Customer Reviews

Death of a Supertanker

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Thjis is a book that deserves to have remained in print. It is the story of an oil tanker casualty off East Africa, the sinking of the ship, the loss into the sea of its oil cargo, and the subsequent enquiry into how it happened, conducted in South Africa. Was it the crew? The owners cost-cutting? Bab builders? Deficient work in drydock? Or freak weather in an area notorious for it?

The drama is kept nicely on the boil with no resort to the ridiculous. The technical content is near-perfect. A first-class read for sea professional, sea novel reader and discerning thriller-addict alike.

The deck of the "Ocean Mammoth" stretches nearly a fifth of a mile from bridge to bows; its superstructure rises above the water-line to a height of a ten storey building; loaded it displaces 320,000 tons; it is among the latest and finest of the monster tankers that swarm in ever increasing numbers across the oceans; yet in a time of falling freight rates and dwindling cargoes it has no useful part to play. It has to die. But the death of a supertanker is not easily contrived if it has to appear as an accident. The conspiracy to take "Ocean Mammoth" to her doom involves meticulous planning and ruthless execution.

But even then the story is far from over, for who is responsible? The formidable and withdrawn Captain Crutchley, whose secret disability nags incessantly at his security? Freeman Jarrett, the flamboyantly handsome chief officer, driven by restless ambition and boundless conceit? Foley, the capable but colourless navigating officer, striving to hold a wife too attractive and extravagant for his peace of mind? Or is it someone else? Some other crewman who had access to the complex electronic systems upon which the supertanker's safety depends?

These questions remain unanswered until the final stages of the Court of Enquiry, when the truth emerges in a moment of sudden drama...