I don’t know was weird to see a Trump flag and I realized they were not part of recovery effort. Sounds like SpaceX announced they landing coordinates and that’s why they were able to get out there.

No, it’s international water and they have every right to be there.

Try getting close to a warship in international waters and you'll find that right has some... functional limits, though.

Devil's advocating: I did exactly this several times in my sailing career. Military vessels are regulated by the same international laws and rules as all other sea navigation subjects.

Fellow sailor crossed the course of Turkish submarine while under sail (meaning he had a right of passage). It was in Turkey's waters (!) about 10 years ago. Instead of changing course they made an emergency dive exercise.

> Instead of changing course they made an emergency five exercise.

It’s gotta be fun to have three dimensions of freedom available when making course changes.

But man, I’d freak out if I were on the sailboat watching that happen!

Me too! But he is a racer and was ready to do a quick tack just in case.

Unless you’re a lighthouse

Those are unlikely to be in international waters. I do know the old joke you’re referring to, though!

Thinking of xkcd1053....

https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-obstinate-lighthouse/

Not just a warship. Regular boats are also fed up with piracy and have some pretty nasty countermeasures.

Greenpeace used a non-lethal attack involving stink bombs from hell... glass bottles filled with some kind of oily sulfurous compound that got on everything. I wonder if anyone in commercial shipping does that. Definitely not something you would want to test.

If it's painted grey, get out of the way!

Rights vs responsibilities is a tricky subject these days.

I could be totally wrong but I didn’t think any part of the Gulf of Mexico was considered international waters? I thought the US (and maybe/hopefully Mexico) had approval over oil rigs and such in the Gulf.

Anything more than 12 miles out is "international waters", but there's a 200 mile "exclusive economic zone". Mexico and Cuba have theirs; between the three nearly all the Gulf is covered.

That said, international waters isn't actually a lawless zone. These boats are undoubtedly registered in the US, and thus subject to US law.

It's 12 and 200 nautical miles, to be precise.

Even if it is US territorial waters, why can't the private boats be there? I'm not saying they should be there, but legally is it different than if Musk flipped the CyberTruck on a public road and people walked around the crash site?

> I'm not saying they should be there, but legally is it different than if Musk flipped the CyberTruck on a public road and people walked around the crash site?

It's hardly uncommon for cops to tell people to back up from an accident/crime scene if they're too close.

Presumably there are some sort of "rules of the road" that govern how and where vessels can maneuver? I can't just drop anchor at the mouth of Boston Harbor and prevent everyone else from accessing it. Or maybe I can? I have no idea.

There's a veritable crowd around the recovery boat now, lol. 3:13p EST

There are a few private boats out there as well. One with a Trump 2020 flag just cruised through the camera shot.

Nah, there was a shot of regular civilian vessels (some with Trump flags).