Nicholas Berg is the protagonist in Wilbur Smith's novel Hungry as the Sea. We meet Nicholas as he walks up the gangplank to his sea-going tug in the cold, damp air. He is thinking of his life as it now confronts him. He had been the prime mover at Christie Marine, one of the world's largest and best shipping companies. He had married old man Christie's beautiful daughter and they had a son. Their marriage seemed to be solid and lovely.

But now he is divorced from his wife. She had fallen for the new wonder-kid at Christie, with an accountant's mentality for the bottom line and no knowledge of shipping. He had lost the power struggle within the company and all he had to show for it were two sea-going tugs, one still in dry dock, and a five-million-dollar debt. He has one firm job in his h…