Can Merchant Sailors Protect Themselves?
Analysts say that merchant sailors need to do more to protect their ships, and some even say that merchant vessels should carry weapons. But Ritchie says that is unlikely to happen. The reason, he says, is simple economics — ship owners don’t want the headaches and the insurance costs, and civilian sailors have no incentive to be fighters. “When you’re dealing with men with big machine guns and RPG’s, and you don’t own a penny of the cargo, you’re being paid to do a job,” Ritchie says. “If you’re going to have to fight, you’re going to want a whole lot more money. If you really wanted to fight, you would’ve joined the Navy.” Most officials and experts agree that the solution to piracy off the Somali coast will require more than enforcement by foreign militaries. It will require mending the failed Somali state, by helping to restore stability and a government in Somalia strong enough to enforce laws and police the coastline. Until then, the historian Rediker says, pirates are likely to
