Freighter Captain

A fictionalized autobiographical account of Max Hardberger's adventures as a ship captain in the Caribbean.

From the ship M/V Erika's first arrival in Haiti on Christmas Eve, 1987, to her dangerous flight from an illegal seizure four months later, Captain Max Hardberger and Chief Officer Yussuf al Karim fought a non-stop battle against crooked charterers, treacherous agents, and the sea itself.

On an old, tired freighter at the end of her life, they came face-to-face with bandits in Jamaica, violent stowaways in the Dominican Republic, and warring gangs in post-Duvalier Haiti. It was a world of desperation and danger, where only the captain's will and the loyalty of his crew stood between the ship and disaster.