Sunday, April 06, 2008

La Vie de Pirate pour Moi!

Pirates seized control of a French luxury yacht carrying 30 crew members Friday in the Gulf of Aden off Somalia's coast, the French government and the ship's owner said...
It's been an ongoing problem.

The following is from "A Pirate's Life for Me!," one of my GUNS & AMMO columns from 2002:

Hoses against weapons. Trembling behind hatches. Everything but standing up on your sea-legs and fighting. How about just opening fire on them?

The IMO's Captain Hartmut Hesse says armed guards on ships "will only increase violence, it will not deter the pirates."

The IMO guide Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships, cautions "The carrying and use of firearms ... is strongly discouraged. [It] may encourage attackers to carry firearms thereby escalating an already dangerous situation, and any firearms on board may themselves become an attractive target for an attacker. The use of firearms requires special training and aptitudes and the risk of accidents... is great."

...Agreeing with Captain Hesse, and chastising Lloyd's List for editorially suggesting otherwise, is Captain John Dalby of Marine Risk Management, a "maritime asset recovery and protection" company. While admitting "It is the sailors... who are being kidnaped, beached, set adrift ... or summarily killed," he warns that "only tragedy will result from inexperienced people trying to fight fire with fire. Leave intervention and reaction to those who are best equipped and trained for it."
But don't worry, men of the Le Ponant.

"French authorities are handling the situation."

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Its almost time to implement my master plan: email robbery. Don't resist or I might think bad thoughts about you.

Anonymous said...

That is so disgusting that it is .....well, it's.....it's French.

Anonymous said...

"French authorities are handling the situation."

Does that mean that they have surrendered?