The Salty Barrister

Pirates.  That's the topic on this evening's news.  I'm down here on the West Coast of Florida dovetailing a little break into a bit of business.  I'm watching the television with a sunburn, a drink and the laptop under a tall sky scudded gray.  I can't tell you how nice it is to see good 'ol American grit on display what with the crew taking back their ship, the M/V MAERSK ALABAMA.  As for the Captain, if the crew's actions are a product of his guiding hand, he has the "right stuff" to make it out of this unscathed.  Oddly, the international maritime law isn't so keen on gunplay on the high seas.  I say "oddly" because it seems to me that an armed riding crew or two might put a kabash on the pirates' business model.  Domestically, did you know that the U.S. Coast Guard can fire upon a vessel that fails to stop on its command?  And you know what, that agency is statutorily relieved of liability for damages or deaths arising from such gunplay?  Go on, take a look at the statute yourself . . . 14 U.S.C. Section 637.
 
Underway and making way, and hey, let's keep that Captain in our thoughts.
 
--- JKF