3 ms·

Piracy still exists.

LoganDark 3y ago
Yep, shipping containers are stolen straight off ships to this very day, or ships are just straight-up hijacked. Real, actual piracy.
- xg15 3y ago
  Is there still a lot of piracy with the goal to actually steal the goods though? My impression is that current-day pirates try to capture the ships themselves and hold them for ransom. (Genuinely curious though)
  - LoganDark 3y ago
    I think so. I haven't read any recent news on it or anything, but there are surely still pirates that steal individual containers or sets of containers rather than trying to hijack the entire ship.
    - defrost 3y ago
      Individual containers are far far easier to steal dockside - seals can be broken and contents taken leaving the container and an undiscovered theft, containers can be rerouted onto trucks, etc. Stealing a container on the high seas is damn near impossible, doable but a challenge. The middle ground would be taking under tow floating containers that fall off of ships in bad weather - but I daresay that comes under salvage.
  - bananaowl 3y ago
    It's come down to hostage ransom now. Easier to pull some people off the boat and hide them in the jungle for ransom. The huge vessel they came in on requires expertise to crew.
  - Wytwwww 3y ago
    To be fair, historically, capturing people was likely always far more lucrative. The Mediterranean piracy for instance far was bigger (by several magnitudes) than the much more culturally popular Caribbean piracy. The Barbary pirates enslaved about 1.25 million people between 1530 and 1780 (and it was a massive threat in the Middle Ages and ancient times we just don't really have reliable figures). It was such a massive threat that coastal villages all but disappeared throughout much of Mediterranean Europe. The barbary pirates went as far as Ireland, England or even Iceland to murder an enslave people. This was an issue up until the 1800s (the first foreign war the US fought was against Morocco and Tripolitania) when the European powers finally took a break from fighting each other to do something about their common enemies who were terrorizing their subjects for centuries.
PicassoCTs 3y ago
Piracy is to increase big time. All it takes is a remote-autonomous drone canoe with explosives and a protection money racket.
- stavros 3y ago
  It's not hard to render remote-autonomous drone canoes inoperable, with various sorts of remotely-operated countermeasures like a signal jammer or a rifle.
  - codedokode 3y ago
    Civilian ships cannot have weapon, can they? Sea is not America.
amelius 3y ago
Speaking of which, here's a great piracy idea: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/ Interpret that how you want ;)
moffkalast 3y ago
Look at me. I am the captain now.
- user432678 3y ago
  Cool! Then you can fill in crew evaluation journals, file the ship maintenance report, negotiate the rates with the unions.
r0ckarong 3y ago
Puts on my best Hedberg glasses and yet, it still was ... too.

Yep, shipping containers are stolen straight off ships to this very day, or ships are just straight-up hijacked. Real, actual piracy.

xg15 3y ago
Is there still a lot of piracy with the goal to actually steal the goods though? My impression is that current-day pirates try to capture the ships themselves and hold them for ransom. (Genuinely curious though)
- LoganDark 3y ago
  I think so. I haven't read any recent news on it or anything, but there are surely still pirates that steal individual containers or sets of containers rather than trying to hijack the entire ship.
  - defrost 3y ago
    Individual containers are far far easier to steal dockside - seals can be broken and contents taken leaving the container and an undiscovered theft, containers can be rerouted onto trucks, etc. Stealing a container on the high seas is damn near impossible, doable but a challenge. The middle ground would be taking under tow floating containers that fall off of ships in bad weather - but I daresay that comes under salvage.
- bananaowl 3y ago
  It's come down to hostage ransom now. Easier to pull some people off the boat and hide them in the jungle for ransom. The huge vessel they came in on requires expertise to crew.
- Wytwwww 3y ago
  To be fair, historically, capturing people was likely always far more lucrative. The Mediterranean piracy for instance far was bigger (by several magnitudes) than the much more culturally popular Caribbean piracy. The Barbary pirates enslaved about 1.25 million people between 1530 and 1780 (and it was a massive threat in the Middle Ages and ancient times we just don't really have reliable figures). It was such a massive threat that coastal villages all but disappeared throughout much of Mediterranean Europe. The barbary pirates went as far as Ireland, England or even Iceland to murder an enslave people. This was an issue up until the 1800s (the first foreign war the US fought was against Morocco and Tripolitania) when the European powers finally took a break from fighting each other to do something about their common enemies who were terrorizing their subjects for centuries.

PicassoCTs 3y ago

Piracy is to increase big time. All it takes is a remote-autonomous drone canoe with explosives and a protection money racket.

stavros 3y ago
It's not hard to render remote-autonomous drone canoes inoperable, with various sorts of remotely-operated countermeasures like a signal jammer or a rifle.
- codedokode 3y ago
  Civilian ships cannot have weapon, can they? Sea is not America.

amelius 3y ago

Speaking of which, here's a great piracy idea: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1535109/ Interpret that how you want ;)

moffkalast 3y ago

Look at me. I am the captain now.

user432678 3y ago
Cool! Then you can fill in crew evaluation journals, file the ship maintenance report, negotiate the rates with the unions.

r0ckarong 3y ago

Puts on my best Hedberg glasses and yet, it still was ... too.