Louisiana Fighting Roosters

Pirate hunter guns for Somali raiders

Whether it’s good or not depends on your perspective. For his clients he is a godsend, well worth the $100,000-plus that he charges to retrieve a ship. To foreign port authorities, judges, coastguards, naval commanders and government officials, he is a flagrant and notorious law-breaker, and if they ever manage to catch him at it, he can expect a long sentence in a vile prison.

People usually expect Max Hardberger to be an ex-military type, bristling with weapons and menace, and tough as a two-dollar steak, but he’s a jovial, white-bearded, avuncular figure of medium height and modest build, a former sea captain with no military background.

One senses an indomitable will, a steely determination, a very keen intelligence, but nothing threatening or dangerous. The most striking thing about him is the relentless current of energy that courses through him. He talks fast, laughs often, moves quickly, never takes a day off, never goes on holiday, and always has about nine projects going at once with another 12 in the works.

Hardberger repossesses aeroplanes as well as ships. He works as a maritime lawyer, a ship surveyor, an insurance adjuster, a pilot and flight instructor, a stuntman for films and television, a blues drummer in New Orleans bars, and a scattershot business entrepreneur. He has also written three books; the latest is a hard-boiled memoir called Seized: A Sea Captain’s Adventures Battling Pirates & Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters.

As a red-blooded son of the American South, Hardberger is comfortable with guns and the idea of using them in self-defence, to defend another’s life, or to avoid the shame of running away, but he goes unarmed on his 'vessel extractions’, as he calls them, and his main weapons are stealth, guile and trickery.

'Probably the worst thing I ever did was have someone tell a guard that his mother was dying,’ he says. 'I’d done my research and I knew he was an only son, and that his mother was seriously unwell, so I had somebody run up to him and tell him his mother was in the hospital, and to get there right away if he wanted to see her alive. Just as I expected, he took straight off, and five minutes later we were out of port with the ship.’

Deep, throaty, booming laughter comes from the driver, a middle-aged Haitian called Ronald Joanuel who is an old friend of Hardberger’s and his fixer-in-chief on the island. They have worked together on several ship extractions, partnered on various business schemes, and the depth of their friendship is indicated by the fact that Ronald’s eldest son, now in law school, is named Hardberger Joanuel.

Dawn In Louisiana-Cockfighting Outlawed

You are currently viewing our boards as a guest which gives you limited access to view most discussions and access our other features. By joining our free community you will have access to post topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload content and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community today ! Clarence "Wooly" Bunch has been a cockfighter for more than 40 years and is the proprietor of the Little Rebel Game Club in this small town east of Baton Rouge. But these are the last days of legal cockfighting in Louisiana, and Bunch, an affable fellow with an easy laugh, feels "lost as a bat" as he contemplates his future. The former pipe fitter subsidizes his $600 a month in Social Security with derby winnings, but like other pit owners, he sees the blood sport as being about something more. Cockfight aficionados argue that the new law, which goes into effect today, will merely drive cockfighting underground, like dogfighting rings. Sitting on an armchair in his mobile home with his dog TooToo nuzzling his chin, Bunch says cockfighting isn't in the same category as dogfighting. "Dogs are your friend. . . . Not to say I don't like my chickens, but they are not my friend," he says. Louisiana is the last state to outlaw cockfighting. In 33 states and the District of Columbia, it is a felony. Virginia recently toughened its law to make even attending organized fights a felony. The sport, still popular in countries including Mexico and the Philippines, remains legal in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, Guam and American Samoa. "It has been a monumental struggle involving lots of people and very many protests, economics, twists and turns," says anesthesiologist James Riopelle. A past president of the state's humane society coalition, he organized protests at the Sunset Recreation Club, which he calls the "Super Bowl of cockfighting." The doctor is considered by animal welfare groups to be a hero of Hurricane Katrina for refusing to abandon the dozens of animals left in his care by residents during the evacuation of New Orleans. Riopelle thinks the national focus on the state after the storms gave the legislature more incentive to take action against an activity perceived as unacceptable by the rest of the country.

Louisiana in Words

Dictionary of Louisiana French, as spoken in Cajun, Creole, and American Indian communities

Why the Cocks Fight, Dominicans, Haitians, and the Struggle for Hispaniola

A Century of Acadian Culture, The Development of a Cajun Community : Erath (1899-1999)

Louisiana Rambles, Exploring America's Cajun and Creole Heartland