Sgt. Jack Sparrow by neiwil
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Description
Not quite sure how to explain this.....one of those moments you have to get a photo because even I didn't believe what I was seeing.....
Prior to my visit to Liverpool's original dock, I went round the Merseyside Maritime Museum at Albert Dock.Stepping outside for a cig, I was looking at the various old boats tied up around the dock.Suddenly up roared 2 semi-rigid inflatables full of armed Welsh Policemen who swarmed aboard one of the ships.It was soon obvious it was an exercise, the rubber guns were a bit of a give-away.One Policeman nearly fell in the dock but his mates pulled him aboard.Now I can understand how this sort of training could be of use, but there are questions.Like, what are the chances the Welsh Armed Response Unit are going to be called to storm a 100 year old sailing ship? There are lots of much more modern ships around the dock they could have used.My opinion is that the deck was the right height and not too difficult to get aboard.This strange scene kept me amused for ten minutes and left me feeling contented.With the downsizing of the Royal Navy, we're not going to be able keep up our 'anti-pirate' patrols.This will leave the field open for Somali pirates to roam further afield.It's good to know that if they ever venture as far as the Mersey....we're ready for them! Or, on the other hand, perhaps these valiant defenders of Valleys are going to ship out to Somalia and arrest the ner'do'wells....evening all!!!
Comments (16)
West_coaster07
Interesting and I'm glad to hear they are practicing. There would be nothing more embarrassing than doing a raid on the wrong 100 year old boat!!!! Great capture!!
dbrv6
Practice Practice lol. Its a solid question.
coyoteviper
perhaps they were pacing their training, starting out small and simple, and then build up from there. you have to start somewhere. lucky chance capture, my friend.
auntietk
You lucky, lucky thing! :) Terrific captures!
blinkings
Who knew old Blackbeard was really a crazed Nigerian drug runner!!!!
bmac62
Good training makes for good execution when the chips are down:) But why Welsh policemen???
preeder
Great picture and as always a great story to go with it. Given the sorry state of this once great nation we would probably give the Somaili's some sort of asylum and they would live the rest of their days in a free council house with hundreds of kids getting every benefit under the sun and never having the work again.
T.Rex
I'm not surprised. Looking back, the coasts of Europe were not safe places to live. From the 1600s to early 1800s "Barbary" pirates snuck on shore at nights, kidnapping people from their homes, which were then pillaged. All were taken to muslim countries where they were sold into slavery. Several million Europeans are estimated to have disappeared. In England there are watch towers with cannon platforms on top to watch and worn against these pirates. So I see this kind of practice as valid. But, right now it can appear rather comical. And then there are of course drug smugglers. I'm glad you got a few photos and that you shared them with us! Keep up the good work! :-)
angora
man!!! familiar with these guys in the inflatables btw... they move fast! tsss we once got arrested when approaching Warrenpoint, Ulster, with a merchant vessel. steaming up slowly while waiting for the pilots to respond to our call... I descended a staircase, about to change clothes for the fore & aft- and ran right into a kalashnikov, pointing at me ;-D turned out that our VHF wasn't working! to make it even worse we came from Bilbao, Basque country! (!) ;-) held captive for hours... us in the captain's room, the boys -deck hands & cook-, in their mess room, questioned questioned ................ LOL while the black gang(s!) were 'unscrewing' our ship they were polite tho, most of 'em even nice
Maxidyne
Found myself humming the theme tune to "When The Boat Comes In" while reading this, ok so it's a North East tune but... Anyway why use rubber guns when they could use a male-voice choir :)
debbielove
How I laughed..... NOT! I read the paper this morning Neil, was somewhat amazed to read we sending AN AIRCRAFT CARRIER to Somalia! This is news to me! I didn't KNOW we had one! Upon reading further it turns out the 'Aircraft Carrier' is a Helicopter Ship! WTF! Anyway mate, Amazing what you see while about town huh? Great capture! well done! Love the rubber gun!!! lol What a waste of money! Rob
Fidelity2
It is excellent. I thank you. 5+!
android65mar
I remember being on Bournemouth beach when my kids were still little- I think Louis was only about three at the time (he's 21 now) and there was an anti-terrorist exercise, I think it was the Royal Marines. Part of the justification for this was that the IRA or somebody had caused a bomb scare around the pier the year before (Yours truly and family duly sat on an empty beach marvelling at all the police ticker-tape around the pier). The exercise consisted of said Marines storming the beach and firing off blank rounds from automatic weapons, a lot more convincing than the rubber do-da's carried by the Welsh plod! Needless to say it scared the bejesus out of my kids and irritated me beyond belief. I guess it was meant to reassure us that should terrorists ever decide to strike on Bournemouth beach a huge group of men in rubber dinghys and helicopters would be close behind them straffing the shore with bullets. Great capture, right place, right time.
flavia49
wonderful collage
Osper
"what are the chances the Welsh Armed Response Unit are going to be called to storm a 100 year old sailing ship?" Always knew you guys were into this tradition thing! ;) Neat catch!
kjer_99
Think I tend to agree with your theory about why they chose that particular ship. Great opportunity for photo-taking, though.