Why don’t these merchant-sailors have their own guns? Why do they have to spend money hiring mercenaries?
Why didn’t Captain Phillips and his crew have their own guns? They could have defended themselves against these thugs.
“Why didn’t Captain Phillips and his crew have their own guns? They could have defended themselves against these thugs.”
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It wasn’t allowed then.
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Professional are more efficient and dependable.
Why don’t these merchant-sailors have their own guns? Why do they have to spend money hiring mercenaries?
They are merchant marines, not military. Their training is for their nautical and technical skills - and they need to keep doing their jobs for the several days through the pirate areas, rather than trying to pull 24 hour sentry duty. Also, many ports don’t allow them to have guns, even simple rifles or pistols.
They seldom have real danger, as the ports are usually protected (by the governments, or local mafia). Where there are concerns (like the Horn of Africa or Straits of Malacca), those concerns usually effect enough ships, that local security services can make a good living serving as escorts through those waters.
What they typically do, is pick up security teams coming through the Suez Canal or Red Sea, or around Salalah Oman coming from the other direction. There is a range of options, from high-priced Israeli, American or British former commandos, to low cost third world roustabouts.
Also, ships typically bunch together in groups like convoys, and stay in touch with the anti-piracy Naval Task Forces in the area. The Egyptian Government makes commercial ships convoy through the Suez.
Why don’t these merchant-sailors have their own guns? Why do they have to spend money hiring mercenaries?
Why didn’t Captain Phillips and his crew have their own guns? They could have defended themselves against these thugs.>>> I thnk it is company rules and insurance... from a site
Vessels can carry weapons if the company allows it, most don’t due to insurance issues. I worked on a ship that did most of its work off of east and west Africa and we carried firearms. We had all the necessary paperwork(Arms Declaration, etc) to go along with the weapons so it was never an issue when entering foreign ports.
You cannot pull into foreign ports as an armed ship. That’s why they have been easy to take down.
Because of the limp wristed IMO (International Maritime Organization) and the UN prohibits the arming of merchant ships. It would not be all that hard to eliminate the Somali pirates, but one can use the catch and release method. Dead pirates never attack ships
Because of the limp wristed IMO (International Maritime Organization) and the UN prohibits the arming of merchant ships. It would not be all that hard to eliminate the Somali pirates, but one can use the catch and release method. Dead pirates never attack ships