"HK" wrote in message
...
Canuck57 wrote:
"John H" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 11 Apr 2009 11:23:34 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Now they have attacked a US owned tug that was towing a barge or
something.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090411/..._af/piracy_152

Eisboch
I cannot understand why these ships don't have .50 cals on the bow and
stern. The damn things will reach out and touch someone a mile away.

I have to concur. If a 28 foot boat is coming at a freighter, I can't
see why they can't just blow them right out of the water and just make a
log entry. If I was the captian, I wouldn't even stop even if I saw them
swiming. Helping good people on the high seas is one thing, rescuing a
pirate is best left to the sharks.

Maybe even put the US satelites to good use, and forward them that boats
are leaving dock and intercept them with prejudice. Why take the time,
risk and effort on these pirates? After it is know that they will be
routinely shot up, they will cease.


Merchant ships are not usually armed. Apparently you and your
crap-for-brains buddy, Herring, aren't aware of that.

Patrolling the seas is a job for the navies and coast guards of the world,
not the merchant ships.

The world is a bit too complex for simpletons like you and Herring.



For years merchant ships were armed. Cannons. Problems with Pirates and
Privateers. Seems as if we need to regress to arming them again.

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...



For years merchant ships were armed. Cannons. Problems with Pirates and
Privateers. Seems as if we need to regress to arming them again.


They weren't carrying millions of gallons of flammable cargo.
Somewhere I was reading that even the coal carriers had to be very careful
with firearms due to the coal dust.

Wooden warships had to be careful also. It was interesting taking the tour
of the USS Constitution in Boston. When they went to battle stations, one
of the crew's jobs was to man the manually operated bilge pumps and pump
water up to cover the two gun decks to prevent them from catching fire due
to spilled powder around the cannons.

Eisboch

On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:35:03 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Wooden warships had to be careful also. It was interesting taking the tour
of the USS Constitution in Boston. When they went to battle stations, one
of the crew's jobs was to man the manually operated bilge pumps and pump
water up to cover the two gun decks to prevent them from catching fire due
to spilled pow

Constitution has one gun deck, like all frigates.

Casady

"Richard Casady" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 12 Apr 2009 04:35:03 -0400, "Eisboch"
wrote:

Wooden warships had to be careful also. It was interesting taking the
tour
of the USS Constitution in Boston. When they went to battle stations, one
of the crew's jobs was to man the manually operated bilge pumps and pump
water up to cover the two gun decks to prevent them from catching fire due
to spilled pow

Constitution has one gun deck, like all frigates.

Casady



Picky, picky.

Yes, there was one *gun* deck, that had 30 cannons (15 per side). But the
main deck (or "spar deck") also had 22 larger cannons.

Both decks were flooded during battle by pumping the bilge water onto them
to prevent fires.

Eisboch