November 2, 2010
Captains joked about playing with BB guns as kids and paintball guns as they grew up, but when we addressed firearms as weapons on yachts, the tone grew serious.
“I always have a gun,” a captain said.
“I think every yacht has had a weapon at some time,” another captain said.
“I thought we didn’t have guns, but it turned out, we did,” a third said.
Guns are prevalent onboard in the yachting industry, according to most of the captains at this month’s Triton From the Bridge luncheon.
Who has guns and why? The group included captains who bring their personal firearms to work, those who work for owners who have guns onboard, and those without firearms on their yachts.
As always, individual comments are not attributed to any one person in particular so as to encourage frank and open discussion. The attending captains are identified in the photograph above.
One captain said that since he is responsible for the safety of everyone in his charge and because criminals, both pirates at sea and crooks on land, have firearms, he prefers to have them also. Several captains justified weapons because yachts are often targets for crime.
“If someone tries to board us, I’m saying, ‘you may get on, but you won’t get off’,” this captain said.
“Pirates will usually have bigger weapons, but I think even small guns can be a deterrent,” a second captain said. “A lot of them are opportunists, like in the Bahamas, and they’ll try unless it gets too difficult. Now Somalia is a different thing. Those guys are pros.”
“You can do like the Saudi boats with the big guns and rocket launchers,” a third captain said.
One of the captains said he has worked on three yachts over a hundred feet and all the owners had guns.
“It’s almost unhealthy not to have a firearm,” a captain said.
“But, if you’re not prepared, don’t have one,” another said, “There are alternate forms of defense, like tasers and pepper spray.”
“We have a taser, but you know you have to declare them?” said a third. “They are considered a weapon.”
“I thought a flare gun would work,” another captain said.
“But that would burn the boat,” a captain responded.
Two of the captains in attendance have backgrounds in military and law enforcement and said they have guns at work because they carry one in their personal lives, anyway.
But, even a captain who had worked on yachts with guns wasn’t comfortable in every situation. He said he once showed up for a job interview and was frisked as he boarded to meet the interviewer.
“I looked around and saw they were all carrying. That’s not a boat I want to work on,” he said.
“Some people say they don’t like guns, but guns have a place,” another captain said. “If someone is threatening your family or kids and I can help with a gun, you’ll like guns.”
Occasionally, one captain said, firearms are to guard against people within the industry.
“Freelance work is tough, you never know who you’re working with,” one of them said. “I’ve worked with some shifty characters as crew."
If a yacht has guns onboard, who knows about them and where are they kept? Whether crew are told about the shotgun, .308 rifle, .45 pistol, 9mm handgun, or semi-automatic Mini-14, possibly found on board in this group, varies with each yacht.
“Maybe tell the mate, it depends on the crew or the size of the boat,” one captain said.
“It depends if they’re comfortable with them,” another captain said.
“You need to train the crew if they’re not comfortable with guns,” said a third. “If you’re off the coast, you can teach them at sea.”
“I don’t tell anyone I have a gun,” a fourth captain said.
The most common firearm listed by the group was the shotgun.
“Shotguns are the best deterrent, everybody knows that sound,” a captain said. “And you don’t have to have good aim; you’ll stop someone.”
Captains will store the weapons in their cabin, the owner’s stateroom, the yacht safe, the lock box and behind false walls or in a hidden compartment.
“It lives in my briefcase,” one captain said.
“If I leave the boat, I leave it unloaded and separate the ammo,” another captain said. “When it’s locked you can’t load it, but sometimes I take the ammo with me.”
The captains discussed how they handle their ordnance while travelling because rules vary from cruising ground to cruising ground. In additional to international laws, there are regional regulations and even different laws between neighboring marinas that happen to fall across state lines.
Without a definitive place for answers, the captains shared their sources.
“I call the dockmaster for local rules.”
“I call the [U.S.] State Department and check online.”
“Talk to a captain who’s been there before.”
“Check the country’s laws and check with your yacht agents.”
“I go to a good gun shop, one that sells to the police, to find out the current laws.”
The experience of having a gun onboard differs by country, several captains said.
“The gun stays on the boat in the Bahamas,” one said. “But in a lot of places, they take it, like in the British Virgins and Bermuda.”
Some governments leave the guns on the boat and seal the gun box, while many count the rounds of ammunition and verify all are accounted for upon departure, another captain said.
“But everyone is overlooking the laws for international,” one captain said. “You’re not supposed to have firearms in international waters, so you can’t travel with them.”
“Even cruise ships?” another asked. “Are you sure? I figured the captain should be armed. I don’t think it’s right the captain can’t carry.”
“Now they lock the crew in, like on airplanes,” the first captain said. “They have that room where the crew is safe and the rest of the boat can do whatever.”
“But piracy is on the rise,” the second captain said. “They should be able to have guns.”
The conversation veered to laws in the United States where federal laws can differ greatly from states laws.
“Each state is different, that’s why I don’t take firearms along the U.S. coast,” a captain said.
Especially in New York, several captains said, referencing the recent arrest of a captain by N.Y. police. The issue of firearms onboard was addressed in the Triton "Carrying gun onboard a complex issue," and "Updates on VGP, sewage and weapons."
“If you are not stopping in New York and you do get boarded by the Coast Guard, I imagine you’ll still have a problem if you don’t have their permit,” a captain said.
“In Massachusetts you [can] get a year in prison for not having a permit,” a third captain said.
“Regulations are comical anyway; people who don’t follow rules, don’t follow rules,” a captain said.
A concern of several of the captains is simply knowing if there are firearms onboard their own boat.
“If the Coast Guard boards, I need to know if there are guns,” a captain said. “I ask everyone about narcotics and guns, especially charter guests. I have a form for everyone to fill out.”
“What if the owner has a gun and doesn’t tell you?” another captain said.
“It’s like drugs, you really don’t know,” another responded. “I had one where I found out several years later there was a gun on board.”
“What are you going to do? You can’t tell the owner he can’t bring a gun,” he said.
One of the captains said it is important, if boarded, to tell the Coast Guard about weapons, even if the officer doesn’t ask.
“But they’re supposed to ask,” a captain said.
“Yeah, but sometimes, whether they’re young, new or they just don’t, they freak out if they see it or find it,” the first captain said.
Another captain said it is better to declare because there are search dogs that can detect guns and ammunition by smelling the oil and gunpowder.
Firearms can have disadvantages, even when captains have good intentions for their arsenal.
“A problem with guns is that people will use them,” one captain said. “If they’re drunk or mad, they will use them. And people can use them to commit suicide.”
“It’s all in the responsibility of the gun holder,” a second captain said.
Things can go wrong, another captain said. He told of an onboard incident that changed his boat’s gun policy.
”We were fishing with an observer who wanted to go home, but we explained the boat would not be returning for a while. He freaked out, got the gun onboard, barricaded himself in and was threatening us,” this captain said. “The captain tricked the guy and got the gun away.
“We just had the gun onboard to kill big fish, but after that, the policy was no more guns.”
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