The very first vessel to be registered under Liberia’s flag was the World Peace, a Niarchos-owned tanker that entered the nominal jurisdiction of that West African state in 1949. He and Onassis quickly became some of the most enthusiastic users of so-called flags of convenience, which allowed them to escape the rules on maintenance, inspections, and sailors’ wages that prevailed in the Western world. As with their other innovations, this one was quickly adopted by the rest of the Piraeus shipping fraternity. By 1959, over half the “Liberian” merchant fleet was owned by Greeks, who also piled
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