Resources

Tools for Maritime Investigations

IMOGISIS →
International Maritime Organisation Global Integrated Shipping Information System.
Useful to look up ship and company particulars (although not always the most up to date).

ILO Database of Recorded Incidents of Abandonment of Seafarers  →
Database maintained by International Labor Organisation in partnership with International Maritime Organisation. Shows details of reported abandonments (usually reported by International Transport Worker’s Federation) alongside timestamped correspondence and updates relating to the case.

MarineTraffic  →
Ship locations and details. Free plan shows data for last few days. Paid plan shows historic AIS data for past year, and past owners of ships. Free one month trial available.

FleetMon  →
Similar to MarineTraffic. Sometimes worth looking here for details that aren’t on MarineTraffic, or using for corroboration.

Vesselfinder →
Free ship tracking site. Not as extensive as others, but sometimes has information others are lacking. Shows recent port calls for specific ships on free plan, which others don’t.

Seasearcher →
Very comprehensive database of vessels and shipowners maintained by Lloyd’s (insurance conglomerate). Very expensive and difficult to access, but I managed to get a free trial by contacting them and mentioning a university.

Supply Chain Investigation Resources

Supply Studies Syllabus →
Excellent list of resources and readings on supply chain issues.

Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project →
Tools for tracing people, companies and assets across global networks.

LinkedIn Osint → Guide to growing a fake LinkedIn presence, useful to make a shell account for investigating dubious companies or particular sectors.

MANIFEST →
Open Source supply chain visualisation software. Nodes are entered via google sheets.

Abandonment Media Coverage

BBC News — Stranded sailor allowed to leave abandoned ship after four years →

Bloomberg: Pressure Mounts to Speed Crew Changes on Cargo Ships →

Wall Street Journal: Crews Are Abandoned on Ships in Record Numbers Without Pay, Food or a Way Home →

The Times (paywalled) Our floating hell: the incredible story of a crew stranded at sea in the Gulf →

Afro-diasporic Poetics of the Sea

Zong! →
M. NourbeSe Philip. Book-length poem on the Zong massacre, made by rearranging the text of the legal decision.

Tidalectics →
Conversation between Kamau Brathwaite and Nathaniel Mackey on tidalectics, a modality of dialectics rooted in daily Caribbean practices; a dialectics without a forward motion.

In the Wake →
Christina Sharpe. On the Transatlantic slave trade, loss, living in the wake of violence that can never be accounted for.

Lose your Mother →
Saidiya Hartman. Tracing the lines of the slave trade over (and under) the Atlantic ocean.