viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
No book is the author’s work alone. Like any author I am indebted to the
people who have read it at the various stages of its development and whose
comments, criticisms and encouragement have shaped its direction: Colin
Gray, Geoffrey Till, Dale Walton, John Burnett, Dominick Donald and
Richard Davey.
Many others have given me the benefit of their learning and experi-
ence. Of those I would like to single out Eric Ellen, the founder of the
International Maritime Bureau. Without Eric’s pioneering work driven,
in no small part, by his indignation at the dismissive way many govern-
ments treat the risks and hazards seafarers face at the hands of maritime
criminals, the scourge that is modern piracy would have taken far longer to
reach public notice. Many seafarers directly or indirectly owe their lives to
Eric’s tireless work, and to that of his successor, pottengal Mukundan, who
guided my first steps in this field and who has answered my queries with
great patience ever since.
e academic community that studies piracy, terrorism and disorder
at sea is relatively small but growing quickly. When I began writing this
book it was still just about possible to know most people in it but that is no
longer the case. Over the years I have had conversations and correspond-
ence with many in the field the fruits of which have ended up in these pages
but I would like to mention especially Kim hall, Rupert herbert-Burns,
Karsten von hoesslin, Jonathan howland, peter Lehr, Catherine Zara
Raymond, Michael Richardson, Vijay Sakhuja, Mark Valencia and Stan
Weeks. I would like to extend particular thanks to peter Chalk, Stefan Ek-
löf, Eric Frécon, Rohan Gunaratna and, above all, to Sam Bateman for his
friendship and good humoured criticism. From the wider community of
defence scholars I drew help and inspiration from Doug Farah, Eric Grove,
Steven haines, T.X. hammes, Frank hoffman, Tim huxley, David Kil-
cullen, peter Schwartz and Scott Truver.