🚀 go-pugleaf

David Buttery wrote in message ...
>Actually, part of it is probably because the British (not English, if you
>please) merchant fleet is now so small any self-respecting pirate would
>laugh at it...


    Hmmm... doubtful, as history shows that pirates almost always look for
solitary targets.  Most likely there aren't any pirates in British waters
these days because the parts of the world where pirates concentrate their
activities seems to change, as all things do, with the times.  The popular
notion of pirates (peg legs, shoulder perched parrots, and "ARRR!") is
mainly influenced by the environment of the Carribean in the years ~1650 to
~1700.  Also, any ship that attacks a ship flying a British flag in British
waters (highly unlikely) is, to this day, opening itself to reprisals from
the Royal Navy.  Even in this modern world it is legal to fire without
warning on a ship that flies a jolly roger.  Of course, anyone stupid enough
to fly that flag would be asking for it... the flag was part of a world
without radio, and pirates aren't so obvious these days.

>Seriously, though, the Royal Navy is regularly employed in intercepting
>drug smugglers at sea, which are probably the nearest we have to pirates in
>the Western world these days.


    I would say that politicians take that 'honor' ... too bad that the RN
is used (as is the USN) as a police force in these instances...
    A quick search of 'maritime piracy' at www.yahoo.com turns up the weekly
piracy report
from http://www.iccwbo.org/ccs/imb_piracy/weekly_piracy_report.asp ... while
almost all of the entries involve the east coast of Africa or
Indonesia/Phillipines, piracy is by no means a thing of the past.  Pirates
focus on the areas where military naval presence is limited or non-existant.