Having a weapon on board gives you more options.
The Bahamas has become a lot safer since the U. S. Coast Guard has been allowed to assist the Bahamas Defense Force in patrolling these waters. Back in the days of the drug runners (1970s) things were very different. It was scary.
A couple years back I was sitting across from our Bahamas Customs Agent while I was waiting to clear. He was busy sorting his transires, the documents he fills out listing the guns and ammunition carried aboard for each boat. Make, caliber, serial number and exact amount of ammunition are listed for each weapon in a special spot on the form. Even reading upside down I could see that virtually every boat's form was filled out for this, indicating that most were armed.
About 25 years ago some friends and I were bringing Fanfare back from the Bahamas to the U.S. We left Chub Cay that morning at 16 kts. A bit past Northwest Channel Light, on the shallow Bahama Banks, we suddenly slowed down even though both engines were running. I anchored and checked the stbd transmission. After some wrenching I found that it was something inside the transmission, and that I was not going to fix this out there. Up anchor, and head for Cat Cay. Autopilot put about 15 degrees of rudder angle in and we proceeded at about 8 kts. on one engine. This meant we would not reach Cat Cay until after midnight, but that is why we have running lights. All went well until about 10:30 pm when my friend said: "I see distress flares ahead." And there they were, far ahead. His next words were "You're not going over there, are you?" I replied, "We have to. This water is over our heads, someone could drown. Besides, we are only one engine away from distress ourselves." I flashed my spotlight at them to let them know we were coming and began our preparations. First I loaded both my 12 ga. pump shotguns. My friend said, "If you get close enough for anyone to jump aboard the first person I shoot is YOU." I think he meant it, too.
I was running the boat from the flying bridge. I had called the USCG on VHF, but nobody answered. Probably out of range. I told my friend we would stay about 50 ft. from the other boat. When we got about 100 yards from it I wanted him to illuminate them with our spotlight. This would let us see them and also blind them from seeing us. I told him to keep the big "One Mile Ray" light with its 500 watt Cinemascope projection bulb on them at all times. The boat made me very nervous. It was a white 35 ft cabin cruiser, no name on the stern or numbers, Spanish speaking crew, several males, no women. They were disabled and at anchor. Having poco Spanish, I told them I had taken their position and would send help, but could not tow them. They did not need food or water. A few hours later, off Cat, I tried to radio this, again with no answer. Early the next morning I contacted BASRA who said they would retrieve them. The possible reason for no radio response was that the night before a go-fast had run over several swimmers in Bimini Harbor injuring and killing several. Probably everyone had been exhausted and gone to bed after helicoptering out the injured.
The question is, would I have gone to assist without the shotguns? We surely couldn't outrun anyone on one engine. As it was, we did about as well as could be expected under the circumstances. I must admit I was a little shaky unloading those guns in the dark.
