John AC Cartner is a US and UK maritime lawyer. He holds the US unrestricted master mariner certificate and is the principal author of The International Law of the Shipmaster (2008), Informa/Lloyds [www.intershipmaster.comn] and co-author of Defending against Pirates: The International Law of Small Arms, Armed Guards and Privateers (2011), Intershipmaster Press, www.intershipmaster.com.