commentary: hand-to-hand combat (on the high seas)

i've heard multiple times from multiple sources in multiple situations that hand-to-hand combat is increasingly irrelevant in modern society, that the value of learning realistic battlefield or street-fighting martial arts is becoming nullified in an age where the rule of law is becoming commonplace and technology has transformed the nature of violence. these kinds of perspectives often argue that martial arts, if they are to have any relevance--and hence survive--into the future, must transform into sport-oriented activities.

and given the course of life of most people i've encountered, these kinds of voices would be true.

but then every once in a while i come across something that reminds me that the real world doesn't always follow the voices of opinion, and that life always throws you something that defies statistical probabilities. and that includes the reality of battlefield and street-fighting combat.

here's one:

• http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/12/18/africa/pirates.php

i've put the full text of the article at the bottom of this post. it's about the piracy situation off the coast of Somalia. ostensibly, the article is about the Chinese (People's Republic of) navy expanding its international role and sending ships to protect shipping against the Somali pirates.

but note near the end of the article where it talks about the incident that spurred the PRC navy to action: a Chinese merchant ship was boarded by pirates, and the crew then fought back, using hand-to-hand combat.

yeah.

how much you want to bet this involved some martial arts skills? even if rudimentary, i bet it did. and i'm willing to bet it wasn't fighting for points. the merchant crew were not military, nor street thugs, but i'm pretty sure the combat was about as close to battlefield or street-use martial arts as you can get.

and i also suspect that the merchant crew probably started their careers thinking that the chances of engaging in hand-to-hand combat on the high seas against pirates was an archaic figment of the imagination, and something they'd never have to deal with in the modern era of globalization and international trade.

just goes to show you that real life is a little different than what you'd think. you just never know.

but the point is the same: you just never know when and where traditional battlefield or street-fighting martial arts skills will be necessary...and the way life works, when and where those skills become necessary, they'll invariably be in situations when you really need them--as in: your survival. in which case, statistical probabilities will be the least of your concerns, and the only thing that matters is if you can defend yourself or not.

China confirms its navy will fight Somali pirates
International Herald Tribune
By Mark McDonald
Thursday, December 18, 2008

HONG KONG: The Chinese government confirmed Thursday that it would send naval ships to the Gulf of Aden to help in the fight against piracy there. The mission, which is expected to begin in about two weeks, would be first modern deployment of Chinese warships outside the Pacific.

The announcement came as the captain of a Chinese cargo ship that was attacked Wednesday in the gulf said his crew had used beer bottles, fire hoses and homemade incendiary bombs to battle a gang of pirates that had boarded his vessel.

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Liu Jianchao, said Thursday that 1,265 Chinese merchant ships had passed through the gulf this year. Seven have been attacked.

"Piracy has become a serious threat to shipping, trade and safety on the seas," Liu said at a news briefing in Beijing. "That's why we decided to send naval ships to crack down on piracy."

He gave no details about the size of the naval mission, but a Beijing newspaper, The Global Times, reported that the navy was likely to deploy two destroyers and a supply ship.

"We absolutely welcome all nations, because as we've said all along, piracy is an international problem that requires an international solution," Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, said Thursday from Bahrain.

Cyrus Mody, a spokesman for the International Maritime Bureau in London, a clearinghouse for piracy information and maritime-safety issues, also welcomed the news of the Chinese mission when told about it.

"It's definitely a positive development, and it will be welcomed," he said. "The sea area being threatened there is vast, and the number of assets from the international navies is not sufficient."

The maritime bureau said 109 ships had been attacked in the gulf this year and 42 had been hijacked. Fourteen ships are currently being held for ransom, including the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker, and the Faina, a Ukrainian cargo ship carrying 32 armored tanks and other heavy weapons.

Mody said Thursday that negotiations with the hijackers were continuing for the release of the ships. "But the owners don't like to talk about that, for the safety of the crew members," he said.

The Chinese Navy, officially known as the People's Liberation Army Navy, has long concentrated on coastal defense and regional maneuvers. But in recent years it has embarked on an ambitious modernization plan.

The principal mission for Chinese naval vessels in the Gulf of Aden would presumably be the escorting of Chinese cargo ships and oil tankers from the Middle East bound for Chinese ports. Policing patrols, some maritime experts suggested, would be secondary.

But Mody said Thursday it would be important for the Chinese effort to be melded "on an operational level" with other navies already patrolling in the gulf. The European Union recently began an anti-piracy operation in the gulf, and several other nations have a naval presence there, including India, the United States and Russia. "We would like to see cooperation so everyone is in the loop," Mody said. When a hijacking attempt occurs, "whoever's closest can respond as fast as possible."

Peng Weiyuan, the captain of the Chinese cargo ship that was attacked Wednesday in the gulf, gave a harrowing account of his crew's battle on deck with the Somali pirates. His remarks came in an interview with China Central Television.

After seven pirates managed to board his vessel, the Zhenhua 4, Peng said his crew fought the gang to a standstill using whatever was at hand until the pirates "gestured to us for a cease-fire." The crew then retreated to a locked area on the boat and sent a distress signal.

According to a duty officer at the Piracy Reporting Center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a nearby Malaysian warship was alerted and sent a helicopter to the scene. When the helicopter fired around the Chinese boat, the pirates panicked and fled in a speedboat.

The Malaysian warship did not apprehend the pirates, Mody said, because international rules are still unclear about where the pirates could be detained and how they could be tried.

Mody said the Zhenhua 4 operates under the flag of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. At 26,000 tons, it is an average-size cargo vessel that might have been carrying machinery.