[Captain Starbucks]

Here's my fishing boat for the PNW. It's been a good boat for salmon, halibut, lings, tuna. Single Yanmar 6LP straight six diesel, straight shaft. Shamrock 270.

[hubbahubba]

Originally Posted by Captain Starbucks

Here's my fishing boat for the PNW. It's been a good boat for salmon, halibut, lings, tuna. Single Yanmar 6LP straight six diesel, straight shaft. Shamrock 270.

Thanks for posting, Cap'n. Shamrock is a solid boat!

[N54Yankee]

Originally Posted by ///M///

Luckily no but two episodes of Pirate attacks which were unsuccessful thanks to the 3 storey freeboard of VLCC's

Lol. I had to look up VLCC I’ve seen those guys climb! I’d feel a lot better with a back up of two aft mounted M240s.
Where did the attempts happen? We did some Op’s in the Indian Ocean around Somalia and of course they didn’t bother us but we did see a lot of creepy boats that looked like they were up to no good. We buzzed many numerous time with our helo.

[///M///]

Originally Posted by N54Yankee

Lol. I had to look up VLCC I’ve seen those guys climb! I’d feel a lot better with a back up of two aft mounted M240s.
Where did the attempts happen? We did some Op’s in the Indian Ocean around Somalia and of course they didn’t bother us but we did see a lot of creepy boats that looked like they were up to no good. We buzzed many numerous time with our helo.

One off the coast off Nigeria and the other one was in Malacca Straits. The latter is notorious for this stuff. We did always practice pirate watch in pirate infested areas with all fires hoses running shooting water to the sides and deck lights on. Worked as a deterrent.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by ///M///

May be the case in some shady smaller companies but it is technically against the law. That would be classified as a stowaway. I have never seen or heard of that in my 14 years of sailing on tankers.

It is a niche travel market for sure, but adventurous souls can book onto cargo ships as passengers through specialty brokers...including a Hamburg Sud (Maersk Group member) subsidiary:

https://www.hamburgsued-frachtschiffreisen.de

Upon closer examination, it appears that they are not actually booking transit on their own ships, but rather acting as agents for other smaller cargo ship companies. I'm sure that the Jones Act complicates things for us Americans sailing North America, but anyone who has been on more than a handful of passenger ship cruises here has already seen everything in North America anyway.

I saw an interesting 14-day that included the Kiel Canal and St. Petersburg, Russia that probably isn't possible with today's 4,500+ passenger mega-cruise ships. If someone was adventurous, self-entertaining, and wanted to see odd ports and not the normal tourist traps, it seems like a viable niche option. My doctors would probably never sign off on the paperwork they require, but I'd definitely be up for the experience if I were retired and looking for something to do.....

[N54Yankee]

Originally Posted by ///M///

One off the coast off Nigeria and the other one was in Malacca Straits. The latter is notorious for this stuff. We did always practice pirate watch in pirate infested areas with all fires hoses running shooting water to the sides and deck lights on. Worked as a deterrent.

Navigated the Malacca Straight going to Singapore. I was on the bridge as we were leaving the harbor and we almost cut a Junk clean in half when she crossed right in front of our bow unexpectedly. It was close. Amazing to see all the ancient boats sailing around the area. Didn’t know they had pirates there also, makes sense though.

[hubbahubba]

As for travelling as a tourist on container ships, my grandparents took probably 6 or 8 trips in the 80's. Vreihen16, you are right, they were adventurous souls, and they LOVED those trips. They would go for literally months at a time, and stop in many ports that normal cruise lines would never have in the itinerary. It sounded like a great way to travel!