Staff Book and Media Recommendations

The Outlaw Sea: a World of Freedom, Chaos and Crime

William Langewiesche

For most of us our day starts with an alarm clock, morning coffee and a mundane drive to the office. On the "Outlaw Sea," no such normalcy is a sure thing. A completely different world, governed by completely different rules, starts just miles offshore on boats of dubious ancestry.

The author, William Langewiesche, is currently a correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, but the story for Outlaw Sea originated during his time at The Atlantic Monthly magazine. The audio-book being reviewed here is narrated entirely by the author. His knack for symbolic pauses and well placed sarcasm makes listening to the book exciting and moving.

The Outlaw Sea starts its narrative aboard the Kristal, an ancient and abused cargo ship making its way from India to Europe with a haul of molasses. In a Titanic-like journey the captain and crew ignore all warning signs, traveling full speed into an oncoming and worsening storm. The resulting loss-of-life and unimaginable struggles to survive are a result of hubris, yes, but are also a result of lax laws and poor oversight of ship maintenance in international harbors.

The sad tale of the Kristal sets the stage for the saga of the Alondro Rainbow, a boat hijacked by Indonesian pirates in 1999. The pirates were eventually captured with the Alondra Rainbow's $10 million cargo, but their prosecution in Indian courts did little to curb crime on the high seas.

The Outlaw Sea ends its narrative on Alang, a place where ships go to die. After a market collapse in Asia, ship-breaking found its way to the beaches of India. The toxic atmosphere of Alang became an international target for Green Peace, and remains a filthy reminder of our oceans aging fleets and the problems of their eventual disposal.

The Outlaw Sea is an incredible story survival, disaster and crime on the open and mostly lawless ocean. William Langewiesche's masterpiece is more of a documentary than a solution - and it seems fitting in a world where so many of us don't think about those that live their lives on the sea. We need to be aware of the issues being raised here, and I promise you that The Outlaw Sea will open your eyes. ~ Emily Z. Brown

Reviewed November 2010

Review based on the audio book version of this title.