Okay Low Flier, what's your brilliant answer then ?
Barry, Merchant ships were indeed armed, including East Indiamen, but never able to take on a fully tooled up Ship Of the Line; they were equipped to take on pirates, not warships.
Even the square rigged training ship 'Royalist' has dummy painted on gunports, as the East Indiamen did, but this time for the sake of looks rather than deterrence - her only armament apart from what the skipper may have tucked away is a saluting cannon !
And yes I have sailed her and a few others, not as a Cadet but being given a lift home after a hairy delivery trip in my little boat.
Merchant ships such as Carracks were always a little bit fatter & slower, for load carrying, compared to their contempory warships, once the two types began developing.
As for the Somalis, I've said it before & I'll say it again, time for a 'Q' Ship !
That's not any 'Western' theory, I'd be similarly p'd off at attacks on any ship or yacht from anywhere.
Last edited by Double Zero; 18th May 2010 at 08:51.