Take a moment to salute Merchant Seafarers, forgotten heroes of the pandemic
Tomorrow is Merchant Navy Day. The annual Merchant Navy Day service at the Merchant Navy Memorials, Tower Hill, and the Annual National Service for Seafarers, administered by charity Seafarers UK, at St Paul’s Cathedral in midOctober, are cancelled.
Early lock down panic buying caused shortages. Supermarkets and suppliers did their b est to steady the ship and soon most of us could again buy essential goods.
One reason that was possible was the same reason we’ve had uninterrupted supplies of most things for most of our lives – merchant ships bring goods to our ports 24/7/365.
Some 95 per cent of UK trade by volume (75 per cent by value) comes and goes by ship. Merchant seafarers are often unsung heroes in our nation’s story, their ships bringing energy supplies and goods to our islands whatever the weather or circumstances.
Over 30,000 merchant sea - men lost their lives in the Second World War (a death rate higher proportionately than in any of our armed forces), merchant ships carrying the food, fuel, armaments and troops essential to victory around the globe.
The seven seas are an unforgiving environment and, while sailors sometimes enjoy calm seas and a prosperous voyage, heavy seas, storms, hurricanes and danger are ever present – over 100 merchant seafarers died last year. Early this year cruise ships were at the centre of another storm – Covid-19.
Over 50,000 other ships – bulk carriers, general cargo, specialist and container ships, tankers, ferries and trawlers – have, however, continued to ply the seas, wearing our Red Ensign or Blue Ensign or flags of other seafaring nations. Twenty million containers are crossing the glob e right now. Of the world’s 1.6m merchant seafarers some 300,000 are stuck at sea, unable to leave their ships, world travel restrictions having denied routine crew changes.
For many seafarers life is hell right now, without them your life might be hell too. Let’ s salute Merchant Seafarers– our essential workers at sea.
LT CDR LES CHAPMAN (Senior Warden, Honourable Company of Master Mariners)
MARK DICKINSON (General Secretary, Nautilus International)
RADM JEREMY LARKEN
(Managing Director, OCTO)
VADM JOHN MCANALLY
(National President, Royal Naval
Association)
CAPT JUSTIN OSMOND
(Chief Executive, Shipwrecked
Mariners Society)
CATHERINE SPENCER
(CEO, Seafarers UK, King George’s Fund for Sailors)
CDR SHARKEY WARD
and 25 other maritime leaders
and supporters