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Captain Max Hardberger has been called the 'good pirate'.

He works in the United States as a maritime repossession specialist, stepping in to help shipowners anywhere in the world to reclaim their vessels when they have been illegally impounded.

It is a risky business which often pits Max's cunning against corrupt port officials and people trying to extort money from shipowners.

But it is also a thrilling life which Max enjoys.

He has been fascinated by adventure stories ever since he was a boy. As a child he made a parachute out of a bedsheet and jumped off the roof of his family home. He went on to have many different exciting jobs - including being a crop-dusting pilot, a private investigator and a stunt man.

He has now written a book called Seized which describes some of his adventures at sea.

Captain Hardberger came into the Outlook studio and told Matthew Bannister about his many brushes with death, and how he first got into this unusual line of work.

Seized by Captain Max Hardberger is published by Nicholas Brealey Publishing