Sabotage: The Mafia, Mao and the Death of the Queen Elizabeth

Sabotage: The Mafia, Mao and the Death of the Queen Elizabeth
by Brian Izzard
Amberley Publishing

Nobody was convicted of the burning and sinking of the Seawise University, off Tsing Yi, on January 9, 1972. An official inquiry attributed at least nine fires on the former Cunard liner RMS Queen Elizabeth to arson, but there was insufficient evidence for charges to be brought.

Conspiracy theories have swirled around for decades, linking the blaze to disgruntled employees, communist militants, cold war and cross strait politics, or an insurance claim, but the disaster's cause and motive still remain a mystery.

British maritime historian Brian Izzard revisits these old scenarios, but his sensationalistically titled second book, Sabotage, founders when it fails to name names, or offer new information to Hong Kong people who remember the Seawise University's smoke or sailed by its semi-submerged hulk.

Readers expecting a racy conspiracy yarn will soon realise Sabotage is actually a padded maritime history, and with the detail required of the genre.

Izzard drew niche praise in 2009 for Gamp VC, his book about the controversial British submariner, Rear-Admiral Anthony Miers. Students of legendary ships and old salts will be riveted by the former Sunday Express journalist's detailed study of C.Y. Tung's doomed 1,031-foot, 14-deck liner, right down to the 180-ton shaft brackets for its 32-ton brass propellers.