There are stories about people who were hurt or killed BECAUSE they had
firearms and resisted, as well as stories from survivors who fought back
and survived.
But of course, we are more likely to hear from the people who did survive,
rather than from those that did not survive, so the available data could be
badly skewed.
Just as in that old story of the porpoises that pushed people in the water
toward land. One is not expecting to hear many stories from folks pushed
in the opposite direction.
As Radio Officer on merchant ships, I was involved in the calling for help
during a pirate attack. I took some comfort knowing the radio room was
surrounded by the offices and quarters of the top ranking folks on the ship
shielding me (the cargo stack shielded my exposed aft wall) somewhat from
RPG attack. Although we were too big and too fast for the pirates to
attack, I had telephone access to Naval assets to protect us. It would
have been very informative to have to actually have called on them, but
from experience I would not count on them for help. By the time the jets
got airborne, (recall that the paperwork must equal the weight of the
aircraft before it can fly) the pirates would have been long gone.
Bad experiences tend to happen in certain areas where there is unfettered
criminal activity. Law enforcement response is rare.
Avoiding these areas is the best bet for most cruisers.
Norm
S/V Bandersnatch
Lying Julington Creek FL
30 07.72N 081 38.4W
Very true- I also said
> Another similar installation within the cabin would also be useful in
> case it were needed before one arrived to the cockpit.
I think there was a story on this list a while back about two cruisers
in a pair of sailboats off the coast of Sudan in march 2006 who survived
attack by a couple boats with automatic deck guns (capsized one,
killed/disabled everyone on board the other) using a pair of 12 guage
shotguns with buckshot and ramming one of the boats. Neither of the
cruisers were injured.
They had probably 30 seconds from the time the pirates were first seen
until they turned around opened fire.
This is the kind of situation one goes to every possible length to
avoid, but the reality is that one cannot be ignorant of the fact that
these situations happen. Such is the nature of the world we live in.
-Merrill
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