ABSTRACT
What do the recent cases of the Sirius Star and the Hebei Spirit have in common? Or for that matter the older cases of the Achille Lauro and the Prestige? At fi rst glance, nothing. The Sirius Star, a laden crude oil tanker, was taken by pirates in late 2008 off Somalia and together with her crew was held hostage; millions of dollars in
ransom was paid and the pirates have gone unpunished. The Hebei Spirit, also a laden tanker, collided with a barge in 2007 and spilled oil in South Korean waters; her
master and chief mate were arrested, jailed, convicted of environmental crimes and
sentenced to prison. The Achille Lauro, a passenger liner, was the victim of a terrorist hijacking off Egypt in 1985; one of her passengers, an elderly disabled man confi ned
to a wheelchair, was murdered in cold blood by the terrorists – who ultimately were
captured and then released without trial. The Prestige, a tanker laden with heavy fuel oil, began to crack in heavy weather in late 2002 and was refused entry to ports of
refuge in France, Spain and Portugal; naval vessels of those States held the Prestige out at sea, where she broke up and sank resulting in serious pollution of the Galician
coast; her Master was arrested, jailed, convicted of environmental crimes and sen-
tenced to prison. What these cases actually have in common is that they are fl ames at
both ends of one legal candle, burning inexorably towards each other.
