I see the sillies have got into this discussion which is a strong indicator of lack of any real interest in the topic, maybe Joe and Christian you should give Pyracy off Somalia a rest.

Before you do though, I will suggest something that has been over looked in dealing with these Pyrates, and that is changing the laws of the sea. As the law stands the only time a Pyrates can be taken into custody is if they are caught in the act. If they haven’t started boarding a ship simply by chucking their weapons over the side they are safe. If the Pyrates have already have started the boarding process then it’s most likely to late to engage them with out putting the boarded ships crew at risk.

If the laws of the sea were changed and exclusive uses shipping lanes were created for merchant vessels, where fishing boats, private yachts, and other non merchant ships would be prohibited from entering. These lanes could be made narrow enough to be patrolled efficiently by the worlds militaries. Any non merchantmen in one of these lanes could be boarded and the crews taken into custody and their vessels confiscated.

This idea lacks the drama, noise, weapons and all the romance of dealing with Pyracy, but it might start to deal with the problem. Right now it’s nothing more then a stand between $ billion war ships with millions of dollars a week in operating cost and a few drugged teenagers with small arms and a hand full of ready for the junk yard fishing boats.

ALLONS,
Byron Skinner

If you can’t get to my crew and they are safe, and I control where the ship goes and how we get there, you’re going to be in a bad way when my ship rendezvous with either a friendly armed merchant ship or warship.