Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: john9001 on May 09, 2003, 04:26:26 PM
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without comment, i post the following.
May 9, 2003
Beware: Pirates
By WALLY MORAN
Special to the Tribune
Fifty miles out of Key West, Rob Huxtable's cruise to last fall's Fantasyfest landed him in a nightmare.
Huxtable, an Apollo Beach resident who works at Tampa General Hospital, had made this cruise several times without incident in Pipe Dream, his Catalina 30.
With Indiana friend Jeff Hoskins crewing, he left the Tampa Sailing Squadron on Oct. 24, never thinking they would be threatened by modern-day pirates.
Midway between the Dry Tortugas and Key West, the two found themselves beating into heavy seas. Hoskins saw a shrimper he thought was following them, bearing down from the horizon, so Huxtable fell off course 10 degrees further. The shrimper followed.
Within 45 minutes, the shrimper closed the distance to a few hundred yards. It carried no flag, although its name was painted on its transom.
Huxtable, 45, could see the vessel's nets were dry-rotted. The steel hull showed rust and flaking paint. The engines, though, sounded finely tuned and capable of moving the 60- to 70-foot boat along rapidly - a perception confirmed by the distance their pursuer had covered since they first viewed it.
Fearing the worst, Huxtable told Hoskins to go below and bring up the shotgun - loaded. Hoskins also changed into a different-colored shirt to make it seem more than two were aboard.
By now, the shrimper stood off Pipe Dream's windward bow, less than a boat length away in the 7-foot seas in what Huxtable thought was an attempt to stop them by blocking his wind. A rough-looking crew member was on the shrimper's foredeck, as if preparing to leap aboard Pipe Dream.
Huxtable waved off the shrimper, but her captain held his position, easing closer.
Praying his balky diesel would start this time, Huxtable reached for the key and turned it. It fired up. Breathing a quiet prayer of thanks, Huxtable veered away under power, now capable of maneuvering against the head winds. And still the shrimper pursued, turning as they turned, staying close.
Hoskins already had gone below to radio the Coast Guard that Pipe Dream was being pursued and that its crew felt ``threatened.''
``We did not feel comfortable with what was going on,'' Huxtable recalled. ``We had tried to communicate with this boat on the VHF. I waved them off, but they did not respond to us.''
Other Fear Factor
Another factor concerning Huxtable was the dozen or more men inside the smoked windows of the pilot house. This was a much larger crew than the three or four normally aboard that type of boat.
After nearly 20 minutes - or just short of eternity for Pipe Dream's crew - the radio crackled with the Coast Guard's return call. Pipe Dream reported the situation. Then another voice, this time the shrimper's captain, stated in good English that their intention was to come alongside and give Pipe Dream some bait shrimp.
Huxtable protested that statement in his next radio communication to the Coast Guard, which seemed to have difficulty hearing him. Huxtable said later that he could not see why a shrimper would pursue and attempt to stop a boat proceeding under full sail to give that boat bait shrimp.
The shrimper clearly had heard their radio call to the USCG, despite not responding to Huxtable's earlier calls about their intent.
The Coast Guard indicated they accepted the captain's statement and wanted to know whether anyone was hurt. At this point, the shrimper pulled away from Pipe Dream and headed south. Pipe Dream, heading north, continued toward Venice. The attack was over. So was the cruise.
Watch The `Scavengers'
Huxtable and Hoskins had stopped at Cabbage Key, where a fishing guide warned them about an area from Boca Grande to the Dry Tortugas to Key West, an area called Devil's Triangle by locals. There had been trouble, the guide said, with ``scavengers'' within the triangle.
``Don't be cautious,'' the guide said. ``Be prepared.''
Having sailed the area several times before, Huxtable discounted the warning then, but no more.
``Yeah, we were scared,'' he said.
Huxtable will sail the area again, but with another boat and a better antenna so radio calls can be heard more clearly.
Huxtable speculates the unsavory crew on the shrimper intended to take over his boat, then sell it and its equipment - or use it to run illegals or drugs into the United States. Sailboats rarely are bothered by the Coast Guard. In either event, the fate of Huxtable and his crewman is not difficult to imagine.
Piracy is not uncommon today, although Caribbean incidents mostly involve someone's stealing dinghies or outboards from cruisers, or boarding a yacht standing vacant at anchor. Confrontations between cruisers and pirates are uncommon.
Was the Pipe Dream incident piracy or a simple misunderstanding?
In Huxtable's mind, there is no doubt. On his next cruise through the Devil's Triangle, he will carry a high-powered rifle along with his shotgun.
This story can be found at: http://sports.tbo.com/sports/MGA61ZPHHFD.html
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seems like a couple of mini 14's in stainless steel with 40 round clips would be just the tool for this...... We don't get too many pirates in dixon but I keep the mini 14 just in case.
lazs
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And the lack of Pirate attacks is proof that it works. :)
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yes.. I believe we have all but eradicated piracy in dixon... still.... one can never be toooooo careful
lazs
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I nice M1a or FN FAL
Prolly do real damage to the pirate boat with one of those...
or maybe an M2HB...
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I also have a Garrand for longer range pirates. An 1897 woinchester pump 12 guage for pirate riots and various hand guns for up close and personal pirates.
lazs
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Back in the 60's my family used to sail from miami to the bahamas every year. Back then nobody went out to sea without atleast a couple of guns. Im sure its not much differnt today.
On another note, its important to have guns around in case of a natual disaster. I remember back in '92 after hurricane andrew there were looters everywhere. If you lived is the burbs it was a problem. But especially if you lived out on a farm. In that case the only things that can protect you are your dogs and firearms.
Some people might think you never really need a gun around. But you never know whats going to happen and its best to be prepared.
Its better to have a gun and not need it, than to need a gun and not have it.
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Why not just move to a more civilized place? :p
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you need one of these to fight off those pesky pirates/Spanish/French :)
(http://www.hms-victory.com/victory%20-%20ariel.jpg)
comes complete with : -
Lower gun deck 30 x 32 pounder
Middle gun deck 28 x 24 pounder
Upper gun deck 30 x 12 pounder (long)
Quarter gun deck 12 x 12 pounder (short)
Forecastle 2 x 12 pounder (medium)
2 x 68 pounder carronade
(http://www.hms-victory.com/lowegundeck.jpg)
http://www.voodoo.cz/victory/trafalgar.html
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That would be HMS Victory. Admiral Nelson's Flag-ship and veteran of Trafalgar. :)
Never seen it up close and personal - but there used to be 800 men on one of those things!
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"Why not just move to a more civilized place?"
they usually have enough problems of different natures as to make having to shoot the occasional pirate seem simple and.... fun.
oh... got an intrusion alarm at 4 am this morning... the facility is out in the boonies... alas... no pirates.. had the little Walther PPK with me tho just in case.
lazs
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yup, HMS Victory. I went on it when i was about 8 years old, its amazing
'They dont make 'em like they used to!'
(http://www.voodoo.cz/victory/pic/victory4.jpg)
(http://www.voodoo.cz/victory/pic/victory2.jpg)
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I'm reading the 'Hornblower' series of books at the moment. It's all based in the Napoleonic era RN. Really good stuff - he's not your typical hero - pretty unlikeable really. It's very technical though - I don't understand even half the nautical terms. :)
Nothing like the TV series, which paint Hornblower as a 'nice guy' instead of a hard product of the times. Life in the RN was tough.
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thats odd to me i several of the books lightly to pass the time in the navy onship. never thought of him as hard. just dead on with the effort needed. and yea ruthless. would have loved to serve with him.
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Originally posted by lazs2
seems like a couple of mini 14's in stainless steel with 40 round clips would be just the tool for this...... We don't get too many pirates in dixon but I keep the mini 14 just in case.
lazs
Mini-30's give you a better chance of penetrating the hull, also I would rec. a SS Ruger-77 in 30.06 or .300 Win mag with a wide angle 3-9 power to keep em away as they are also armed.
Scary stuff and been going on for a long time. 10 years ago I crewed on a dive boat and we were always armed and kept watches at night.
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I have a relative who's an officer in the merchant marine. He's required to qualify on the M14, 12 gauge, and handgun. Oddly enough, he said that only a few people on-board are trained to use firearms. Apparently the cost is prohibitive.
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The US is also still allowed to Issue "Letters of Mark" and requiered by law to purchace all contraband siezed by the afore said "Privateers" .... of note is that the Ship hauling contraband is also a legitiment "Prize" of the Letter holder. Me and an Ex SEAL buddy had visions of taking a 85,000 ton oil tanker hauling coke in the Carribien, and actually applyed for a LoM. so far no reply ........
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Beware the Evil
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