HAS ANYONE EVER TAKEN A SHIP

[Elkeater]

A fine group of literate retired men. Cigars, fine liquor. Decks of cards.
I can see a book written of this adventure. Maybe a cameraman.

Lon

Quite the romantic you are sir. I may have been born in the wrong century or decade. I certainly can see the romanticism in the journey. Heck I see it in air travel. I left home at 18 in the deck of a ship. Not much more romantic than a young man leaving his home on a ship. Or a group of well read and classy gentleman enjoying life aboard a ship bound for exotic lands. If I ever win the lotto I’m doing this.

 

[C.W. Richter]

Firearms on-board will be an issue. I ran into same years back when I wanted to take the Auto Train (put my truck in a car carrier, sleep/dine well in passenger cars up front) down to FL for a mid-winter hunt with friends. They do not allow. Legend has it that TR swam with 1-hand tied behind his back..The Italians kept the would-be pirates at bay back then! lol

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

Anyone who be part of the trip is going to be a couple steps of the average guy, so I am sure adversity will be overcome.

Most will have sons, grandson that would probably be willing to bring his fathers rifle over with a invitation letter. Being the kind person the son is he allows his father use the rifle while he observes. I am not saying do this, but this is going to be a very special group of men, the last of a kind, probably never to be repeated. It has all of the makings of a great book/video.

Lon

 

[Green Chile]

Then there are the Somali Pirates.

Lon

Lon are you offering a cull hunt for pirates? You might be on to something...

 

[WAB]

Years ago, aunt and uncle brought their family home on furlough as passengers on a cargo ship. They had quite the adventure steaming from New Guinea to Canada!

 

[Tokoloshe Safaris]

I see there is a company in the uk that specialize in this up to 12 passengers but usually 4to 6

Lon

 

[Inkgardener]

Target practice….. imagine slamming a couple 500gr .470 solids into the outboard motors of a pirate skiff as it attempts to deploy a boarding ladder.

Honestly, I’d pay for that aqua Safari!
View attachment 625316

At the very least it would be amusing to watch the unintended consequences of swiss cheesing their dinghy.

 

[LimbNoMo]

Lon,

Do you have a link for the company?

I know you wrote you were not thinking of a cruise ship, but last night I did some looking and Norwegian Cruise Lines sails from Spain to Cape Town.

QE2 from NYC to Southampton
NCL from Barcelona to Cape Town

Mike

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

Easy guys...

Somebody correct me if I am wrong but I do not think ships are allowed to enter foreign ports with weapons.

Secondly, today’s pirates are often armed which RPGs with have an approximately 1100-meter range. Granted the best gunners couldn’t hit a HMMWV at that range but a ship is a massive target compared to a HMMWV!

A 20mm deck gun and a couple of .50 Browning M-2’s would be interesting!

 

[Laniarius]

At the very least it would be amusing to watch the unintended consequences of swiss cheesing their dinghy.

I remember seeing rumours about 10-15 years ago about outfits where one could cruise around off the horn of Africa with some armed security contractors and have the "opportunity" to take part in confrontations. I think this was clamped down on for obvious liability and political reasons.

 

[Hogpatrol]

Many moons ago I remember Lykes Lines used to carry a small number, twelve or so around South America and through the canal. Dug this old thread up those times.

Lykes Lines

A classic profile awaiting transit through the Panama Canal, Cristobal.

www.shipsnostalgia.com

"Definitely one of Lykes Lines' stretched Pacer-Class; general cargo ships, but difficult to say exactly which one. Around the same time this photo was taken I was Second Mate on the SS Ashley Lykes, which was identical to this ship and operated on this same run, between the U.S. Gulf Coast to the West Coast of South America, via the Panama Canal. We carried all sorts of general cargo, as well as 12 paying passengers.

These were the last general cargo ships I ever sailed on that still carried passengers. I understand that the cabins were always booked up six months in advance, and no wonder! Stops included Corpus Christi, Houston, New Orleans, Pensacola, Cartagena, Cristobal, Buenaventura, Guayaquil, Callao, Matarani, Arica and Valparaiso; and the passengers got to experience it all on a REAL ship, not a floating holiday-camp. I'll never forget one passenger who, while the rest of the passengers went on a guided tour of Vina Del Mar, decided instead to go ashore with the some of the crew in Valparaiso. He looked a mess when he came back but he was also happy. He said that he got drunk he got laid and he got mugged, but he had had the time of his life! Sure beats Carnival Cruises!"

 

[Tubby’s Canteen]

You can carry rifles on board of ship if they are properly declared when entering a foreign port, it would be no different than entering a country via an airport. You would have to declare the rifles through customs. From what I can tell the lack of firearms onboard is company policy for most companies but I would think you can get around that if you chartered a ship.

 

[375 Ruger Fan]

Maybe start out small with a boat based hunt in Alaska

Home - Glacier Guides

glacierguidesinc.com

 

[Seavas]

This would be a great adventure, take a 60 plus foot sport fisher and fish your way across the Atlantic and work down the west coast of Africa to your safari and shoot back across the Atlantic to Brazil and up the east coast of South America, Central America and Mexico into the Gulf of Mexico. Get off of the boat and NEVER set foot on a boat again.

Dream trip for sure! But you will need much more than a 60' or have a capable mothership for support.
Check out the Bad Company Fishing world tour, he is doing exactly this, minus the safari. One of the very few billionaires that I feel is livin life right.

 

[Green Chile]

Dream trip for sure! But you will need much more than a 60' or have a capable mothership for support.
Check out the Bad Company Fishing world tour, he is doing exactly this, minus the safari. One of the very few billionaires that I feel is livin life right.

Oh that's awesome. I wasn't aware of that but it's not surprising that someone with big $ is dedicated on that scale. Very cool.

 

[Altitude sickness]

Mark, we could take four RIB boats to be dropped in for any support needed

 

[Altitude sickness]

And Mark I’ve seen you shoot. We can station you on the Fantail with a .416 Cheytac

 

[Mark A Ouellette]

And Mark I’ve seen you shoot. We can station you on the Fantail with a .416 Cheytac

Thanks Shipmate!

Aboard TRIPOLI during Desert Storm, I carried a fully automatic M-14 loaded with a tracer every 3rd round. A Marine officer strutting with an M-14 slung over his back and oozing confidence motivated the heck out of sailors and Marines! Ooh, those were the days, to be that young again!

Alas, the only use I had for my trusty companion was for training ship’s company Junior Officers how to properly shoot their shark repellant. That is an M-14 in a locker on the bridge that the Officer of the Deck (OOD) would draw when they would take charge of the motor whale boat. I saw that conducted to retrieve a bag of mail dropped during underway replenishment. Every sailor and Marine aboard that ship was on pins and needles until the mail was retrieved! All the OOD’s were very pleased to receive more training on the M-14 than the five rounds they each shot as familiarization firing in what the naval officers referred to “knife and fork” school.

John Michael Montgomery - Letters from Home song:

PS: If listening to this song and watching the video doesn't make you a little choked up, then like Walz, you were NEVER deployed to a combat zone!

 

[bowjijohn]

Then there are the Somali Pirates.

Lon

Are they extra ?

 

[GuttormG]

You can carry rifles on board of ship if they are properly declared when entering a foreign port, it would be no different than entering a country via an airport. You would have to declare the rifles through customs. From what I can tell the lack of firearms onboard is company policy for most companies but I would think you can get around that if you chartered a ship.

Onboard a vessel it is the laws of the vessels flagstate that applies, most of them do not allow firearms onboard with the exception of small arms used by contracted armed guards when a vessel is sailing in certain waters (be it guards against pirats or polar bears).