Why do they put up with piracy?

Why is it that the crew aboard this Chinese cargo ship are unarmed while underway? Why do they have to try to improvise weapons to make a futile attempt to wave off a few scumbags with a little boat? Is it that they might hurt someone while traveling miles from the shore of the nearest country? Seriously:

Keeping low to avoid being shot, a sailor lights a Molotov cocktail before throwing it at Somali pirates trying to board his ship.

He and his crewmates were expecting trouble and had prepared dozens of the makeshift grenades to repel an invasion.

Their cargo vessel was attacked in the Gulf of Aden by pirates using speedboats and armed with heavy machine guns and rocket launchers.

What, they might get hurt? The pirates are trying to kill them anyways; might as well have some rifles on board to shoot back. I can tell you right now that I would defy international law if I were the captain of a ship sailing the high seas and carry an arsenal of weapons. And to the naysayers that think that firearms won't help the crew fight off armed pirates because they're too incompetent to use them:

Despite their best efforts the nine pirates clambered aboard after tying up alongside.

The 30 Chinese crew then locked themselves in their accommodation area - which includes their sleeping rooms, mess rooms and recreation area - to prevent the bandits from entering the ship itself.

The ship's captain, Peng Weiyuan, told Chinese TV that the crew used 'water cannon, self-made incendiary bombs, beer bottles and other missiles to fight the pirates' during the five-hour stand-off.

'Thirty minutes later, the pirates gestured to us for a ceasefire then the helicopters from the joint fleet came to our help.'

That's right, they used a water cannon and beer bottles to repel the pirates. Now imagine what they could have done with a few SKS's or Type 56's. You want piracy to stop, then quit giving them soft targets.

If you think that violence is not the answer, then consider that harsh words are not what drove the scumbags back into their hole:

Choong said the bureau quickly sought help from a multi-coalition naval force, which dispatched the helicopters and a warship to the area.

'Two helicopters arrived at the scene first and helped deter the hijacking. They fired at the pirates, forcing them to flee the ship. Nobody was injured,' he said.

A defenseless ship getting their asses handed to them by bandits? Lets dispatch a heavily armed ship to kill them!! Too bad the warship didn't get the chance to smoke those bastards in the water. That would send a better message to them then sending them a fleet of easy money to take at their convenience.