Toward noon the next day, Mockett descended from the Brillante to the floating crane, his survey complete. To Plakakis, it was obvious that he was perplexed by what he’d found—or, perhaps, not found. In earshot of many of the salvors on board, Mockett remarked that he’d seen no evidence of a strike by a rocket-propelled grenade, or of pirates firing their weapons on the tanker—both key elements of what had reportedly occurred. “Everyone could see on his face that he was not happy about what he had seen or what he had been told,” Plakakis recalled later.
