 60 vessels hijacked since Jan 1. That's what I've heard anyway. I need to verify that number. Seems hard to believe.

To: tom pope who wrote (119628)	4/9/2009 10:23:36 AM
From: Dale Baker	4 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 206321

Why is the crew of any vessel sailing in those waters unarmed? I'm sure there's a very obvious answer, but I'm missing it. And how do the pirates climb aboard, unless a crewman conveniently lowers a gangplank? Huge ships....multiple points where a grappling hook could be attached one way or another, no doubt...send up a few men armed with AK's...civilian crew then either gets into a gunfight where they are outgunned and unprepared or they go along and let the ship owner pay up....pirates then lower the gangplank for their comrades to come aboard..... It would be cheaper for the ship owners to put a few mercenaries on each ship and place a few surface to surface weapons around the deck so that small boats could be blasted from a distance.

To: tom pope who wrote (119628)	4/9/2009 12:28:02 PM
From: JimisJim	1 Recommendation Respond to of 206321

According to wiki, many nations forbid civilian cargo ships to enter their territorial waters or ports if the crew of the ships are armed -- even if armed in an effort to restrict possible piracy. But it also says: Some shipping companies sometimes hire private security guards. They get onboard using grappling hooks. The best defense seems to be to outrun them. Also, until very recently, they only operated a max of about 200 miles from shore and ships could avoid the danger by sailing 400 miles offshore... but then the pirates got better equipped and (obviously) now are now operating 400 miles offshore. I believe the restriction about weapons onboard civilian ships is a vestige of when one could sneak a heavily armed, but disguised civilian ship into a port and invade/attack... like old time pirates who used to sail into a port and sack it, pillaging, raping, etc. Civilian ships by definition are not armed. If they do arm themselves, they risk being viewed as disguised para-military or actual military, or ironically, as potential armed pirates. I suspect this aspect of civilian maritime law (admiralty law) will be amended at some point to allow some basic forms of self defense other than fire hoses or sonic "weapons" (sometimes used by cruise ships). Jim