In 1980, a fire breaks out in the engine room of a huge oil tanker called The Salem off the Senegalese coast. The crew are rescued by an English ship, which sails away from the scene convinced that the tanker, with its cargo of 200,000 tonnes of crude, is going to explode and produce the biggest oil slick in history. But the giant mass of iron tilts over and sinks without the slightest drama. It’s a mystery that turns out to be the most extraordinary tale of fraud of the century.