He has an abiding concern for the peoples and wildlife of his native
continent, an interest strongly reflected in his novels.
He is married to Danielle, to whom his last nineteen books have been
dedicated.
This book is for my wife Danielle
HUNGRY AS THE SEA
First published in Great Britain 1978 by Mandarin Paperbacks
The an imprint of R6ad International Books Ltd Michelin House, 8i Fulham
Road, London SW3 6RD effec and Auckland, Melbourne, Singapore and
Toronto
Reprinted 1992, 1993 (twice), 1994 (twice), 1995 (twice), 1996 (twice)
Copyright 0 Wilbur Smith 1978
catalogue record for this title to d is available from the British
Library
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of
trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated
without the publisher's prior consent in any form of binding oi cover
other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition
including this condition. being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Uk 9 IM718HO1340 429969
Nicholas Berg stepped out of the taxi on to the floodlit dock and paused
to look up at the Warlock. At this state of the tide she rode high
against the stone quay, so that even though the cranes towered above
her, they did not dwarf her.
Despite the exhaustion that fogged his mind and cramped his muscles
until they ached, Nicholas felt a stir of the old pride, the old sense
of value achieved, as he looked at her. She looked like a warship,
sleek and deadly, with the high flared bows and good lines that combined
to make her safe in any seaway.
The superstructure was moulded steel and glittering armoured glass,
behind which her lights burned in carnival array. The wings of her
navigation bridge swept back elegantly and were covered to protect the
men who must work her in the cruellest weather and most murderous seas.
Overlooking the wide stern deck was the second navigation bridge, from
which a skilled seaman could operate the great winches and drums of
Cable, could catch and control the hawser on the hydraulically operated
rising fairleads, could baby a wallowing oil rig or a mortally wounded
liner in a gale or a silky calm.
Against the night sky high above it all, the twin towers replaced the
squat single funnel of the old-fashioned salvage tugs - and the illusion
of a man-of-war was heightened by the fire cannons on the upper
platforms from which the Warlock could throw fifteen hundred tons of sea
water an hour on to a burning vessel. From the towers themselves could
be swung the boarding ladders over which men could be sent aboard a
hulk, and between them was painted the small circular target that marked
the miniature heliport. The whole of it, hull and upper decks, was
fireproofed so she could survive in the inferno of burning petroleum
from a holed tanker or the flaring chemical from a bulk carrier.
Nicholas Berg felt a little of the despondency and spiritual exhaustion
slough away, although his body still ached and his legs carried him
