The High Seas

Tiggy is a high-born girl on the Isle of Fortune, forced to wear dresses, attend balls and (worst of all) comb her wild curls. But then the Pirate King strikes, stealing every male child on the island. Tiggy knows it is time to claim her destiny, take to the high seas and rescue the boys of Fortune ...

Island Tug & Barge, once the largest employer in Victoria, BC, was a Pacific Ocean marine salvage company world famous for deep-sea rescues and long distance towing feats - and infamous for superior crews and a feisty little fleet, including the renowned Sudbury and Sudbury II. Most famous, however, was the unstopable, fiery owner, Harold Elworthy - "H.B." for "Hard-boiled" - a boy who started with nothing and became a maritime giant. Together these ships and men proved themselves as some of the best marine salvors in the world. High Seas, High Risk recounts the Sudburys' most notable and dramatic tows and rescues, told mostly through the memories and anecdotes of former crew members. Island Tug & Barge made headlines around the seafaring world. The Sudburys made almost impossible rescues with ease - towing their charges through typhoons, pulling them off pinnacles of rock, fighting their fires and keeping them afloat with batteries of pumps. Beset by storms, lightning, and impossible conditions, the two tugs always made it home safely. Year after year the drama was repeated, until, one day, the headlines stopped. The Sudbury and the Sudbury II disappeared, Island Tug & Barge was gone. Writing with the care and detail of a historian, and the passion of a maritime adventurer, Pat Wastell Norris has parlayed her childhood seafaring passion into every story and anecdote - an interest instilled by her father who carried her about his 60-foot tugboat before she could walk. This never-before told history of Island Tug & Barge is a must-read for mariners and yachtsmen of every ilk--the armchair adventurers, professionals and everyone in between.

There has been a rapid growth of interest in due diligence, especially in the fields of environmental law and the law of the sea. Yet, confusion seems to surround this notion. Is due diligence a principle, a rule, a standard or something else? This book firstly explores thoroughly the concept of due diligence, its purpose and its mechanisms in order to propose a comprehensive theory of due diligence in harmony with the general law of State responsibility. In the meantime, this book also explores the usefulness of due diligence to address modern challenges afflicting the high seas. Indeed, while the application of due diligence in transboundary contexts is well illustrated by jurisprudence, its applicability in areas beyond national jurisdiction remains unclear. Yet, a proper usage of this concept may be crucial for the protection of the high seas, as it allows for the intervention of international standards in this fragile area. Hopefully, the concept of due diligence can help compensate the insufficiencies of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea concerning the high seas. Examining in detail the theory of due diligence, this book will interest international lawyers concerned with this notion. It also offers a new perspective on the UNCLOS through the prism of due diligence and will interest lawyers dealing with the protection of the marine environment and fisheries.

"Steer clear of that ship," warns the mysterious gentleman who shares a coach with John and his father. "Death she'll bring you," says the man. "It's the way of a ship that was christened with blood." This is an ominous introduction to the schooner John is about to be entrusted with for a voyage to London. But he's too charmed by the pretty Dragon to heed the advice. The ship looks clever and quick, and John can hardly wait to sail her. She was a smugglers' vessel once, but now she's his Dragon, and she'll proudly carry wool for honest trade. But soon John will be forced to consider the gentleman's warning. And to wonder what he really knows about his bonny crew.

"There’s pirates in the West Indies. Cannibals. They cook you alive," says Mr. Spencer to his son. These words will come to haunt 17-year-old John as he embarks on his first voyage to foreign lands. Carrying cargo destined for Jamaica, John and his crew of the Dragon set off for waters few of them have sailed before. So when they come upon a lifeboat adrift at sea, some are wary of the sailor aboard. Something about his story doesn’t quite make sense. Still, John respects the stranger’s awe-inspiring seamanship. With Horn on deck, he feels the Dragon is in the best of hands. But is Horn to be trusted? The answer becomes muddled as the Dragon encounters a very real — and very dangerous — pirate ship. Now John starts to believe his father’s warnings, especially after he becomes stranded on an island reputed to have buried treasure. A place teeming with buccaneers!