Dead in the Water: Murder and Fraud in the World's Most Secretive Industry

I live in the Middle East and am in commodity shipping myself and I have to say that the authors really did a great job in describing the situation and facts. They also have a deep knowledge of the shipping and insurance sector. The book reads like a thriller. Great read!

Authentic analysis of this extraordinary crime.

Los autores relatan de forma muy amena y documentada uno de los innumerables casos de fraude marítimo, esta vez con asesinatos de por medio. Ponen al descubierto la deleznable política de secretismo ee Lloyds de Londres, un conglomerado de aseguradores típicos de la cleptocracia anglosajona, trufada de prácticas cuestionables cuando no claramente criminales.

I’ve a very, very old reporter (in fact, I’m so old and out-of-touch I had to get a young journalist to post this review for me!) and I’ve walked into more courts than Roscoe Tanner. However, the most interesting court I’ve been in, by a nautical mile, is the Admiralty Court, in London. The Admiralty Court is part of the High Court. Admiralty Court judges have been adjudicating on British and international nautical disputes for hundreds of years. These days Admiralty Court hearings are staged in a modern, nondescript, room in the Rolls Building in Fetter Lane, nevertheless, the lawyers can still take onlookers on romantic journeys to far-flung corners of the Seven Seas. Dead in the Water, by Bloomberg journalists Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, brings the Admiralty Court to life like nothing I’ve read: I could almost smell the burning oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso, and see the Somali coast. The book is, essentially, the story of the investigation into the murder of ship surveyor David Mockett, in Yemen a decade ago. But it’s a messy international saga: partly an inquiry into an insurance scam, partly a report of a complex piece of commercial litigation between ship owners and insurance underwriters. It’s not an easy tale to tell. Yet Campbell and Chellel have carried out a formidable piece of investigative journalism, which should serve as a lasting tribute to Mr Mockett, and, at the same time, produced a page-turner worthy of an episode of Naked City. There is horror and heartbreak, tragedy and triumph, heroes, and villains. Dead in the Water also features a cast of characters ( “Metal Mikey”, a cop whose “misshaped knuckles suggested that he wasn’t someone you’d want to offend” and “Super Mario”, who “marched” to the witness box with the “swagger” of a wrestler approaching the ring) more suited to a Damon Runyon short story than a court report. Along the way, Campbell and Chellel explore the inner workings of international shipping, explain the mysteries of the Lloyd’s of London, and describe how detectives work in the modern world. There were eight million stories in the Naked City, there are no doubt many more on the naked ocean; this is one you should read. William Farmer, 61, of Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent (Dead in the Water, Portfolio/Penguin, 2022)

Extroadinary true story. Shocking what goes on in the world of shipping and insurance.

Intriguing story! Nice web of facts, story and insurance industry lore and workings. Good insights into Lloyd’s of London. Good read. I was curious to finish but wasn’t a page turner. Solid. Very well researched !