Piracy

[angry.bob]

I wonder how long it'll be/how bad it'll have to get before someone decides to resurrect the Q-ship idea to try and deal with this or just go all out with naval patrols, etc.

A while ago. NPR had some anti-piracy experts on a couple weks ago and all pretty much agreed that q-ships were the best route to go for the time being. Also be the cheapest. Putting marine detachments and adding some pintle mounts to random ships is cheap and easy. Not sure what the laws regarding that would be though.

[Kitsune]

I don't see that the law would have much to say.  There's no law saying you can't have a platoon of marines sitting around in a cargo ship.  If someone just happens to try to board the ship with guns, and those people just happen to be shot by the marines, well, that's their own fault, isn't it?  As long as the ship is passive and doesn't start any fights, I don't think there are any legal issues to deal with.  The thing could be considered a warship and as such probably oughtn't be sailing in any country's territory, but in the open sea...

[lac]

Growing tired of sitting on oil tankers, pirates attack cruise ship off Somali coast (and fail). This can only end well.

[Triforcer]

I wonder how long it'll be/how bad it'll have to get before someone decides to resurrect the Q-ship idea to try and deal with this or just go all out with naval patrols, etc.

That was exactly what popped into my head five minutes ago, obviously the concept is not new to naval history.  Disguise a warship as a cruise ship and BOOM!  Blasted to hell.  Eliminates the problem of mistakenly sinking trawlers, since you let them attack first.

Of course, the pirates would probably evolve by taking hostages out with them on pirate runs to use as shields 

[Grimwell]

That only works if you don't pretend not to see the hostages before you sink the pirate boat. 

[nurtsi]

There was an article on BBC about how they deliver the ransom money to them:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7752813.stm

Working for private security firms sounds exciting. Maybe I should quit my office job.

[lac]

Video of how a Danish patrol boat had to rescue 7 pirates who were lost at sea.

[Krakrok]

Other side of the pirate story.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147.html

[Merusk]

If they were only attacking these illegal fishery boats or the ships dumping waste, I'd gladly see their side of things.  As it is there isn't an eyeroll emoticon big enough for the nativity and self-hate mentality dripping out of the article.

[Righ]

[stray]

The first part of his article is OK. Pirates had some positives back in the day (besides just being awesome). They were more multiracial and gender inclusive than the rest of society; fairly merciful to those that they captured (in many cases, pirates all were just victims once, and were given a chance to be recruited.. even the greatest pirate of all time, bart roberts, was a captured navigator before he changed his career); and last, but not least, they actually took the idea of "freedom" to it's full conclusion. No bullshit with these guys.

[edit] Also, they had flags.

[Fordel]

Didn't they have a crude form of insurance or something too?

[stray]

I don't know about that, but I imagine they had a decent vacation plan.. and a guaranteed fancy funeral deal at sea.

[Murgos]

The first part of his article is OK. Pirates had some positives back in the day (besides just being awesome). They were more multiracial and gender inclusive than the rest of society; fairly merciful to those that they captured (in many cases, pirates all were just victims once, and were given a chance to be recruited.. even the greatest pirate of all time, bart roberts, was a captured navigator before he changed his career); and last, but not least, they actually took the idea of "freedom" to it's full conclusion. No bullshit with these guys.

[edit] Also, they had flags.

Maybe one or two groups of pirates had some ideals like you mention but the the vast number were just out to make a buck by committing strong arm robbery on the high seas.  The vast majority of piracy was, and is, unorganized.  Usually, just a small group of people with a boat who prey on lone ships as they cut through some narrows or straight or other hazard.

As far as organized pirates go, well, they've been recorded in history as long as there has been a history.  Multiracial?  Uh, not.  Mostly they were specific racial groups (Vikings, Barbary coast, several different ethnic groups around the Med, Chinese, South Seas Islanders, Indian, etc...).  Gender inclusive?  Yeah, sure they were well known for raping, there are accounts of Viking raids that raped and killed entire convents, that's pretty inclusive.  Merciful?  Sure, as long as you were worth ransoming, otherwise no (ships don't hold that many people and food and water can be very scarce, you see?).  And Freedom?  Hahahaha, most of the worlds REAL pirates were slavers.

Srsly, stop watching Disney movies.

[stray]

Actually, I watch Captain Harlock movies. Hello? /points to avatar


Really though, I've read a few pirate books (in fact, I've recommended all of them here, out of the total of 5 or 6 books I've ever recommended in any book thread). I'm no historian, but I can, at the very least, have a conversation about the subject, if you're done condescending.

You're off about Vikings. There were good number of (at least recorded) female Captains among the Vikings. Sure the Vikings raped and laid waste to towns. They weren't "pirates" in any typical sense. They were committing acts of war. On other nations, on other religions. It was far more complex than piracy (not excusing "rape"... just saying that it was what it was.. war). There were female Captains in the Orient too.

Female leadership was actually a bigger trend elsewhere than in the European/Carribean side of piracy -- but there were some notable women in authority on this side of the world too. Probably the most famous ones were Anne Bonny and Mary Read, who were only second under Jack Rackham.

Multiracialism was common in colonial piracy. Almost out necessity (can't be too picky about a crew under those conditions, after all).

[Murgos]

Really, the point I am trying to make is to not try and paint pirates and piracy as some kind of historic group of free souls just out to have a good time and stick it to the man.

[stray]

Oh.. Sure.. I am half-joking y'know. I know what they are in the end. But it isn't always so black and white. There is some foundation for why they get romanticized.

[K9]

Chinese sailors fight pirates with molotov cockatils.

[Triforcer]

Chinese sailors fight pirates with molotov cockatils.

The Somali should hesitate to fuck around with the Chinese.  They aren't contrained by the PC niceties (such as "not killing on sight") that constrain most other world powers 

[WindupAtheist]

I'm sure not all pirates are slavering raping murderous monsters. Certainly these Somali pirates, from what I've heard, are usually reasonably civil to prisoners once they're in custody. (Killing or grossly mistreating them would just be bad business at that point, after all.) But saying of the pirates of old that "they took freedom to the extreme" or whatever is just silly romanticizing. What's more, seafaring life in general tended to be a lot more multiracial than life just about anywhere else back then since NOBODY could afford to be picky about their crew.

Hell, if I recall, in the 1700's there was a black man in the Caribbean who rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and commanded a sloop or some such without ever seeing England in his lifetime. He was either an ex-slave or the son of a slave. I can't recall his name and Google isn't being helpful.

Anyway, all that aside pirates are pirates and you can't put up with that shit. I'm sorry if your fisheries are fucked over and you don't have anywhere else to go, but if you're attacking cruise ships and freighters then the navy will have to sink you.

[Abagadro]

Good day: You get your share of a $3 million dollar ransom.

Bad day: You drown trying to get it back to shore.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/10/5-somali-pirates-drown-wi_n_156793.html

[Righ]

When more than half of a group of criminals perishes before they cash in, its wise to consider foul play. Apparently four other pirates that were on another boat are "missing" too. I suppose that people tracing the currency will eventually know whether it has truly been lost at sea or not.

[Lantyssa]

Was there money even in the shipment?  It could be anything from bad luck to mercenaries using it as bait, but I find it hard to believe some company isn't going to extract a little retribution eventually.

[NowhereMan]

Unlikely I'd say. Hiring mercenaries to take out a few indigenous pirates would probably cost half as much as the ransom itself with a greater chance of losing the cargo. They've also probably budgeted more than enough for paying ransom for cargoes and crews so I doubt there's much emotional involvement.

[Righ]

Yeah, I didn't even consider mercenaries, that seems unlikely. However, I certainly wouldn't put it past violent criminals to take each other out to up their shares. That's the sort of foul play I had in mind when I read that people had gone missing or perished on more than one pirate vessel.

[Big Gulp]

Video of how a Danish patrol boat had to rescue 7 pirates who were lost at sea.

Gah.  Fuck rescuing them.  We should just give them a number of superficial wounds and dump 'em in the ocean.  Let the sharks sort it out.

[Lantyssa]

I was implying a whole host of possibilities, not just mercenaries.

[Abagadro]

Body washes up with $153,000 in its pocket

[Strazos]

Man, why couldn't the guy wash up on MY shore?

I mean, at least I would put the money to good use....like in a casino 

[Righ]

Well yeah, but as we've already noted in this thread, for every corpse that washes up with 150 large on it, you have a couple of decades of radioactive, chemical and bacteriological waste washing up. But it's Somalia - if you really want a piece of the beach, you can probably buy land there relatively cheaply. Good luck with your beachcombing.

[Lantyssa]

Watch out for landsharks, too.

[SnakeCharmer]

Kind of a necro, I suppose.  But the capture of the M/V Maersk Alabama by pirates, then the crew retaking the ship, the captain being held hostage, then his three captors being boom headshooted by three SEAL snipers is going to make on helluva movie.  Can't reveal any specifics other than whats being said by the media, but having heard the inside scoop, it truly is an unbelieveable story.

[Ironwood]

Yeah, my cousin Natalie could play a plucky damsel in the film.

[Murgos]

Yeah, my cousin Natalie could play a plucky damsel in the film.

She's your cousin too?

[Xuri]

So... Who's got a ship, and where do I sign up to join the crew?