Issue 71 - The Pilgrim - May 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

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Feature The Pilgrim May 2018 The dangerous life of a seafarer By Greg Watts “All life on land is enabled by work done out of sight and mind by seafarers and ships, in the ports and seaways of the world. Effectively there are two Earths, the terrestrial one we know, and its shadow, its marine twin, which is far larger, more dangerous and elemental,” says Horatio Clare. Clare is making a name for himself as the chronicler of the lives of seafarers. In Down to the Sea in Ships: Of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men Clare took the bold step of joining two Maersk container ships to find out what life is like on board. The first sailed from Felixstowe to Los Angeles via the Suez Canal and the second from Antwerp to Montreal. His new book, Icebreaker: A Voyage Far North, recounts his experiences on the Otso, a ship that clears ice in the Gulf of Bothia, so other vessels can travel safely between Finland and Sweden. He spent ten days on it, enduring freezing conditions and gaining an insight into this extraordinary and hidden world. Before joining the ship, he had imagined that an icebreaker would simply sail up and down the bay, cracking open shipping channels, and that would be it. “In fact, a newly broken fairway might remain passable for hours, but it is just as likely the ice will close up again in minutes, even seconds.” He soon discovered that working on board an icebreaker is tough and dangerous. “The crew’s work patterns can be ferocious, six hours on, six hours off, but they are able to keep in touch with their families, because they rotate on and off every two weeks. As one said, it’s as near to ocean-going seafaring as you can get without actually being out there, far away, for months.” Icebreaker crews are regarded as an elite group of seafarers, he explains. In Finland they are employed by a crown company, owned by the Finnish state. “This means their pay, their insurance, their health cover and their conditions are as good as they can be.” Despite the freezing temperatures, the fierce winds, and often lack of activity on board the Otso, Clare quickly became accustomed to his new conditions. “You miss your family, but the world of the ship is so compelling and strange, and the amount to learn is limitless, so it would be a rare visitor who found it hard.” Seafaring is one of the world’s most dangerous occupations. And being a seafarer on an ice breaker is especially dangerous, says Clare. “One of the helmsmen said, ‘If the ship behind you is not in danger of crashing into you, she will stick,’ - i.e., the ice will close behind you and trap her. In order to cut ships out when they are trapped, icebreakers perform high-speed flybys, racing around the victim as close as they dare. “Everyone working below is in the hands of the helm, and everyone aboard is in the hands of the engineers: engine failure would bring the ship you are towing straight into your stern. Manipulating heaving lines and tow lines on the frozen deck is no picnic, especially in minus twenty and a blizzard, and towing is inherently dangerous as tow lines can snap. The absolute professionalism of the crew, their expertise, trust and patience, was quite wonderful.” Clare’s ability to adapt so easily to the harsh conditions of an icebreaker may have something to do with him having grown up on a farm in the Brecon Beacons in south Wales. His parents had abandoned their middle class life in London for the romantic idea of becoming sheep farmers. Having lived on board two container ships and an icebreaker, Clare is full of admiration for seafarers and appreciates the vital role they play in providing us with many of the things we rely on each day. Around 90 per cent of UK imports come by sea. “Seafarers deal with great loneliness and isolation, worries about land life and dangers at work. They are often short of sleep, even on the best ships, and the demands of the sea can be relentless, from storms to long monotonies. On the worst ships they endure dangers and fears we can barely imagine. We owe them all we have, but think about them little.” One of the most difficult things seafarers face is being away from Horatio Clare. their families for long periods, he explains. “Is your wife ill? Are your children being bullied? Is your sister living with a man who beats her? Are your parents well? What has happened to the household finances? Is the person you love living a half life because you are never there?” While the Otso had internet access, many ships do not. And mobile phones are no good when you are in the middle of an ocean. This means if a seafarer has worries about his family at home he might not be able to contact them for weeks or months. Clare praises the work of maritime charities such as Apostleship of the Sea. “Often Christian charities are the only institutions to which they can turn in times of trouble, in ports far from home. The captain of one of the container ships I was on told me that absolutely no one understands, knows or even cares about sailors except Apostleship of the Sea and other maritime chariries. “Priests, port chaplains and members of a huge variety of Churches do God’s Work every second of every day and night, somewhere in the world. The importance of their assistance with communication, financial matters, pastoral care, humanitarian intervention and practical problemsolving, as well as spiritual care, is incalculable. “I believe world trade would be hit hard if these religious bodies stopped doing this extraordinary and entirely voluntary work. Ships with dysfunctional crews are hellholes (this is understatement, if anything), and men and women of faith, who live on land but volunteer to help men at sea, make an absolutely fundamental difference.” ADVERTISING TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF ACCEPTANCE Advertisements submitted must contain accurate, complete and true information, comply with requirements of all relevant legislation and the British Code of Advertising Practice and the Advertising Standards Authority. The publisher has the right, at its discretion, to refuse, omit, suspend, or change the position of advertisements, or require artwork or copy to be amended to comply with any moral or legal obligations. The publisher will not be liable for any loss incurred as a consequence of non publication or incorrect reproduction of an advertisement. Advertisements may be cancelled within two weeks of an order being received and a minimum of 24 hours before deadline for entry. Any cancellations outside this period will not affect the buyer’s liability for payment for the advertisement. Payment for advertisements must be received within 30 days. Loose inserts – If inserts are provided outside our standard specification we reserve the right to charge the customer. Booking Deadlines: ROP Display advertising – 8 working days prior to publication. The placing of an order verbal or written for the insertion of an advertisement amounts to an acceptance of these conditions. A full copy of “Terms of business for Advertisers” is available on request. To advertise in this newspaper contact Carol Malpass. Tel: 0161 908 5228 or email: carol.malpass@thecatholicuniverse.com Page 10
The Pilgrim May 2018 Feature/Diary Holy Cross Hospital was once a sanatorium for TB patients. Diary - May TB is still a killer disease By Sister Gillian Price On 21st February 1918, a train and a fleet of ambulances transferred 50 patients with tuberculosis (TB) from St Catherine’s Hospital in Ramsgate to the new, purpose built Holy Cross sanatorium at Haslemere in Surrey, which was then part of Southwark diocese. The First World War bombing had destroyed parts of Ramsgate and the sisters of my order, the Daughters of the Cross of Liege were advised to seek a safer location for their patients. For 30 years the sanatorium continued to offer hope to many with tuberculosis, caring for patients who were often among the most vulnerable members of society. In the 1950s, with the development of an effective cocktail of antibiotics, the number of patients with TB continued to fall and the sanatorium era passed into history. For a time, Holy Cross became a small general hospital before transforming into the present day specialist rehabilitation and long-term care facility for people with extremely complex needs caused by profound injury or a serious neurological condition. Today Holy Cross Hospital continues to challenge the limits to the recovery of people whose lives have been turned upside down by illness or injury. The hospital celebrated its centenary with a year-long programme of events which concluded on in February with a second talk on its early work by Dr Helen Bynum, author of Spitting blood: the history of tuberculosis. The work at Holy Cross Hospital truly made history! No infectious disease has killed more people in human history than TB. Today TB kills almost 5,000 children, women and men every day and leaves no country untouched. It is one of the leading killers among people of working age which creates and reinforces a cycle of illhealth and poverty, with potential catastrophic social and economic consequences for families, communities, and countries. Around 1.7 million people worldwide died from the disease in 2016 - more than Ebola, HIV and malaria combined. TB is a neglected disease, largely ignored and under-funded and yet It is treatable and curable. If we act now, we could eliminate TB within a generation, but the continued development of drug-resistance could send us back to the preantibiotic era of 1918 when the first patients came to Haslemere. After years of inadequate political efforts to contain and reduce the high human and economic costs of TB there are signs that world might be waking up to the importance of tackling the disease. In December 2016, the United Nations General Assembly agreed to hold the first ever high-level meeting on TB. This will take place in September. In July 2017 the G20 meeting placed TB firmly in their list of global priorities for the first time. Then, in November of the same year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) held a ministerial conference on TB in Moscow, reaffirming the importance of taking action on TB and antimicrobial resistance (AMR). It is clear that decision makers have begun to realise that drugresistant tuberculosis poses a clear and present danger to global health and the global economy, which the world cannot ignore. None of this would have happened, however, without sustained pressure on the importance of tackling TB, as part of an increasing focus on the dangers of drug resistant infections. Because of this year’s unprecedented opportunity at the UN meeting, it is vital to build support among parliamentarians and the public to create momentum in the run-up to that meeting. Members of Results UK (a member of the stop TB partnership) are urging Prime Minister Theresa May to attend the event, and use her presence there to help develop a concrete plan for ensuring that countries make and deliver on ambitious commitments to tackle TB. Our goal is to make TB history. Because despite its devastating Universe Media T: 0161 908 5301 impact as the world’s leading infectious killer, there is still the troubling fact that most people in the world think of TB as a disease of the past. I wonder what my sisters who welcomed the patients with TB to the Holy Cross sanatorium 100 years ago would think of that? I think the sisters of the 1950s (who must have rejoiced at the end of the need for a sanatorium) would be even more surprised and dismayed that TB is still posing such a threat to humanity. Why not learn more about how you can make TB history. n For more information, visit www.results.org Catholic journalism at its best ... The Universe : world news, current affairs, lifestyle supplements and a quarterly U Education magazine all available each week digitally 3: “The Eucharist and Prayer,” talk by Fr Philip Thomas Edwards of the Community of St John, 7.30pm, Amigo Hall, next to St George’s Cathedral. For more information, visit www.ccftootingbec.org.uk 5: World Apostolate of Fatima Marian procession from St George’s Cathedral to Sacred Heart Church in Knatchbull Road, Camberwell, 2pm. There will be a Fatima celebration in the church from 3pm – 7pm, including recitation of the Rosary, an act of consecration to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and individual veneration of the relics. 7: Annual Mass for Migrants of the dioceses of Southwark, Westminster and Brentwood, 11am, St George’s Cathedral. Banner procession begins at 10.45am. Archbishop Peter will be the main celebrant. 7: Altar servers’ rally, The Friars, Aylesford. The day begins at 10.15am. Bishop Paul Mason will celebrate a sung Mass at 11.30am, followed by a picnic and football. 10: “The Eucharist in Scripture,” a talk by Fr John Hemer of the Mill Hill Missionaries, 7.30pm, Amigo Hall, next to St George’s Cathedral. For more information, visit www.ccftootingbec.org.uk 12: “The Resurrection Narratives - The beginning of the Church,” with Fr Denis McBride, 10.30am – 3pm, Our Lady Immaculate Church, Ewell Road, Tolworth. 19: Recruitment day for St George’s Cathedral choirs, 10am – 4pm in the cathedral song room. For more information, email: music@stgeorges.org.uk Subscribe today Digital Edition ONLY £12 a year FIRST 4 WEEKS FREE Join us on the journey ... www.thecatholicuniverse.com/shop/subscribe-digital.html Page 11
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Issue 71 - The Pilgrim - May 2018 - The newspaper of the Archdiocese of Southwark

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