Many of us familiar with Newcastle and Sunderland have heard of ship makers and takers before. But I've been waiting many months for a chance to post about activities we almost never see in the news - ship breakers and repossessors.

Over at Slate.com, Jacob Baynham briefly describes a part of the world we never see - the ship breaking scrapyards of Bangladesh and India (one is pictured above).

And then there's Max Hardberger, a former freighter captain who now works as an independent vessel repo man and recovery agent in some of the most dangerous places in the world.

LA Times: He's His Own Port Authority (.pdf file)

Now if I only had time, maybe I could pen a screenplay that somehow combines these two extraordinary stories. Maybe a ship recovery agent hired to go to a third world scrapyard to recover a stashed whatzit/muggufin. But of course his actions attract the attention of criminal organizations and spy agencies. Cat and mouse on the high seas and on multiple continents ensues.