The man who steals ships from pirates

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 1:07 PM on 18th April 2011



His day job could read like the plot line of a Hollywood action blockbuster.

But for Max Hardberger and his team, working in dangerous conditions are simply part of the daily grind.

The 62-year-old, from New Orleans, Louisiana, is the only man in the world who steals ships... from pirates.



Max Hardberger, pictured during a training exercise in 2008, steals ships back from pirates. Since his first in 1987 he has repossessed around 15 tankers


He has been carrying out 'vessel extractions', earning him the title of repo man of the seas, for more than 20 years.


Since his first job in 1987, Mr Hardberger has repossessed 'around 15' huge tankers from pirates around the world.

His job has taken him to war-torn jungles in South America and seem him come up against everyone from Russian mobsters to real-life pirates of the Caribbean.

Big shipping companies pay Mr Hardberger vast sums to get their £17-£20million vessels back from some of the most dangerous places on the planet.



Hard man: Mr Hardberger, 62, is backed up by an elite team of former soldiers

And so far, he has achieved it without killing a single pirate.

Armed often with just a smile, Mr Hardberger and his team of former special forces soldiers and SWAT team members are on standby at all times to go to work.

When he's not patrolling the seas, he has also worked as a lawyer, pilot, journalist, history teacher and even a drummer in a blues band.
'I once fooled a couple of guards into thinking the ship was sinking and they gladly got off. Once they got off, off we went with the ship.'

His latest mission is to tackle the heavily armed pirates of Somalia - the same men responsible for shooting four Americans dead on a yacht last month and for the kidnap of British couple Paul and Rachel Chandler for more than a year.

Speaking from his home - a boat on a bayou near New Orleans - Mr Hardberger said he is not phased by taking on anyone.

He said: 'We are looking at the situation in Somalia right now, since the deaths of the four Americans. There is a strong possibility we will go out there in the next couple of weeks.



Action man: Max Hardberger pictured near the Bahamas a week before Christmas 1987, the year he repossessed his first ship

'It would work by boarding the pirate ships and taking control one man at a time, if there are hostages we have stun grenades, if there aren't we have frag grenades.

'We are not looking to kill anyone and if we catch a pirate they have the option right there to go free, so long as they have a boat of their own or don't mind swimming to shore.


Paul and Rachel Chandler were held captive by a Somali pirate gang for 13 months

'My team is ex-special forces and SWAT, they have to be men that have seen live-fire and most of them are veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan.'

When a company loses a ship they call Mr Hardberger to get it back so they can avoid a huge ransom from the pirates.

He said he often uses his mind rather than force to get control of the boats.

He said: 'The closest I guess I ever felt to danger was when a 10,000-ton freighter I had extracted in Haiti ran aground.


'There had been a revolution at the time against what the people saw was bad government by the lighter skinned creole people.

'I knew as a white man, chances are I would be killed if I made it back to shore and tried to get across the island, but I knew I was in trouble if I stayed with the ship.


'People don't go swimming at night around Haiti because of the sharks.

'Then as I was just about to jump over the guard rail and into the sea and start swimming - the boat moved and we were away.'


Mr Hardberger is also a qualified lawyer and claims his legal knowledge helps when it comes to the meticulous planning involved in operations.




Piracy has become a massive problem off the coast of Somalia, targeting targeting tankers and yachts, such as the Tanit

He said: 'The shipping business can be worse than the Wild West, the normal rule of law just doesn't apply in some places and it takes a long time for things to change.


'There are lots of things you can do to get a boat back, you can bribe guards pretty easily.


'I'll use anything I can, short of violence. If there's a single guard on board, I'll trick him.


'I once fooled a couple of guards into thinking the ship was sinking and they gladly got off. Once they got off, off we went with the ship.'


Mr Hardberger's book, Seized: A Sea Captain's Adventures, is out now priced at £9.99.






Scott and Jean Adam, left, owners of the the Quest, along with Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle were shot dead by pirates who hijacked their boat in February. The U.S. Navy had been in negotiations with their captors