From Elliott Bay Book Company in Seattle, William Langewiesche spoke about the world of commerce, crime, and tragedy on the high seas. Mr. Langewiesche argued that stateless organizations like Al Qaeda are well adapted to take advantage of the virtual lawlessness of the world’s oceans and that Al Qaeda has used ships to move people and weapons. Mr. Langewiesche also told the story of the Estonia, a Swedish transport ship that rolled over in the Baltic Sea in 1994 and killed over 850 people. After his remarks, Mr. Langewiesche took questions from the audience.