Guns on board

[newtothis]

Yes, outside of my experience but I believe fire hoses deployed alongside the vessel are one of the best defences.

Maybe others can confirm if not giving anything away.

W.

Back around 2010-12, when Somali piracy was at its peak, they were trying everything. Fire hoses, citadels, barbed wire around the ship. And guns. A lot of pirates were kids sent out in skiffs from mother ships whose hearts weren't really in it, so a bit of deterrence went a long way.
A colleague who was a bridge officer once used a fire axe to cut the rope of an intruder who had managed to sling a grappling device over the transom of a tanker he was working on. Intruder disappeared into the wake, likely to not bother anyone again. That was in the Malacca Strait, where they were more interested in robbery than hijacking the ship.

 

[AntarcticPilot]

Yes, outside of my experience but I believe fire hoses deployed alongside the vessel are one of the best defences.

Maybe others can confirm if not giving anything away.

W.

In the early days of steam, wasn't a hose connected to a steam line used to repel pirates? ISTR that Jules Verne described it in "Round the World in 80 Days"

 

[mil1194]

I thought electrifying the decks in 20k Leagues under the sea was a superb idea and never worked out why it didn’t catch on.

 

[PilotWolf]

Pirate days here are seen as a fun thing - it’s all Jack Sparrow stuff.

I suggested I show up dressed as a Somali with an AK47 and did a bit of murder, rape and plunder - needless to say it didn’t go down well!

W

 

[AntarcticPilot]

I thought electrifying the decks in 20k Leagues under the sea was a superb idea and never worked out why it didn’t catch on.

I think it was just the handrail at the hatch of the Nautilus - electrifying a slab of metal in contact with seawater might not work so well. Although Nautilus was science fiction, Verne did try hard to keep within the scientific knowledge of his age - so much so that he got quite cross about H G Wells' Cavorite - as he said, anyone could see that guns exist, but he didn't think Wells could show him a sample of Cavorite! In Round the World in 80 Days, he was describing current technology, and he was quite knowledgeable - and, to keep on topic, he was a yachtsman!

 

[38mess]

How about tin tacks sprinkled around the upper deck?

 

[Uricanejack]

We kept MT beer bottles on the bridge wing, patrolled deck with a pick handle. Never had occasion to use it. Did use the beer bottles.

My only old pirate story. About 4 decades ago.

left Singapore bound for Gulf. was on 8 to 12 watch with the 3rd Mate. Arrived on Bridge Chat with the Mate, Just clear of Mallacca. Heading out into the Indian Ocean, traffic ect. Hadn’t seen the Capt. yet. He would ussualy appear before 0800 then go for breakfast with the Mate and the Chief and the Chief Steward. Unless he was feeling rough.

General assumption the old boy was feeling a wee bit under the weather this morning.

Around 1030 ish Old Joe the tiger, came up to the Bridge, which was a little unusual, he was a little concerned he had brought the Capt. His tea and tab nabs. Knocked on the door and it was still closed.
After a brief conversation. Joe was advised not to worry Capt. Was a little under the weather this morning.

Well Joe came back about 1030 ish. Capt s Tea and tab nabs were still outside his door. After a bit more conversation Joe figured Capt. Might feel poorly some morning, not usually this long.
So I was dispatched with Joe to check.
It
Sure enough, the tigers, sillver tray with its linen place mat and China tea service was still sitting on the deck outside the Capts office.
I knocked on the door, got no answer, tried the door which was locked.
I got no answer.
This was unusual I thought. Traditionally leaving the cabin door closed at sea was thought to be bad luck. Most of the old hands would never leave their door closed at sea.

So I returned to the bridge with Old Joe. Who was really quite upset by now.
collective decision.
Call the Mate.

At first the Mate wasn’t terribly concerned but he did agree The Capts door being closed and locked at Sea was not quite our usual tradition.
After all trying knocking again and getting no answer.
The Mate went to look for a Master Key. Arround this time the Chief showed up.. Eventually the master key showed up.
And the door opened.

We found the Capt in his boxers, bound and gagged tied to his chair in his office. ( the chair had a little bottle screw underneath for bad weather which had been tightened)

Apparently a couple of pirates had boarded the vessel around 0200 ish, while in Mallacca, headed up to deck 4 starboard side, the tradition location of the Capts Office. Woke the old man up at gun point, hand him open the safe,
They tied him into his chair, swpped his key and locked the door behind him on the way out.

No of the rest of us saw or heard a thing.

He wasn’t very pleased when we rescued him.

 

[38mess]

We kept MT beer bottles on the bridge wing, patrolled deck with a pick handle. Never had occasion to use it. Did use the beer bottles.

My only old pirate story. About 4 decades ago.

left Singapore bound for Gulf. was on 8 to 12 watch with the 3rd Mate. Arrived on Bridge Chat with the Mate, Just clear of Mallacca. Heading out into the Indian Ocean, traffic ect. Hadn’t seen the Capt. yet. He would ussualy appear before 0800 then go for breakfast with the Mate and the Chief and the Chief Steward. Unless he was feeling rough.

General assumption the old boy was feeling a wee bit under the weather this morning.

Around 1030 ish Old Joe the tiger, came up to the Bridge, which was a little unusual, he was a little concerned he had brought the Capt. His tea and tab nabs. Knocked on the door and it was still closed.
After a brief conversation. Joe was advised not to worry Capt. Was a little under the weather this morning.

Well Joe came back about 1030 ish. Capt s Tea and tab nabs were still outside his door. After a bit more conversation Joe figured Capt. Might feel poorly some morning, not usually this long.
So I was dispatched with Joe to check.
It
Sure enough, the tigers, sillver tray with its linen place mat and China tea service was still sitting on the deck outside the Capts office.
I knocked on the door, got no answer, tried the door which was locked.
I got no answer.
This was unusual I thought. Traditionally leaving the cabin door closed at sea was thought to be bad luck. Most of the old hands would never leave their door closed at sea.

So I returned to the bridge with Old Joe. Who was really quite upset by now.
collective decision.
Call the Mate.

At first the Mate wasn’t terribly concerned but he did agree The Capts door being closed and locked at Sea was not quite our usual tradition.
After all trying knocking again and getting no answer.
The Mate went to look for a Master Key. Arround this time the Chief showed up.. Eventually the master key showed up.
And the door opened.

We found the Capt in his boxers, bound and gagged tied to his chair in his office. ( the chair had a little bottle screw underneath for bad weather which had been tightened)

Apparently a couple of pirates had boarded the vessel around 0200 ish, while in Mallacca, headed up to deck 4 starboard side, the tradition location of the Capts Office. Woke the old man up at gun point, hand him open the safe,
They tied him into his chair, swpped his key and locked the door behind him on the way out.

No of the rest of us saw or heard a thing.

He wasn’t very pleased when we rescued him.

What a great story ? when you say the captain was unwell sometimes in the morning, I take it it was self inflicted?
I worked under a few chief engineers who couldn't hold a cup until they had first sippers in the mess mid morning.

 

[john_morris_uk]

l d suggest these guys were definitely ex (special) forces

Have to check but probably the right time line too.

W.

I’m not convinced the guys in the video were ex SF. Very gung ho and trigger happy. Was the language Russian? In which case that might explain it.

 

[dom]

I’m not convinced the guys in the video were ex SF.

I am. Many attain this status on the arduous journey from something vaguely military, to the bar, then on to a hired gun somewhere foreign.

 

[Stemar]

Bring it on, I might get a chance of winning the next race if I can blow that bugger in front of me out of the water!

Perfect for jetskis, too - and those with noisy generators and slapping halyards...

 

[Beneteau381]

What a great story ? when you say the captain was unwell sometimes in the morning, I take it it was self inflicted?
I worked under a few chief engineers who couldn't hold a cup until they had first sippers in the mess mid morning.

Angola, 1977, first supply boats (ex Gulf of Mexico) showed up, mostly Brit skippers, Pakistani engineers. The skippers soon found where to get booze from, dont forget just after the revolution and not much about! Anyway, went for a session one evening on board the W G Ginder, a bottle of pinch was produced (Haig in the pinch bottle) and we set to. The skipper was most adamant however that we left a bit in the bottle "for liveners" in the morning!

 

[xyachtdave]

I’m not convinced the guys in the video were ex SF. Very gung ho and trigger happy. Was the language Russian? In which case that might explain it.

I'd say you're right to be sceptical!

It looked like the nautical equivalent of some 'good old boys' firing a few rounds in the air our the window of their pickup while drinking beer.

 

[Alicatt]

Group of fit young men climb aboard my surveillance truck, first sentence from some one that was not there: "I'm not here, you have not seen me or these others that are not here... Right to business..."

I used to work with a couple of ex special forces, one of which had some serious wounds from some escapade he was involved in in the early 90s, they were running a manned guarding and CPP business. Before I met him, my first contact with him was over the phone and he misheard me, I realised that he had got the message incorrect so I egged it up a bit and really got him sucked in, he was expecting TV cameras etc. etc. to show up at his office and when we arrived he had the brush out and sweeping the car park expecting the BBC to arrive. Well he told me in no uncertain terms what he was going to do to me, and we became great friends while I lived and worked in Glasgow. Got quite a bit of work from him too.

 

[emandvee44]

I’m not convinced the guys in the video were ex SF. Very gung ho and trigger happy. Was the language Russian? In which case that might explain it.

The ship's officers are speaking Russian, and swearing a lot. The shooters appear to be well tanned and to my eye not very experienced?
M.

 

[Gary Fox]

Robin Knox-Johnston circumnavigated with a rifle, and shot a shark with it.
I wonder what rifle it was, (303 LE ?) and if it still exists..that's some serious provenance!