Brits fight off deadly pirates (repelled 4 pirate attacks w/ molotov cocktails, flare guns)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | January 6, 2009 | DAVID WILLETTS

[Riley]

George Peppard was also a former Jarhead. Must have drove him crazy, too!

cough heretic! cough

:-)

[Blood of Tyrants]

Oooooo, I would go and bring my own guns! Those portholes would make GREAT sniper locations.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Denied guns by law, the men were forced to used improvised weapons – including mini grenades made out of light bulbs and paint thinner.

So a three-man security team was hired to protect the vessel...with what weaponry? did their employer expect them to engage AK-47's and RPG's with hand-to-hand combat?

I think that denied weapons by law means that with any port they pulled into ,if that nation's customs inspectors were to search the ship and find weapons, then the crew would be put in jail and the ship held as evidence unless whoever owned the ship payed out a lot of money in fines / bribes.

So all these countries with ports, many of whom apparently can't prevent their own criminals from having AKs and RPGs, are going to bring the hammer of their anti- citizens owning any weapons even for self defense laws down on the owners and the officers and crew members of the ship.

Actually, what the security team brought to the situation was the will and the expertise to resist.

Proving that really, your mind is your greatest weapon...

[Screaming_Gerbil]

First off - Semper Fi (British RoyalM arine!

I dunno about the paint thinner you Yanks have: ours is “Mineral Turpentine”, or “Mineral Spirits” — you might call it “Solvent”.

That stuff doesn’t burn very well at all: at best, it is like lighter fluid. Usually it is even less volatile than that.

I would guess they added gasoline or "white gas" to the Paint Thinner. I had a bunch of paint thinner I had used to clean brushes with after painting a bunch of stuff with oil based paint - I could not recycle it or (legally) throw it out, so I added white gas ()http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naphtha and a bit of regular gasoline to it (just to be sure it would really go up), poured it all over a bunch of scrap wood and shot-up paper and cardboard targets, and then threw a lit rag on it...

That was the closest I ever came to accidental Self-immolation... (Thank you God for watching over me...)

[vpintheak]

This is great but what the freaking point of real security if you can’t even legally have a firearm?

[farmer18th]

Oooooo, I would go and bring my own guns! Those portholes would make GREAT sniper locations.

The really sad thing is that this very reasonable solution of mine is taken as a joke. I am serious: Announcing a privateer license for cruise ship operators to go kill Somali pirates, take their property, and sell the entertainment value to American hunters seems like a completely rational response to the problem.

[Stoat]

This is great but what the freaking point of real security if you can’t even legally have a firearm?

My guess is that the "legally" part of the equation "may" be something that is not exactly adhered to in every step down the line......please see FReeper spetznaz's post here at #10...he makes far too much sense to be dismissed out of hand.

 

[Stoat]

The really sad thing is that this very reasonable solution of mine is taken as a joke.

No disrespect to you whatsoever was intended by myself....I was being absolutely serious when I said that I would be delighted to participate in such a venture. 

[SunkenCiv]

Oh, see, they had flare guns. Anyone who’s seen “Captain Ron” knows that’s pretty much all you need. ;’) Thanks Pharmboy, and Happy New Year!

[vpintheak]

Just thank the Lord these men were smart enough to know how to defend themselves.

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

I would rather a coalition of nations stepped in to bring order back to Somalia. The purpose should be to eliminate the problem, not create an industry were there would be vested interests lobbying to prevent effective action to permanently resolve the problem...

[freema]

I hereby declare this particular ping, a Royal MacGyver Major Pain in their Arse Marine Ping.

Sticks and stone might break their bones, but light bulbs and toilet paper might blow ye up (or down, as the case may be) real good.

[farmer18th]

I knew you were serious. I just lament that there’s so few sane people in the world.

[Marine_Uncle]

Where there is a will there is a way. Great work by these Royal Marines.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Yep. Congress has the authority to issue Letters of Marque for just such a problem.

[DieHard the Hunter]

>> George Peppard was also a former Jarhead. Must have drove him crazy, too!

> cough heretic! cough

> :-)

(Grin!) My apologies: there is no such thing as a “Former” Jarhead — once a Marine, always a Marine!

So George Peppard was a WW-II Marine. So was Lee Marvin. Two of the greats, ay! Gone but never forgotten.

[Mercia]

Thanks for the link.

Any self respecting Brit will tell you that they are very rarely given the right tols for the job. But these men are professionals and have a duty to their role, and perform it with or without the ideal gear to hand.

All the satisfaction a true British man needs is knowing that he did his job as best he could, and wasn’t found failing.

Respect for the ingenuity of their succesful defence of this vessel.

[Oztrich Boy]

Denied guns by law, the men were forced to used improvised weapons – including mini grenades made out of light bulbs and paint thinner

Use em while you can. Your EU masters are mandating new low volume pirate friendly bulbs