NAUTILUS P01 OCTOBER 2010.qxd - Nautilus International

16 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | October 2010
YOUR LETTERS
What’s on your mind
Tell your colleagues in Nautilus International – and the wider world of shipping. Keep your letter to a
maximum 300 words if you can – though longer contributions will be considered. Use a pen name or just
your membership number if you don’t want to be identified – say so in an accompanying note – but you
must let the Telegraph have your name, address and membership number.
Send your letter to the Editor, Telegraph, Nautilus International, 750-760 High Road, Leytonstone,
London E11 3BB, or use head office fax +44 (0)20 8530 1015, or email telegraph@nautilusint.org
A ‘sea of red
ensigns’ for
MN tribute
The poignant Sailors’ Society tribute at the Merchant Navy memorial
The eleventh annual Merchant Navy Day was marked up and down the UK
with a series of special events and ceremonies — including the ‘planting’
of hundreds of red ensigns to make a ‘Sea of Remembrance’ at the MN
memorial in Tower Hill, London.
The ‘ensign-planting’ was organised by the Sailors’ Society and each
flag carried a message from the donor. The charity also placed a wreath in
tribute in the centre of the flags, which were laid following the Merchant
Navy Association’s annual service at the site.
Guest of honour at this year’s service was former First Sea Lord Admiral
The Lord West of Spithead, while former shipping minister and Poplar
& Limehouse MP Jim Fitzpatrick read a greetings message from prime
minister David Cameron. The service was conducted by Sailors’ Society
principal chaplain Revd David Potterton, with other invited clergy and faith
leaders taking part.
Have your say online
Last month we asked: Do you think there is a
bullying problem at sea
No
34%
Yes
66%
This month’s poll asks: Do you think lifeboats
kill and injure more seafarers than they save
Give us your views online, at nautilusint.org
Shipmates
Wish you’d kept in touch
with that colleague
from work
visit www.nautilusint.
org/time-out
and click on Shipmates
Reunited.
We forget Nelson’s
words at our peril
On Merchant Navy Day,
3 September, the Red Ensign was
flying from some government and
public buildings and I salute their
consideration. But many public
buildings were not flying the Red
Duster. Why
Our island nation seems to have
forgotten about the Merchant Navy
and its important part in bringing
food to our table and essential
goods to our homes. Ships carry
about 92% of our international
trade and 24% of internal trade goes
by coastal shipping, thus relieving
our busy, crowded roads and
railways of freight.
Some may say that the Merchant
Navy is just another job, so why the
national day I would remind them
that 14,661 men of the Merchant
Service were lost in the Great
Battle of
the sea
was vital
In the last few days the media has
spent a considerable amount of time
talking about the Battle of Britain
and the RAF personnel that fought
and died fighting the Luftwaffe. This
subject is right and proper and our
children should be made aware of the
efforts made by their grandparents in
the brave struggles to keep this land
free.
Now the thing that bothers me
greatly is that during that period of
time another Battle of Britain was
being fought, and the men fighting it
suffered terrible losses far worse than
any of the three fighting services.
The losses of those brave men were
calculated as three in five — the other
services were about one in 10. In real
numbers, the fighting services were
counted in hundreds of thousands. In
the case of the Merchant Navy, they
numbered only about 36,000.
On Sunday 5 September the
surviving veterans gathered near
Tower Hill, London, at their memorial
to honour those that were lost. I refer,
of course, to the MN seamen, officers
and men. But unfortunately there was
no media coverage.
Surely our children should be made
aware of these brave people who died,
went missing or were injured as they
fought not only the human enemy but
also the forces of nature that they fight
every time they put to sea.
Don’t be misled by the fact that we
have the Channel tunnel — in times
of conflict the enemy can destroy or
block it very easily. Remember, we are
an island nation and cannot survive
without a merchant fleet and, for that
matter, neither can the world.
Capt T.J. SAX
mem no 311993
War and some 31,908 men of the
Merchant Navy gave their lives in
the Second World War. Nineteen
merchant seamen were killed in the
Falklands War of 1982.
To be added to those figures
are the thousands who died in
accidents in the years and decades
of peacetime sailing; I do not know
the true number but it is likely, of
course, to have been rather higher
in the early years before 1914.
All told, those figures mean that,
on average, in the last century, at
least one merchant seaman died
every day; on average, nine to 10
died every week. These chilling
statistics are not those of any
ordinary day-to-day job.
Thus there’s every reason for our
nation to mark Merchant Navy Day,
both to acknowledge the sacrifice
of some 50,000 Merchant Navy
personnel in the last century and
since, and to raise the profile of the
maritime profession today.
Indeed, the UK population has
become sea-blind. Early signs are
that the strategic defence review
will give us a still smaller Royal
Navy, with fewer ships. This will
mean that the Navy’s important
everyday task, in both peacetime
and war, of policing the sea lanes,
our nation’s lifelines, will be harder
to do. Admiral Lord Nelson wrote, in
1804: ‘I consider the protection of
our trade the most essential service
that can be performed.’
We forget those wise words
at our peril, for maritime piracy is
a reality and not just the stuff of
Hollywood.
LESTER MAY (Lt Cdr RN)
What value a degree
This is a letter in response to the
question posed by Lt Cdr Harry
Dormer RD RNR Rtd in the September
issue of the Telegraph, with reference
to the time it takes to acquire a
Master’s ticket.
I am an engineer officer, but I will
assume that the Master’s and Chief’s
tickets are the ultimate maritime
achievement and that our starting
points began after completion of
GCSEs. I should also mention I took
the graduate entry route.
So far it has taken me 17 years
and I’m yet to complete my Class
2 engineering ticket. The greatest
problem I have faced is an institution
called the IAMI, which has been
employed by the MCA to scrutinise
graduate entry candidates.
Despite the fact that my
engineering degree took five years,
with a year’s industrial placement
(which I undertook at a power
Anchoring Systems and Procedures
Oil Companies International Marine Forum
station), and the comparative marine
HND takes two years with one year
industrial placement, the IAMI has
seen fit to find every opportunity to
discredit my qualification, to field
exams which have 80% failure rates,
and to present a plethora of trades
tests.
I am currently in the situation
where my Class II ticket is being
withheld by the MCA because the
IAMI has deemed it necessary that
I take two Scotvec level exams. So
I see little difference between the
treatment of a graduate and having
no qualifications whatsoever.
But let’s return to the original
question posed by Mr Dormer. His
view is that it takes eight years to
acquire a master’s. At my current rate
of progress, I’m simply not going to
get as far as the chief’s ticket.
ANDREW SCOTT B.Eng (hons)
3OE
Witherby Seamanship International
4 Dunlop Square, Livingston,
Edinburgh, EH54 8SB,
Scotland, UK
Camden
flies high
The red ensign was flying high over
the town hall in the London borough
of Camden last month following a
donation by a former Merchant Navy
officer.
Ex-engineer officer Jim Johnson
presented a ‘three-yarder’ to the
Mayor of Camden, Councillor
Jonathan Simpson, so that Camden
Council could mark Merchant Navy
Day this year and in the future.
Jim, a member of the Merchant
Navy Association, served with the
Pacific Steam Navigation Company
and later worked for the Cunard Line.
‘I hope that this Red Duster, flying on
Merchant Navy Day this year, will serve
to remind people of the importance
of the sea to our island trading nation,
and of the sacrifice of merchant
mariners who served, and are now
serving, in British ships at sea around
the world,’ he said.
‘The people of Camden are closer
to the sea than they imagine, of
course, with most UK international
trade still going by sea.’
We’re on
Facebook.
Become a fan!
Visit www.
nautilusint.org
Anchoring Systems
and Procedures
Price £125
Jim Johnson presents a red ensign
to the Mayor of Camden
Tel No: +44(0)1506 463 227
Fax No: +44(0)1506 468 999
Email: info@emailws.com
www.witherbyseamanship.com