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Pirates Thwarted by Sonic Weapon

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the i-assume-it-was-playing-nelly dept.

Kristian Hermansen was one of dozens to submit a story about would be pirates attempting to take control of a cruise ship of the coast of Africa, only to be twarted by some sort of sonic weapon known as an LRAD, or Long Range Acoustic Device.

7 of 599 comments (clear)

  1. Just a point.... by FreakyControl · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Only to be thwarted by? From TFA, "The subsidiary of Carnival Corp. was investigating whether the weapon was successful in warding off the pirates, he said. The ship's captain also changed its course, shifted into high speed and headed out into the open sea to elude the pirates, who were in two small boats, he said. He had no further details."

    I'm sure it certainly contributed, but they're not even sure it actually was the reason why the pirates weren't able to catch them.

  2. Be Greedo by dada21 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    A bit OT but fun to know...

    Pirates do exist, and account for nearly $16b in losses annually. If you're interested in a career like Han Solo, piracy is an option.

    Most pirates today work between Eritria and Mumbai. Seychelles is very casual about accepting boats without valid port histories. The pirate ships are often large yachts with fast ciggy boats for docking. Glocks and Kalishies are the norm. The dress is much like the old pirate look -- bandanas, beards, loose shirts, etc.

    Pirate robbers make the news often, yet most pirates are smugglers (food, drugs, medicine and health equipment). Countries with US/UN embargoes pay well -- 400% over the white market rate.

    Cuba was easy money until 9/11, now we have our Coast Guard pretending to fight terrorism but actually destroying the free market in smuggling.

    Malaysia has a growing piracy need as the government gets more religious. Somalia and Sri Lanka both ignore the pirates like Seychelles.

    Take a trip to Dubai or Seychelles. Hook up with the right crowd and you can make 6 figures easily.

    Arrrrr!

    1. Re:Be Greedo by dada21 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Seychelles is strict on crimes committed on the Isles. But their immigration at the port is very laissez faire. I'll be going back to Dubai (and hopefully Seychelles) in a few months, and I actually was intending to do a web
      documentary about opportunities in working in the Indian Ocean black market. Robbery is wrong, but smuggling and violating tariffs/embargoes is A-OK to me.

    2. Re:Be Greedo by dada21 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I'm all for arming boats with heavy weapons. The ICC and other government cartels need these international laws in order to protect their Navy monopolies. I'm anti-piracy but pro-smuggling, but most smugglers are affiliated with piracy groups as well. Although in reality most of these pirates aren't organized as a large group (RIAA style?), they do generally have their own territories and shipping lanes. It amazes me that more ships aren't attacked, especially with the anti-heavy weapons laws that are more heavily enforced than the protection of the shipping lanes.

      To be honest, everyone I know with a yacht in deep waters already carries decent guns for protection. It is pretty easy to dump them if you're boarded by a coast guard or naval vessel.

    3. Re:Be Greedo by iabervon · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Actually, heavy weapons would just make ships more valuable targets for pirates. Cruise ship crews just aren't going to be very attentive, especially since pirate attacks are rare, and once they're in boarding range, rockets aren't going to be a good idea. And rockets would work really well against the sorts of ships that pirates target, so they'd be eager to get them. It's better to have an LRAD, which is effective at repelling the pirates, but not a weapon they'd be able to use effectively.

  3. The pirates are my cousins! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Hard to believe right? I am from the coastal city of Bosaso on the horn of Africa, and some of my relatives took pride in their high-seas piracy. I have always heard of illegal Japanese and Norwegian ships illegaly fishing in our shores, while Somalis, with not central government and coast guard, sat around in anger and frustration.

    This piracy started as a way to defend our coast-lines from illegal international fishing. Somalia hasn't had a government since 1990, and our fish resources became the loot of international fishing conglomerates. Others have used our coast to dump their waste, even nuclear waste.

    After the fall of the Somali government, our coast guard's ships and vessels were looted by tribes. Some of our ships and boats were sold to illegal fishing companies, which didn't go far but stayed to fish in our waters! While other boats stayed in the hands of tribal leaders and warlords who used them for piracy and people smuggling to the middle east, although more often as a vehicle for products and trade with Yemen, our neighbor to the North.

    It's funny how companies registered in Democratic developed nations, and pay their taxes there, are the ones looting our natural resources and using our sea and land to dump their waste.

    http://gurukul.ucc.american.edu/ted/somalia.htm

    http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=249 733&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/

    http://somalinet.com/news/world/Somalia/1063

    I wish the international community would deploy high-tech sonic weapons to defend us against real theives, not just pirates, blinded and deafended by greed.

    - Mahammad Darwish

  4. You don't hear much in the US by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Because of the Coast Guard. US waters are essentially free of pirates. Now I suppose that could depend on your definition, some peopel considder smugglers that use ships to be pirates and we do have drug smugglers that come in by sea, but in terms of pirates attacking ships it's essentially zero. The Coast Guard has a very active presence and there's little that can be done about them. An attack on a Coast Guard ship is an act of war and they then can (and will) scream to any navy ships in the area for support, and they navy will come and sink your ass (also some CG ships have reasonably large deck guns).

    However in many areas of the world, particularly Africa but also South America and Asia to an extent, where there's not sucha powerful sea patrol, it's more common than you'd think.