NAUTILUS P01 NOVEMBER 2009.qxd - Nautilus International
NAUTILUS P01 NOVEMBER 2009.qxd - Nautilus International
NAUTILUS P01 NOVEMBER 2009.qxd - Nautilus International
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yal Alfred 6 x 2.indd 1 20/2/09 14:17:46<br />
November 2009 | nautilusint.org | telegraph | 17<br />
YOUR LETTERS<br />
Cadets’ pay is<br />
a bit of a joke<br />
What is really giving me some<br />
concern at the present time is the<br />
level of pay I and the other cadets<br />
receive from for the company<br />
sponsoring us.<br />
What I would really like to<br />
know is how the tonnage tax<br />
allowance scheme set by the<br />
government works. I have heard<br />
that the government pays<br />
sponsoring companies £15,000 a<br />
year to take on British cadets and<br />
that this £15,000 is to be passed<br />
onto the cadet.<br />
I have also heard that the<br />
government grants companies<br />
tax allowances of up to £15,000 a<br />
year per cadet and that it is up to<br />
the individual companies how<br />
much of this allowance they pass<br />
onto the cadet.<br />
I and my colleagues have just<br />
started at Warsash. When we were<br />
informed how much the<br />
accommodation is costing it<br />
came as one hell of a shock. Once<br />
the cost of accommodation is<br />
deducted from my monthly<br />
allowance, I have £55 a week to<br />
pay for everything else — ie food,<br />
transport, electricity, college<br />
equipment, and all of life’s<br />
unforeseen costs.<br />
I don’t believe I lead a lavish<br />
lifestyle, but this sum is a bit of a<br />
joke. If we were working and<br />
earning this amount in wages no<br />
doubt we would be able to claim<br />
benefits to increase the take-home<br />
pay. Depending upon the answer<br />
to my question above, surely the<br />
government — who I believe set<br />
the terms and conditions for the<br />
scheme — could step in and do<br />
something about it?<br />
NAME & NO SUPPLIED<br />
SENIOR NATIONAL SECRETARY<br />
ALLAN GRAVESON COMMENTS:<br />
SMarT funding is designed to<br />
encourage companies to recruit<br />
and train officer trainees (cadets).<br />
Funding is currently worth in<br />
excess of £17,000 for a three-year<br />
cadetship. It costs an average of<br />
around £42,000 to train a UK<br />
officer. For companies who<br />
choose to be in the tonnage tax<br />
scheme, the difference is made<br />
good with tax allowances.<br />
THE VIEW FROM MUIRHEAD<br />
Work at sea has<br />
become slavery<br />
telegraph<br />
STAFF<br />
editor: Andrew Linington<br />
production editor: June Cattini<br />
reporters: Mike Gerber<br />
Sarah Robinson<br />
web editor: Matthew Louw<br />
ADVERTISING<br />
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email:<br />
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website:<br />
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advice before entering into any<br />
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offered in advertisements. Organisations<br />
offering financial services or insurance<br />
are governed by regulatory authorities<br />
and problems with such services should<br />
be taken up with the appropriate body.<br />
Incorporating the merchant<br />
navy journal and ships<br />
telegraph<br />
ISSN 0040 2575<br />
Published by <strong>Nautilus</strong><br />
<strong>International</strong><br />
Printed by College Hill Press Limited<br />
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THE ROYAL ALFRED<br />
SEAFARERS’ SOCIETY<br />
BELVEDERE HOUSE provides<br />
quality nursing care, residential<br />
and sheltered accommodation<br />
primarily for Seafarers and their<br />
dependants offering modern en<br />
suite rooms and sheltered flats<br />
set in 14 acres of lovely Surrey<br />
countryside. For further<br />
information, please contact the<br />
I am a plain seafarer — a captain,<br />
merchant one. I was not gifted<br />
from the maker to be an EU state’s<br />
citizen or language-bearer, so I<br />
hope to be forgiven for mistakes,<br />
languages and stylistic. But as an<br />
active seafarer who has sailed the<br />
seas more than 40 years, I have<br />
seen things and have much to say.<br />
Having read the Telegraph<br />
carefully, two sorts of articles<br />
have attracted my attention —<br />
piracy and fatigue — as a source<br />
of high risk and danger.<br />
As to piracy, do we need arms<br />
on the vessels? Yes, we do! I’m<br />
working within the area where<br />
the pirate threat exists and if you,<br />
as a pirate, have even a suspicion<br />
that the crew may have a<br />
shooting item you will probably<br />
say to yourself easy money is a<br />
good thing, but it’s not worth my<br />
own life.<br />
A good deal of us were in<br />
military service before, and some<br />
still belong to hunters’ clubs, so it<br />
is wrong to say we are fully<br />
ignorant in handling a weapon.<br />
Two or three AK47s or M-16s,<br />
self-loading Enfield or Heckler &<br />
Koch, simple and robust, and<br />
personal pistols for the officers to<br />
be stowed and secured in steel<br />
Chief Executive, Commander<br />
Brian Boxall-Hunt OBE,<br />
Head Office, Weston Acres,<br />
Woodmansterne Lane, Banstead,<br />
Surrey SM7 3HA.<br />
Tel: 01737 353763<br />
www.royalalfredseafarers.com<br />
Reg Charity No 209776 Est 1865<br />
box in the captain’s cabin until<br />
the clock strikes will be a good<br />
assistance for seafarers. Much<br />
more useful than the ISPS bulky<br />
folder, which may be best tossed<br />
into the muzzle of attackers or<br />
beating stupid heads of shorebased<br />
theoreticians.<br />
As to the second problem,<br />
fatigue, the articles were warm,<br />
kind and full of regret for the<br />
poor seafarers, and some with the<br />
declaration to make scientific<br />
explorations. But why, I ask, did<br />
no one did not put a question<br />
about working hours?<br />
Let us cast a glance on a<br />
common coaster, many of which<br />
cross European waters — from<br />
Antverpen to Bilbao for instance.<br />
What we can see? Six or<br />
sometimes five crew members,<br />
exhausted by the heavy weather,<br />
by the overnight washing of the<br />
holds, movable bulkheads,<br />
maintenance work,<br />
watchkeeping and ISPS, finally<br />
entering the port and thankful<br />
that the vessel is alongside. So, we<br />
start to rest. Loading takes a few<br />
hours only with all hands on deck<br />
for ropes and windlasses (six<br />
ropes minimum, as per harbour<br />
rules).<br />
At the same time, the<br />
bunkering is in progress, victuals,<br />
water receiving, garbage disposal,<br />
PSC, FSC, customs, owner’s audit,<br />
stores supply — need I say more?<br />
Yes! Administration! A huge heap<br />
of paper, countless checklists as a<br />
fig-leaf to cover the known spot,<br />
plus service to equipment, expiry<br />
date of documents prolonging<br />
and hundreds of other urgent<br />
works.<br />
Let me see someone, who has<br />
enough of shamelessness to say it<br />
is your time, lad, have a rest! And<br />
the same for all of us! Rest hours<br />
on paper look nice! Watch<br />
schedule — six after six, and in<br />
darkness I, as a captain, have to<br />
suck from my finger a lookout.<br />
And we all lie — yes, we kept an AB<br />
for lookout. It is not a secret and<br />
all parties — owners, operators,<br />
and port authorities know it.<br />
Know it, but do nothing to change<br />
the situation.<br />
Minimum safe manning is<br />
acceptable only for a very short<br />
A service for seafarers and their families<br />
FREE, FAST & CONFIDENTIAL<br />
period when there is an<br />
unexpected shortage of crew<br />
(due to illness, death or so on) for<br />
two or three days, for instance —<br />
but not for the constant handling<br />
of the craft.<br />
If we really wish to diminish<br />
danger and stop the seafarers’<br />
torture, an eight-hour working<br />
day or three full watching shifts<br />
(two plus two plus two) should be<br />
implemented. Ships with less<br />
than nine crew members should<br />
be prohibited to sail for trips<br />
exceeding three days. This should<br />
be strongly controlled by the<br />
state authority and in case of a<br />
breach of this rule, the owner and<br />
operator should get a sensible<br />
penalty.<br />
It is time to leave aside any<br />
sort of hypocrisy and lies and say<br />
loudly that work at sea has<br />
become drudgery — slave labour,<br />
though well paid. And a shameful<br />
spot on the face of the modern<br />
civilisation.<br />
YURIY B<br />
Master Mariner<br />
Russia<br />
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Seafarers.indd 1 19/9/08 08:31:11