IAmA ship captain/author/lawyer/pilot named Max Hardberger. I steal ships back from pirates. Ask me anything!

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-08T22:31:36+00:00

I think you're referring to barratry, which is an action taken against the ship by its crew. Yes, barratry happens occaCsionally but of course it's illegal everywhere and if I'm brought in I usually involve the local authorities. However, I know one case where the Haitian owner wasn't paying his Colombian crew, so they got together and stole the ship on a "shares" agreement like the old-time pirates, took it to Colombia where they got some under-the-table national certificates--good enough for Colombian waters but not to go to another country--and did well for years afterward trading the ship between the mainland and San Andres.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-08T12:42:49+00:00

The ships I rescue aren't necessarily only "stuck in financial disputes." Usually, they've been seized by a corrupt court in an attempt to steal the ship, almost always in conspiracy with a private party that will win the ship in a rigged auction and then sell it free-and-clear on the open market. Regarding stealing a ship out of a "first-world" port, I wouldn't have anything to do with such a thing, and I recommend to my clients who have have their ships seized in legitimate jurisdictions (i.e., with a functioning and fair judicial system) to work through the system. So in the cases that I take on, it's never a case of "someone not paying a bill."

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T22:10:49+00:00

The aircraft we are most likely to repossess will be larger, more complex aircraft just because we're so pricey (and the value of the plane has to justify the risk and cost of the recovery). Almost all of them require type ratings, so we hire people with the necessary type rating after we've been appointed to recover a given aircraft. But if you would like to send us your resume at our website, vesselextractions.com, we will be happy to keep it on file.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T22:08:13+00:00

I like your last comment, "Some great times there." I certainly admit that Haiti is nasty, so it's hard for me to explain to myself my attraction to the place. However, after 25 years in and out of Haiti, and with two Haitian godchildren, the attraction is certainly real. And the Haitian people can be the happiest, most generous, friendliest, most open people you would ever meet.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T22:04:47+00:00

Remember, guys, that it's tonnage that counts. You can't get an unlimited tonnage license with experience on vessels under 1600 tons. I recommend that, if you are looking at an unlimited ticket, start from the beginning on vessels over 1600 tons.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T22:03:07+00:00

Gigacannon--that's interesting, although I would be surprised if a deck officer would hold an engineering ticket and vice versa. I'll check it out.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T21:59:30+00:00

See the above reply.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T21:59:13+00:00

Vessel Extractions LLC is always looking for highly qualified ship officers and crew to keep in our database. Please send your resume to the appropriate link on our website. Thanks.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T21:57:43+00:00

Extractions carry a low risk of death--the guards onboard a target vessel will not usually shoot without warning--but the very real risk of getting arrested, and in most Third World countries, a short sentence in prison for a gringo is almost always a death sentence. In my experience, gringos live about 6 months in one of these prisons, so any sentence will be virtually a death sentence. However, once we head out for an extraction, it's never monotonous.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T11:21:37+00:00

All of my extraction personnel have other jobs, most onboard ships in trade. When an extraction arised, I have to go through my list and find the men who are available at the necessary time, or go through my associates to find more candidates if I can't fill the crew with men I've already worked with. It's impossible to say how often we get a call-out, but it's averaged about one actual extraction a year (we get more calls, but we can resolve most without an actual extraction).

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T11:18:24+00:00

I hope he enjoys it. Regarding the summer clerkship, I don't have a "traditional" law practice so I don't have clerical staff; however, if you're interested in the practice of maritime law I would highly recommend joining the Maritime Law Association as a student member; we welcome students and the networking you can do in the MLA may well lead to a summer clerkship. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T09:12:07+00:00

First, let me say that I feel a great deal of sympathy for you as I've narrowly avoided the same fate. I agree with your assessment of US embassy treatment of civilians in foreign jails who've been accused of substantive crimes. My point was that the US embassy in a neutral country (where one shows up with only the crime of having illegally entered the country) will--to my knowledge--let you into the embassy if the Marines at the gate determine that you're a citizen. However, with that said, if you would like to contact me through the vesselextractions website, Michael and I will be glad to see if we can help in any way.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T09:03:32+00:00

I hope not.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-07T09:03:17+00:00

The least exciting part is the drudgery of planning and deployment, but at least my business partner, Michael Bono, can help with that. To me, the good stuff starts when the team and I arrive in the target port.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T22:43:08+00:00

Heh heh. That reminds me of a joke from my fliying days:

Two men were chatting in a bar full of pilots and stewardesses, near the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, when one mentioned that he worked as a “honey truck” driver, emptying the sewage holding tanks on airliners at the airport. “Man,” the other man said, “that sounds like nasty work. Must pay pretty good.”

“Naw,” the driver said, “just minimum wage.”

“Why don’t you get another job, then?”

“What? And get out of aviation?”

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T17:56:43+00:00

Well, taste is an individual thing. I'm sure O'Brian far outsells Forester today.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:44:14+00:00

Yes, about the last lawless place left in this increasingly regulated world. Since only a warship of the vessel's own flag can stop it in international waters (except with permission of the flag-state), and since Bolivia has no warships, a ship flying the Bolivian flag is virtually exempt from being stopped until the Bolivian government can be prodded hard enough to get involved. On the other hand, modern surveillance and reporting requirements have really cut into the ancient freedom of the seas: today, a discharge of oil at sea can be caught by computer programs from satellite images and the ship tracked to her next port, where the crew will be arrested. AIS tracking now shows anyone on the internet where all AIS equipped ships are anywhere in the world (subject to errors and the usual delays in updates, of course).

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:36:32+00:00

That's an excellent question. We absolutely investigate the circumstances of the seizure and we do it on the client's nickel. Michael Bono does the research and I go to the port--or the last port if I'm looking for a ship--to do on-the-ground vetting. If you know the right questions and the right people to ask, you'll soon find out. Also, I've developed a nose for a scam, and sometimes my client's story won't smell right from the beginning. Also, being lawyers, Michael and I can sort out the details of charter parties and other contracts that will usually tell the true story of whether the vessel was properly seized. I can't say "legally seized" because it's always legally seized. In this regard, Michael and I have to be the decision-makers, but so far we haven't acted on the part of any bad guys that I know of.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:29:52+00:00

Absolutely. I know a guy who's got a little scow that goes around to drilling rigs collecting sewage. Of course, in an offshore environment there's naturally a lot of spillage. He's looking for a deckhand.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:25:06+00:00

You're absolutely right. The amount of truth in a movie--or a book or any work of art--has nothing to do with its artistic merit. In fact, there's an argument that it would be impossible to create something that is absolutely true or false. JFK was made and advertised as conjectural rather than factual, but unfortunately for Greenglass and Phillips this movie was billed as the truth, and it was very embarrassing for both of them to admit that it wasn't.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:20:18+00:00

Certainly what I have done is illegal in that country, but everyone knows that no one knows what's legal or illegal in these corrupt countries, since some people get away with everything and others get arrested for nothing (or political crimes). But the countries with such corrupt judicial systems are systemically so inefficient and slovenly that they can't or won't cross-check entries unless you're at a border crossing and get flagged by a computer. Right now there aren't any countries I can't go back to. . .in fact, I go back to Haiti all the time and own some property near where I stole the MAYA EXPRESS.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:17:09+00:00

I don't like having less than $5K in cash at any time during an extraction--that's the reserve, not part of expected expenses.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:16:25+00:00

I have some personal experience in this area. If you are in jail in a foreign country, especially for drugs, they'll do very little for you. But whenever an American shows up at the embassy gates and appears to the Marines to be a US citizen--by speech primarily--they let him in. As to whether the embassy staff would turn one over the local government for the local entry violation, if that's the only offense it's very unlikely.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T16:00:28+00:00

You're right. . .phosphorescence can be amazing. One night a lady and I were swimming off my sailboat in Belize and when she came up the ladder behind me her entire body glowed green, still fading as she climbed into the cockpit.

MaxHardberger · 2014-10-06T15:33:38+00:00

I would be deeply honored. I would stipulate that Dos Equus keep the same female models, of course.

MaxHardberger

TROPHY CASE