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Originally Posted by Yahoshua
(Not that they wouldn't be just as happy to butcher the timid and defenseless crew that dared only enough to raise their arms and give up.
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Yeah, that's been known to happen. Hence this whole "prevention" thing. Once the pirates are onboard, you've lost the battle, weapons or not. Most of them will turn back as soon as they see people standing guard and get the spotlight pointed at them. The vast majority of them just want to grab stuff and run and actually avoid killing people.
In some asian country, the coast gu... Er, I mean, pirate bands, are fond of finishing off the crew, taking the ship to dry dock and repainting it for resale. But when these guys come after you, unless you've got cruise missiles, you're done. (And the local authorities sadly couldn't receive your distress signal in time.)
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Originally Posted by Yahoshua
A wall of lead is a more intimidating deterrent than a thick-walled panic room to thugs like pirates.
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Yeah. I'm in complete agreement. The problem is, unless someone's REALLY good at Magic:The Gathering, conjuring up a wall of lead is a bit hard.
It's not really practical, for various reason. Unless shipowners start hiring escort vessels, and most of them just don't care enough. Insurance's cheaper.
Seafarers are told not to worry too much (Not that their opinions matter) since attacks generally do not result in loss of life. (15 attacks with loss of life out of 239 reported incidents in 2006 (IMB statistic; reported by wikipedia), but keep in mind that the IMB counts two guys climbing onboard barefoot to steal paint while at anchor as a pirate attack. Considering the sheer volume of commercial shipping, these numbers are pretty low.)
Seriously, the response scenario I described (Lookouts, lights off, spotlights, fire hoses, lock down) is the standard one thorough the merchant marine since... At least the seventies, and I've never seen references to piracy older than that. (Except for the
type of stuff). Specific ship's SSP'll vary, obviously, but that's generally the recommended response.
There's a ton of stuff I'd want to put on the store requisitions before I'd order weapons. Most ships don't even have defibrillators; cholesterol worries me a great deal more than pirates. Probably kills a lot more sailors these days.