A while back, I wrote about the problem of modern day piracy, and how it shows the need for armed self defense at sea. Some of pirates that captured the Sirius Star, and received a $3 million ransom to release the ship and its crew, have suffered a well-deserved misfortune:
Five of the Somali pirates who released a hijacked oil-laden Saudi supertanker drowned with their share of a reported $3 million ransom after their small boat capsized, a pirate and port town resident said Saturday.
While it is good that these particular pirates will be unable to commit their crimes at sea anymore, other criminals will certainly step up to take their places. Until ships are able to defend themselves, or all merchant ships are escorted by warships, piracy will likely continue. Even ships that are hundreds of miles out at sea, as the Sirius Star was, are vulnerable to these increasingly sophisticated pirates. Given the fact that warship escorts are too expensive, armed self defense would appear to be the only viable option.