# Pirates are dumb. **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2010, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712 "2010-04-11T06:31:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/41 "2010-04-13T02:43:34Z")
They weren’t really shot at. A couple of bolt action 30.06’s or even some AK47s against a chain cannon? ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/42 "2010-04-13T02:44:11Z")
I suppose it’s a good thing the pirates didn’t attack a French frigate. Then we would be dealing with some seriously well armed pirates. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/43 "2010-04-13T02:45:18Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > They weren’t really shot at. A couple of bolt action 30.06’s or even some AK47s against a chain cannon? If I’m standing on the deck at the wrong time, it’s small comfort indeed to learn that my ship’s chain cannon will make the pirates’ giblets bounce immediately thereafter. Shooting is shooting, and a serious business. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/44 "2010-04-13T19:02:44Z")
What’s the big deal about sinking these rats at sea? Pirates attack, pirate ship sunk, no survivors. Problem solved. Back in Mogadisho, word gets out that piracy doesn’t pay, and sometimes leads to death. Result-fewer kids want to be pirates. ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/45 "2010-04-13T19:09:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I HOPE we are NOT bringing them to the USA for trial-this will cost the taxpayers a fortune..and then they will be in US prisons, then welfare.. then citizenship. > Hopefully, they get stuck in Kenya (or some other country that will take them). > I don’t want them here. Are you high? ---
**Author:** ![Ogre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecb155/32.png) [@Ogre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ogre)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/46 "2010-04-13T19:17:21Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > What’s the big deal about sinking these rats at sea? Pirates attack, pirate ship sunk, no survivors. > Problem solved. > Back in Mogadisho, word gets out that piracy doesn’t pay, and sometimes leads to death. > Result-fewer kids want to be pirates. Because sailors know that the worst possible thing you can do to another person on the ocean is abandon them and leave them to the sharks, drowning, or thirsting to death. We’re better than the pirates. The sailors wouldn’t want that shit to happen to them, so they run SAR operations. Anything else is shameful, inhumane, and absolutely unacceptable. They responded by using reasonable force, then cleaning up after themselves. Kudos to them. And shame on you. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/47 "2010-04-13T19:36:13Z")
> [@Projammer](#): > > I suppose it’s a good thing the pirates didn’t attack a French frigate. > > Then we would be dealing with some seriously well armed pirates. 😃 Actually, they’ve done it twice: like with the US fleet, once against a light frigate and once against a supply ship. And in those two cases, too, the Horn-of-Africa’s not-so-finest ended up having a Really Bad Day. And, yes, felons now are supposed to be immediately deported from the USA after finishing their sentences; used to be they were simply deported BEFORE doing time, but it was pointed out this merely led them to go back into business immediately. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/48 "2010-04-13T20:12:52Z")
The French will mess you up. They blew up a [ship full of hippies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainbow_Warrior_%281955%29) commando-style. Imagine what they would do to armed pirates. “Surrender monkey” jokes aside, their military is tough. WRT Ralph’s last statement, do we know if all the pirates are willing participants? Press-ganging people is as old as ships, and Africa has a history of child/teenage soldiers. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/49 "2010-04-13T21:09:11Z")
> [@Ogre](#): > > Because sailors know that the worst possible thing you can do to another person on the ocean is abandon them and leave them to the sharks, drowning, or thirsting to death. We’re better than the pirates. The sailors wouldn’t want that shit to happen to them, so they run SAR operations. Anything else is shameful, inhumane, and absolutely unacceptable. They responded by using reasonable force, then cleaning up after themselves. Kudos to them. Hear, hear! ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2010, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712/50 "2010-04-13T22:07:11Z")
> [@Grumman](#): > > They’ve done the same thing to a Russian warship. I think that time the pirates weren’t so lucky. > > It’s still funny, though. In Soviet Russia… You Pirate Pirates? There’s gotta be better wording for this one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pirates-are-dumb/535712.md?page=2)