Hijacking and Murder in Global Shipping’s Grim Underbelly

In July 2011, the oil tanker Brillante Virtuoso was drifting through the treacherous Gulf of Aden when a crew of pirates attacked and set her ablaze. When David Mockett, a maritime surveyor, inspected the vessel, he was left with more questions than answers. Soon after his inspection, Mockett was killed in a car bombing.

#BrillanteVirtuoso #Storylines #BloombergQuicktake

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[johnnyblade]

Poor Guy doing his job on the verge of retirement.... And gets blown away. And the bank sweeps the debt under the carpet . Terrible injustice. Great Doc

[mynameISsky]

Capt. David Mockett was a dear, dear friend of mine. 💔
Thank you for telling his story.

[grahamsawyer]

thanks to Bloomberg for shining a light into one of the murkier corners of the world... genuinely fascinating

[stephenmassey]

David was a top surveyor - bravely dealt with a hijacking for our team in Sharjah

[TheRealKillerTomato]

This should be a movie. For one, it’s very exciting and interesting. Two, David Mockett deserves to have his story told and memory honored.

[NewZealandWild]

I knew a Swedish guy who had once been an Interpol officer. He had a 30 ft yacht that he burned for insurance. Got away with it, but when he later burned a fishing boat as well, he got caught and went to jail.

[terence]

This is top shelf journalism. Great work.

[johnhebenton]

This was also covered on BBC Sounds in three 30 minute episodes, The Case of the Brillante Virtuoso. Along with another series, Lost at Seat, looking into disappearances of fisheries observers it makes the maritime industry look like a dangerous lawless place.

[michaelotieno]

Beautifully done. It is one of the few news programs that restores my faith in journalism.

[grungepants]

For a documentary about a ship this was absolutely riveting.

[deforged]

if the insurance industry is so convinced of his guilt, then why doesn't it just label him as a pariah and make him uninsurable anywhere?

[Stu-SB]

That was excellent, I'd never heard of David Mockett or this incident, incisive and well compiled report

[BrianDeCosta]

RIP David. Thank you for sharing this story

[GlutesEnjoyer]

What an evil man. At the end of the video he wants the maritime industry to go “it’s not that bad it’s just one bad guy” but it’s not. The maritime industry is absolutely rife with the most vile greedy evil people you can imagine.

It is literally cutthroat

[PapaDamage]

It is known that greek owners are not shying away from sinking their own ship together with full crew for the insurance money, happened to a friend of mine.

[pvdppvdp]

And "Super" Mario (Illiopoulos) has the biggest feet of ferries (Seajets) in the Aegean Sea. Allthough I go island hopping for 6-7 weeks twice a year in the Aegean, I always plan my trips in a way that I avoid having to use a Seajets ferry.

[markcoupe]

I am a news watcher and I had never heard of any of this, and I live in the UK. I bet "super" Mario has a bit of trouble trying to get the rest of his fleet covered in the future. As far as it goes it was pretty much doomed to failure - loose lips might sink ships but the loose lips of the people in his employ cost him dear. He should have been made to compensate Mr. Mockett's family for killing him and he should be in jail. Let's just hope nobody messes with the brakes on his toy car.

[traveel]

Well done. I wish journalism could be like this again... make it so!

[sethart]

They should do a movie about this, brilliant story

[stephenhammond]

45 years at sea. it is often said, there are two types of ship owner, those that are "doing time" and those that should be.