My brother was offered this job when he left the forces... wouldnt fancy it myself.

No body armor? No .50 cals on the bridge wings? Why not?

I thought International Maritime Law established all kinds of restraints for arming civilian vessels. Not wanting to dig through all the minutia, can someone summarize can and cant's or point to a URL which does?

You are correct, but security force should at least have body armor.

Looks like they did fine to me. Sandbags make great armor. Really, what are a few AK47 wielding pirates in aluminum john boats going to do against a fifty thousand ton cargo ship that has, oh, five trained men with automatic rifles behind sandbags?

Huh. That barbed wire looks like it would be very effective against shirtless, shoeless boarders.

Especially if you electrify the fence....

I think the issue isn't skinny men in an aluminum boat shooting AK-47's at the ship, it's skinny men in aluminum boats shooting RPG's at water lines and ship bridges....

Bust out the .50 cals.

No can do, kemo sabe, @Meat Grinder. From the little I've googled, International Maritime Law restricts merchant and civilian vessel crew members to bear only the firearms legally authorized for civilian ownership by the country where they're flagged. US flagged vessel personnel can only bear the civilian allowed arms authorized by US law. British flagged ships to British law, and so on and so forth. Apparently anything else is considered gun-running at ports of call and entry. Historically, it seems that gun-running is a bigger international crime than piracy. There's also a fine line for an armed merchant ship to be considered no longer civilian-owned but rather an extension of a national navy. This would bar merchant ships under a national flag from ports where that nation's navy is barred. It also impinges insurance contracts. Any breach of law by a ship owner really wreaks havoc on their maritime insurance protections. Any limitation on port entry destroys the profits of trade. Catch-22 in continual circles, my friend! The Somali's and their paymasters are sailing gunships through all those legal loopholes. Meanwhile, they can't govern their own country to save their souls. Clever thievery all around and up and down.

Badger73 said:

International Maritime Law restricts merchant and civilian vessel crew members to bear only the firearms legally authorized for civilian ownership by the country where they're flagged. US flagged vessel personnel can only bear the civilian allowed arms authorized by US law.

Click to expand...

Yea. If I wasn't such an old fat fuck I would be signing on to a security detail for a U.S. cargo ship.

Meat Grinder said:

Yea. If I wasn't such an old fat fuck I would be signing on to a security detail for a U.S. cargo ship.

Click to expand...

Yep, born to soon for the really cool toys of childhood as well as the more interesting "Security Firm" employment opportunities . . .

On second thought, I bet their internet is shit on those ships. ;-) Single player games only, I suppose.

@Badger73 so if someone own`s one or more transferables, he would be allowed to use them on a ship? Or if you own a 40mm AA gun (as for example in the forgoten weapons vids on YT) ??
(no trolling, really want to know)

@mcmortison, as my post says, the little I googled seems to say, "No". I'm not a lawyer nor a maritime legal expert. I suppose that if you live in a country whose laws allow you to mount that fully loaded and auto-fire collectible 40mm Bofors in the back of your pick up truck as you drive public roads, you could do the same on a ship flagged for that country in international waters. The same goes for bolting a ring-mounted fully automatic and loaded .50 caliber M2 machine gun on the roof of your SUV before driving city streets. Whatever national laws apply to civilian firearms ownership in a country also apply to the operation of civilian ships licensed by that country while at sea but the laws of the seaport nation govern a ship when docked in it's waters and facilities. To learn more than I posted, you'll have to google deeper than I did.

Will do some googleFU then. I only asked because I was under the impression that, as an American, you can legaly own full auto M60`s and .50cal MG`s if they are pre 1986 and the paperwork is in order. So I presumed that if its legal to own, it should be legal to use it aboard a ship.
But I will google it.
(http://www.thefirearmblog.com/blog/2014/05/21/machine-guns-legal-practical-guide-full-auto/).