Launch of Abandoned Seafarer Map

Back in March I reported on the launch of a project from researchers Eliza Ader and Miriam Matthiessen: the first mapping of seafarer abandonments at scale. In the months between, I’ve joined their research collective and worked with them on a new and expanded map and database. Last month we launched it. It shows all abandonments in the ILO database, alongside territorial seas.

We’ve set up a Substack for that, which you can follow here — this will be mostly quarterly updates on abandonment, as well as some notes and reporting on cases that we find interesting or revealing. We’re also looking to do some more longform reporting and investigations, as a collective. From now on, I’ll be posting things related to abandonment investigations over there, so go sign up if you’re into that.

Over the coming weeks I’m going to be winding this newsletter down – or at least this phase of it. I’ll be sharing some things I’ve been working on over the past few months, including another video essay and an interactive archive of abandonment stories. I may relaunch it as a more general newsletter on maritime investigations, or logistics reportage/ writing more broadly. In any case, let me know what you’re into.