On Sea or Land
The author recognizes the good intentions of organizations like Greenpeace and legislation enacted accordingly with their environmentally protective calls to action, but also admits the fruitlessness of sch endeavors on a large scale, noting that:
“the ocean, like the world, is terribly difficult to police.”
The Shipping Industry
Another inherent problem with policing the ocean is the nature of shipping in the first place which has long established its own rules relative to the specificity of its geographical peculiarity. Shipping is characterized through metaphor as being
“an inherently disorderly affair...not exactly a criminal industry, but an amoral and stubbornly anarchic one.”
“A kaleidoscope of fear”
A bureaucratic report issued on the sinking of the Estonia is described using this metaphorical term. The suggestion being that even within the specific jargon an official bureaucratic reporter, the full horror of the event could not be entirely suffused.
“The ocean is a realm that remains radically free”
The book commences with an observation by the author on the existential condition of the sea. In comparison to world of land where progress and civilization has reached into every last inch by define the earth according to which national lays claim, the oceans of the world are placed in stark juxtaposition.
Ironic Death of a Ship
The death of the ship Estonia is somewhat ironically described with metaphorical imagery at odds with the horror of its sudden disappearance:
“the captain thought the Estonia looked like a Christmas tree light that had toppled, scattering its ornamental lights on the ground…the Christmas tree blinked and went black before it disappeared from the radar. Where a luxurious ship had just been, now there were only people in the water, some in rafts, some trying to swim.”
