Whta on earth is the world coming to soft western targets allowing themselves to be intimidated yet again. We nee hard forceful action to push back the bullies of this world

Neil, Edinburgh, Scotland

hilarious - sorry we got no weapons but we will protect the ship with ... water canons! seems the security firm fulfilled a need and the shipping compnany met the law

John, Milton Keynes,

Same as British police who are not allowed to carry guns. Like children they somehow believe that announcing they are British will deter these people. "Be gone bad you evil dastardly people or we will say bad things to you and you will be scared of us!"

KR, Florence, Italy

American flagged vessels have no trouble getting Embarked Security Detachments from the US Navy to board them in the Med and ride them to the Gulf. They have .50 caliber machine guns and grenade launchers and attitude.

Maybe the Liberian Navy needs to create such security forces for Liberian ships

Curtis, San Diego, CA

There is no point staying and adding to the problem of being a hostage. These pirates would be able to command more for westerners.

Hugh, Bromley, UK

I disagree.

Jim, London,

The solution is to get the fisherman involved back to fishing and that means getting a UN force of fishery protection vessels in to keep EU and other fishing boats out of these waters. Of course it would help "encourage" the fisherman back to their former profession if the UN ships packed a punch.

philip, skegness,

as i'm by no means an expert in military tactics, i must ask as a question: why isn't the US Navy flying Hawkeye & Hornet missions from an airstrip at it's Camp Lemonier in Djibouti, on the West end of Gulf of Aden? couldn't they track & interdict pirate ops that way?

John, Dallas, USA

If it's almost impossible for guards to carry guns on board then what do these anti-piracy companies offer? A warm fuzzy feeling? Hope they are putting pressure on teh powers that be to relax those rules, or they will be out of business!

Daniel Becker, Sheffield, UK

Errr, did anyone read the report in its entirety, or did you just reading headlines and commenting?
'Mr Davis said his guards were unarmed because it was almost impossible to carry firearms through Customs and on to vessels in most countries.'
Unless the rules are relaxed, the piracy will continue.

Dan, Cambridge,

On Nov. 21, the Guardian's headline was striking yet thought-provoking: The Sun Sets on US Power. I think their article, though extremely interesting, did not look deeply enough into this evolution. The sun is setting on much more than US power.

McMillan, Paris, France

British and Irish anti-piracy experts? I'm sorry but how much expertise does it require to be able to dive away from trouble? By that measure, consider me one as well. I can even leave a trail of yellow substance for other experts to follow my trail by sight and smell.

Somchai, Bangkok, Thailand

The reason the APMSS, people were not armed is because to date they have advertised as a "non lethal" security company. Also trying to get weapons permits for private security personnel is very difficult and takes a lot of time to arrange in the end user certificates.

Rick Matthews, London, England

Unarmed security 'experts'. Is this a joke?

SteveW, Birmingham, UK

Most of these messages talk about arming the ships Guards, giving the crew RPG's etc. The bar room generals clearly have no understanding of the concequnces of fire arms being discharged on the deck of a ship carrying 1000's of tonnes of highly flammable and potentially toxic cargo.

Tom, Billingham, UK

Clearly most posters haven't read the article, had they done so they would see that they (the security detachment) either cannot take weapons on board because of the cargo or they can't get them through customs. Otherwise of course they would have been armed.

Jurgen, St Maixent sur Vie, France

I do not understand why the three ex-military men would not have been equipped with the most advanced weapons possible to assist them in performing their duties and detering the skanks and thieves trying to board the vessel.Their decision to bail ,was right
dont find fault,find a remedy

james knowles, toronto, canada

Gosh, if you want to repel pirate attacks, you're going to need to be armed as well. Water cannons and loud noise isn't going to stop anyone.

Andrew, Salem, USA

This is why it is ridiculous to use unarmed guards. The US Navy has suggested armed teams be deployed to protect shipping in this region. The pirates will not stop unlesss it becomes too high a risk, getting sprayed with fire hoses, and annoyed with large loudspeakers doesn;t qualify.

Gavin Stevenson, Aberdeen,

Get aircraft carriers into the area.Watch via satellite the sea area. Then make all pirates aware that there will be an exclusion zone around all commercial ships. If any unknown shipping approaches the vessels,A jet will buzz them once ,if they don't retreat they will sank .

Mr J Jones, coventry, england

The reality is that shipping companies must have on board armed security, Vice Adm. Bill Gortney, commander of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet and the Combined Maritime Forces said "What I am pushing, what we are pushing with the shipping industry, is that they need to put security detachments on these vessels,"

Rick Matthews, London, England

I also thought it was cheeky of them to jump overboard like that at first, but I suppose if they were unarmed they thought that life of a British commando/security guard/ex-soldier hostage wouldn't be so comfortable in a country like Somalia. Well at least they tried I suppose.

Baris, Caen, France

It is time for the countries of the world to get together and send in their war ships to clean out the problem. What are they waiting for?

Bob, Sewell,NJ,

Can someone pleas tell me why these ships are not armed with RPGs and heavy artillery? Why don't the ships destroy anything that comes close? I don't understand why a giant tanker can't be outfitted with guns that can destroy ANYONE who gets close? Are we worried about being politically correct???

Max, Bristol, England

This is security provided by an agency ,you have to be kidding this sounds more like the U.N. had been sent as security with orders not to shot, just how long has this agency been in pirate abatement. These are pirates at least the men should have been given sabors and a musket or two. Water ballon

pomoc, oceanside ,california, USA

Wouldn't it have been a good idea to issue the guards with guns?

Tom, London,

The APMSS provides UNARMED 3-man teams of former soldiers to protect commerical vessels.
May I suggest that EVERY ship that hired them demand their money back, and hire AMERICAN soldiers. AMERICAN soldiers would not be found without weapons in a combat situation.

issachar5, Clemson, USA, USA