In ‘The Waterman’ our hero has a bloody encounter with a few Pirates in the Florida Keys in the 1770′s. At that time most pirates, especially those in the Keys, were pretty desperate folks, no more than scavengers from ship wrecks on the coral reefs. And those shipwrecks were often caused by the scavengers themselves with false light signals from the shore. Survivors were not tolerated, for they would only tell the wrong tales.

Modern pirates are no less desperate, think of the Somalis, but their means for extracting wealth is from larger ships and is usually ransom based. Fortunately, hostages often survive the ordeal.

However, we still have those attacks of smaller Vessels in certain dangerous waters. In those situations, modern day pirates are no less lethal than their ancestors. So, most long distance cruisers in small vessels are very well armed. To not be so prepared can be quite foolish.