# ALF/ELF What prevents us from blowing them out of the water?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 30, 2008, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475 "2008-04-30T15:19:40Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![masterofnone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@masterofnone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/masterofnone)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475/21 "2008-05-01T14:08:33Z")

</div>

I saw a show on discovery (TLC?) about modern pirates, and they said that legit ships have no defense because they are not allowed to have weapons. I think it was because of the laws in all of the ports they stop in.

One high end cruise ship did have a dish that transmitted sound that was the right frequency to make people unable to function (or something like that), and they successfully used it to stop a pirate speedbooat that was chasing them.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475/22 "2008-05-01T14:14:37Z")

</div>

[QUOTE=Sunspace]  
[Canadian Coast Guard seizes Sea Shepherd vessel](http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/13/2215291.htm)  
[/QUOTE]

Wow. Who knew Bea Arthur worked for the Canadian Navy?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475/23 "2008-05-01T15:00:17Z")

</div>

> [@](#):
>
> UNCLOS Article 101: Definition of Piracy  
> In the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) of 1982, “maritime piracy” consists of:
> 
> (a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

I haven’t looked up the history on this, but my first thought is that the protests and violence engaged in by these groups may not meet the standard of acts committed for “private ends.” I would take that term to mean primarily the personal enrichment of the perpetrators. While there’s no doubt that the protesters are committing acts of aggression, my initial read is that it would be difficult to say they’re doing it for personal enrichment, which appears to be necessary under the terms of LOS.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\
**Post date:** [May 1, 2008, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475/24 "2008-05-01T15:26:29Z")

</div>

Any of you nautical types able to say approximately when civilian ships stopped having arms lockers?

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alf-elf-what-prevents-us-from-blowing-them-out-of-the-water/447475.md?page=1)