On February 28, 1955, it was made public that eight crew members of the Caldas destructor, a Colombian Navy ship, had gone missing after falling into the sea during a storm in the Caribbean. Caldas had departed from Mobile, USA, where it had been repaired, and was headed towards Cartagena, Colombia, where it arrived two hours after the tragedy. A search party was organised without delay and it involved US Navy personnel stationed in Panama, who usually performs military control and humanitarian aid operations in the Panama Canal. The search was abandoned after four days and the sailors were declared dead. One week later, however, one of the sailors appeared on a deserted beach in the north of Colombia. Ten days on a life raft without food and water had taken him to the brink of death. I managed to interview him shortly after he was found. What he told me forms the basis of the book that you are about to read and reveals the Colombian Navy’s darkest secrets. Secrets that would endanger both his life and mine.