# Coke, Blackjack, and hookers on the high seas **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 28, 2017, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467 "2017-12-28T16:21:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/21 "2017-12-28T21:16:58Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > So you could offer a boat full of the hottest hookers and pure uncut Columbian and for less cost than it costs stateside. Park that boat outside of New York Harbor or LA and let the good times roll. You do know that high seas isn’t a literal term? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/22 "2017-12-28T21:27:50Z")
Heading out 14 miles(12 nautical) is not an easy jaunt. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/23 "2017-12-28T21:38:44Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Heading out 14 miles(12 nautical) is not an easy jaunt. Couldn’t you shuttle people back and forth to the SS Blow in some kind of speedboat ferry? If it hits 20 to 30 knots, that’s only a 20-30 minute or so ride. You could have some of the hooker girls (and guys) in bikinis serving cocktails and generally working the crowd on the ferry until it’s legal for them to do more… ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/24 "2017-12-28T21:40:57Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. How far off-coast are you proposing to put this island of iniquity? > 2. Why would anyone risk going to Hooker Blowland when it’s a certainty they will be picked off by the Coast Guard when they try to return home? 1. Barely outside territorial limits. Say +1 mile, so if the boat drifts a little it won’t cross the line. 2. The people coming back don’t have anything illegal on them and are not doing anything illegal on the trip back. Same concept with gamblers. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/25 "2017-12-28T21:44:07Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > 1. Barely outside territorial limits. Say +1 mile, so if the boat drifts a little it won’t cross the line. > > 2. The people coming back don’t have anything illegal on them and are not doing anything illegal on the trip back. Same concept with gamblers. There won’t be any trace of coke on the ferry. Right. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/26 "2017-12-28T21:45:30Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > 1. Barely outside territorial limits. Say +1 mile, so if the boat drifts a little it won’t cross the line. > > 2. The people coming back don’t have anything illegal on them and are not doing anything illegal on the trip back. Same concept with gamblers. Boat? I thought you were proposing a permanent structure and/or field of some sort? ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/27 "2017-12-28T21:49:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Boat? I thought you were proposing a permanent structure and/or field of some sort? Which post did I say that? I compared it to existing gambling boats, which are cruise ships for gambling that hang out outside the territorial limit. If you were going to grow the drugs onboard, it would have to be inside vats of genetically engineered yeast or something. Obviously something compact, highly productive, without using sunlight. (feed the yeast sugar for energy) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/28 "2017-12-28T21:58:03Z")
If this ship of yours existed, what type of ship might it be? Did you have a specific craft in mind? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/29 "2017-12-28T21:59:20Z")
It’s also possible for a country like the US to pass laws prohibiting travel for purposes of engaging in acts that are illegal within the country. This has already been done for child prostitution, and there’s no reason it couldn’t also be done for this. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/30 "2017-12-28T22:02:10Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > If this ship of yours existed, what type of ship might it be? Did you have a specific craft in mind? A tramp steamer. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/31 "2017-12-28T22:07:42Z")
You could probably skirt any legal issues with prostitution if you used monkubines…though you profit margins would probably take a hit. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/32 "2017-12-28T22:07:50Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > I do wonder then why there apparently aren’t any Freemen of the Ocean types out there… Shh!! Be careful or you’ll summon them Beetlejuice style and we’ll never be rid of their wild-eyed rantings. They’re far worse than the Sovereign Citizens Upon The Land. For sure there have been several proposals to build floating arcologies that would just happen to provide a tax-free domicile for the uber-rich. See [Freedom Ship - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_Ship) as an example. I think they’ve all foundered (heh :)) on the rocks of who will protect them from pirates? Surely not those same countries whose tax laws they’re aggressively flouting? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/33 "2017-12-28T22:09:33Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > A tramp steamer. It would be raided, stripped and sunk within 10 days. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/34 "2017-12-28T22:20:06Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It would be raided, stripped and sunk within 10 days. It’d be “blown” away. ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/35 "2017-12-28T22:26:11Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s also possible for a country like the US to pass laws prohibiting travel for purposes of engaging in acts that are illegal within the country. This has already been done for child prostitution, and there’s no reason it couldn’t also be done for this. Oh, because gambling is legal under Federal law this works, while illegal under most state laws. Ohhh… Prostitution \*is \*legal under federal law, while recreational drug use is _not_. Huh. So that’s why there are gambling cruise ships but not cruise ships with more sin than just that. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/36 "2017-12-28T22:28:56Z")
> [@SamuelA](#): > > Oh, because gambling is legal under Federal law this works, while illegal under most state laws. Ohhh… > > Prostitution \*is \*legal under federal law, while recreational drug use is _not_. > > Huh. So that’s why there are gambling cruise ships but not cruise ships with more sin than just that. This ship you are proposing-Can you think of any reasons why it doesn’t exist yet? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/37 "2017-12-28T22:30:54Z")
The misery trade loves company, but hates competition. Those laws you are proposing to skirt are the only things that would keep you alive if you attempted this. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/38 "2017-12-28T22:39:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > It would be raided, stripped and sunk within 10 days. Catboat? ---
**Author:** ![SamuelA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c77e96/32.png) [@SamuelA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SamuelA)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/39 "2017-12-28T22:42:19Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This ship you are proposing-Can you think of any reasons why it doesn’t exist yet? Could be a lot of reasons. A cruise ship is an expensive asset and a new business is risky. In most cities, the cops leave the independent hookers, aka ‘escorts’, more or less alone. They go after organized brothels but it’s too much effort to go after individual women. In most cities, anyone who wants illegal drugs can get them readily and the quality isn’t terrible, they are just expensive. So maybe I’m overestimating market demand, or maybe the financiers for a project like this wouldn’t want to take the risk. After all, if there were a big public outrage, Congress could just pass some new federal laws the effectively put this kind of thing out of business. The general american public sees paid sex and illegal drug use as much worse sins than mere gambling. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2017, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467/40 "2017-12-28T22:46:08Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This ship you are proposing-Can you think of any reasons why it doesn’t exist yet? Not the Op, but i would wag that they really don’t need to go offshore and there are lots of establishments flying under the radar or behind the veil of secrecy to supply what ever is desired. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/coke-blackjack-and-hookers-on-the-high-seas/805467.md?page=3)