Even a Stopped Clock Is Right Twice A Day...
This post should be subtitled, "Or, Rush Limbaugh Makes A Good Point." One of the questions asked about piracy is "why aren't merchant ships armed?" In the current situation, a few shotguns and the will to use them would thwart a lot of these attacks.
Well, Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, "Now, a lot of people ask, "Rush, how come these ships aren't armed?" Everybody says just give some machine guns to the crew when you see the pirates showing up, wipe 'em out. You maritime captains out there can back me up on this, but the historical reason why you don't arm the crew on a cargo vessel is to guard against mutiny against the captain and the ship, 'cause you know how CEOs are hated today, and the captain of the ship is a CEO, and employees resent and they're being told to resent the boss.
So the boss makes you do some things on board, if you've got machine guns ostensibly to gun down the Somali pirates, you could conduct a mutiny. So that's one of the reasons that they aren't armed."
This reminds me of a true story from my Navy days. My ship is steaming about in a millpond-calm Gulf of Mexico when we get a distress call. "Merchant ship sinking." So we beat feet in the direction of the call, and arrive to see a Panamanian bulk freighter loaded with rice sinking. They'd blown a seal in the main engine room, and seawater was rushing in.
What was interesting was the scene when we arrived, that calm, sunny day. The crew, all Korean, were quietly sitting in the lifeboat in dry clothing. Every one of them. Not even damp shoes. Not only that, they each had a small duffel bag with them.
We looked over to the ship. Every visible watertight hatch and door was wide open. A few minutes later, a small boat came putting over from the ship. Inside were the Japanese officers. They were soaking wet, dirty and tired. They did not have small duffel bags with them.
What had happened was that, at the first vague inkling of trouble (remember, calm, sunny day, reasonably close to other shipping) is that the crew had ran like rabbits.
The ship didn't sink for hours, floating well into the evening. In fact, she floated until the sea water hit the rice.
There is a vision in our heads of steady, sound and loyal crews, dedicated to the ship and each other. In reality, the cost-cutting mindset that sees a Japanese-owned ship crewed by Koreans (a despised underclass in Japan) outbound from New Orleans has resulted in crews that are barely capable of routine operations. Fighting pirates? Might as well ask them to fly the ship to Mars while you're at it. Read The Outlaw Sea
if you don't believe me.
What's made this possible is deregulation, de-subsidizing, and the free services of the First World's navies. I think we're going to have to get away from that regime.
Well, Rush Limbaugh said yesterday, "Now, a lot of people ask, "Rush, how come these ships aren't armed?" Everybody says just give some machine guns to the crew when you see the pirates showing up, wipe 'em out. You maritime captains out there can back me up on this, but the historical reason why you don't arm the crew on a cargo vessel is to guard against mutiny against the captain and the ship, 'cause you know how CEOs are hated today, and the captain of the ship is a CEO, and employees resent and they're being told to resent the boss.
So the boss makes you do some things on board, if you've got machine guns ostensibly to gun down the Somali pirates, you could conduct a mutiny. So that's one of the reasons that they aren't armed."
This reminds me of a true story from my Navy days. My ship is steaming about in a millpond-calm Gulf of Mexico when we get a distress call. "Merchant ship sinking." So we beat feet in the direction of the call, and arrive to see a Panamanian bulk freighter loaded with rice sinking. They'd blown a seal in the main engine room, and seawater was rushing in.
What was interesting was the scene when we arrived, that calm, sunny day. The crew, all Korean, were quietly sitting in the lifeboat in dry clothing. Every one of them. Not even damp shoes. Not only that, they each had a small duffel bag with them.
We looked over to the ship. Every visible watertight hatch and door was wide open. A few minutes later, a small boat came putting over from the ship. Inside were the Japanese officers. They were soaking wet, dirty and tired. They did not have small duffel bags with them.
What had happened was that, at the first vague inkling of trouble (remember, calm, sunny day, reasonably close to other shipping) is that the crew had ran like rabbits.
The ship didn't sink for hours, floating well into the evening. In fact, she floated until the sea water hit the rice.
There is a vision in our heads of steady, sound and loyal crews, dedicated to the ship and each other. In reality, the cost-cutting mindset that sees a Japanese-owned ship crewed by Koreans (a despised underclass in Japan) outbound from New Orleans has resulted in crews that are barely capable of routine operations. Fighting pirates? Might as well ask them to fly the ship to Mars while you're at it. Read The Outlaw Sea
if you don't believe me.
What's made this possible is deregulation, de-subsidizing, and the free services of the First World's navies. I think we're going to have to get away from that regime.