Video: 'Anti-Piracy Curtain' Makes Boarding Ships a Wet, Dangerous Mess for Pirates

Put some attack dogs on those ships!

or how about some terminator style drones...

Well, that's it. Paul Watson just crapped his pants.

Just grab the sucka, I mean how wet can it be? Better still grapple up between them, its roomy enough in between. The only thing that creeps me is the yoyos who beleive this sends them on thier way.

I've heard that it's stupid to bring a knife to a gun fight. But a water hose? LOL. What's to stop the pirates from destroying the hose with a machine gun?

This so pathetic, it fills the boat with water at the rate of 1mm per second, so in 60 seconds its 60mm, how long does it take for pirates to disembark. I,m still laughting at that one.

Clay: Why is it "perfectly understandable" that commercial vessels are prohibited from protecting themselves when navigating international waters? I would counter that it more reasonable and understandable that the regulations be changed to allow them to arm themselves. Just make sure they are accountable for their actions.

Cookiees453 - Dogs are only to raise the alarm, pirates would simply shoot the dogs upon boarding. Drones are a considerably higher level of "arming themselves" than personal side arms. Not to mention that at multi-millions of dollars, they are prohibitively expensive to own and operate.

geomat: Hitting anything with a machine gun is not an easy thing to do. Hitting a whipping hose mounted to a moving ship while you are also in a moving boat... you are more likely to win the lottery. It will not happen.

jimcool: It often takes several fire fighters to handle a carefully controlled high volume firehose. The energy inherent in high pressure water means that you stand a good chance of being severely injured or killed while trying to grab those hoses. The one thing you will not do is actually get hold of the hose. The fill rate is actually 1cm per second rather than the 1mm you cited, this means that it would fill the pirate boat far faster than their bilge pump or bailing can handle and would swamp them within one or two minutes.

@ClintJohnson, I agree with you that it's more reasonable and probably more effective to carry weapons on a commercial vessel to deter pirates. Apparently so does the U.S. government. They changed maritime law to allow hiring armed guards and weapons training for crews.

As for the "perfectly understandable" part, you can carry pretty much anything you want on board when you're in international waters, but once you arrive in a country's territorial waters you are subject to their laws. Some countries may confiscate your weapons, possibly your cargo, even throw you in jail.

If I were traveling within several hundred miles of Somalia or Indonesia, I think I would follow U.S. guidelines and hire security and carry weapons. Nothing says "don't mess with me" better than a barrage of warning shots.

FYI, combating piracy on the Barbary Coast of Africa was the reason Thomas Jefferson and Congress created the U.S. Navy and fought the first foreign war.

I understand why they cannot carry their own weapons, to a point. The hoses are a novel approach but I would like to see a more menacing weight attached to the end of the flailing hoses, something heavy, metallic and preferably spiked. Or as an alternative, how about mounted paintball cannons filled with pepper spray paint balls?

ClintJohnson, look again those are not real firhoses, pithy little beefed up water hoses is all.

Wait.......what?!?

No, no. Unless its built 10 times the scale and 20 times the power, I'm afraid it will become more of a good story to tell the boys later while drinking a warm one at the local mud hut. It'll be a good laugh, captain will tell that story untill everyone is tired of hearing it. It will still get chuckles long after the money is spent.

Sorry fellas, you got The Whole Ocean to pump on. Think American, think EXCESSIVELY. A wall of water similar to a water theme park will get some serious consideration. With angry words and shaking fists, a stray round glancing off the hull, and frustrated pirates zipping around looking awfully distraught. That's how a freakin' deterant works.

A loose garden hose and a water mister just look like invitations out of the heat. Sixflaggs has that stuff all over the park in the summer. I hear these places get pretty toasty, like, all the time.

Might be what's upsetting them. Heat pisses me off the 2mo. a year it gets hot here. Can't imagine living year round, in a mortared house, f-135, sweatin balls, hatin' everything.

Pour boiling oil on them, that made medieval castle attackers having a bad day, and it is not a weapon..

To make things more interesting they could inject their "gray water" and bilge water into the system. Or, if the attackers are not quickly deterred, switch over to diesel fuel.......and an ignition source. A little Greek Fire, anyone?

Check out the video at 33 sec. 1 cm/min
Not quite so intimidating.

Dick Ovens I like high pressure water defense; but here are a few ideas. Armed heavily while in international waters; but when approaching safe harbor pack up the arms and munitions and defensive crew if needed and off load to smaller craft while still in international waters, possibly to an offshore anchorage like a barge, or to another ship heading out toward hostile waters. Several tankers disguised and armed like Q ships fighting U boats. All ships need not be armed to the gills. After a few attacks are devastatingly defeated the risk will outweigh pirates desires. If disguising is too cruel for pirates, carry a fast highly visible launchable heavily armed craft (manned or remotely controlled) that could be towed while in hostile waters for instantaneous action. Mount a complex array of powerful electric fencing that is turned ON if danger is likely; and add concertina or razor wire challenging pirates to fully bypass to takeover the ship. Daisy chains of remote controlled real and maybe some fake Claymore mines, even highly visible mines should deter pirates not wanting themselves or their boats quickly ventilated. Bangalor torpedo draped from standoffs that when fired would not damage the tanker's hull beyond burning some paint. Mount several small highly visible moveable or fixed side turrets with remotely fired machine shot guns using double aught. Add a few 30mm chain guns for more standoff firepower. Turrets could be fixed if guns/ammo is offloaded after departing hostile waters. Even empty turrets would announce this is a ship pirates need to avoid. Did I fire 5, or was it 6 shots? Wanna make my day punk?

Wow. I think those captains would be more successful at deterring pirates if they painted pictures of baby seals and kittens on their ships.

How is a weak water hose going to deter a crew of already insane people bent on storming a ship at all costs? I don't think a little water is going to stop them.

Why won't they just coat the ships in human waste and lard. That would be far more effective. Anyone who boards a ship like that deserves whatever is onboard as a reward at that point. :)

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In space, no one can hear a tree fall in the forest.

"It’s perfectly understandable why commercial shipping vessels are prohibited from carrying arms in international waters."

Since when is that perfectly understandable? Commercial vessels on the high seas have had munitions and guards since the beginning of recorded history. Also, a person's right to self defense is supposed to be an inalienable natural right. A few m2's and rifles would be perfectly reasonable on a commercial vessel and I wouldn't object to any weapon that a ship owner or captain felt was necessary to defend the ship, cargo, and most importantly the crew.

Just to take this idea forward, could these hoses spray boiling hot water?...that would be a deterrent enough.

If I was a pirate and had several high powered automatic weapons, I shoot the hose and the value it is connected too. I mostly focus my aim towards the value, where the hose is connected. I have not sunken the ship and not killed anyone and rendered the hose useless prior to boarding.

Perhaps a 10 feet area going around the ship could be electrified. Maybe this would be helpful and the electrical connected could be insulted from gun shots and the electrical field cold be insulated from the hull of the ship. But, I am just brain storming here... ..

The pirates would not even know the 10 foot area going around the ship would be electrified, until they touch it. By then, "ZAP", its to late.

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!

@ClintJohnson - First I would have to disagree with you about the difficulty of hitting a moving target with a machine gun. Having served in the military and used automatic weapons extensively, I can assure you it's not all that difficult. But you should take some other facts into consideration. The ends of the hoses are whipping about a lot but the further up the side of the ship the less the movement. And there wont be just one weapon firing at them. So the chances of putting enough of them out of action to provide a boarding area is quite good.

Didn't they think that the bad guy's could get ahold of the hose somehow and then connect a hook to the hose and climb up the hose to the ship?

Having done some boardings in the Persian Gulf, I can tell you that the best deterrent for Pirates would be to put remote controlled large diameter fire hoses that could be intermittently energized and directed from the bridge.
The Operator would be able to drench the Pirates with large amounts of water. Either wait until the boat comes alongside and direct the nozzle at the boat and and fill it up with seawater, or use the high volume of water to wash the pirate off of the boarding ladder.
The key would be the intermittent use of high pressure water. The remote control device could be made of thick steel piping and would tend to be less vulnerable to small arms fire.

Guess the electrical fence idea is not a possiblity, no comments about it..:(

st5cowboy,
I do like your suggests sir.

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!

Sadly, you can't fix stupid.

If these pirates are foolish enough to attack the fully deployed USS Nicholas in 2010, it's unlikely that an expensive water noodle will deter them.

I suppose sinking their boats with high-pressure fire hoses is a decent solution. Ultimately, pirates have been around as long as ships have. I think the only way to slow them down is to make it extremely dangerous/deadly to be a pirate. Allow ships to arm themselves.

your right you can't fix stupid, it just so happens that half the reading population is lethally so.

what ya'll are thinking of when he says +1cm/minute is 1 cm^3 or basically a cube that is a centimeter wide on all faces. he didn't say that however he said a centimeter per minute, so that means that the water will be rising in their boat at a centimeter per minute. when was the last time you had to bucket out a ship? you think you could beat that?

it's kind of a joke though with how it's neon green and highly visible. you'd think that maybe you could design the system to turn itself on if anyone got too close. with a master shut off of course, sinking a navy vessel because of a computer error is very embarrassing...

to mars or bust!

OR...we can let these ships arm themselves, kill a few pirates, and not have to play with neon hoses, pumps, and stupid ideas. It will probably be cheaper too.

There's a perfectly good reason why ships don't arm themselves - insurance and liability. If pirates start killing crew members, ships will become much more expensive to insure and families will start suing the owners. It's cheaper to pay the ransom. You can make all the laws you want to encourage arming merchant ships but it's not going to make it any cheaper for the shipping industry. So far the loss of life to crews has been extremely minimal, so it's just a question of money and nothing more. Do you want crew members to die while you pay more for your next iPhone?

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ThisNameTaken,
You desperately need to stay on your medication, sir!

.............................
Science sees no further than what it can sense, i.e. facts.
Religion sees beyond the senses, i.e. faith.
Open your mind and see!

Robot, I think that stinks! *chuckles*

@aequitas13, There are non-violent ways to deter pirates. Water cannons that can easily sink a pirate's boat,sonic devices would incapactitate anyone within the targeted area. Anyone heard of Whale Wars? That japanese fleet knows how to keep people away. But why would they use tiny little hoses when they could stick a water cannon up front? But maybe this could lead to something different? Something better?

If I remember correctly, the best deterrent so far was death by lead poisoning via a 30.06 round through the skull delivered by a trained shooter.
Not sure that a garden hose spraying water is an improvement.

I'd hate to be the guy that has to untangle that mess with 5 to 10 of them twisted up on one side of a boat..

"Oop. Little knot here, you can work on that." [Hands it to Russ]

You guys talking about how ineffective this is have never seen an HP hose flailing about. It can easily break bones, and flat out kill a person. I'm not saying this will be extremely effective against pirates using rpg's, but you try climbing on deck with these things smacking the stuffings out of you.

@ Thisnameistaken: (troll commenting) what would happen if your cargo ship ran on a coral reef? the poop will flow out and you would have an algae bloom, choking the fish and devastating the local economy!

___________________________________________
We progress only at the rate of the slowest

I would be cooler if the hoses were spraying gasoline

to mostlyignorant
You got your name mostlyright. watch the vid man. It even says a very small amount of water to create a curtian. Not a wall of water not a high pressure system at all. Its to be seen at a distance and deter them into thinging it is one. Really about all it will do is make them even madder once they storm aboard and then teach them a lesson of violence.

Ok, so call me stupid! So why cant a ship defend itself in 'international' waters? Our aircraft carriers can, and do defend themselves in international waters. I would think that anyone who tries to board my ship without permission and does not head the warnings should at least face some some heavy duty resistance/firepower.

Interesting that you feel that we can trust a ship's captain, officers and crew with thousands of tons of explosives, with millions of gallons of flammable and dangerous oil and chemicals.

But we can't trust them with a 50 caliber machine gun.

What exactly does that say about those in our society who fear guns over 30 million gallons of liquid natural gas?

I like the approach of "Doing it American Style" and the best solution I've seen would be based on water cannons like those used in the Las Vegas water shows. Incredibly high PSI water cannons can shoot an 8" column of water up to 400' high and maintain that for several seconds before recharging. Turn 'em around and shoot down on the pirates and see how long it takes for them to sink, drown, or have a hole blown in their canoe. Pump the water from the sea, add your grey water and the resulting pressurized cocktail should do the job.

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One thing scares me in all these comments. No one is focusing on the source of the problem. It's like putting a plaster cast on a broken wooden leg.

As much as I think piracy is wrong, and as much as I love new technology, I have a more simple, rather boring proposition in order to deter piracy.

Steer some of the money invested in weapons and war towards eradicating poverty, and education in Africa.

Ask ourselves the question: why have poor fishermen turned to risking their lives performing senseless acts of piracy? Maybe because all the international fishing fleets have emptied the waters off the coast of somalia?

I also believe we should hit the LEADERS of these pirate groups hard, financially and with military force. The international community knows who they are, but their existence is good for business; the Navy is suddenly very useful, ship defence systems can be sold, private security firms are making money. Everyone is happy.

Saddam was left in power in 91' with the hope he would start over again. He didn't fail to please.

Remember how you used to play cowboys and Indians when you were kids.If no one wants to play the Indians, you can't play. Think Pirates. Think North Korea. Think Iran.

The international community thanks these people without whom we wouldn't be able to play all these great war games, and spend vast amounts of money on these exciting new ways of harming people.

While I'm not advocating an armed merchant marine as a whole, I realize that I'm just a guy who knows how to shoot, and one who knows exactly how much I'll lose on that long range rifle when I throw it overboard just outside safe harbor. At which safe harbor, I'll have my next rifle waiting to go sailing with me when I leave. One thing about those ports of call that have heart attacks over guns; you can usually buy them there fairly cheap. The truly strict ports, even though enforcement is stiff locally, they don't care what you leave with as long as it was purchased legally.

Actually the simplest thing here would be to have water blasting type devices hang from the rails of the ships that have tiny metal nozzles about 1/4 inch in dia. Since the boat is in water, the ship has an endless supply. Meaning all it would need is high pressure pumps to pump the water from the ocean through the water blasting hoses. So it would be a line on each side of the hose with nozzles and high 10k+ psi coming from each nozzle. From experience 10k psi alone will cut lots of things in half with no problem. Meaning it would cut the pirates in half or give them a bad day for trying to board the ship. This would work far better than what the Japanese have proposed.