never take risks without trying to find other ways to accomplish my objectives. Your childhood changed dramatically when you moved school, do you think given your parentage that had the schooling not changed, you would have ended up in the vocation you did? I’m afraid that if I hadn’t been sent to military school, I might not have had the personal discipline to do the things I do. It came at a formative stage of my life, and I still retain the attitude I learned there, which was to do any job I accept without regard to personal reservations, and to keep trying until it’s done. Would you say the change developed your sense of adventure, or was it always within you? My sense of adventure came very early in life: my parents loved adventure books and we had a family library of over 7000 books. It was reading books of sea adventure, primarily those of C. S. Forester and Richard Halliburton, that instilled in me a burning desire to go to sea. In fact, I tried to run away to sea at 16, but the union wouldn’t have me because I didn’t have my parents’ permission. Would you say you still have the same sense of adventure? I suppose I still have the sense of adventure; I don’t know if one can lose that. I’m still flying, sailing, SCUBA-diving, and jungle exploring (I live in Belize from time to time). Additionally, as a movie stuntman I get a chance to risk my life as much as I want. What attracted you to such a dangerous vocation? I wasn’t really attracted to extracting ships as a profession; I sort of fell into the business as a ship captain who wouldn’t let his ship be seized by a corrupt local court, and then after I got a
reputation as someone who would do this sort of thing, people with ships in trouble would call me to help. I never held myself out as a ship extractor until I formed Vessel Extractions LLC with my partner, Michael Bono, in 2002.
“I get a chance to risk my life as much as I want.” You now work as a motivational speaker, do you think your experiences have opened your eyes to things you weren’t expecting? I wouldn’t say that I’m a motivational speaker in the usual sense; my speeches and talks tend to concentrate on my adventures--that’s what people seem to want to hear--and the primary motivation running through all of them is self-preservation. “Seized” is in effect a factual novel, what made you choose this format? Actually, “Seized” is meant to be a memoir rather than a novel, but my sense of storytelling required me to arrange the fact to comport with the requirements of pacing, dynamics, and dramatic tension. I don’t think these things change it from a memoir to a novel, since there is no significant fiction in the book, only a rearrangement of facts. “Seized” (Nicholas Brealey Publishing) is out now. www.maxhardberger.com
www.thekaje.com
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