Shall We Carry a Gun on Board?

by Lucy Chabot Reed/Sail-World Cruising on 28 May 2006 A recent panel discussion led by The Triton News Magazine for Captains and Crew shows that one of the biggest issues on the participants’ minds was ‘Shall we carry a gun on board?’

The Triton is a US based weekly News Magazine that recently held a panel discussion on the issue of ‘piracy and security at sea’. However, Triton’s Editor Lucy Chabot Reed reported that much of the discussion, which could have ranged from complying with the the International Ship and Port Security (ISPS) code to dealing with vendors of the security systems, centred around questions about the carriage of guns on board cruising vessels.

Reed reported that, even though no flag state allows firearms onboard their megayachts, nearly everyone wanted to know if having one would keep pirates off their boats.

'If they are going to confiscate your weapons or arrest you, isn't it better to hide them?'

'What authority do they have to come after you if you kill someone?'

The experts on the panel assembled at Bluewater Books & Charts in Ft. Lauderdale were cautious to offer answers, though, since weapons are illegal to carry on board yachts in most places.

The conversation began in a general way, noting that there have been no recent piracy attacks on yachts in the areas they frequent most - the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and along the U.S. coasts.

'It's all about risk assessment,' said Stephan Mort, vice president of maritime operations at Wright Maritime Group in Ft. Lauderdale . 'No flag says you can carry a weapon. If you are going to carry a gun, know the local laws where you are traveling. Weapons just add another risk to the situation.'

Andy Carrie, who once worked on security issues with large tanker companies including Shell Oil, noted that few piracy events result in death.

'They're coming on for the ship's stores, for the electronics equipment,' he said. 'It's a business to them.'

But a delivery captain who recently completed a trip through the Red Sea wanted to know more.

'It's nice to avoid these areas if you can, but sometimes you have to go through them,' he said. 'How do you deal with boardings?'

'There is no cast-in-concrete answer for that,' said Patrick Estebe, owner of a security consulting business called AffAirAction in Ft. Lauderdale . 'We have to think about security in a different way. It's not safety. Safety is to avoid the incident. In security, you're dealing with people's minds. You must act with alertness and purpose. Your security will rely on the same senses you use as a captain.'

And he warned the audience not to underestimate pirates.

'They aren't stupid,' he said. 'They are excellent seafarers.'

He did suggest keeping a low profile while in dangerous areas, minimizing chatter on the radio and turning off running lights. He did not recommend guns for everyone.

'If you are going to carry them, you have to be prepared to fire them,' he said. 'And if you are going to fire at one of the bad guys, you have to be prepared to finish what you started, because his son there on the boat with him will surely tell the police that his father was approaching the yacht for some food or some ropes. So if that son is a 16-year-old kid, are you prepared to reload and shoot him? There will be consequences for what you do.'

Every country had a different law concerning weapons on yachts. In the United States , the law varies by state.

'More than anything, you want to stop them from boarding,' said Capt. Jake DesVergers, head of the U.S. Maritime Institute. 'Have crew make rounds, use your lights, keep a charged fire hose, and keep a vigilant watch.'

One engineer in the audience noted that on the new builds he's worked on, owners and designers are finding creative ways to hide and disguise their weapons so that they can carry them and not declare them. Telling owners they don't need guns was naïve, he said.

'If you take someone's life, you are liable,' said Mort, who also is Wright Maritime's chief security officer. 'Unless they [guns] are written into your ship security plan and your crew has been trained to use them, your insurers probably aren't going to stand up next to you to support you.

'In most cases, robbers leave when the alarm is raised,' he said. 'If you provide a means of escape, the pirates will get out of there.'

A representative of the Philippines Coast Guard was present in an unofficial capacity and noted that if his agency or government finds a weapon on a yacht, not only will it be confiscated but the person in charge will be prosecuted. He advised anyone transiting the Philippines to contact his agency on Channels 16 and 22.

'Keep a good radar watch,' he said. 'If we see you without your running lights, we'll think you're a local fisherman. I'm not suggesting you run without your lights. I am suggesting you establish a good relationship with us as you transit.'

The Philippines Coast Guard - a uniformed civilian service - is one 10th the size of the U.S. Coast Guard (4,500 officers compared to 45,000) with 10 times the shoreline, he said.

'My advice is to use non-lethal force,' Mort said. 'Get training and know your security risk. Sound the ship security alert system, sound the EPIRB, use the UHF if you're being boarded.'

'If someone comes on board, what do you do?' Estebe said. 'Security is all about alertness and purpose. It's up to whatever you think you can do. There's no way anyone can overpower you if you know what you are doing, and if you don't panic. You can do so many things if only you remain centered.

'We're all conditioned for fear,' he said. 'I say, if the wolf comes, eat him alive.'

To read all the current articles in The Triton, go to their excellent website at http://www.the-triton.com , where you can choose to subscribe.
Contact Editor Lucy Chabot Reed at lucy@the-triton.com .

Editor’s comment:
The Triton is a Fort Lauderdale, USA, based website. The concern and the opinions of the participants of the above discussion panel are intensely interesting, and one cannot help empathising with their fear of pirate attack. However, in our modest long range cruising experience, we have not met cruisers of any other nationality who even contemplate the carriage of weapons on board. In almost all countries they are illegal and confiscated if declared (which defeats the purpose), and one then must return to the same port to collect them on departure, which is usually inconvenient to say the least. If they are not declared and discovered, one runs the risk of extremely heavy punishment including jail sentences.

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