Med Piracy

[aph]

A couple of weeks ago a fellow cruiser told me a disturbing tale of attempted piracy which occurred this spring of the North African Coast (Tunisia). His friend who has done many ocean passages in his 45ft cutter, had a bad experience with two North African fishing boats. The fishermen? came alongside and despite his attempts to motor clear they attempted to board. They were carrying knives but no firearms.Apparently it started to get really ugly, and their intent was perfectly clear. He carries a shotgun on board and he went below for it and returned to the cockpit, pointed it at them yelling "ok who wants it first" (or something similar.) Only then did they back off. He fired a round over the top of their boats as they departed. He has carried a shotgun on board for 12 years and never had reason to consider using it. He did not bother reporting it he did not want questions asked about his gun.
Now we all know the sad tale of Peter Blake and all the experts who say the shotgun was a bad idea. This time it worked.
I have never considered carrying firearms until now. Maybe the Med is catching up with the rest of the world piracy, or perhaps it has something to do with Bush and Bliar making the world a safer place for us all.
As a footnote, several people have said that UK/European boats at anchor in the Carribean suffer a much higher percentage of robberies as the criminals know that US flag yachts are normally armed to the teeth.

.


<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Tim_Bennett]

It's getting the same all over - Gun Culture (or call it what you will) is worldwide except for a few quaint places like the strange PC island group off the NW Coast of Europe, and it's Antipodean cousins round the other side. With the world's poorer getting poorer and the developed countries blah blah, the poor folk are simply helping themselves to rich folks possessions - it's simply a matter of SURVIVAL. If you want to hang onto your possessions you have a few choices:
A. Get a gun, defend yourself, and be prepared to lose your life if the 'pirates' want to stay and fight.
B. Hide real valuables away, let them find a few goodies to pacify themselves and hopefully they'll depart peacefully.
C. Establish rapport. In my neck of the woods, a smile, and genuine hospitality (useful gifts) sometimes works wonders.
Different cultures respond to different approaches but if your 'guests' seem desperate enough to seriously threaten your health and your boat, then sadly your only option for a 'sporting chance' is the gun. Finally, don't even think about arming yourself unless you know how to use it and you're willing to use it without hesitation if necessary. It's easy to talk about pulling a trigger, but extremely difficult to do it for real, especially when staring into a pair of starving eyes.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Sunnyseeker]

Paranoia, is that how you spell it?
So every one running around with guns will help, violent crime is as a result of increased fear and every body arming themselves in the US.
Shit happens, it might happen to you one day but boats are already equiped with formidable weapons..flares, especially rocket ones.
Guns are for killing animals or people, nothing else....so what message does this give to people. Lets go to a foriegn country wit lots of guns and talk? get to know the locals?
The number of piracy incidents is tiny, the guy in his boat with the gun has now educated the tunisians, teaching them that they will have to carry guns when they visit the next boat.
Its a state of mind, I've cruised two seasons in the carib heard of two incidents, in the whole caribbean area in that time, one possibly drug related. But I have met boats that were armed to the teeth, would not befriend locals, would not explore remote areas, but would spread horror stories about those areas.
And as for european boats more likely to be attacked, I never heard that one, petty theft and break ins at anchor or in yards was indiscriminate, like car crime. Would you shoot someone if they tried to take your car stereo? organized piracy can not be stopped, a gun gives a far greater chance of a shoot out (maybe people having been watching too many cowboy films wher theres very little blood and all the explorers escape) Would you rather try to deal with a gun shot wound on your boat than a bad cut or a good beating injury?
I know of more US flagged yachts that were attacked on a cruise a year ago, that was one yacht and the attack was graffiti....
I've started ranting ..rant rant rant

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Ric]

The world is like France in 1789. A small portion of the world has all the money, does not allow the poor to share it, and has lots of laws to make sure the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor (notably agricultural subsidies). On top of that, they bombard the poor with TV, film and media encourgaing them to lust after material goods and guns. Then we have Bush/Blair/Sharon going around killing thousands in an attempt to keep them down.

If I was from a poor country, I would be pretty angry too.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DavidJ]

Agree Ric
There is no definitive right or wrong in the world. Those in power make the rules. Fortunately for us we are in the relatively powerful bit of the world.
David

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steve_cronin]

OK then

you sell YOUR boat and split the proceeds with the world's poor and I will follow.

The real reason we expose emergent countries to western wealth is to encourage them to think, albeit possibly naively, "Gee, if we work hard and develop a stong economy we can live like that". I would suggest that if they instead turn to crime then that is not a function of our system but of their preference for the easier nicking of the ghetto blaster rather than saving their honestly earned wages to buy one like the original owner had to. Therefore if they proceed with intent then, like anyone else on this planet, they must be perpared to accept the consequences of their actions.

Many people in so called "developed" countries come from a poor background within it. Fortunately, MOST don't turn to crime, they get off their butts and create something.

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[RPC]

Unfortunatley piracy is becoming more common for yachts.

See the piracy section on the following website. It contains information and links for all matters relating to piracy for yachts, and there is a page of how cruising yachts may aviod or reduce the risk. This is based on first hand experience whilst cruising the Gulf od Aden and the Red Sea.

Have you visited the Blue Water Cruising Site <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.onpassage.com>http://www.onpassage.com ?
<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by RPC on 11/08/2004 19:33 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[aph]

Re: OK then

I agree 100%. I have worked hard for everything I have during the last 40 years travelling all over the world.
Ref other post I will defend my family and possessions with whatever it takes. Yes even a gun. Up until now I have only kept a baseball bat handy. Used it only once in 15 years when drunken yobs (Brits) boarded in a South Spain Marina. Why is it ok for the bad guys to carry weapons but if a good guy keeps one to defend himself he is wrong. Bad guy is allowed firearms but we have to use flares. Yeh right. How do you know the pirate is only there to take a stereo? In my book if he is caught on my boat he is running the risk of getting his head blown off. I am not going to do a social work counselling job on him at 3 am in the morning. Sorry, no sympathy for these big brown eyes that were probably going to kill me and rape my wife.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[charles_reed]

Embarrassed..

by the breast beating of the guilty classes and the rationalisation of the self-made, I'd suggest that the stories of piracy are all too common, either 2nd or 3rd hand. The Med is probably as free from piracy as the N Atlantic (re MDL) and there have been no official reports of piracy or any attempts at piracy.
I'd therefore classify the report as apocryphal.

The possession of firearms is both unwise from a legal point of view and, more importantly, from a practical point of view. Most untrained users of firearms are far more a danger to themselves and their friends than to any would-be attacker.

So I'd rate the report as it deserves - part of the normal rumour-mill and recommend carrying no sidearms unless you know how to, and regularly practise, using them.

In fact a 3.5" launcher is probably the only effective deterrent to a well-armed pirate.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Sunnyseeker]

From the report...
Comfirmed reports 1 a Month on a global basis, including the obviously easy target areas in the Middle East, (narrow waterway next to very poor but well armed badly policed countries)...guessed figures to be 2 a month to cover un-reported incidents.

And how many yachts sailing at any one time?

Thats really not very many incidents at all!

How many sailors get mugged whilst ashore in Florida, LA, NY? would you carry guns there? now there you stand a very high chance of being mugged for your posessions, by a person who is very likely to have a gun or knife.

I dont think theres any reason to worry at all, I may take extra precautions (cautious behaviour not guns) between Djibouti and Yemen, sail in company maybe. If I'm out on the NY subway at night I'm a little more alert, ready for something to happen.

Fear perpetuates violence? just a thought.



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: Embarrassed..

Charles,

what are the "...guilty classes" please?

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[Benbow]

Re: OK then

This is a complex subject, and I too would do whatever necessary to defend myself and my family.

However, I have spent most of my working life in 'developing countries' and I have *never* seen people as hard working as those suffering the most grinding poverty. We imagine that we have worked hard for our lifestyle and we imagine that someone born into a poor society can get out of it by 'getting off their butts'. Unfortunately that is simply not the case. We do not work hard by the standards of most of the world and if we had been born into a poor third world society we would still be there.

When you sail into a 3rd world environment it is roughly equivalent to walking through the worst council estate in London laden with expensive jewelry and watches and with 10 pound notes falling out of your pockets. The amazing this is that so few incidents happen.

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[charles_reed]

Guilty classes

aka those who are so hooked on PC that they blame themselves and their countries for the world's ills.

Sympathy does more to dishearten the afflicted..

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[DavidJ]

Re: Guilty classes

You've got to admit that we could do a lot more. I think access to clean drinking water for the whole world should rank above sending a space probe to venus or saturn or wherever the damn things going.
David

<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[steve_cronin]

Re: OK then

But what we're talking about here is "turning to crime". We all have an interest if not a duty to rid the world of poverty. Easily typed out here though!

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[Xpat]

Tim, I just had to join in this one as I live in the same ‘neck of the woods’ as you, where I can smile at the locals as much as I like but I believe the majority still regard me as an infidel and would like to see me out of here. The problem here is not crime however but terrorism and for that a gun is the only chance for defense.
However, I mustn't digress, on the subject of guns on boats I think that the type of person sailing the world on a yacht would have invested time and effort into learning the skills required to operate their boat effectivley. It follows that if such people feel the need to own a gun to protect themselves and their property they would also make sure they had the training to use it properly.
Regarding it being difficult to pull the trigger when staring into a pair of starving eyes, if they were starving they wouldn’t be able to afford a gun, so instead of shooting them I would feed them and send them on their way with some cash. Genuinely starving people don’t come on board boats with guns, that’s reserved for idle thugs who find armed robbery much more lucrative than working, and fortunately they are a rare breed in the Med.
My policy will be to adopt your plan B.



<hr width=100% size=1>

 

[Birdseye]

" idle thugs who find armed robbery much more lucrative than working, and fortunately they are a rare breed in the Med."

They're not rare in London, or Manchester, or Glasgow, or Bristol. And just as I wouldnt walk through these city centres at midnight, neither would I travel to the sort of third world country where piracy is a risk. To be honest, I prefer clean water, decent medical facilities, working sewer etc.

But if you fancy travelling in these areas, then you can hardly complain about the associated risks. Arm yourself, and you may well end up facing a life in some stinking third world jail when you shoot one of the locals. Dont arm yourself, and you might end up dead. Its a personal choice. But since sadly the UK govt no longer has the balls (or the gunboats) to practise gunboat diplomacy with the third world, dont expect any support whatever decision you make.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.

 

[Mollari]

Re: Guilty classes

I do not think that it is up to us to bail out people under a dictators foot, as we are trapped under one ourselves. However Population control is the answer, not through ethnic cleansing but through education and birth control, starting in this country but stopping tax relief on kids (tax credit) I do not have kids and am taxed to the hilt, Some people have 5 or more kids and earn a good wage through my tax. I am not putting a strain on the already overstretched system, they are, is this fair? I think not.

With regard to defending your own property, those starving eyes that are about to board your boat usually steal for some guy in a mansion with marble floors and a drug habit. Are we to blame? No way.

I will, one day, sail the med and will defend my wife and boat, I will use equal force to those who would challenge me for my belongings, deadly force if needed. I realise that it is easier said than done , but I have an advantage. I'll not say what advantage, only to say that I have been to Somalia, Mozambique, Angola, Botswana, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe, RSA, Tanzania, Malawi and every time I was there we had to clean up the mess left by HM Forces and Nato.

'Nuff said



<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://mysite.freeserve.com/leisure_marine_prep>http://mysite.freeserve.com/leisure_marine_prep</A>

 

[AndrewB]

>>the guy in his boat with the gun has now educated the tunisians, teaching them that they will have to carry guns when they visit the next boat<<

Alternatively, it may have taught him that yachts are not the pushover his mates promised, it may be a lot easier to go back to dipping tourists in the souk.

A passive approach may be better for the individual yachtsman in the here-and-now, but collectively and in the long run is only going to encourage more trouble.

 

[Xpat]

Re: Guilty classes

<<However Population control is the answer, not through ethnic cleansing but through education and birth control, starting in this country>>

It does appear as though we are getting more overcrowded but in fact the population of Europe is declining, as the birthrate is less than 2 children per couple. I think Spain is the worst case with 1.2. Personally I am all for a reduction in population but then comes the problem of who is going to pay the tax to pay for my pension, which is why politicians know that eventually they are going to have to actively encourage immigration. That leads to the other perceived problem which is that while the total population is decreasing the immigrant population is increasing as a proportion because they come from cultures that encourage large families. Note that I said ‘perceived’ problem as I don’t want to be accused of being racist.
Getting back to the original theme of Pirates, when I retire soon I shall have worked my whole life to pay for my boat and contents and would not think twice about shooting anyone trying to take my possesions or harm my wife. Unfortunately as previously pointed out I would end up in prison.
I don't think it's a bad idea to have a gun aboard providing you can cope with the beaurocracy involved. If, as happened to Micheal Briant off Aden you are approached by boatloads of villians brandishing Kalashnikovs hide the gun and do as you are told and hopefully you will get away with your life as he did. If on the other hand you are boarded during the night by unarmed or even knife wielding youths, just pointing a gun at them should hopefully send them running. If you don't have a gun then unless your name is Jackie Chan just kiss your possessions goodbye.



<hr width=100% size=1>