Dead in the Water: A True Story of Hijacking, Murder, and a Global Maritime Conspiracy

by Matthew Campbell

rebels. A proud Dutchman, Van Speijk had always sworn he would rather die than become a Belgian.

Collectively, Greek shipowners have done better out of the seventy-five-year explosion in international trade than almost anyone else. No geopolitical or macroeconomic event—not the fall of the

Sixty percent of the growth in maritime trade between 1948 and 1973 was in “liquid cargo,” overwhelmingly petroleum and products related to it.

Moving larger quantities of oil over longer distances required a huge increase in tanker capacity, which a pair of Greek operators were particularly eager to provide.

The lawyer asked what went wrong. “Do you want the truth about what happened, or the facts?” the shipowner replied. To him, the two were rarely the same. The facts were what happened; the truth depended on your perspective, and your interests.