Anti-Piracy Curtain': Super Soak Pirates to Prevent Them From Boarding Your Ship

When you picture fighting off pirates in the open sea, you most likely get a Pirates of the Caribbean vision of cannons and sword play, but as Popular Science points out, commercial ships do not carry weapons leaving themselves with little defense. Two Japanese companies have devised a system they're calling the Anti-Piracy Curtain, which makes use of the most abundant resource commercial ships have while at sea: water.

Essentially, the anti-piracy curtain super soaks the pirates with fire hoses, preventing them from getting on the ship and also filling their boats with water. It s main purpose though is to deter pirates in the first place by being seen from far away. DigInfo TV has more on the system by Monohakobi Technology Institute and Yokio:

The system consists of two elements, the first sprays water from high-volume nozzles, which hinder the pirates from boarding the ship, as well as filling up the pirate's vessels with water, and the second are hoses which whip around violently, with the purpose of intimidating pirates from a distance.

[...]

The high-volume nozzle was developed to work effectively with the fire pumps on small boats, which are especially vulnerable to piracy. It sprays enough water to prevent a ladder being raised, maintaining a rate of two tons of per hour at a pressure of 0.2MPa. Also, the hose deters pirates from climbing aboard, through its irregular motion and impact force of around 700 N.

Check out the report on this use of the equipment:

The system can fill the pirate boat with as much as one centimeter of water per minute. Currently, the companies have shown the system to work continuously for two weeks. They are making improvements and testing the equipment before releasing a commercial setup.