Saturday, November 29, 2008

The (Unarmed) Defense of the Biscaglia

Bob Couttie has the details on the hijacking of the Biscaglia
Fourth Time Unlucky for Shipboard Security Team

"Reports remain confused however we believe that the embarked 3 man APMSS security team, comprising former British military servicemen, were able to mount sustained, non-lethal, resistance, denying the attacker’s access to the ship long enough for the ship’s operating crew to seek safety below decks and to summon assistance from coalition warships."
Sounds like this was a textbook response to an attack and yet the pirates were able to seize the vessel

I can anticipate what the armchair gunners response to this incident is going to be - the British guards should have been armed. A couple of weeks ago I would have agreed. Now I am not so sure.

A lot of people dismiss the argument that it is unwise to arm merchant ships and mariners, the argument being that doing so will simply raise the level of violence.

I think it would be wise to give some though as to whether or not we want to increase the volume, velocity and weight of flying projectiles around my ship and crew in hopes of mitigating the pirate problem.

K.C.

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