the journal of the honourable company of master...

The Journal of theHonourable Company of Master Mariners

Issue 3/2019Volume XXV No. 003

Livery Company of the City of LondonFounded 1926, Incorporated by Royal Charter 1930

The Honourable Company of Master Mariners

PATRONHer Most Gracious Majesty THE QUEEN

Master of the Merchant Navy and Fishing Fleets

ADMIRALHis Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh,

Lord High Admiral of the United Kingdom, KG KT OM GBE KCVO

FOUNDERSir Robert Burton-Chadwick, Bt.

b. 1869 d. 1951

Contents

Contents

Company News Page 71

Obituary Page 72

Ship Affiliations Page 80

Global Links Page 88

Features Page 92

Events Diary Page 102

Merchandise Inside Back Cover

Court of the CompanyWardens and Court from 1 May 2019

MASTERCaptain W J Barclay FNI

SENIOR WARDENCaptain D Chadburn

IMMEDIATE PAST MASTERCaptain R B Booth AFNI

WARDENSCommander L A Chapman CMMar RN; Captain R F A Batt; Captain GEnglish AFNI

COURT OF ASSISTANTSCommander P R F D Aylott MNI RN; Captain R W Barnes CMMar; Mr M Burrow; Captain B A Cushing; Mr C Dancaster; Captain S PDonkersley RFA; Mr H Dundas; Captain I C Giddings FNI; Captain P THanton RFA; Captain L J Hesketh FNI; Commander D Ireland MBEMRIN; Captain J M Simpson; Mr J Johnson-Allen FRIN; Captain P JMcArthur MNM CMMar FNI FIMarEST; Captain J K Mooney AFNI;Captain T Oliver; Captain M C Powell FNI; Captain M A Robarts MNIARINA; Captain N R Rodrigues; Captain T W Starr MSc LLM; Captain S E Thomson CMMar; Captain H J Conybeare; Captain F K D'Souza FNI; Captain M Reed RD* FNI RNR

OUTPORT REPRESENTATIVESNE Scotland – Captain R CurtisClyde – Mr H DundasNW England – Captain L HeskethBristol Channel – Captain T HughesSouth West – Ms V Foster MBESolent – Captain C DouglassNE England – Captain M James

CLERK OF THE COMPANYCommodore Angus Menzies MNI RN – [email protected]

BUSINESS MANAGER – 0207 845 9872Mrs Alison Harris BA (Hons) – [email protected]

FINANCE OFFICER – 0207 845 9875Mrs Penny Burningham – [email protected]

CHARTERED MASTER MARINER ADMINISTRATORLieutenant Scott Hanlon BA (Hons) AlnstLM, RNR

– [email protected]

RECEPTIONIST – 0207 836 8179Gail Byrne – [email protected] Carter

HONORARY CHAPLAINThe Reverend Reginald Sweet BA RN

CORPORATE MEMBERSThe Baltic Exchange; J&J Denholm Limited; Furness Withy(Chartering); *International Maritime Pilots' Association; Maritime &Underwater Securities Consultants Limited; P&O Ferries; Star Reefers;Stephenson Harwood; John Swire & Son Limited; WitherbyPublishing Group; X-PRESS Feeders; (*Tenant company)

HQS WELLINGTON, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London WC2R 2PN

www.hcmm.org.uk Tel: 0207 836 8179 Fax: 0207 240 3082 Email: [email protected]

Produced by Perfect Imaging Limited, Enterprise House, Cranes FarmRoad, Essex, SS14 3JB. Telephone: +44(0)208 806 6630

Published by The Honourable Company of Master Mariners, HQSWellington, Temple Stairs, Victoria Embankment, London WC2R 2PN.

Company News

www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 1/2019 • Page 71www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 3/2019 • Page 71

From the MasterCaptain WJ Barclay FNI

My first three months as Master have flownby; every Past Master told me that thiswould happen. It takes a while to get intothe swing of things and many thanks toAngus for his help in this regard I am nowbeginning to enjoy fully the wealth ofevents that I have experienced whenrepresenting the Honourable Company.

In my last article I mentioned thatElizabeth and I were due to attend theannual Ironbridge weekend along with onehundred and two other Livery Masters andtheir Consorts as well as the Lord Mayorand the Sheriffs. This does seem like aneternity away but was only in June. Theweekend was marred by torrential rain onthe Friday and most of Saturday which iswhen the museum tours took place but thisdid not stop us from appreciating thefascinating range of industry in the areawhich made us proud of our heritage. Itwas also of course a great opportunity toget to know some of the other LiveryMasters who do not necessarily cross mypath very often.

The weekend proved to be very busy andapart from torrential rain on the Saturdayall went very well. This was a very goodopportunity to meet others in the Liveryand also to start our present year’sAssociation. This Association will ensure thatafter our term in office we will to meet upand continue friendships already formed.

Our annual Church Service at St. Michaels,Cornhill was very well attended and as everthe music was up to the highest standard.The Lord Mayor of Westminster joined usafter the service for an excellent lunch onboard HQS Wellington.

In the past three months there has been a

wealth of other events with Livery lunchesand dinners taking place in various hallsthroughout the City. I will not bore youwith all the details. There have, however,been some very special occasions which willforever remain in my memory.Elizabeth and I were very privileged to beinvited by the Master and Mistress of theWorshipful Company of Dyers to attendtheir annual Swan Upping event.According to our learned Clerk this is aninvitation which has not been received bythe Honourable Company for at least tenyears. The tradition of taking part in theQueen’s annual Swan Upping is sharedwith only two Livery Companies, the Dyersand the Vintners. The cygnets are taken upfor identification once a year in July underthe auspices of the Queen’s Swan Marker.Ownership of the Dyers and Vintners birdsare recorded on a leg ring whilst those ofHer Majesty, the Seigneur of Swans, areunmarked. This tradition dates back tobefore 1483. Swan Upping plays animportant role in the conservation of themute swan and affords an opportunity toassess the cygnets and examine then forany injuries. Unlike Ironbridge this was anidyllic summer day and the cruise alongthe Thames was thoroughly enjoyed by allwho attended.Another memorable event took place at theOld Bailey. We were kindly invited by thetwo Sheriffs for a guided tour followed bydinner. The tour included the historical No.1 Court as well as a newer Court. We werealso allowed to view the holding cells inthe basement……not the most comfortableplace to be. Dining in the Great Hall is arare treat and was a stunning venue.A tour of the House of Lords, hosted byBaroness Byford, was also very special.After a very pleasant lunch by the river wewere allowed into the Strangers Gallery toview the Lords taking part in somedebates. Coincidently the Admiral the LordWest was speaking on some shippingmatters at the time.A special day was spent with some of ourladies who are trying to raise funds for ourCentenary Celebrations. We had anexcellent lunch along the Strand followedby a tour of Somerset House. This was mostenlightening. Many thanks to the LadiesCentenary Group for organising this, andother events.It was a pleasure to see some Outportmembers and their partners attend ourannual Outport Ladies Lunch. The lunchwas held on the Quarterdeck and the onlydownside was the weather….the joys of theBritish Summer!

The final occasion just the other day wasan invite to attend the Sea Cadets NationalBand Championship, held in the moat ofthe Tower of London. I was privileged to beasked to present a prize to one of thebands. To see these young peopleperforming with full military precision andplaying to a very high standard wasinspirational. They are a credit tothemselves, their parents and of course theleaders. These youngsters must have spentweeks if not months practicing. There wereno signs of nerves but it must have seemeda bit traumatic to perform in front of avery large audience. Seeing these boys andgirls thoroughly enjoying the day giveshope for the future. It is hoped that we canarrange for some of these youngsters tocome on board HQS Wellington for a visitin the not too distant future. Who knowsmaybe some of them will at some stagebecome members. At the moment I am looking forward tohaving a few weeks rest and recuperationas Livery events take a break duringAugust. By the time you read this I will beback into the full flow of events inSeptember, hopefully fully recharged. Mydiary is already looking fairly full. Merchant Navy Day will be celebrated thisyear on Sunday 8th September and asusual there will be a Memorial Service atTrinity Gardens, Tower Hill when I hope tosee as many of you as possible. This isalways a very moving ceremony andreminds us all of the sacrifices made by somany seafarers.

We are sorry to re cord the death ofthe following members (and pastmembers) of the HonourableCompany of Master Mariners:

• Captain Ian Sparham, 14 June 2019

• Captain John Potts,6 July 2019

• Captain James Martin,4 August 2019

• Captain Brian John McAree9 August, 2019

Company News

Page 72 • The Journal • Issue 1/2019 www.hcmm.org.ukPage 72 • The Journal • Issue 3/2019 www.hcmm.org.uk

ObituaryCAPTAIN ALASDAIRCRAIG McCULLOCHJanuary 10, 1941 – May 9, 2019The following Eulogy was delivered atCaptain McCulloch’s Funeral (see previousissue of this Journal) on 17th May 2019 bythe Revd Jeanne Roddick. As alreadyreported, Clyde Outport was well-represented at the Funeral, not least thesurprise attendance of 95-y/o CaptainArthur Young MBE, Captain McCulloch’sclose friend and neighbour.

Alasdair was born on 10th January 1941and brought up in the family home at 24Stamperland Avenue by his parentsArchibald and Christina McCulloch. He wasthe youngest of four brothers, Archibaldwho died when he was 11 years old, Robert(who later emigrated to New Zealand) andIain who died 21 days after his 5th birthday.

Despite the miles between them, he andRobert remained close and kept in touchuntil Roberts’ death in October 2016. Oneof the benefits of Alasdair’s job was that hewas able to make many visits to Robert andhis wife Agnes and their children Derek,Pauline and Stephen in Australia and NewZealand. In later years, following hisretirement, he was grateful for skypekeeping them in touch.

Alasdair was a pupil at Belmont HouseSchool until he was 14 years old when heleft to train as a Navigational Officer at TheIncorporated Thames Nautical TrainingCollege situated aboard HMS Worcester. Hewas there from 1955 to 1958, staying on

an extra term to get the job he wanted. Onleaving the Worcester he started workingfor Strick Line in summer 1958 on generalcargo ships

Alasdair worked himself up through theMerchant Navy from Cadet to Captain. Hesat and passed his Master’s Certificate thesame day as his mother died in December1967 although he always said that he hadno idea how he manged to do so.

In 1973 he left Strick’s and moved to P&Owhere he continued working on generalcargo ships until 1983. Seeing that this wasthe way things were going, he then movedto Overseas Containers Ltd (OCL) to work oncontainers ships from 1983 to 1986 at whichpoint they merged with P&O Containers tobecome P&OCL Containers Ltd.

In 1988, after 20 years as 1st Mate, Alasdairwas finally promoted to Master, with hisfirst Captaincy beginning on 16th October1988 on a P&O Container ship, Botany Bay.He remained a Captain with P&OContainers / P&O Nedlloyd until hisretirement on 11th December 1998 after 40years at sea.

Alasdair married his wife Marion on 18thMay 1973. She lived at 23 StamperlandDrive, just across the road from his house,and their romance blossomed afterAlasdair’s mother died and Marion’s mothercame to help his father at home. After theirmarriage they moved to Knollpark Drive,their one and only family home together.

Their son Iain was born in July 1975.Alasdair’s job meant that he was away forabout six months of the year when Iainwas growing up but over the years astechnology grew communication with hisfamily became easier. When he was athome, he liked nothing more than spendingquality time with Marion and Iain. Iain sayshe was a brilliant father, a father who wasalways there for him and who always hadtime for him

Family holidays, when Alasdair was athome, always involved boats – because heloved the sea. Until last year he had anarrowboat moored in Anderton, Cheshirewhich he grudgingly sold after 17 years: ashe himself put it “From the knees up he didnot want to sell it but from the kneesdown he knew that he had to”. After sellingthe narrowboat he bought a caravan atWemyss Bay, where he spent what was afirst and ultimately a last weekend threeweeks before his passing away, happilylooking at the water and the ships goingup and down the Clyde

After retirement Alasdair became busierthan ever and Commodore Laurie Howell,

Congratulations to the following onbeing sworn in as: Freeman:Captain William Bowen, CaptainIvana Carrioni-Burnett, Captain ChrisDodds, Captain Richard Gammie,Captain Andrew McLaughlin, Captain Kevin Roach, Captain MarkThompson, Captain Jan WilhelmssonMember:Theo Campbell, Andrew Cowderoy,Jake Evans, Liam Pagonis, Kurt RogersAssociates:Aidan Bates-Porter, Alex Bellamy, LizCoase, Rory Maclure, Alex WatsonApprentice: Jakob Ward

And to the following on attainingCertificates of Competency:

Chief Officer:Dan Pile, Chris Small, Conor Warde,George Whitfield

OOW:David Allen, Fleur Brewer, Liz Coase,Ryan Graham, Tony McGurk

Congratulations also to the following:

On being elevated from JuniorAssociate to Freeman:Andrew Hines

On being clothed as Liverymen: Captain Christopher Bordas, Captain Philip Gregson

Company News


with whom he was paired on the OrientalBay, introduced him to the HonourableCompany of Master Mariners, ClydeOutport which Alasdair subsequentlyjoined. The Outport would meet regularlyfor lunch on the 3rd Thursday of everymonth at the Western Club in Glasgow.After his retirement he became theHonorary Secretary of the Clyde Outport, aposition he held for 11 years.

Alasdair met his best man, Iain Sinclair,every month at the White Cart and withothers they formed an Investment Clubcalled the Carte Blanche, which was woundup only last year. He served as the club’sSecretary and, after Iain’s untimely passing,“Temporary Acting Treasurer”

As an ex member of Belmont House School,Alasdair became chairman of the BelmontianAssociation for former pupils and throughthis joined the board of governors and wasSanta Claus at the school’s Annual ChristmasFayre for several years.

He was a member of Greenbank ParishChurch where he served on the KirkSession, did administrative paperwork forthe Boys Brigade and made sure thepresentation cups were beautifully polishedeach year

Alasdair was an extremely practical manwho enjoyed listening to classical music,working on the computer, cooking andbaking. He was a dab hand at makingcaramel shortcake for BB coffee mornings

He was an outgoing, friendly and sociableman who got on well with people.

You will all have your own memories ofAlasdair, memories to hold on to so thatyou can look back after today and takecomfort and strength from the way his lifetouched and enriched your life by what hewas and what he gave to you.

And so, may you give thanks for allAlasdair meant to you and to everyonewho had the privilege of knowing him andloving him in life.

Postscript from FacebookA colleague of Alasdair’s posted notice ofhis passing on a Facebook page and thisgenerated some touching responses:“I sailed with him as Mate … what alovely main to sail with”“I sailed with him on Oriental Bay; … agood man”“Sad news indeed. [I] will never forgethis laughs, such a cheerful man”“He always met you with a large smileand a laugh, a true gentleman”“Sad news indeed, a true gentleman.I sailed with him a few times;

fond memories”“I sailed with him when I was Mate andlucky to be paired with him on the NewportBay when I was newly-promoted Master.Many good memories of handover days.”“A great captain”

Postscript on behalf of Clyde OutportWe will remember Captain AlasdairMcCulloch with immense respect,admiration, warmth and affection; hewas a larger-than-life character in everysense and, for all of us, it was a hugeprivilege to have known such a fineMaster Mariner and Captain and such awonderful man. He will by now havemet his Pilot face-to-face now that hehas Crossed the Bar.

Clerk’s CornerCommodore Angus Menzies RN

MSc Maritime Operations and Management– City University LondonThis Second degree course has beensupported by the Honourable Companysince its inception and is designed to trainprofessionals for the various sectors andoccupations within the maritime and seatransport industries in the UK andinternationally. The Course is open tograduates and those serving at sea,offshore or with inland based organisationsand repair facilities.The Course is delivered by the Departmentof Mechanical Engineering and Aeronauticsas part of the School of Mathematics,Computer Science and Engineering. Entryrequirements are a lower second classhonours degree or a Certificate ofCompetence as a Master (STCW II/2

Unlimited) with command experience.

The core element modules of the Courseare: Maritime Economics and Accounting,Maritime Law, Maritime Management,Maritime Operations and Insurance,Maritime Technology and EnvironmentalIssues. Elective Modules comprise:Marketing of Marine Services, SecurityStudies, Port Management, OffshoreStudies, Risk Management and ConceptualShip Design.

The Course can be undertaken as Full Time– one year with the Project (Dissertation)taking approximately 3 months during thatperiod, or Part-Time over 2 or 3 years, withthe Project taking approximately 6 monthsduring or after this period. In either caseemployer participation where appropriatein the Project is encouraged.

The Trustees of the Honourable Companyof Master Mariners and Howard LeopoldDavis Charity (HCMM&HLD) have initiateda Presentation for full tuition fees(currently circa £12,000.00) for the Coursefor a suitable UK member of our Companywho has held command at sea for 2 years,not necessarily with and preferably withouta lower University awarded Degree. It ishoped to fill a place to begin in theautumn 2019 academic year, either full-time or part-time. Applications by email tothe Clerk.

Journal ArticlesMembers and especially Apprentices andAssociates are enjoined to provide articlesfor our Quarterly Journal. Articlessupported by pictures or illustrations areparticularly encouraged. The best article for2019 by an Apprentice or Associate, asselected by the Master and Wardens, willreceive the Anchorites Prize of £250. Allcorrespondence, articles and reports for theJournal should be in Word Format/Arialfont and forwarded to the Editor [email protected].

Careers at Sea AmbassadorsAlthough overseen by the Merchant NavyTraining Board, our Company doesencourage our Apprentices and Associatesto join the “Ambassadors Scheme”, whereduring your off watch time you can visityour old school or others, to give a shorttalk backed up by suitable providedpaperwork and a video and show what acareer at sea entails. Join today! Full detailsfrom the Clerk or the MNTB website.

CommitteesThe Company operates five StandingCommittees (this means permanent andreporting direct to the Court). Theygenerally formally meet four times a year

and cover the following areas: • Finance & Risk – all aspects of theCompany’s investments and accounts.

• Membership – policy on membershipcriterion, recruiting and numbers.

• Education & Training – oversight oftraining standards and theApprenticeship/Associate Scheme.

• Professional & Technical – oversight ofprofessional practices in every area ofmaritime business and shipping.

• Treasures – management of all ourartefacts, library and silverware collections.

Members are invited to consider joining oneor more of those committees and therebyto take more part in the day to day life ofour Company. Membership will not take upmuch personal time and a great deal of thework is achieved by email. If interested, I amalways delighted to update members on theworkings of the Committees whose Minutesare published in the Member’s Area of theCompany website.

Honourable Company of MasterMariners and Howard LeopoldDavis Charity Members are reminded that our associatedHCMM & HLD charity is focussed on thesupport of needy Merchant Navy DeckOfficers and their dependents and alsosupport to educate and train thoseinterested in a career at sea andseamanship and sail training generally.

As in paragraph 1 above the Charity nowoffers tuition fees for the City of LondonMSc in Maritime Operations andManagement. It also offers 2 Bursariesfor Cadet Officers until achieving CoCSTCW II/1 qualifications.

Our Charity also oversees our presentation atChrist’s Hospital School, Horsham, and WestSussex RH13 0YP. The presentation,depending on a parental means test, cancover all fees, uniform and equipment at theSchool for the full secondary course. Thispresentation is currently not filled and asuitable candidate is sought; details from me.

The Royal Hospital School at Holbrook alsooffers generous bursaries to the sons ordaughters or the grandchildren of male orfemale officers of the UK Merchant Navy.Scholarships are available in four areas:Academic, Arts, Sports and, in particular,Sailing. The Royal Hospital School,Holbrook, Ipswich, Suffolk, IP9 2RX Tel: +44 (0)1473 [email protected]

Meeting RoomsThere are three bookable rooms forbusiness meetings available onboard

WELLINGTON:

– The Committee Room – seats 16 at the table.

– The Medals Room – seats 14 at the table.

– The Charthouse – seats 8 in an informalsetting (with superb views of the Thames).

The first two rooms have large-screenwall mounted computer monitors (HDMI)and conference call facilities and withroom for additional seating round thebulkheads. Contact the Office for detailsand for bookings.

In addition, the Catering Company canoffer business meeting facilities in:

– The Model Room – seats 20 at the table– The Court Room – seats 52 at the table

The Court Room is provided with full ITand sound facilities and both are bookedthrough the Cook&The Butler – via Egle,whose office is onboard WELLINGTON on0207 240 9888 [email protected] are entitled to generousdiscounts on the Room Hire charge forboth venues.

WardroomThe Wardroom is available for members andtheir private guests from 0900 until 1700,Monday to Friday, either to relax duringbusy visits to London or to conductbusiness. It is best to advise the Office ifyou will be onboard, to prevent over-booking. The bar opens from 1230 to 1430,when the temporary Chief Bar Steward,Jayson, serves a full range of drinks andcold and hot food (hot food should beordered 24 hours in advance) and isavailable when Roy the chef is on duty,please check beforehand).

Members are reminded that during baropening hours any formal businessmeetings underway in the Wardroom mustbe put on hold and, that dress for membersand their guests in the Wardroom is jacket(optional in the summer) and tie. A stock ofspare maritime ties is held in Reception.

AccommodationThere are two ensuite cabins, one doubleand one twin, onboard WELLINGTON forthe use of members (£50 single, £60 doubleoccupancy). Both cabins have colourtelevisions, digital radios and full Wi-Fifacilities. Please let us know if you will bearriving after normal working hours tocheck in and collect your key.

If unable to book onboard, The Vintner’sCompany, Upper Thames Street, LondonEC4V 3BG (close to Cannon Street orMansion House District/Circle Line Tube

Stations) offers our members access totheir overnight accommodation, somerooms are en-suite and start at £60 + VAT.Contact 0207 651 [email protected].

Similarly, The Mercer’s Company offers arange of bedrooms all with ensuite facilitiesand start at £90 single, £110 doubleincluding VAT and Breakfast. ContactCollette 0207 776 [email protected]

Members, who are still “serving”, may makeuse of the facilities of the Union Jack Clubat Waterloo Station, where a single ensuiteroom begins at £72.00 and a doubleensuite room begins at £126.00. DischargeBooks need to be carried. Contact DaivaSobole, Advance Reservations Manager([email protected]), and Tel. 0207 9027379, Fax. 0207 620 0565, Union Jack Club,Sandell Street, London SE1 8UJ.

Royal Garden Parties 2020Royal Garden Parties are hosted by HerMajesty the Queen and other members ofthe Royal Family annually and for 2020,will be held in May and early June atBuckingham Palace and on July atHolyroodhouse Palace (dates tbc).

The Honourable Company receives a limitednumber of invitations to the events andMembers should apply to the Clerk to jointhe waiting list. If supply outstrips demand,then a ballot will take place to fill theavailable slots. Please visit the Royal GardenParty website for details of who can attendand the dress code etc. Members shouldnormally be accompanied by a guest andcan also be accompanied (space available)by up to two children between the ages of18 and 25. Guests may be foreign nationalsbut must be resident in the UK. Members ortheir guests should not have attended aGarden Party before. Applications, with thefull names and up to date home postaladdresses and preference for dates, shouldbe with the Clerk by mid January 2020.

Although Apprentices and Associates areencouraged to apply, please be confidentthat you can attend as a withdrawal afterthe deadline Thursday 31 January 2020,causes us to lose the places as tickets arenot transferrable.

Income Tax Relief on AnnualSubscriptions and LiveryQuarterageThe Honourable Company is approved byHer Majesty’s Revenue and Customs for thepurposes of Section 334 of the Income Tax(Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 (whichreplaces the previous legislation). Where amember is employed in a marine or marine

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Company News

www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 3/2019 • 5

related occupation, the Annual Subscriptionand Livery Quarterage is allowable as adeduction from earnings for tax purposes(but not Freedom or Livery Fines). Section334 is limited to earnings fromemployment, but members who are self-employed receive relief under Schedule D.

Company EventsAt their own behest, our (previous)Caterers, the Cook&TheButler left ouremploy as of the end of August. SEARCY’sLtd a very old and venerable LondonCatering Company hosting venues such asInner Temple and the Gherkin etc. beginwith us on 1 September this year. SEARCY’shave gladly accepted the transfer to theirstaff of our current Head Chef Roy Wilson,our Sous Chef/Porter Abba Khan and Co-ordinator Egle Maksimovaite.

Chief Bar Steward

Our Wardroom Bar Steward, Simon Cucik,has hurt his left knee and is absent onextended Sick Leave. A temporary stand-in has been recruited until the end ofOctober/begining November as a stop-gap. Many of you will recall Jayson, whohas been operating as a temporary Frontof House and Head Barman for ourprevious Caterers.

Curry Lunch BookingsMembers are strongly encouraged to jointhe waiting list for fully booked CurryLunches as we regularly receivecancellations at short notice which throwup spare seats. Additionally, henceforth, inorder to improve availability and loss ofincome, group Table bookings which arecancelled at less than 7 days’ notice willincur the full cost of that Table.

ReceptionistKelly Carter recently joined us as our newReceptionist and Administrative Assistant.In our re-vamped reception area, Gail and

Kelly will both be working for us part timeto ensure that there is full cover fromMondays to Fridays and during holidayperiods. I know that all members will makeher extremely welcome

EventsThe Office is currently working on:

• Curry Lunches. All Curry Lunches untilthe end of 2019 are FULLY BOOKED,but please call to be wait listed. Thefirst for 2020 are Friday 31 January andFriday 22 February – book early.Members are reminded that guests mustconform to our Curry Lunch dress codeof jackets and ties (no jeans please). Astock of maritime type ties is held atReception. Also, that set tables andindividual groups will be called forwardby the Catering Manager when theyshould rise to select their curry lunch.

• The Ladies Night Dinner on Tuesday 4October 2019 (1830 for 1900). Thisevent is for our Ladies and Partners andwe; private guests are also mostwelcome if there is space available. Thedress is Black Tie so that our Ladies canoutshine us!

• The Annual National Service forSeafarer’s at St Paul’s Cathedral onWednesday 9 October 2019 (1700),followed by our traditional Hot PotSupper onboard (1830 for 1900). TheService is usually attended by our PastMaster, HRH Princess Anne and by themajority of the maritime sector inLondon. Tickets should be ordered assoon as possible from the Office. Boththe Service and Hot Pot afterwards, arefor us, our ladies and partners andprivate guests. Members do not have toattend both events. Wardens will bewearing Mid-Morning Dress; CourtAssistants and members, who wish, mayconform, although lounge suit isperfectly acceptable.

• The Member’s Lunch on Friday 15November 2019 (1215 for 1300). Thisevent is for us and private guests (notspouses or partners), where the guest of honour is the (new) Lord Mayor of the City of London. Wardens willwear Morning Dress; Court Assistants and Members, who wish, mayconform, although Lounge Suit isperfectly acceptable.

• The annual Christmas Lunch on Tuesday18 December 2019 (1230 for 1300)(very limited availability). This lunch isfor us and our spouses and partners andthe aim is to have fun at our final eventof 2019. Santa Claus will be inattendance once again this year. Thedress theme for all is “Stars”, with a prizefor the most extravagant. And, availablefor collection by pre-order throughAlison, is the perfect Christmas Gift, theCompany’s own labelled deliciousChampagne at the special price £25.00.

LibraryNew Books• Anything But A Cruise! A tale of life at sea in the BritishMerchant Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary (1949-1991) Captain John RODDIS RFASecond Edition(June 2019)ISBN 978-0-9932057-7-7(donated by the Author).

CMMar ColumnLieutenant Scott Hanlon

In the previous Journal, I provided anexplanation of how our Chartership will begoing international from July 2019. TheRegistration Authority decided to rolloutthe Chartership in a four phased plan.

Phase One includes Australia, Canada, HongKong, New Zealand, Singapore and theUnited States of America. Phase Two will beEurope and Phase Three will be theCommonwealth of Nations. After thecompletion of the previous three, PhaseFour will be the rest of the globe. I am verypleased to inform you that at our CMMarAnnual Awards and Alumni Event, takingplace on Friday 6th September, we will beawarding our very first Singaporean andSouth African based Masters! Anothermilestone in our journey and an evidentialindicator of how CMMar is developing in astrong and stable fashion.

You will also note how I was preparing mypitch for the Nautical Institute’sInternational AGM and Seminar takingplace in Hong Kong. Despite of the badweather and the occasional protest or two,it was a great success! Captain PeterMcArthur and myself formally launchedand promoted the Chartered MasterMariner Scheme during the two days. Atthe AGM, Peter awarded Captain Nick Nash,President of the Nautical Institute, hisCMMar certification. Although longoverdue, it was a great celebration and ahistoric one for CMMar.

Another sign of the continuing strength ofCMMar is the new approved designed forChartership. Now, every Chartered MasterMariner will be able to identify with eachother through a beautifully designed lapelpin and a tie. We felt it was important forthose who gained Chartership were able toadvertise their achievement and withapplications coming from across the globe,it seemed a natural step to be inclusive. Thelogo was designed to reveal the spirit andprofessional symbolism of the Chartershipprogramme. King Neptune represents theworldwide seafaring community andtraditions that unite us (Crossing theLine/Equator Ceremony). An Anchorrepresents the connection to the ocean and

how it anchors a ship to the bottom of thesea, making it a symbol of safety, securityand solidity. An Open Book represents aCMMar’s professional eminence andacknowledges future responsibilities towardregulatory competence and personalconduct. Nautical Globe represents thenavigational experience and skill of Masterswho sail across the globe. And finally,Britannia represents the British Isles andwhere CMMar started. It also highlights thedrive for greater female representationwithin the maritime profession.

Remember to follow us via our Twitterpage @HCMM_UK but for moreinformation regarding the Chartership,please feel free to email me [email protected].

The Wellington TrustCaptain Guy Brocklebank RNChairman of the Trustees

The Trust Board at its last meeting agreed adesign for the ship’s Replacement MooringsProject and this will comprise twoindividual steel piles approximately 15metres ahead and astern of WELLINGTON,placed on the centre-line of the ship.

Around each will be placed a circularfloating pontoon (doughnut) to which, bycrossed chains the ship will be moored foreand aft. The construct will prevent the shipranging upstream and downstreamgenerated by ever busier river traffic andalso reduce the sideways lateral movementwhich causes crashing against the currentwooden dolphins structures. It is hopedthat piling can begin in early December thisyear. The current fore and aft groundmoorings will remain in place. It is alsohoped that there will be sufficient fundingremaining after the “doughnut pontoon”project completes to remove the woodendolphins structures and the floatingpontoon alongside the ship – all to bereplaced by a new single gangway from theEmbankment steps directly to a platformon the side of WELLINGTON at the frontdoor – this would save on our rates bill tothe PLA and ease “step free” access to theship as well as delivering a “clean” view ofthe ship from the Embankment.

Staying with works, our Engineers havebeen hard at it during August to overseethe annual deep cleaning of the ship’s maingalley and its entire repaint. Slightly less funhas been the project to entirely replace therusted internal sewage pipe system onboard,which mainly affects the Courtroom. Due tothe very restricted spaces involved this hasbeen a labour of love for our people andwho have completed a complex job to costand inside the deadlines set for them. BZthe Engineers!

The bid for our 2019 exhibition, Women onthe Waves, looking at women in both theMerchant service and Royal Navy from1840 up to today was rejected by theHeritage Lottery Fund. However ourpartners remain keen and we are examiningthe options of having the exhibition in2020, there being no time for any otheroption this year. As a stop gap we havesigned up to the London Open house forSunday 22nd of September and a call has

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www.hcmm.org.uk The Journal • Issue 3/2019 • Page 77

gone out for guides to assist. Our Resilienceconsultants will also attend to collect dataon who turns up as part of the marketsurvey activity.Our fundraising team, Rosie Fraser and FayeClews have completed their initial reportand delivered a fundraising strategy andthe next task is to convert it into a planaiming to get underway by November thisyear. A cornerstone will be a repeat bid tothe Lottery Heritage fund but also to awider range of trusts and givingcorporations. We will then follow up with

personal bids and also a plan to increasethe number of Friends for long termsupport to the Trust. In parallel we have achieved a Resiliencegrant from Heritage Lottery to fund someof the preliminary work; this is nowunderway by a team of specialistconsultants with relevant experience. Thereare three key elements, the drafting of aBusiness Plan for a 5 year period in detailand 10 years in outline. This includes a wideranging market survey for education andheritage as well as other visitor

opportunities. A full review of thegovernance of the Wellington Trust is beingconducted, including the roles of Trusteesand key players and committee structuresto ensure compliance with current charitylaw and also best practice. Finally we aredoing an Education review with the aim ofproducing an updated 5 year plan for oureducation offering to keep it relevant andfocussed on what does well. Readers mayremember that whilst our Primary and 6thform sessions are going well there has beena drop off in Secondary GCSE take up. Weare not alone in this and it is partly due tothe current Ofsted requirement on a highproportion of classroom time in that agegroup combined with ongoing worry aboutterrorist activity in central London.

The Wellington TrustHeritage EveningLecturesGlyn Evans

Co-ordinator Wellington TrustHeritage Evening LecturesRMS Caronia

The programme for the 2019 - 2020seasons featured in the previous editionof the Journal and is re-printed below asa reminder.

Our first speaker for the season, Robert GLloyd, is considered one of the world'sforemost maritime artists. Robert's wide-ranging commissions have earned him anenviable reputation for visually stunning,technically accurate work. This examplemakes the point.

Charles Miller

Nick Hewitt

Rear-Admiral John Lang

Maritime Auctioneer

“German Commerce Raiders of WWI”

“Saving the Nation, yet largely forgotten– The Mercantile Marine in WWI.”09 December 2019

11 November 2019

14 October 2019

The Wellington Trust Heritage Evening Lectures – Programme 2019Date Speaker Subject

The Wellington Trust Heritage Evening Lectures – Programme 2020

Captains G Brocklebank & J Freestone.

Glyn L. Evans

Graham Capel

“A History of Rowing on the Thames”

“The Life and Times of Sir R Burton-Chadwick, Founder of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.”

“Recovery of Gold from the British Cruiser HMS Edinburgh”09 March 2020

10 February 2020

13 January 2020

Date Speaker Subject

Company News


PDC ColumnPaul Shepherd

Future Skills ConferenceI had a horrendous night’s sleep the nightbefore the Future Skills Conference,tossing and turning in one of theWellington’s cabins and thinking of all themyriad ways in which the first conferencethat I’ve ever been involved with could bea complete disaster. The good news is thatnothing caught fire and that our 65-odddelegates were treated to a fascinatingday of presentations, panels andworkshops from some of the best-placedspeakers in the industry.

After an opening address by the Master anda keynote presentation by Kathryn Neilson

(Director, MNTB), the conference wasbroken down into four parts. The first dealtwith soft skills, safety culture and wellness;the second with digital and technical skills;the third with innovative training methodsand ways in which the qualifications mightneed to change; and the fourth to allowthe delegates to brainstorm answers to apre-set series of questions relating to thetopics discussed.

The first session, with presentations by JohanGahnström - Intertanko, Neale Rodrigues -Britannia P&I Club, Steve Cameron - CMRand Andrew Cowderoy - ZS Wellnessrevealed general agreement for the need toimprove the integration of leadership andmanagement skills, and safety cultureprinciples, within the wider trainingprogram, rather than having them as abolt-on for a few days during a HELMcourse, etc. It was widely agreed that softskills are not taught adequately at themoment, although awareness of mentalhealth issues is improving rapidly.

The second session, with presentations byNick Cutmore - IMPA, Sinikka Hartonen -Finnish Shipowners' Association, Liz Baugh -Red Square Medical and Mike Lloyd -Consultant & Author highlighted adisconnect between the traditional skillstaught in college and those that arerequired onboard. The conference came to afairly consistent proposal, which was not todo away with celestial, chartwork, stability,etc., but to alter the emphasis from, say,80% chartwork, 20% ECDIS, to 20%chartwork (to understand the foundationalprinciples), 80% ECDIS. Two of the speakersemphasised that the current syllabus is atcapacity and that we cannot keep addingmore, without reflecting on what can beremoved/de-emphasised.

There was also a more radical and divisiveproposal, reflecting the increasinglyspecialised nature of ships, to move awayfrom an Unlimited ticket and towardsmodularisation of the qualification system,so that one qualifies in the basics and thendoes type-specific training on ship-specificoperations, equipment types, engine/thrustersystems, etc. This would be more akin to theaviation industry and could produce better-trained seafarers but would require afundamental re-think of the way themaritime industry approaches training.

The third session, with presentations fromLee Clarke - VShips, Gordon Meadow -SeaBotXR and Kathryn Neilson - MNTBlooked at some interesting proposals fortraining seafarers differently (themodularisation topic above overlappedwith this session). The effectiveness ofusing virtual reality for training washighlighted and an online college conceptfloated. Mr Clarke’s proposal, with a viewto several decades in the future whenautonomous ships might be ascendant, tocombine a Deck Officer, Engineer and ETOinto one person (approximately 60% ETO,35% Deck and 5% (mechanical) Engineer)was discussed.

Back to today, Mrs Neilson briefed theconference on the MNTB’s fairly-advancedproposal to allow ten days of simulatortime to count for 30 days of seatime (butno more than 30 days of seatime could bereplaced in this fashion). This is clearlyvaluable from a training quality point ofview and generally well received by theconference, although there was somereluctance to reduce the sea timerequirement, with calls for simulator timeto be in addition only.

In summary, I believe that two elementswere critical to the success of theconference; the first was the presence of

the MNTB because it was clear thoseconversations during and after weredirectly influencing MNTB policy and thesecond was the diversity in terms of ageand experience among the delegates. WhileI am grateful for every delegate for takingthe time to attend on the day, I feelparticularly indebted to Lee Clarke (VShipsCadet TrainingManager), who brought along a largegroup of VShips Cadets, and the Cadetsthemselves for being so involved in thediscussions. With such keen involvementfrom all present, it was a pleasant surprisethat a fairly coherent strategy seemed toform during the conference, with quite aclear path forward indicated.Buoyed by the success of the conference,the Professional & Technical Committee hasdecided that we will aim to put on anannual conference, which will be explicitlyopen to external delegates from across themaritime community. Do keep an eye outfor articles in both the Nautilus Telegraphand the NI’s Navigator relating to theconference and I would also like to thankour Business Manager, Alison, without whomthe conference wouldn’t have happened.Any letters regarding the conference aremore than welcome and may be publishedin the next journal.PS - I’ve already written too much but Iwould quickly like to thank Kyle James, oneof our Mentees, who has very kindlyvolunteered his time to run our LinkedInand Facebook accounts. I’m sure thateveryone will agree that he’s been doing agreat job, particularly with his series of“Meet a Member” posts, so much so thatwe’ve already seen a significant uptick inour engagement and visibility across bothplatforms. Keep flicking for his article onsocial media and the Younger Members’group and another from Oli Bates on ourattendance at the Livery Schools Link eventat the Guildhall a few months ago.

HCMM Social MediaBy Kyle JamesDo you follow the Honourable Company onTwitter? How about Facebook, LinkedIn andInstagram? That’s correct, the HonourableCompany now has a presence on all four ofthe main social media platforms. Thepurpose of our presence on these platformsis to raise awareness of the company, ourwork, our members, our events andanything HCMM-related.The Company’s Twitter account has beenlive for a while now however, the otherthree pages are relatively new but have

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increased in popularity. As an example, atthe time of writing, our LinkedIn page haswell over 800 followers. However, you canassist us to continue to increase our socialmedia presence by simply following theaccounts and sharing the content as muchas possible. We aim to create pages thatcan be used to reach all corners of themaritime industry and share content thatwill be interesting for everyone from first-phase Cadets to retired Masters.

This will only be achievable with the helpof the whole Company. We need membersto join in our campaigns, such as the highlypopular ‘Meet a Member’ series that isalready in full swing and any futurecampaigns. It would also be very interestingif members could share pictures of theirdaily work or any maritime events thatthey attend. Even a simple picture of youenjoying a day onboard HQS Wellington orat one of our Outport meetings would begreat to share.

To get involved with the pages, you willneed to contact myself via my contactdetails at the end of this article.

As many of you probably don’t know who Iam, here’s a short introduction. My name isKyle James, I am a Mentee and I havevolunteered to manage the social mediapages on behalf of the HCMM, alongsideScott Hanlon who runs our very popularTwitter account. I am about to sit my firstoral exam after completing my cadetshiponboard PCTC and Container vessels. In

September, I will be returning to PlymouthUniversity to complete my final year ofstudy to gain a BSc (Hons) degree inNavigation and Maritime Science. My socialmedia background is running my ownsocial media accounts, starting a successfulFacebook page for a small maritimecompany that I worked for after school andrunning the accounts of my local RNLIlifeboat station before handing them overwhen I started my cadetship.

I ask that if any member has any questionsrelated to the social media pages or wishesto query any of our posts, to contactmyself directly and I will endeavour toanswer any questions as quickly as possible.

Younger Members GroupCalling all HCMM younger members!

In an attempt to better connect theyounger members of HCMM, we havecreated a closed Facebook group called‘HCMM Younger Members’. The page issetup to act as a forum to discuss eventsand topics related to younger members ofthe company and act as a hub forcommunication and support. If you are notalready a member of the group, simplysearch the name on Facebook and requestto join. It will ask you to complete threesimple questions which are important togive us information on who we have withinthe group.

Once you are a member, we encourageactive participation. If you have questionsabout orals, anything related to theCompany or simply find yourself in an areawith nothing to do and want to ask ifanyone is free for a drink, please post!Social media will allow us to develop asense of community within the HCMM likenever before.

My Contact DetailsI am very keen for the social media groupsto represent the wide variety ofmembership we have within the company,so please GET IN TOUCH!

Email – [email protected]

Mobile – 07872859196

Below is a list of the names of our socialmedia accounts –

Twitter – The Honourable Company ofMaster Mariners (@HCMM_UK)

Facebook – Honourable Company of MasterMariners (@HQSWellington)

LinkedIn – The Honourable Company ofMaster Mariners

Instagram – HCMM (Honourable Companyof Master Mariners)

Wardroom NotesJohn Johnson-Allen

Honorary Wardroom MessSecretary

The 15th Maritime Ball on 12th July wasagain a great success. The weather,although the forecasts earlier in the weekhad been threatening rain, on the eveningdid not let us down. Tartan was the theme,and it was enthusiastically responded to, theMaster setting the tone in full Scottish rig,with at least one other gentleman similarlyattired. The piper played on the upper deckwhile we enjoyed the early evening airwhilst one couple escaped to the foc'slewhere a gentleman went down on one kneeand proposed; the lady accepted and joywas unconfined! As another couple, thehusband a very newly joined memberresident in the United States, and his wifewere celebrating their wedding anniversaryit was indeed a memorable evening. Thefood, naturally, had a Scottish theme andafter the meal the dancing, includingScottish country dancing, started. The sizeof the dance floor naturally restricted thesometimes over exuberant nature of suchdancing and some chose to go to the upperdeck to enjoy the night air and the lights of London.

Our thoughts now turn to the ChristmasLunch. By the time this issue of the Journalappears there may only be a few placesavailable; if you haven't already bookedand would like to come I suggest you ringthe ship without delay. I believe somebookings were made many months ago.Father Christmas has sent the first line ofthe Limerick to the Business Manager andit has been securely locked away until theday. The theme of the lunch is “stars”.Interpret that as you will!

Ship Affiliations


In the interim, there is the Ladies NightDinner and the Hot Pot Supper, whichfollows the Annual National Service forSeafarers, to enjoy. The Annual SeafarersService in St Paul's Cathedral is a wonderfulevent. With the Cathedral full; the Band ofthe Royal Marines; seven school choirs andthe congregation of some 2000, singing“Eternal Father Strong to save” makes thehair on the back of my neck prickle!

You will note that I have studiously avoidedany mention of politics: that subject andreligion, were, I believe, traditionally notdiscussed in wardrooms. Whether that istrue or not, I will not discuss it now, sufficeit to say that we live in interesting times!

By the time that you read this, the newcaterers will be operating. As they areinheriting our chefs, we can be sure that ourmeals will continue to be of the same highstandard that we have enjoyed in the past.

LIVERY SCHOOLSLINK, CAREERSEXHIBITION.GUILDHALLWednesday the 19th JuneOliver Bates MNI3rd OfficerPrincess Cruises

Paul Shepherd, Rachel Arnold, Luke Kelly-Granger and I, of the Honourable Companyof Master Mariners Young Members Group,had the privilege of representing theHCMM at the Livery Schools Link, careersexhibition on Wednesday the 19th June.The event was held at the prestigiousGuildhall and was attended byapproximately 1300 students from localschools. The event was a great success withplenty of interest at our stand. We wereable to offer students an exciting virtualreality experience with a VR headset whichenabled them to experience thenavigational bridge of a ship in 3D. Thisequipment along with leaflets and teacher

information packs were generouslyprovided by Rachel Gurnett, Training andCareers Manager from the Merchant NavyTraining Board.

I have been fortunate to work alongsideRachel as a Careers At Sea Ambassadorwhich is a voluntary program to raiseawareness of career opportunities withinthe Merchant Navy. I joined as anambassador during my cadetship and havesince featured in the Careers at Seapromotional video, given presentations inschools and colleges and represented theMNTB at the IMO World Maritime Day. Thishas been an enjoyable and enrichingexperience although my main motivationhas been to give a higher profile to careersat sea. Whilst at Secondary School andcontemplating my future it was evidentthere was a paucity of knowledgeregarding the Merchant Navy evenamongst our career advisors. After talkingto teachers and students at the recentevent I realised little has been done toaddress these issues and I believe thishighlights the importance of representationfor the future of our industry. A career inthe Merchant Navy offers an excitingalternative to the typical universitypathway, with a funded training programand excellent opportunities for progression.

For further information on becoming anambassador visit careersatsea.org.

Ship affiliationsHMS SUTHERLANDCaptain Christopher LaycockIt is a proud affiliation with HMSSUTHERLAND that we enjoy with our ownand recently reinvigorated Type 23 Frigate,and that she and her fine ship’scompliment are serving us and the countryso well. An interesting newsletter from thevessel is included in this column, but Isuppose the really interesting details ofwhat She gets up to and where She does itwill never be known to us nor able to beincluded here!

I was pleased to welcome the previousCommanding Officer of HMS SUTHERLAND,Commander Andrew Canalé MVO RN andhis family to our recent annual Sea SundayService here in Bishopstone Village, andwhich is held in aid of the Mission toSeafarers. Altogether we raised over£700.00 for this worthwhile cause, much ofwhich was due to the very interestingaddress Commander Canalé gave regardinghow the Royal Navy provides its ownspiritual and pastoral care to those onboard our naval ships when deployed awayfrom home for lengthy periods.

As HMS SUTHERLAND is currently on highreadiness duties close to home for theforeseeable future, we look forward tohearing when any new port visits may bemade. In the meantime, there is always awelcome for any member of the ship’scompany at the head of our gangway atHQS Wellington in London.

FIGHTING CLANCHRONICLEMessage From The Commanding Officer.

The months of June and July certainly sawan increase in our tempo as we conductedNational Tasking, supported an importantweapon trial on behalf of the Royal Navyand participated in a large NATO exercise inthe Norwegian Sea. After our time in the‘land of the midnight sun’, the Ship


returned for an early period of summerleave and some well deserved rest. We holdhigh readiness duties for the month ofAugust which promises to be even busier!

RAS With RFA TIDESURGE

Avid readers of our newsletters may recallHMS SUTHERLAND carried out a practiceReplenishment at Sea (RAS) with RFATIDEFORCE back in May; important trainingto prepare the Ship and her crew for futurereplenishment on operations. The first ofthese operational replenishments came notlong after, in early June. Returning from aperiod of National Tasking, werendezvoused with RFA TIDESURGE (sameclass of ship as TIDEFORCE) in the southernNorth Sea and successfully carried out arefuel with the Ship 50 metres on the beamof TIDESURGE. For the CommandingOfficer, his Bridge team and the SeamanSpecialists a RAS is a complex anddangerous evolution which requires nervesof steel!!!

Fighting Clan Marks #DDay75The 6th June 2019 saw the 75thanniversary of D�Day commemoratedaround the world, and the ‘Fighting Clan’was no exception. In true Royal Navy style,members of the Ship’s Company arrangedthemselves (with a little help from theGunners Party) on the flight deck in aformation clearly identifiable from above as“75”. There wasn’t an HMS SUTHERLAND incommission during the Second World War,but the Gordon Highlanders, one of thepredecessors of our affiliated Armybattalion 4 SCOTS landed on JUNO Beachon D�Day; the first of the Highland Divisionto set foot in France.

CO Hosts LHOMs For DinnerOne of the important communal dutiesonboard is the role of the Leading Hand ofthe Mess (LHOM). A LHOM and theirDeputy LHOM are appointed for each ofthe four Junior Ratings’ messdecksonboard. They are responsible for runningthe day�to�day routines, supervisingeverything from cleaning routines tomessdeck discipline. This is a position withsignificant responsibility and vital to thedomestic life of the Ship. The CO believes

there should be privileges associated tobeing a LHOM and therefore invited theLHOMs to dinner in his cabin at sea. Theoccasion was an opportunity to thankthose present for their commitment butalso a forum to discuss pertinent pointsrelevant to mess�deck life onboard.

Merlin Conducts Helo Transfers.One of the most frequent uses ofSUTHERLAND’s Merlin Mark II, in additionto anti�submarine warfare, is transportingpassengers and stores from ashore to theShip, and vice versa. Another type oftransfer altogether, but rehearsed in caseHIGHLANDER is needed for Search andRescue (SAR) duties is the helicopter winchtransfer, using the Merlin’s winch to lowerthe aircrewman onto the deck of a ship indistress and if necessary lift to safety amember of the crew or casualty.HIGHLANDER was able to spend an eveningtraining in this crucial skill, and alsogenerating some unforgettable memoriesfor members of the Ship’s Company(un)lucky enough to volunteer to bewinched up themselves.

Fighting Clan Visits Belfast

After almost ten months since her lastforeign port visit, HMS SUTHERLAND paid arare visit to Belfast after shadowing aRussian naval vessel as it passed throughthe UK waters. Though the visit remainedshort members of Ship’s Company took fulladvantage of their time ashore and visitedsuch sights as the Titanic Museum, HMSCAROLINE Museum and Crumlin Road Jail(the only Victorian era prison remaining inNorthern Ireland). In addition the thenSecretary of State for Newsletter of HMSSUTHERLAND Northern Ireland the Rt HonKaren Bradley MP took the opportunity tovisit the Ship and meet some of the Ship’sCompany. Belfast has historically enjoyed aclose relationship with the Royal Navy. InSeptember 2017 it was announced that oneof the Royal Navy’s newest warships will benamed after the Northern Irish Capital.HMS Belfast will be the third of theCity�class Type 26 Frigates and is expectedto enter service in the mid�2020s. She will

succeed her name�sake predecessor whichnow belongs to the Imperial War Museumand is permanently docked in London nearTower Bridge.

Missiles away LMM Trial SuccessHMS SUTHERLAND has played a pivotal rolein delivering the next generation of missilesto enter service. During June the Shipsuccessfully tested the Royal Navy’s abilityto destroy surface targets with a newlightweight multi�role missile (LMM)system. The LMM is designed by Thales AirDefence to be used in either air�to�surfaceor surface� to�surface mode and can bemounted on vehicles, ships and helicopters .Drone vessels were launched off the coastof South Wales where the ‘Fighting Clan’took her position. The laser�guided missileswere fired from the Ship’s 30mm SmallCalibre Gun and then accurately honed inon the targets. The missiles successfullymanaged to destroy the target and markedan important step in efforts to combat thefast attack craft and swarm threat.

Fighting Clan Visits NarvikIt’s a place which was almost completelydestroyed in the Second World War andwas the site for several naval and airbattles between the Royal Navy and NaziGermany’s Kreigsmarine. HMS SUTHERLANDand her sister ship HMS WESTMINSTERpulled into the small seaport of Narvik, 130miles within the Arctic Circle. The visitmarked important firsts for many of theShip’s Company, for the second time in 18months, sailors from SUTHERLAND werecalled once again to King Neptune’s Courtthis time to earn their ‘Blue Nose’ to marktheir first crossing of the Arctic Circle. Tocelebrate, sailors were awarded their ‘Orderof the Blue Nose’ certificates whilst out onthe upper deck of the Ship and providedmugs of hot chocolate to keep warm as thetemperature was close to freezing point.

HMS SUTHERLAND AFD2019

In The Arctic Circle More than 300 eventstook place across the UK this month tomark this year’s Armed Forces Day. But forthe 10th anniversary of Armed Forces DayHMS SUTHERLAND celebrated a littledifferently to their peers back home, by

Ship Affiliations

Ship Affiliations


crossing the Arctic Circle. After travellingfrom Plymouth to Narvik, members ofShip’s Company celebrated the event bytaking in the stunning views of Norway’sfamous picturesque fjords on her transitinto northern Norway. Armed Forces Day isan annual event hosted since 2009 tocommemorate the service of men andwomen in the British Armed Forces; fromcurrent serving troops to Service families,veterans and cadets.

Exercise Dynamic Mongoose

The ‘Fighting Clan’ played a pivotal role inthe NATO exercise Dynamic Mongoosewhich was conducted in the NorwegianSea during early July. Half a dozenwarships, plus submarines, maritime patrolaircraft, helicopters and more than 2,000military personnel waged a ten�day anti�submarine battle in the Arctic Circle. HMSSUTHERLAND was joined by ships fromUSA, Turkey, Norway, Denmark andHolland. During the exercise the Ship wastasked to locate, identify, track and thendestroy ‘enemy’ submarines. The onboardsensors and the embarked Merlinhelicopterwere no match for our foes and all targetswere neutralised.

Our Future Programme

After some well deserved leave for theShip’s Company we will look forward toanother period at sea conducting NationalTasking. This no doubt is anotherchallenging period for the ‘Fighting Clan’but one which we are fully trained andequipped for – the task of protecting ournation’s interests.

‘FINAL PIECE OF THEJIGSAW' IN PLACEAS RFA TIDEFORCECOMPLETES UK’SNEW TANKER FLEET30 July 2019The Royal Fleet Auxiliary saw its numbersbolstered as RFA Tideforce – the last offour new-generation tankers – waswelcomed into the Fleet.

A service of dedication was held in Dorsetfor the 39,000-tonne ship – second only insize to the UK’s two new aircraft carriers.

RFA Tideforce will now join her sister shipsTidespring, Tiderace and Tidesurge inproviding fuel at sea to Royal Navy, NATOand allied warships, as well as othersupplies and fresh water when required.

The service at Portland was attended bythe tanker’s sponsor Lady Sarah Messengerand her Royal Marine husband, formerVice Chief of Defence Staff General SirGordon Messenger.

Lady Messenger received flowers fromMolly Richardson and Emily Noctor – thedaughter and stepdaughter of naval diverPetty Officer Mark Richardson.

Other VIP guests included Fleet CommanderVice Admiral Jerry Kyd and Lord Lieutenantof Dorset Angus Campbell.

After receiving military equipment –communications and IT systems, defensiveweaponry – fitted in Falmouth to turn a

RFA Tideforce’s arrival into the RoyalFleet Auxiliary represents theculmination of a major project tomodernise and update the UK’s FleetReplenishment Tankers. I am indebtedto all from the UK and abroad whohave contributed to the success of theproject and the ship’s company whohave provided the final piece of thejigsaw by bringing the ship alivethrough delivery, trials and training.Commodore Duncan Lamb, head ofthe RFA

Ship Affiliations


tanker into a naval tanker and extensivetrials, Tideforce recently arrived in Portland tobe official accepted into operational service.

“It’s incredible to think it’s taken only 13months since delivery to today.” SaidCommodore Duncan Lamb RFA.

Fleet Commander Admiral Kyd – firstcommanding officer of carrier HMS QueenElizabeth which the Tides were built tosupport – hailed the advent of the fourthand final ship in the class.

“This is the next chapter in theregeneration of our Fleet,” he stressed. “TheRoyal Fleet Auxiliary are a critical part ofour Fleet and I look forward to a new eraof carrier power projection.”

Each of the four Tides can deliver morethan 1,500 cubic metres of fuel every hour– nearly 400,000 gallons, or 1½ millionlitres… enough to fill the tanks of morethan 27,000 family runarounds.

As well as their supply duties in support ofthe Royal Navy, the vessels can alsoundertake a wide range of independentoperations, such as patrols policingshipping lanes and humanitarian relief.

Vice Admiral Chris Gardner, DefenceEquipment and Support Chief of Materiel(Ships), said: “This event marks one of thefinal milestones of this major shipbuildingprogramme and affords a moment to reflecton the vital importance of the work DE&Sdoes to provide our Armed Forces with theequipment and support they need."

HULL TRINITY HOUSECaptain Derek Chadburn.

Changes to the Rules of Admissionto the House as a Younger Brother.Hull Trinity House Guild was formed in1369 with the first Subscription Deed. In 1456 there was an agreement by twentyfour Shipmasters with the Vicar of Hessle,to establish an altar in the Holy TrinityChurch. They pledged to pay their “Lowageand Stowage” into the Guild, to supportdistressed seamen.In 1461 A house to accommodatethirteen pensioners was completed alongwith a Chapel.In 1512 Hull Shipmasters request theBrethren to assign “Good Men” to pilot“Strange” ships into and out of Hull.1581 Second Charter of Elizabeth 1stestablishing the constitution of the Guildsubstantially as it is today i.e. Wardens, ElderBrethren, Assistants and Younger Brethren.1698 Alms-houses, with accommodationfor six persons, founded by WilliamRobinson, taken over by the Guild 1745.The Guild established the Elder Brethrenand Assistants Fund.

1787 Marine School founded in TrinityHouse Lane. This is the first Marine schoolever established.1800 Pilotage Act. Humber Pilots are notnecessarily Brethren of the Guild.1810 Compulsory Pilotage introduced onthe Humber. The Guild establishes the FirstLifeboat station at Spurn Point.1908 The Humber Conservancy Board isformed. Six of the Brethren to serve on theboard. This Authority took over all theadministration of the Humber and all thenavigational aids.1951 The alms houses were officiallyopened and consist of 56 one bedroomedflats, in blocks of four on the West, Southand East sides of the grounds. Eight twobedroom bungalows are located on theNorth Side of the grounds and the RestHomes Centre, in the middle, is the locationof the Common Room, Dining Room,Offices, Laundry and a room wherehairdressers, manicurists, and Chiropodistscan practice. These are still fully occupiedtoday by recipients of Trinity House grants,or non-seafarers who are in need. Seafarerswho are in ill health or retired. The Charityalso supports the Trinity House Academyand Welton Waters Adventure Centre.1973 The Trinity House Nautical Schoolamalgamates with the BoulevardNautical School.2012 The school becomes an Academy andin 2013 moves into the refurbishedNautical College building in George Street.The Estate from which Trinity House derivesthe income to support its charity includesretail units and office accommodationalong with several farms in the East Ridingof Yorkshire.

Company News


In 2017. The Board of Hull Trinity Houselooked carefully at the rules for admissionas a Younger Brother, being mindful thatthe whole certification structure of theMCA has changed considerably over theyears. Similarly the UK Merchant Navy hascontracted and therefore for many MasterMariners their career structure does notlend itself to a “lifetime” in command, asused to be.The Board are very conscious that there is aneed for Younger Brothers to eventuallyoffer themselves for election to The Boardand there is a very strong desire tomaintain the Board of Trustees of theCharity wholly from the members of TheGuild. The Board consists of 12 ElderBrethren and 6 Assistants It is now hopedthat the changes to the rules for admissionwill attract members of the profession, whohave served at sea, but who may not haveachieved much, if any seatime in command,but who have gone on to achieve seniorpositions elsewhere within the MaritimeIndustry, to offer themselves as candidatesfor Younger Brother and eventually perhapsa position on the Board, where theirexpertise and experience in broadermanagement can be of great value, to bothThe Guild and The Charity. The new rules are 1. Applicants must be British Citizens2. Applicants mustA. Hold a Master’s Foreign Goingcertificate of competency or anequivalent Certificate of Competencyor a certificate of competency with anentitlement to Command, or,

B. Have attained a substantive rank, notjunior to the rank of LieutenantCommander, in Her Majesty’s Royal Navy.

C. Complete the application form,obtainable from The Secretary.

3. Each applicant shall prove to the

satisfaction of the board either:-A. He has satisfactorily completed at leastthree years sea service as a Master ofany vessel or vessels, or

B. That he has satisfactorily completed atleast three months as Master or SeniorOfficer of any vessel or vessels and hasin addition served in some othercapacity in senior management whichthe board shall consider suitable, suchthat together they cover more than aperiod of three years, or,

C. That he has satisfactorily completed atleast three years’ service as a Class 1Pilot in a major port.

D. For the purposes of this rule, a vesselshall be any vessel, other than a fishingvessel which carries goods orpassengers and exceeds 250 Gross tons

E. Or, that during his service in HerMajesty’s Royal Navy, he was incommand of one of Her Majesty’s shipsfor at least one commission, and

F.Held a senior appointment within theRoyal Navy, such that together theycover more than a period of three years.

4. A. Any person wishing to become aYounger Brother of this Corporationmust be proposed by a Member of theGuild and seconded by another Memberof The Guild; both the proposer andseconder must be well acquainted withthe candidate and must vouch for hisintegrity and suitability.B. An applicant must submit a satisfactorytestimonial or testimonials from:1. The employer or employers withwhom he has served during the periodof three years immediately precedinghis application, or2. Such other person as the Boardshall in their discretion thinksatisfactory in the circumstances ofany particular application.C. An Applicant shall obtain anapplication form from The Secretary,which, together with the requireddocumentation shall be placed beforeThe Board after having given due notice.D. After presentation the applicationshall remain on the Board Table forexamination by the Members of TheBoard. The application shall beconsidered by The Board at its nextmeeting as long as due notice has beengiven and it is at least seven clear dayssince the application was placed beforeThe Board.

5. Before any applicant is admitted as aYounger Brother of this Corporation heshall satisfy The Board by undertakingan examination in the format decidedby The Board from time to time. The

Board shall determine any fee payableby a Candidate on his submittinghimself for the Younger Brother’sExamination. A successful Candidate willreceive a Branch as evidence of passingthe examination

6. An applicant will be allowed a period ofsix months in which to present himselffor examination. Before that periodexpires, the candidate may request anextension of the time in which topresent himself and any decision takenwill be at the Board’s discretion.

7. The examination will be in two parts: A. Part A .From the River Humber tothe Isle of May, Firth of Forth and St.Abb’s Head.Part B. From the River Humber to theElbe and River Humber to the Maas.A Candidate may request The Board totake the examination in two parts,taking Part. A. before the PilotageCommittee and Part B before the Board.If the candidate takes both partstogether, the examination will be beforethe whole Board. If the examination istaken in two parts, then Part B. must betaken within six months of successfullytaking Part A.

From the EditorCaptain Robert Booth. The obituary for Denis Rudd is in herebecause he unfortunately resigned fromthe HCMM some years ago. He was theChair of the NE Scotland outport when Iwas a member up there. He was alwayskind but could on occasion be sharp, butthat is never a bad thing, another crossingof the bar too early.

The photograph is one taken by one of mymentees, 3/O Chris Eldgridge approachingSt Pietersburg. Nature is wonderful and weneed to ensure that it stays that way.

This quarter we have a mixed bunch ofarticles that I have found quite interestingwhile putting the Journal together. A smallstart by some of our younger members butat least it’s a start, keep them coming please.

The stalwarts have been prolific as usual butcould do with some back up. So get thepads out and sharpen the pencils and start

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writing as John Johnson Allen says “Thereare more ways of killing a cat…”. All you cando is try, if you don't try you'll never know”.

So please enjoy and let me have commentsand suggestions.

ObituaryCaptain DenisThurston RuddMaster Mariner MNIMay 27th, 1945- May 15th, 2019Denis was born raised and educated inRichmond, Surrey. He joined the BP TankerCompany as an Indentured NavigatingApprentice, when he left school in 1961. Hegained all the relevant seagoingqualifications and obtained his Master’sForeign Going Certificate in 1971 andsubsequently sailed as Chief Officer.

He met Marlene when he was studying forhis Masters and they were married in 1970and he continued his seagoing career. In1975 Denis Joined the BP Drilling Rig SeaQuest as Barge Engineer/ OffshoreInstallation Manager he later held the samepost on a new rig, the Sea Conquest.

Increase in the exploration activity led tothe requirement for additional Mariners.Training and mentoring these new staff fellto the original Mariners on the Sea Questand Sea Conquest. Some 50 MasterMariners migrated from BP TankerCompany to BP Petroleum Development.

It was recognised that Denis (along withothers) had gained significant expertise andknowledge that could be shared with thegrowing numbers of BP Mariners. In 1978Denis transferred onshore into this newdepartment. Denis held several posts in BPExploration as BP Pet Dev was now known.He subsequently Managed the MarineDepartment within the Logistics Department.

His last position within BP Exploration was asFisheries Liaison Officer. In the main he wasresponsible for investigating compensationclaims for fishing equipment lost or damageddue to BP’s offshore operations.

Denis was an active member of manyexternal Industry Organisations, UKOOA,Nautical Institute, Institute of Petroleum andthe Honourable Company of Master Mariners.

Denis firmly believed that it was importantthat these bodies should be effective insetting standards for the Offshore OilIndustry. He and his opinions were alwaysheld in high regard by his peers.

Denis, Marlene and family moved to

Banchory, Aberdeenshire. Later moving totheir dream home ‘Woodhelven’, at Bridgeof Canny in 1987.He retired from the BP in 1994 when heestablished Inchmarlo Marine ManagementLtd as a consultancy company principallyoffering services on fishing matters. Denis died suddenly and unexpectedly inAberdeen Royal Infirmary after a veryshort illness. He is survived by his wife, Marlene, twochildren, two Grandchildren and two GreatGrandchildren. His funeral was Private athis own request. A life taken too soon. He will be sadlymissed by his family friends and colleagues.

Royal Navy MenteeExperiences Life inthe Merchant Navy

SLt Samuel Williams with Capt ScottHenderson MN, Master of the MVHARTLAND POINT

The Merchant Navy Liaison Voyage is a well-established scheme allowing Royal Navypersonnel the opportunity to experience lifeon board a Merchant Navy ship. The schemecontinues to grow with just under 150voyages a year ranging from Cross- ChannelFerries to Container Ships with further scopeto expand. For my own MNLV I was able tojoin one of the Point Class strategic sealiftships, operated by Foreland Shipping Limitedon behalf of the MOD, for a routine passageto Germany and back.

As a Royal Navy Warfare Officer and Menteeof the Honourable Company I am currentlyundertaking Specialist Fleet Time whichroughly equates to a Deck Cadet’s final seaphase before oral examinations. Our FleetTime requires, as a minimum, 600 hours withthe ‘con’ leading a bridge team in coastalnavigation, ocean passages, TrafficSeparation Schemes as well as in a variety ofscenarios such as flying operations, visualpilotage, GPS denial as well as maritimewarfare evolutions. As opposed to the oralboards undertaken by our civiliancounterparts our OOW skills are examinedthrough several assessed simulator runs aswell as formal written examinations.

From my own experiences on board I cameto appreciate the similarities in training withthe exception of the added maritime warfarecomponents expected from a Royal NavyWarfare Officer and the cargo-handlingaspects which form such an important partof a Merchant Mariners’ skillset.

The voyage facilitated navigational training,consolidated ship handling experience andprovided an opportunity to practisecelestial navigation from first principleswith Mariners who hone these skillsregularly. Whilst my MNLV experience wasin a vessel supporting the military, it still


provided a unique opportunity forprofessional civilian seafarers to askquestions about the Royal Navy as well asthe numerous questions I asked about theirwork. The professionalism and competencyof all those on board made the passageincredibly rewarding.The MNLV scheme creates an importantdialogue between those in the Royal Navyand Merchant Fleet and allows each toexamine the differences in training andprofessional practices of working at sea.There is much that can be learnt from oneanother and whether it be an officer undertraining or a more senior officer looking tomaintain a maritime career outside of theRN there is much to be gained from theMNLV, both for the individual andcompanies involved. Any company wishing to know more aboutthe MNLV should contact the Royal Navy’sMerchant Navy Liaison Officer, Lt Cdr DavidCarter RNR at [email protected] Lieutenant Samuel James WilliamsRoyal Navy

Plymouth MerchantNavy MonumentFirst Turf Cutting - an ImportantMilestone – April 24th 2019About fifty people gathered on PlymouthHoe including the Lord Mayor of Plymouth,Councillor Sam Davey to commence animportant milestone in the building of anew monument to the Merchant Navy andFishing Fleet.Chairman of the Monument Committee,Vivien Foster OBE presented the Lord Mayorwith a ceremonial spade and invited him to

cut the ‘first turf’ on the site where themonument is to be built.Councillor Davey, a Master Marinerresponding to the invitation summarisedhis own early career at sea with BP tankersand the Marine Biological Association.He commented on the Merchant Navy’srole in world trade during times of peacebefore paying tribute to the sacrifice ofmerchant seafarers during the World Warsand more recently the Falklands Campaign.

He stated that the ‘Atlantic Conveyor’, anotable casualty in the Campaign wasconverted in Devonport Dockyard. It was anexample of the connection between theMerchant Navy and the City of Plymouth.The loss of life of those serving in theMerchant Navy during World War 2 waslarge and that proportionately there weremore fatalities in the Merchant Navy thanin any of the armed services.

Councillor Sam Davey then cut the ‘firstturf’, this being the first step beforefoundations are laid and the monumentconstructed. The dedication ceremony andunveiling of the sculpture ‘theWatchkeeper’ that will top a granite plinthis planned for Tuesday 3rd of Septemberthis year. The day marks the eightiethanniversary of the outbreak of the WorldWar 2, the first action of which was thesinking of the merchant ship ‘Athenia’ offthe coast of Ireland.

P.G. Wright & P.F. Willerton

MARITIME SECURITYIN THE GULF REGIONAdmiral Sir Nigel EssenhighFreeman of the Honourable Company,Chairman of the MembershipCommittee and Former First Sea Lord

The first and overriding duty of thegovernment of any country is defence ofthe realm. In the UK’s case this remit coversa wide range of diplomatic, security,economic and defence activities which, insum, serve to protect our country’s vitalinterests. As an island nation and onecritically dependent on internationalmaritime trading as a key component of itsphysical and economic survival, thefreedom of navigation of British-flaggedships on the high seas and throughimportant waterways world-wide is ofparamount importance. Here, one of the

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centuries-old, traditional roles of the RoyalNavy comes into play, namely theprotection of British merchant shipping.

Fast forward to 4 July 2019, the Gibraltarauthorities legally detain an Iranian tanker,the Grace 1 on suspicion of breaking EUsanctions on the supply of oil to Syria. On19 July, in reprisal, Iran illegally seizes theBritish-flagged tanker Stena Impero in theHormuz Strait. This outrage has causedconsiderable concern in political andcommercial circles on a broad front and, inpursuance of the Honourable Company’srole as a body of professional mariners, wehave taken a number of actions to addweight to the case for securing the releaseof Stena Impero and her crew as well asarguing to bolster the naval presence in theGulf area to deter any further suchoccurrence. The Master has sent letters tothe Foreign Secretary, the Defencesecretary and the Secretary of State forTransport. He has also had a letterpublished in the Daily Telegraph. I myselfhave represented the HCMM on a BBCradio programme and, in parallel, 6 of mysenior naval colleagues, also former FirstSea Lords, joined me in another letter tothe Sunday Telegraph highlighting theissues at stake, in particular the impact thatprogressive reductions in the size of theNavy’s frigate and destroyer force have hadon its ability to provide sufficientprotection to shipping. Also, I have pennedan article that will be published soonsetting out the issues and encouraging shipowners and operators to press for resolutegovernment action to ensure this sort ofstate-sponsored piracy is held in check.

For the benefit of Members, the followingis the full text of the magazine article.

SECURITY OF COMMERCIALSHIPPING IN THE GULF REGIONRecent actions by the Iranian RevolutionaryGuard Corps Navy in harassingBritish–flagged tankers in the Strait ofHormuz area and the detention of theStena Impero, still under arrest at the timeof writing, have brought into sharp focusthe risk that ships run exercising theirinternationally recognised right of innocentpassage in that area. The Hormuz is one ofthe most strategically significantinternational waterways in the world giventhe volume and value of sea-borne tradethat makes the transit every day. Theproblem is that high level political discordbetween Iran and other nations overmatters nuclear, and the sanctions thathave been imposed on Iran as a result, haveprovided the excuse for the latter toinstigate reprisals against merchant

shipping, actions that are flagrantly inbreach of international law.

The detention of the Iranian tanker Grace 1on 4 July in waters off Gibraltar has beenused by Iran as an excuse for its currentactions. However, this is bogus reasoningsince the Grace 1 was legally detained onsuspicion of illegally transporting oil toSyria in contravention of EU sanctions. Onthe contrary, nothing about the StenaImpero’s actions was illegal. Despiteunsubstantiated allegations by Iran that theImpero had hit a fishing vessel, she justhappened to be unprotected and in aconvenient place to be seized in an Iraniansupposed “tit-for-tat” response.Subsequently, Grace 1 was re-named andreleased by the Gibraltar court, providedthat the cargo of oil would not bedischarged in Syria. Meanwhile, a USFederal Court issued a new arrest warrantaddressed to "the United States MarshalsService and/or any other duly authorizedlaw enforcement officer" for the continuingdetention of the Grace I. However, for legalreasons, the Gibraltar authorities wereunwilling to enforce this. Nevertheless,amidst this flurry of activity, Impero’s fatecontinues to hang in the balance.

If one sets aside the overarching politicalissues and the legal wrangling, at the heartof the matter lies the very serious impactthat Iranian actions, amounting to statesponsored piracy, have had on innocentseafarers going about their lawful business.In the case of the Stena Impero, the impactcrosses numerous boundaries. The vessel isSwedish owned, registered in the UK,managed from Glasgow and crewed byseafarers from India, Latvia, Russia and thePhilippines. The multinational aspects ofthis ship’s operation are nothing unusual.These men are not military personnel, theyare civilian professionals who, quite rightly,in carrying out their lawful duties at sea,should have no expectation of being takenhostage by state forces. Imagine theirfeeling when surrounded by aggressivelymaneuvering fast patrol boats and orderedto divert from their planned track to awaitarrest and an uncertain fate. Imagine theimpact this has on their families, powerlessto intervene since the incident on 19 July.These seamen had every right to expectthat the armed forces of the severalnations working in the area would come totheir aid.

In the event, the British frigate HMSMONTROSE was in the area having earlierseen off a similar Iranian attack on anotherUK vessel, the tanker British Heritage.However, although within radio range of

the incident, she was already escortinganother vessel and was unable to reach thescene of the hijack before it was too late.The paucity of naval vessels in the areaactually committed to the day-to-dayprotection of their nation’s shipping playsinto the hands of a country wishing to useharassment of merchant ships as a lever togain other ends.

Meanwhile, the United States CentralCommand has called on nations to join acoalition force in Operation Sentinel, amultinational maritime effort to increasesecurity and surveillance in the keywaterways of the Middle East (the ArabianGulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Bab-el-Mandeb and the Gulf of Oman). Thismaritime security framework will assistnations in providing escort and protectionto their flagged vessels whilst takingadvantage of the cooperation ofparticipating nations and the enhancedmaritime domain awareness andsurveillance. Alongside its own VoluntaryReporting Areas (VRAs) schemeadministered by the Royal Navy’s UnitedKingdom Marine Trade Operations(UKMTO), the UK has agreed to collaboratewith the Americans in security activitiespending the development of a fullyinternationalized operation. However, todate, it is not clear how many othernations will commit forces to join thatscheme even though various countries haveissued statements expressing concern.Nevertheless, such arrangements do nothappen overnight and yet there is acontinuing need for urgent action.

It is up to those tasked with implementingsecurity to decide how shipping goingabout its lawful business can be protectedfrom the sort of hostile actionsdemonstrated by Iran. Whether thisdefence amounts to individual escorts orconvoys is for them to decide and, ofcourse, the commercial interests of ship-owners and charterers must also be takeninto account. In the immediate aftermathof the Stena Impero detention, both freightand insurance rates jumped dramatically.Whilst freight rates have stabilised,insurance remains at eye watering levelsand, overall, these changes were a cleardemonstration of the impact. In anotherdevelopment, at least one cruise line hasdiverted vessels away from port visits in theGulf area. As well as providing protection,security measures must also be designed sothat they do not impede the routine flowof routine commercial traffic.

However, the overarching principle must bethat, without any further delay, a sufficient

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international naval presence be put in placeto underpin the legally recognisedprinciples of freedom of navigation andrights of innocent passage. At stake are thelives and well-being of innocent seafarersas well as the critical interests of free tradethrough an international waterway. WhilstBritish ships have been targeted, this is amatter that should be of immediateconcern to all Governments and shipoperators who depend on trade throughthe vital Hormuz waterway. Action at aninternational level is required now and on ascale demonstrating that harassment ofshipping and threats to the welfare ofcrews will not be tolerated.

Global linksThe Company ofMaster Marinersof Canada

“THE COMPANY OF MASTER MARINERS OFCANADA is a professional organization,representing command-qualified marinersas well as like-minded seafarers, industryand government members, and cadetsacross Canada. Our work with and for ourmembers is organized around three pillars:awareness, education and advocacy.”www.mastermariners.ca

From the Bridge Is English the True InternationalLanguage of the Sea?

In 1988 the IMO made “Seaspeak” theinternational language of the sea. English is

the principle language base of Seaspeakbecause it was the most common languagespoken at sea in 1988. English is also theinternational language in civil aviation.There are numerous factors that led toEnglish as a common language forcommunication at sea. Some not nearly asrelevant today, as they were years agosome more so. But I ask the question not ina legal, historical or technical light butpractically in the Master Pilot relationship.Particularly when the native language ofMaster and Pilot is very different. Languagebarriers have long plagued safety at sea.

Accidents due to misunderstandings ormiscommunications can become disasterswhen there is no common language amongofficers and crew or passengers. Thedevastating fire onboard the ferry“Scandinavian Star” in 1990, where 160 losttheir lives in part because many of the crewdid not speak English, Danish or Norwegian.

A similar challenge lays in wait for Masterand Pilot speaking very different nativelanguages. Masters and Pilots worldwideare full of tales of just averting (or not)serious accidents due to a language barrier.In spite of the IMO and SOLAS 1requirements and recommendations,language barriers are as great an issuetoday as ever. At times it feels as though itis practically impossible to overcome.Regulations aside, how can I as a Pilotdemand that the Master speak fluentEnglish when I can’t speak their languageat all? Yet if the Master cannot speakEnglish, as regulations require, practicallyhow can I get their ship safely to theberth? Certain non-English speakers tryingto speak English are required to replicatesounds, pronunciations that are non-existent in their native language. WeEnglish speakers expect them to formwords with sounds that they have neveruttered or heard in their lives. In additionEnglish is now a minority language amonginternational shipping officers and crews. Itis a serious conundrum.

The reality is language barriers areincreasing at sea not decreasing,particularly unsafe between Master andPilot. Is English the true internationallanguage at sea then? What to do aboutthe very serious challenges in safelyberthing a vessel when the Master andPilot are having a difficult timecommunicating or not at all? A commoninternational language, English, has beenthe obvious international choice. But whatdo Master and Pilot do when it isn’t?

There is an older more powerful languageof the sea. A universal language that often

may transcend and mitigate debilitatingbarriers. That international language isProfessionalism. In depth knowledge andexpertise demonstrated and executed;Prudent Seamanship. On the part of theMaster, demonstrating and executingPrudent Seamanship from approaching thePilot Station to officers and crews welltrained and on deck interfacing at thehighest levels of professionalism.

The local tug Captain coming alongsidethat vessel to put a line up, knowsimmediately if the ship’s crew are seasonedprofessionals, without a word of contactbetween the ship and the tug. The tugmaster knows by the demonstratedexecution from the ship’s crew, no wordsneed be spoken. Likewise the Pilot uponentering the ship’s bridge may throughdemonstration and execution, (and yeshand signals!) show the Master thatProfessionalism and Prudent Seamanshipare the Pilot’s priority and habit.Admittedly Professionalism and PrudentSeamanship are likely not enough toovercome very serious language barriers.But as in many professions, oneprofessional will always recognize another.The importance of nonverbalcommunication is too often glossed over ordismissed. Professionalism demonstratedthrough execution, actions taken, will go along way to mitigate the very seriouspotential mishaps that otherwise occurwhen we cannot converse fluently.Professionalism is the true internationallanguage of the Sea.

May 22, 2019 by Grant Livingstone. Photo:deela dee / Shutterstock

https://gcaptain.com/is-english-the-true-international-language-of-the-sea

Big ships raise concerns ininsurance industry.

“Insurers have been warning for years thatthe increasing size of vessels is leading to ahigher accumulation of risk,” says Allianz. Theever-growing size of ships continues to raiseconcerns in the insurance industry: In the2019 edition of its Safety and ShippingReview, Allianz Global Corporate and

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Specialty highlighted the challenges big shipspresent to the industry, saying, “Insurers havebeen warning for years that the increasingsize of vessels is offsetting improvements insafety and risk management.”

Over the past 50 years containerships haveincreased in capacity more than tenfold,said Allianz. It contrasted ships such as the1968-build Encounter Bay, with a 1,530-TEU capacity, with the 21,413-TEU OOCLHong Kong built in 2017. HyundaiMerchant Marine has a

dozen 23,000-TEU ships on order fromDaewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineeringand Samsung Heavy Industries (SHI), and24,000-TEU ships are under discussion.“We’ve been talking for a while how theeconomy of scale for one portion of theindustry, the marine asset, does notnecessarily equate to an economy of scalefor the entire supply chain,” says AndrewKinsey, senior marine risk consultant atAllianz. “We’re seeing this with the ultralarge container vessels when we talk aboutport infrastructure — raising of bridges,dredging of harbours, raising of cranes. Andthat’s just to service them when they’re ingood condition.”

When things go wrong, big ships createanother set of problems.

Following a number of incidents in recentyears, the shipping industry should questionwhether it is running acceptable levels ofrisk for large vessels, said Kinsey. “There is apush for efficiency and scale in the shippingindustry, but this should not be allowed togive rise to unacceptable levels of risk.

“We continue to see the normalization ofrisk in the shipping industry. There havebeen welcome technical advances inshipping, but we do not yet see acommensurate safer environment. There isnow much talk of automation andautonomous vessels and how this will besafer. But in truth, innovation will be drivenby the bottom line.” Chris Turberville, headof marine hull and liabilities for the U.K. atAllianz, said, “It is very clear that in someshipping segments, loss-preventionmeasures have not kept pace with theupscaling of vessels. This is something thatneeds to be addressed from the designstage onwards.”

Kinsey pointed to the 7,510-TEU YantianExpress, a Hapag-Lloyd containership thatcaught fire in January while crossing theAtlantic, as an example of how vulnerablelarge ships can be. “There is testimony fromthe crew that that fire started in a singlecontainer and that led to the GeneralAverage of the entire vessel,” he said. “It’sshocking and people don’t understand.”

General Average requires shippers tocontribute to the expenditures made topreserve a ship and its cargo. “We can’t beworrying about putting out fires onships,” said Kinsey, saying dangerouscargo has to be prevented from gettingloaded aboard vessels.

Stricken ships may have trouble finding aplace of safe refuge, since ports don’t wantvessels in distress in their ports and tyingup their infrastructure.

The Yantian Express, for example, wascoming from Sri Lanka and bound forHalifax, but when Hapag-Lloyd declaredgeneral average, the ship was towed all theway to Freeport, Bahamas. General Averageis a complex undertaking, noted Kinsey, andwhen a shipping company has to decidewhere that work will be done, a big part ofthe decision is driven by availability. Heexplained that cargo has to be taken offthe ship and inspected and there needs tobe a holding area where that work is done.With the increasing size of ships, “lookingat the sheer volume of these vessels —it’srewriting how General Average is beinglooked at and conducted because there’sjust so much real estate and infrastructurethat these incidents are taking up.”

In another high-profile casualty, a 2018 fireaboard the even larger 15,226-TEU MaerskHonam, five seafarers lost their lives.General Average work was performed inJebel Ali. But Kinsey noted, “You don’talways get the situations where you can gointo a United Emirates port equipped tohandle those vessels and has extra capacity.”

According to a presentation by Tony Brainof Braden Marine, the Maersk Honam wascarrying 7,860 containers (3,300 20-footcontainers and 4,500 40-foot containers).Damage was concentrated in the forwardpart of the ship, but still Allianz said,“Salvage and General Average represented

close to 60% of the cargo value. A highcontribution has also been requested forthe Yantian Express.”

Roanoke Insurance said its claims’ teamhistorically saw General Average andsalvage security guarantee amountsranging between 10% and 20%, “but latelyas evidenced with the Honam, theseamounts appear to be on the rise. This iswhy it’s so important to carry cargoinsurance. Shippers interest cargo insuranceprotects a shipper’s merchandise fromphysical loss or damage, covers GeneralAverage losses and facilitates the process ofreleasing a shipper’s cargo from thesteamship line.”

While the Allianz report found the numberof “total loss” casualties of ships decreasedlast year, Kinsey said another troublingtrend is climate change and the effect thatmay have on shipping along the MississippiRiver. “We just saw the first of this monthon Saturday hurricane season started,” saidKinsey. “This is the first time I believe anyof us have seen a hurricane season startwith a river running this high for this long.”

At the time of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, “Ibelieve the river was at 4 feet; now we’reover 16 feet. So the levees are already, upand down the Mississippi, being pressured;the infrastructure is strained. If we were tolook at a hurricane event coming up the

Mississippi pushing water even more, I haveno idea what would happen, but it wouldnot be good. There’s a lot of people worriedabout it and we should be worried becausewe’re entering uncharted territory.” Highwater is delaying grain and soybeans frombeing loaded on ships. “You have ships thatare at anchor in the Mississippi forprolonged periods of time, leading tomachinery claims because their groundtackle-their anchors and their chains - arenot designed to withstand these stresses.There’s so much silt and mud that they’reactually being buried. There are situationswhere vessels actually can’t raise their

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anchor after standing by for two weeks.”

By Chris Dupin | Jun 05, 2019 YantianExpress image by Midshipman CameronBrunick, USMMA Class of 2021;

https//www.americanshipper.com/magazine/daily/?year=2019&month=6&day=5&page_number=2&via=asdaily

AMERICAN SHIPPER MAGAZINE

July 24th: Maersk Honam Rechristened -see https://splash247.com/maersk-honam-rechristened-and-ready-to-sail/

And then there is the discussion betweentwo underwriters way back in the Eighties– the 1880s.

At midday on Thursday, July 12th 1883, thepavements of the City of London arethronged with gentlemen in light summerattire; cool, energetic and inquisitivebusinessmen on their way to varioushostelries scattered at random about thearea. In the comparative quiet andseclusion of the Captain’s Room at Lloyd’s,two venerable-looking gentlemen were indeep conversation seated at a small alcove,thankful no doubt to have escaped, for ashort while,

the perverse and generally unpleasant airof the underwriting room, which therecently announced scheme of‘improvements’ had in fact done little toimprove; there were still warming-pipes inabundance, particularly about the entrance,despite the fact that nobody complained ofbeing cold in winter and that manycomplained of the lack of ventilation thewhole year round.

The conversation had opened with thelatest gossip concerning the outrageous Mr.Oscar Wilde, the deliciously attractive butnotorious Lily Langtry, and the all-conquering Miss Sarah Bernhardt. Fromthere, it had predictably turned to the greatsporting matters of the day, not the leastof which was the recently concluded firstround of the competition for the AllEngland Lawn Tennis Championships atWimbledon. The promoters of theWimbledon tournament had mismanagedeverything most extensively. With a keeneye for gate money however, they hadmade as much as possible of the fact thatMr. Ernest Renshaw and Mr. Lawford wereto play each other, and this proved to befully justified in so much as the encounterhad provided a thrilling contest of serve-and-return, sustained until the very laststroke when a most effective smash byRenshaw had won the day. Finally, andmost reluctantly, the conversation hadturned to business, and the elder of thetwo gentlemen rose to leave, saying to his

colleague, “Must get back. I’ve got a 1,000-tonner going up to Newcastle to insure”.“You know”, said his companion, “One dayunderwriters will be sitting here and talkingof 500,000-ton vessels and voyages tocountries not yet heard of”.

“Aye”, said his friend with a great deal ofill-concealed sarcasm, “and one day they’llbe playing cricket at night and landingmen on the moon”. He paused in the act ofleaving and, turning again, said withrenewed irreverence, “What’s more, they’llallow women in the Room and – worse still– we’ll have a woman as Prime Minister!”Both men laughed heartily at this greatjoke and made their way back to thestifling cauldron of the Room.

This article is an extract from aSupplement to the “Fairplay InternationalShipping Weekly”. The Supplement wasprinted to celebrate 5,000 weeks ofpublication of the Journal – from May18th 1883 to June 28th 1979.

The Company ofMaster Marinersof Australia

The Company of Master Mariners ofAustralia is an association established topromote the interests and status of theMerchant Navy generally and of MasterMariners in particular. The Company wasfounded in 1938 by Capt.A.N. Boulton,MBE, VRD, BCom, ExC and became anincorporated body in 1988. The Companyof Master Mariners of Australia Limitedis a not for profit professionalassociation that is limited by guarantee.

The Company has six Branches based inFremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney,Newcastle and Brisbane.

SS MAITLAND

With Captain Richard James Skinner behindthe wheel, the 880 tonne paddle steamerleft its dock near Market St in what is nowDarling Harbour at 11pm on May 5, 1898bound for Newcastle. No sooner had itpassed Sydney Heads than the iron ship,with 36 passengers and 32 crew, was besetby ferocious winds and wild seas. A hugewave tore off one of its paddle housings,ripping a hole through the hull and sendingwater flooding into the boiler room. Thecrew bailed for hours and when the coalgot wet they started burning wood andkerosene to keep the steam engine firing.

Realising there was no way through thetempest Capt Skinner turned back for therelative shelter of Broken Bay but by 5amthe following morning the engine wasswamped. Forty-five minutes later thestricken ship crashed against a rock shelf atwhat is now Bouddi Point with such forceit ripped in half — the bow quicklydisappearing beneath the waves.

Crewman William Williams tried to swimashore and secure a line but he was quicklylost. Seaman Anderson made the secondattempt but the rope got fouled on rocksand he was washed ashore. A passengernamed John Russell and two crew made athird attempt and while he made it toshore the two crew perished. For hours theremaining passengers and crew who hadnot been washed overboard during thegrounding made the perilous crawl alongthe rope. All the while they were bashedagainst the rocks by waves and the howlingwind until the rope snapped with fourclinging to it — two were drowned butanother two were washed ashore. TheCaptain and four other men remained onthe ship comforting a one-year-old babynamed Daisy Hammond who’s mother hadmade it to shore but was told it was toodangerous to take the child.

The following day Mr Russell, of Newcastle,risked his life again to secure another lineand the remaining souls including babyHammond were saved. It would be daysbefore rescuers arrived and in the days thatfollowed hundreds of people travelled overthe rugged headland to see the wreckageand loot the cargo and debris whichlittered the beach up to 1.8m high inplaces. Many of the 83 kegs of beer washed

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ashore, along with whiskey. “And it was notlong before a sad spectacle was madeextremely sadder by the riotous revelry of adrunken mob,” the Gosford Times publishedon May 13, 1898.In another incident apolice officer asked some men to help himcarry the dead, also washed up with theflotsam, back to a house but they ignoredhim for the “beer, glorious beer”.

Young Daisy grew up and moved to Canadawhere she married but returned to visit in the1970s before her ashes were scattered into thesea — as per her dying wish — by ReverendMichael Chiplin in 1988. She was 90.

The isolated beach then known as BoatHarbour was changed to Maitland Bay andthe storm dubbed the Maitland Gale. TheMaitland Gale claimed a number of otherships that night including the barqueHereward, which was washed ashore onMaroubra Beach but no one was lost.

Source: dailytelegraph.com.au from the book‘Wreck of the Maitland” by Geoffrey Potter

Australian naval officer who after35 years’ loyal service was unjustlyblamed for a collision at sea

J P Stevenson at the time of his courtmartial, with his wife, who campaigned andwrote two books about his case.

CAPTAIN J P STEVENSON, known as “Steve”,who has died aged 97, was a distinguishedAustralian naval officer whose career wasruined by a collision and the subsequentmishandling of court proceedings. In theearly hours of June 3 1969 Stevenson wascommanding the Australian aircraft carrierMelbourne, in the South China Sea, whenthe American destroyer Frank E Evans, inchanging station, turned acrossMelbourne’s bows and was cut in two. Theforward section of Evans sank immediatelywith the loss of 74 lives. DespiteStevenson’s previous clear orders andimmediate warnings, and the admissionthat Evans’s captain had been asleep in hiscabin, a joint American-Australian board ofinquiry in Subic Bay in the Philippines,presided over by the American officer whohad been in tactical command of Evans,held Stevenson partly responsible. It statedthat he could have done more to preventthe collision from occurring. The integrityof the board of inquiry was questioned,

and at Stevenson’s subsequent Australiancourt martial his defence counsel, GordonSamuels, QC, argued that he had “neverseen a prosecution case so bereft of anypossible proof of guilt”. The court martialfound there was no case to answer, and indismissing the charges, honourablyacquitted Stevenson. Nevertheless, amid anoutcry that he had been made a scapegoat,he was given a minor, remote appointmentand he resigned, thus ending adistinguished and active 35-year career.

John Philip Stevenson was born on August24 1921 in Melbourne to a naval family,and entered the Royal Australian NavalCollege as a 13-year-old cadet in 1934.There he earned colours for tennis, and onhis passing out was awarded the scienceprize. His first posting, as a midshipman,was to the Australian heavy cruiserCanberra, before further training in theRoyal Navy. He was in the British heavycruiser Shropshire in the Mediterraneanwhen war broke out. During those earlymonths, Shropshire took part in the huntfor the German pocket battleship GrafSpee, forced the blockade-runner AdolfLeonhardt to scuttle herself and escortedthe damaged HMS Exeter home after theBattle of the River Plate.

After courses ashore in England andpromotion to sub-lieutenant, Stevensonjoined the brand-new destroyer HMAS Nestoron the hunt for the German battleshipBismarck in the Atlantic in May 1941.

On December 15 1941 Nestor was off CapeSt Vincent when she sank the German U-boat U-127. However, on June 15 1942,while part of the escort of OperationVigorous, a convoy to Malta, Nestor was sobadly damaged by enemy air attack thatshe was scuttled. Stevenson was amongthose lightly injured men who were rescuedby HMS Javelin. Quickly recovered, heserved in the destroyer HMAS Napier in theIndian Ocean before re-joining Shropshire,which had been transferred to the RAN.Shropshire served in the Pacific campaignfrom 1943 to 1945 and, apart from a spellfor radar training in Britain; Stevensonremained in her and was onboard at theJapanese surrender in Tokyo Bay onSeptember 2 1945. There, for two weeks, heaided the repatriation of Australianprisoners of war and visited Nagasaki,which had been bombed a few weeksearlier. He confided to his diary: “God whata mess. A stirred up desert. The hillsoverlooking the town have all beenscorched black … ships were sitting on thebottom … No smoke from the chimneys, nosign of life.”

He was also distressed by the condition ofthe Allied prisoners: “A horrible sight theywere, all on the level of starvation andsickness and death … in desperately badshape; many, many were just about to dieand did die. Many just surviving and soutterly thrilled to see us with lots ofweeping and wailing and happiness.”

Post-war, Stevenson visited Britain againfor courses in navigation and fighterdirection, and served in Royal Navy ships inthe Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, AtlanticOcean and Mediterranean, and also sawoperational service during the MalayanEmergency. As a lieutenant-commander hereturned in 1950 in the aircraft carrierSydney to Australia, to take command ofthe training ship HMAS Barcoo. He nextserved in the heavy cruiser Australia asnavigator before re-joining Sydney as thefleet navigation officer. When Sydneyvisited Portsmouth for the Queen’sCoronation, Stevenson commanded theRAN detachment at the march-past inLondon. In early 1954 Sydney conducted apost-armistice patrol in Korean waters, andin June 1954 Stevenson was promotedcommander. In 1954 Stevenson wasDirector of Plans in the Australian NavyOffice, and during the 1956 Olympic Gamesin Melbourne he was naval equerry toPrince Phillip. He commanded the destroyerAnzac in 1957 and 1958, and then studiedin the US for a year before being appointedthe defence attaché in Bangkok.

As a captain, Stevenson commanded theshore establishment HMAS Watson, thedestroyer Vendetta and the fast trooptransport Sydney, which ferried Australiantroops to Borneo during Konfrontasi, thestruggle between Malaysia and Indonesia.In 1965 he was Naval Officer in Command,Victoria, and in 1966 he became Australiannaval attaché in Washington, returning toAustralia to take command of the aircraftcarrier HMAS Melbourne. On leaving theRAN, Stevenson worked for the AustralianGas Light Company from 1970 until 1987,and on retirement he settled at Burradoo,New South Wales.

He married the American actress andtelevision presenter, Joanne Duff, in 1958.While he bore the humiliation of theMelbourne affair uncomplainingly, Joannecampaigned vigorously on his behalf. Shewrote two books in his defence: No Case toAnswer in 1971 and, when moreinformation came to hand, in 1992 shepublished In the Wake: The True Story ofthe Melbourne-Evans Collision, Conspiracyand Cover-up.

His wife died a few months before

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Stevenson received in December 2012 anapology from the Australian defenceminister stating that he had not beentreated fairly by the government of the daynor by the Royal Australian Navy after theevents of more than 40 years before, anddescribing Stevenson as “a distinguishednaval officer who served his country withhonour in peace and war”.Stevenson was appointed a member of theOrder of Australia in 2018.Captain J P Stevenson, born August 241921, died January 29 2019

The Company ofMaster Marinersof New Zealand

Captain Tony Murphy (Auckland) waspresented with his membership certificate.Life Memberships were awarded to CaptainNic Campbell (Wellington) and CaptainJohn Frankland (Auckland). The awardswere passed by acclamation.

The following officers were elected orappointment confirmed:Master Captain E Ewbank General Secretary/Treasurer –

Commander Larry RobbinsWarden Auckland Branch –

Captain Chris BarradaleWarden Christchurch Branch –

Captain Darrell Daish.Warden Tauranga Branch –

Captain Ken CampWarden Wellington Branch –

Captain Eric Good

MASTER and WARDENS l-r: Darrell Daish, Eric Good, Ted Ewbank,Chris Barradale, Ken Camp

FeaturesWORLD’s FIRSTCATAMARANPROPELLED BYPLASTIC WASTEThe Ulysse catamaran of the Plastic Odysseyproject inaugurated in Concarneau on June17, 2018, in Finistère. Fight against oceanpollution by travelling around the world ona catamaran propelled by plastic waste: thisis the challenge of the Plastic Odysseyproject, which has just launched itsprototype. Dubbed “Ulysses”, thedemonstrator boat 6 meters longinaugurated a few days ago in Concarneauin Brittany (western France) prefigures acatamaran of 25 meters supposed to go tosea in March 2020.

The trial Ulysses Catamaran

“An extraordinary project,” greeted theFrench Secretary of State for the Transition

Ecologique Brune Poirson, baptizing theboat Friday. “You are the economy oftomorrow,” she added to the four youngmen between 24 and 30 years behind theproject. The idea was born a few years ago,in Dakar, Senegal, says Simon Bernard, 27years old, officer of the merchant navy.“We saw plastic everywhere and peoplelooking for a job to survive, and wethought we needed to make recycling moreaccessible,” he says the goal of “Ulysses” isnot to clean the oceans, already largelypolluted by plastic. Indeed, “once at sea, itis too late: only 1% of plastic waste floatson the surface”, emphasize its designers.“The remaining 99% break down intomicroparticles and line the seabed”. “So,how do we make sure that the plastic doesnot arrive in the ocean? We must turn offthe tap,” said the leader of the expedition.Hence the idea of a boat that, through ajourney of three years and 33 stages, willprimarily raise awareness of the reuse,sorting and recycling of plastic, includingoffering free of charge machines for createobjects from waste. According to the UN,only 9 percent of the nine billion tons ofplastic the world has produced wererecycled and 12 percent was incinerated.The rest has ended in landfills, oceans,pipelines, where it will take thousands ofyears to completely decompose. If currentconsumption patterns and wastemanagement practices continue, there willbe about 12 billion tonnes of plastic wastein landfills and in the environment by2050, the UN estimates.

INVESTIGATIONFINDS RISKS WITHECDIS NAVIGATIONThe newly-released Australian TransportSafety Bureau (ATSB) investigation of thegrounding of the Australian Border ForceCutter (ABFC) Roebuck Bay on Henry Reef hasrevealed underlying safety issues with theeffectiveness of ECDIS type-specific training,

ECDIS software updates and the use of asingle point feature to represent relativelylarge physical features on electronicnavigational charts. On September 30,2017, shortly after midnight, the ABFCRoebuck Bay grounded on Henry Reef inthe Great Barrier Reef,

Queensland. The cutter was on a passagefrom Saibai Island in the Torres Strait Islandsarchipelago bound for Lizard Island, locatedabout 71 nautical miles south-east of Cape

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Melville. The cutter sustained substantialdamage to the keel, stabilizer fins andpropellers, with hull breaches near thestorage void and tank compartment spaces.There were no reported injuries or oilpollution. While planning the passage fromSaibai Island to Lizard

Island, ABFC Roebuck Bay’s previously usedpassage plan was amended, with its routeinadvertently plotted over Henry Reef. Theship’s ECDIS identified the reef as a dangerto the planned route; however, the crewdid not identify the danger either visuallyor by using ECDIS. The vessel continued onthe amended route and grounded on HenryReef just after midnight. The ATSB foundthe crew’s ability to check the amendedroute was limited as their training was noteffective in preparing them for theoperational use of their on board ECDIS.

The ATSB says the investigation highlightsthat the safe and effective use of ECDIS asthe primary means of navigation dependson operators being thoroughly familiarwith the operation, functionality,capabilities and limitations of the specificequipment in use on board their vessel.

Mr Carl StephenPatrick Hunter OBEColtraco Ultrasonics Limited

Note about the AuthorCarl Stephen Patrick Hunter OBE is aformer Greenjacket Officer in the BritishArmy, strategic advisor and CEO of amanufacturer exporting 89% of its outputto 110 countries in the shipping, energyand renewables sectors. Carl is a DITExport Champion, Expert Panel Member ofthe Business Integrity Initiative at DFID,Decision-Making Panel member of theBank of England, the Commonwealth’s37th Business Mentor and a stakeholder toDIT’s Export Strategy and DfT’s Maritime2050 Strategy. Professor-in-Practice atDurham Business School. HonoraryDoctorate of Science of Durham University.Supports the UK-USA SME Dialogue. A

Fellow of a number of professionalorganisations. A City Liveryman at theWorshipful Company of ScientificInstrument Makers and a Member of theHonourable Company of Master Mariners.Policy Advisor to a Peer in the House ofLords. Supports 5 Departments of State inmodest engagement roles including Trade& Diplomacy and the Overseas LeadershipProgramme at the FCO and UK ExportFinance. Speaks at industry events insupport of HMG, free trade, therelationship between government andbusiness, UK Export Finance, EU Exit,Global Britain, Constitutionalunderstanding, Exporting, SME SectorInvigoration, Innovation and the need forUK business CEOs to become “HMG Focals”.A member of the Chairman’s BusinessAdvisory Council at CCHQ, a Board Advisorto Conservative Progress, active inWestminster and a modest party donor.Published political, industry and defencearticles. Company won the Queen’s Awardfor International Trade in 2019. Honouredwith an OBE for services to business andinternational trade in the Queen’s BirthdayHonours List 2019. Married to Dorothywith 4 Children.

Keynote Speech tothe Lloyds RegisterFoundation By Carl Stephen Patrick HunterCEO Coltraco Ultrasonics Lloyds Register 71 Fenchurch Street EC3To deliver the keynote address is a greathonour for me.

I thank you Aisling. And I thank youCaptain Stavrakakis.

If you look around this incredible room youwill see the reason why London remains theworld’s maritime centre and why the UKremains a lead maritime nation.

Look above me and at the top of theceiling you will see the name of one of ourworld’s greatest physicists – Newton. Canany of you tell me what his 3rd law is? -[for every action there is an equal andopposite reaction]. That completes ourBrexit moment !

Many of us here today view the work ofgovernment through the prism of what wehear in the news. And it is no surprise if wedo that, that we conclude EU Exit hasblocked all other good work. But howmany of us here today would know thatthis government has applied some of thegreatest strategic thought I have seen fromany in 25 years? The Export Strategy from

DIT. The Industrial Strategy from BEID. TheEnvironment Strategy from DEFRA., and inour own industry Maritime 2050 – a 30year strategy – from DfT.

If I ask how many of us in this room haveread them – or even 1 of them – howmany of us could raise our hands to saythat we have ?

So I offer a simple thought.

Look above you now. Read the words onthe walls in this room. It says:

They that go down to the sea in shipsthat do business in great waters.We do business in ships. We do business ingreat waters. We in this room contain someof this great country’s maritime leaders,and we are here in London - in the world’smaritime centre.

So please read Maritime 2050 and respondto the call of our government to play yourpart in a spirit of public service to helpimplement it.

You have heard this morning from theHealth & Safety Executive. Our Civilservants are the jewel in our nationalcrown. I wish to thank the HSE for theirfine presentations.

But can any of you recall the slidedescribing what percentage of UKcompanies had a written procedure onconfined space entry [31%] and also howmany of those companies who do,implemented it [0%].

So what does that tell you as the maritimeprofessional you are ? Is the problem oneof regulation or implementation, and if it isthe latter might each of us ask whethernow is not the time to exert our ownleadership in our own industry ?

No need to answer me. Just ask yourselves –what are the qualities and characteristics ofleadership ? It can consist of a widespectrum from bravery and courage, [I haveseen it as a former soldier. I am not saying Iwas any of those things myself; but I didwitness them when a young GreenjacketOfficer]. It can be subject matter expertise,and the ability to influence those aroundyou, and a hundred other things in-between.

Are we acting as leaders in our industry ? IsGovernment leading us as the maritimenation we are ?

Why are ships still lost at sea ? Why issinking the No 1 reason for it still ? Why isfire the No 2 reason still ? and why arehundreds of seafarers and maritimeprofessionals still dying in peace time ?Why are the worst operators in our globalindustry still employing people in a state ofmodern slavery on our worst ships?


Think in your minds of a definition of acompany. There are hundreds. After 25years in business I offer to you mine. [Adefinition of a company or an organisationis that it is the sum of the individualswithin it].

If you think I lack auctoritas in this thenprey don’t. I speak with the authority of arecently established Visiting Professor ofDurham Business School.

Think now of a definition of the CEO ofyour organisation. Mine is to create ahappy and dynamic environment for theindividuals within it so as to create asustainable and profitable one. So howhave we arrived at the point we have inshipping where the assets we have in ourships are crewed, in some of them, by someof the cheapest labour on earth recruited1,000 miles from a coastline ?

I used to be a soldier. My regiment, theGreenjackets, is a rifle regiment and thesister regiment to the Gurkha’s. Years ago Iwas attached to them and had the privilegeof seeing the recruitment of young Gurkhariflemen from the foothills of theHimalayas. In Nepal. Some had never seenrunning water from a tap or tied abootlace. We hold them in the highestregard. There are no bad Gurkha soldiers:just bad leaders. Yet in our pursuit of thecheapest, Nepali’s are now recruited to goto sea – and with many others from otherdeveloping countries - being employed in astate of modern poverty on some verypoorly run ships. Is that not above all afailure of leadership in our industry bysome of our peers ?

I began in shipping over 25 years ago. Ihad grown up in port cities in Australia,Canada and Singapore. My father had beenin submarines. He was the basis of what wehave today.

But when we began I visited your peers. Imet some of the finest Master Marinersand Chief Engineers in the world, - andsome far less so too.

In those days the world fleet consisted of40,000 ships operated by 8,000 shipowners. Over 5 years I visited nearly 3,000of them.

Many of your predecessors listened to ourideas. Some were engaged; others less so.Some even swore at the very idea itselfthat they should be concerned their shipswould not extinguish the fires they had ontheir vessels or in the cargoes they carried.But today we are in service with 10,000ships. Nearly 20% of the world fleet aresufficiently concerned. But they are thebest operators, - those who care are the

same ones who lead.

The world fleet is now 55,000. So thatleaves 35,000 vessels that have no concernsat all that their CO2 system – the verysystem that protects their ship from fire -the No 2 reason for ships loss at sea - haveinsufficient contents to extinguish a fire ifit occurs.

The regulations are clear that every shipmust “have the means [for the crew] tocheck the content of the CO2 system”. It isclear why. No one ashore can, when theship is at sea. Anything pressurised can leak.CO2 is at 720 psi. That is 45-50 bar ofpressure. It will leak and sometimesaccidentally discharge. The failure of 35,000ships in our world fleet not to be soequipped is a failure of leadership, and oneof the reasons why every week we read ofyet another ship with an uncontrollable fire.

I have travelled to 30+ countries annuallyfor 25 years ever since. Away 4-5 months ayear. More time by far than when I servedin the military, meeting some of the world’sleading former Master Mariners and ChiefEngineers and they guided and assisted us.Assisted me to become who we are today– the world’s leading manufacturer ofsystems to protect ships.

In service aboard those 10,000 ships; theworld’s top Navies, half of the world’soffshore oil and gas operators and 1 ofthe 4 offshore renewable manufacturers.Some of you are here today and togetherwe are now Fellows of the Institute forMarine Engineering, Science & Technologyand Fellows of the Royal Institution ofNaval Architects.

You are my fellow Fellows of our industry.

We are meant to be learned.

And we are our industry’s leaders.

But 2 years ago I stopped flying. I wantedto support government. To use the time Iused to spend overseas seeing what I coulddo in public service. I have now supportedin modest ways 5 departments of state, andin a very modest way, I supported our 30year maritime strategy too – Maritime2050, and 4 of the 5 UK core values in itapply to us here today in this incredibleroom where we say that men go to the sea.

The 1st of these in Maritime 2050 is that thegovernment was determined that the UKmaintains itself in our global industry as “apremium brand uncompromising on safety”.

The 2nd: Making a commitment to therules based system.

The 3rd: Within the context of a Global UK.

The 4th: A government-industry partnership.

So why do you not call the Maritime Teamat DfT to see how you can assist ourgovernment to implement Maritime 2050? Let us see how we in this room cansupport government.

Let us take as an example 3 issues andexamine the synergies they have in theirsafety outcomes and identify what we cando to resolve them.

I have chosen 3:

In confined space entry, the regulationsstate every ship must have aboardoxygen monitors and flammable & toxicgas monitors.

We have the kit on board to protect life atsea. We have written the procedures fortheir use, based on the fundamentalunderlying science, and their engineeringand technical implications.

So why are mariners losing their lives everyyear at sea when they enter a confinedspace and stay there ? Dead.

If the kit is aboard, and the procedures fortheir use are written the only reason they die isin our industry’s failure in leadership - whetherfrom Master and Chief Engineer aboard thevessel or from their head office ashore. That isthe consequence of poor leadership.

In CO2 contents at sea? A ship depends onits CO2 system to protect against fire at seastored in up to 600 45KG cylinders. CO2 isstored under pressure. The Master and ChiefEngineer are trained in its location; what itseffect on fire is; how to actuate it and toconduct a simple visual inspection of it. Yetfew of them understand the science behindit or its physical characteristics. Theyunderstand it can asphyxiate, yet we stillhave mariners dying at sea because of it.We know it is a liquid gas stored underpressure and that it vaporises on dischargeand expands by volume. We also know –because we supply the marine servicingcompanies the equipment to test forcontents – that in Dubai they report thatthe average CO2 contents deficiency is20%. This leaves the ship below thethreshold at which sufficient designconcentration can be generated in theevent of fire to put it out. Why ?

Because our worst ship owners do not wantthe CO2 system maintained. They want thecertificate issued by the company to saythat it was - for insurance purposes. InChina we know that 80% of Chineseflagged vessels are deficient in their CO2systems. Every year mariners die, ships arelost to fire.

I wonder whether you study the MCAaccident investigation reports. The MCA

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have some of the best in the world. Howmany of accidents reports reference thecontents of the CO2 system ?

All of these combine – not to a lack ofregulations or to the written procedures –but to a lack of leadership.

In the way we crew our vessels some of ourworst operators think that the cheapestcrew is best.

Some think that they should be worse thanthat. To allow mariners to exist in the stateof modern slavery that they do is theopposite of good leadership.

Which is why in Maritime 2050 ourgovernment has committed to eradicate itin the next 10-15 years?

I believe we will be the first nation onearth to do that, combining our maritimeand our fine naval traditions that abolishedslavery in the 19th century and toeradicate its modern form today – that isan act of leadership by our government. Allof us in this room can play our part toinform, advise and command to work withgovernment as a core UK value. That isleadership.

So here is some data and the followingslides are available for any of you.

So you see.

There is a connection.

In all 3 cases.

Your peers had the wherewithal to identifyproblems and generate the policies that ledto the regulations at home in our MCA andglobally at the IMO, in which our country isthe lead maritime nation, and the reasonits headquarters are in London just acrossfrom Parliament. We sit on its committees,but the regulations generate the equipmentthat is the tools to solve the problems andin turn the regulations and the equipmentgenerate the working procedures so thatboth combine to a cohesive whole topreserve safety of life at sea. It is calledSOLAS.

The best of our operators sail in good faiththat their mariners will be safe. For whenwe go on great ships to do great businesswe have enough risk to cater for fromwinds and seas.

But our greatest failures lie in our worstpractices that are about us and whether wecan look the world in the eye.

And say we led.

Thank you all and let me offer my bestwishes to you all.Carl Stephen Patrick Hunter CEO Coltraco Ultrasonics

ON WRITING A BOOKJohn Johnson Allen

I have, first, to acknowledge my thanks tothe Honourable Company and particularlyto Phil Belcher, the then PDO, who, soonafter I joined the company in 2005,encouraged me to apply to the GreenwichMaritime Institute at Greenwich Universityto read for a Masters degree in MaritimeHistory. Without that I would not havebecome a writer.However, many other people becomewriters without that impetus and I havetaken an easy route by writing non-fiction,specifically about my own interests. Somepeople pooh-pooh the non-fiction writer,and to some extent I would agree withtheir view, as I do not have the particularimagination required to write fiction.I have always had the opinion that no onecan write a book of any sort unless theyread a great deal on all sorts of subjects,both fiction and non-fiction. Nor do Ibelieve that “everybody has a book inthem”. Three out of my five books havebeen the result of a particular event orsuggestion from a third party. The first book, Voices from the Bridge, came

out of the suggestion by Phil Belcher thatthe recollections of the then more elderlymembers of the Honourable Companyshould be recorded for posterity andresulted in a major oral history project,carried out jointly with the late ProfessorDavid Smith, which I used both in thedissertation for my degree and for the book.The second book, They Couldn't HaveDone It Without Us, I wrote to coincidewith the 30th anniversary of the FalklandsWar and the exhibition which was held onboard Wellington.My last book ,They Were Just Skulls, I wasasked to write to record the naval career ofFred Henley.As to the process, I can only write aboutmy own approach. I'm sure that there aremany, many ways of writing a book. Iwould imagine, but I don't know, thatwriting light fiction probably can be donestraight, as I'm doing at this moment, bydictating it into, in my case, the computerusing speech recognition software.Writing non-fiction is very different. One isvery often quoting from various books orjournals and so I write all my books outlonghand first, on cheap A4 pads so that Ican note the references for my footnotes inthe margin as I go along.(I prefer footnotesto end notes, but again that is a purelypersonal preference).A degree of selfdiscipline is, I think, vital. I am normallysitting at my desk by 6.30 every morningand writing for up to 2 hours. A pad ofpaper and a pen by the bedside isinvaluable; thoughts or ideas or sentencescan arise at any time during the night andthe only way that I can banish them, so Ican return to peaceful sleep, is to writethem down on the pad, to add them, orperhaps have to change or even to deletethem when I go through to my desk.Looking back through what has appearedon screen after a period is alwaysfascinating. Like many writers with whom

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I've spoken I have no idea where the wordscome from or the process undertaken by mybrain to get them onto the paper and in aform that other people might want to read!

The next step is trying to find a publisher.This is becoming ever more difficult.Publishers are businessmen; they will onlypublish a book that they think will bringthem a return on their investment. They arenot, of course, infallible. One only has tothink of the huge number of publishersthat turned down the Harry Potter booksbefore JK Rowling found a publisher. Thereare publishing houses that offer “a newway of getting a book published”. Readingthe small print that normally means thatthe author will have to pay a significantsum to the publisher to get the bookpublished in the first instance but then willreceive, if the book sells, a larger proportionof the cover price. I take the view that if apublisher will not accept your book andyou have tried various publishers, as I havedone, you may have to come to theconclusion that it would not sell. I'm not infavour of self publishing; occasionallybooks do wonderfully well and makeheadlines. One only has to think of 50Shades of Grey but that was an exception.For a number of years I have been amember of the judging panel for theMountbatten book award for which 50-60books are nominated that we have to readand assess. This year we had 67 to reveiwand three of them were self published.Sadly, compared with books which camefrom publishing houses, they proved mypoint admirably. If you are seeking apublisher then do look at the books youenjoy reading and might be similar to thebook that you have in mind, then you canresearch online for the publishers' websites.Locate the section for authors – lookcarefully as that section is not always easyto find - to ascertain whether they acceptdirect submissions from authors – thelarger publishing houses do not; they willonly accept submissions from literaryagents. If direct submissions are invitedthen the precise requirements for anauthor's submission will be set out. This isyour chance to sell your book to thepublisher, normally in a fairly small numberof words! Another source is to look in theannually published Writers and ArtistsYearbook which has a list of all bookpublishers in the United Kingdom; eachpublisher will have an entry whichdescribes the categories of books that theypublish. Very often the entry will alsoindicate whether or not they will entertainsubmissions from authors.

Lastly, a warning: writing a book is hardwork and quite lonely. There is only somuch one's spouse can take. Claire has notread my last two or three books but, as shesays, she has lived through the writingprocess and therefore doesn't need to. Norshould you expect to earn significantmoney from it. In the case of maritimehistory I can't think of a single author whohas made much money– but that's not thepoint. If you feel compelled to do it, youwill do it because there was a story to betold, be it fiction or non-fiction; thesatisfaction of seeing your book printedand in your hands is a great thrill. Also agreat thrill is reading a review of your bookin a magazine or professional journal-assuming of course that it is not slated.

I said at the start that this is very much apersonal view of writing. “There are moreways of killing a cat…”. All you can do is try,if you don't try you'll never know.

JOTTING MONTHLYGlyn L Evans

Lost and FoundThe story of HMS Pathfinder

On the 16th July 1904 HMS Pathfinder waslaunched into the River Mersey from theshipyard of Cammell, Laird & Co.,Birkenhead and, just one year later, wascommissioned into the Royal Navy as ascout cruiser, the lead ship of her class. Herprinciple dimensions were; Length 370’.Breadth 38’9” and Draft 15’2” fully loaded.On commissioning, her main armamentconsisted of ten QF 12-pounders, eight QF3-pounders and two 18” torpedo tubes. Hertwo triple-expansion steam engines gaveher a top speed of 25 knots. She began herRoyal Navy service with the Atlantic Fleetthen the Channel Fleet (1906) and theHome Fleet (1907) before becoming, at thecommencement of the Great War, part ofthe 8th Destroyer Flotilla based at Rosythin the Firth of Forth, by which time she wasunder the command of Captain (later Vice-Admiral) Francis Martin-Peake.

On 5th September 1914 off St Abbs Head,while steaming at only 5 knots to conserveher bunkers, Pathfinder was hit by atorpedo from the German submarine U-21

and, following a large explosion in herforward magazine, she quickly sank. Fromher crew of 268 there were only nineteensurvivors, most being picked up by fishingboats from nearby Eyemouth.

Sadly, Pathfinder entered the history booksas the first ship to be sunk by a motorisedtorpedo from a submarine, a fact that theAdmiralty either refused to accept orwished to cover up, placing a gaggingorder on the national press. The enormoussignificance of this event and its portentfor the future was not lost on the marineartist W L Wyllie, whose painting of theexplosion and sinking of the ship wascreated from eyewitness accounts. Onehundred years later, on the 5th September2014, a wreath was placed over the wreckof Pathfinder by Captain Chris Smith, RN,from HMS Example, while The Last Post wassounded by a Royal Marine bugler.

None of the above was known to me until,on 14th September 2018, I received out ofthe blue, an email from a Mr R Page whichread, “I hope you don’t mind me contactingyou with queries about a small picture,dated 1906, that came to me from my latemother. The Curator of Art for the UlsterMuseum, Belfast, suggested that I try you.”Attached to the email was an image of apainting by Kenneth Shoesmith, of HMSPathfinder during her visit to Blackpool in1906. Mr Page went on, “My queries are a)Do you know what Kenneth Shoesmith wasdoing around the year 1906? b) Is itpossible he was in or not far fromBlackpool at the time of the Royal Navyvisit? c) Did he work in or have some otherconnection with the Royal Navy?”

In a fit of deliberate and unprovokedbenevolence I sent Mr Page a copy of mybook, which contained the answers tothese questions. Shoesmith lived inBlackpool from the age of one and was

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there in 1906 aged sixteen, immediatelyprior to his being sent as a cadet to thetraining ship HMS Conway, at that timemoored in the River Mersey. The painting isin the somewhat naive but neverthelessaccurate style of his at that time – by anystandard an excellent representation by aself-taught lad of his age.

It transpired that Mr Page had tried todonate the painting to the Ulster Museumin Belfast where a large collection ofShoesmith’s works are held in their archivalstorage facility. As there was no Belfastconnection to the painting, they politelytold Mr Page “Thanks but no thanks,”suggesting he might like to donate it to aBlackpool museum while, at the same time,contacting myself. Before making contactwith me, Mr Page did indeed get in touchwith the History Centre (Central Library) inBlackpool who provided him with a presscutting from that time, reporting on a visitto Blackpool of the Channel Fleet. Mr Pagethen advised me that he had offered thepainting to the Blackpool History Centre.On 25th September I made a note on myfile “Mr P awaiting a decision fromBlackpool History Centre if they wantShoesmith’s painting - suspect they will say“No.” By this time I had made it clear to MrP that I would be keen to acquire thepainting myself.

In November I contacted Mr P for an up-date and he emailed a reply saying that hehad still not received a response fromBlackpool but was chasing this up. By thesame email he advised “I’m going tocontact Liverpool Museums to see if theywould be interested in the KDS picture.” On15th December I had a further emailadvising that, after contacting Blackpoolagain by ‘phone, Mr P was informed thatthey did not feel it should form part oftheir collection (no surprise there.) Mr Pwent on, “I’ve agreed to donate the pictureto Liverpool Museums and will deliver it assoon as possible in the New Year. I think itis a shame that so much about KDS isstuck, unseen and unappreciated inBelfast.” My file note, written with deep

sarcasm, says “Where do you think yourpicture is going to end up if you donate itto Liverpool? On display?”

In my final letter to Mr P, I wrote “From myexperience of marine artists, I know that,apart from the sheer joy of creating afinished painting from a blank canvas,artists want their paintings to be viewed,valued, appreciated and accessible. Noartist creates a work for it to be consignedto the black hole that is a museum’sarchive. Certainly Shoesmith’s workdeserves better than that. I am pleased youshare my view when you say you think it isa shame that so much of KDS’s work isstuck unseen and unappreciated in Belfast.It will be interesting to see whereabouts inthe Merseyside Maritime Museum hispainting of HMS Pathfinder ends up!” Ifeared that Pathfinder was about to sinkonce again.

On a visit to Liverpool in April this year, Icalled in at the Merseyside MaritimeMuseum in the vain hope of finding thatthe painting had been put on display.Predictably not, and sadly so given thehistoric importance of the cause of her loss.

Glyn L Evans“Cambria”December 2018

The other P&O, the American one…

(The Peninsular & OccidentalSteamship Company)Dr Robert Bruce-Chwatt.A very minor and understandable error in abook about Hemingway resulted intoresearch on a small shipping company inthe Caribbean. A lot less well known thanthe mighty P&O, not many people mayeven remember this line, let alone haveheard of it. My chance encounter was hisvoyage in 1928 when he is said to havesailed on the hundred mile crossing “fromHavana to Key West on the P&O’s SSPacific”, on a ship which is described as a

ferry. The P&O I don’t think ever had an SSPacific which had sailed in the Caribbeanand it was easy to assume the erroneous O-for-Oriental rather than the correctOccidental, adding to the confusion. TheP&O.S.N.Co had had the Pacific Princess,ex-Sea Venture for winter cruising in theCaribbean, but the dates were way out; yetSS Pacific was the one clearly mentioned. Itturned out that the book had two mistakesin both the ship’s name and the Line.Research soon revealed the Line to be thePeninsular & Occidental, the Peninsulabeing the State of Florida and theOccidental obvious, and quite unrelated tothe P&O.S.N.Co of London. The Peninsular& Occidental SS Company, formed throughthe union in 1900 of the Plant Line and theFlorida East Coast Line, styled itself as asteamship company, not a steam navigationcompany, the two merged lines beingowned at the time by their respectivesteam railway companies. The merger,creating the American P&O.S.S.Co, mightwell be thought of as the seed pearl for themulti-billion dollar Florida-based cruisebusiness nowadays involving a number ofglobal cruise Lines. From 1900 to 1967 atotal of thirteen ships were at various timespart of this American P&O fleet until itceased trading, the nail in the coffin beingthe Cuban Revolution led by Fidel Castro in1959. That revolution would, within a year,put a stop to the Florida-Cuba passengerservice sailing three times a week fromMiami, the Castro regime closing Cuba toall cruise ships in 1960.

There is in fact, no SS Pacific listed in theAmerican P&O fleet list, thus there is alsoconfusion as to which ship Hemingway andhis second wife, Pauline, did sail on in 1928.They had left France earlier that year, sailingfirst to Cuba. By a process of elimination theonly ships they could have sailed on in thatyear were; the Cuba built in 1921, theGovernor Cobb, built in 1906 and possiblythe Miami, built in 1897 and not sold onuntil 1932. On guesswork and the basis thatHemingway was by this time quite rich dueto the earnings for his recently publishedbook “A Farewell to Arms” and that he had anew wife to impress, the Cuba would be mybest bet. The newest and most modern ofthe P&O fleet it seems to fit the bill and thetimings of Hemingway’s travels back to theUS from France and included the year thatHemingway was said to have been travellingfrom Havana to Key West. The return, ferry-like routes at that time were Miami-KeyWest-Havana and Port Tampa-Key West-Havana; both were twice weekly round tripswith three days sailing for each sector.

The SS Cuba, official � 221220, with thesignal letters MCRW, was built in 1920 byWilliam Cramp and Sons of Philadelphiafor passenger and freight services betweenTampa, Key West and Havana. A twinscrew, oil burner, 341feet long, 47 feetwide, draft 17ft, a weight of 2,479 GRT andwith a top speed 18 knots, she had a totalpassenger capacity 512. She sailed on hermaiden voyage and a crew of 54 from herhome port of New Haven, Connecticut. Theship had been specially designed forservice in the Caribbean with having wideshaded decks, outside rooms and spacious,airy saloons. She had one hundred andthirty-two first-cabins, with 16 “parlour”cabins containing a double bed and sofaberth, private shower bath, toilet, runningwater, electric fans and “every conveniencefor comfort”. No mention is made of any provision ofmedical services, but one must assumethere would have been at least anexperienced nurse, since alcohol and thediscretion that such cruises offered foraffairs of the heart would have been afairly potent combination with theeventual need for medical advice.Prohibition in the United States was inforce from 1919 to 1933, a nationwideconstitutional ban on the production,importation, transportation, and sale ofalcoholic beverages which did not applyonce the vessel was out of US waters. This

would have made such trip even moreattractive both to the company in terms ofalcohol revenue and the passengers with afreedom to choose any cocktail they likedfar and free from the shackles of theVolstead Act of 1919. The repeal of thelatter Act would have to wait for the BlaineAct of 1933 and the end of Prohibition.After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbourin December 1941, Cuba was requisitionedas a USAT, US Army Transport ship on the19th February 1942, this under the powersof the US War Shipping Administration, asimilar arrangement to the British STUFT(ships taken up from trade), the acronymUK STUFT seeming rather apt these days.

USAT ss Cuba in 1942 photographed from aZP-22 blimp out of USNAS Houma, Louisiana

Cuba was refitted for war and armed witha 5”/51calibre gun firing a 50lbs shell withan effective range of 17,000 yards at thestern, two 3”/50 calibre guns firing a 24lbsshell with an effective range of 14,000yards or 30,000ft when used in an AA role.A further two 20mm Oerlikon guns wereinstalled in the bows.

A 5”/51 calibre gun.

A 3”50 calibre gun

She then spent most of the war sailing outof New Orleans, transporting troops toBritish Guiana, Cuba, Panama, Puerto Rico,Trinidad, and the West Indies, serving as aUSAT until the 20th December 1946 whenshe was returned to the company forcivilian use and a return to the Havana run.However the war years and post-war yearshad not been kind to ss Cuba and she wassold in 1947 to an Italian company a meresix months after returning to the P&O flag.Initially renamed Pace, then Sassari andbased in Sardinia, she sailed around theMediterranean as a ferry-and-freight shipuntil scrapped in 1962.In the 1930s to 1950s, passengers wouldoften take their cars with them so as to beable to explore the whole island of Cuba.Those now vintage and veteran cars thatwere imported in those years have becomeiconic to modern Cuba and are now amajor tourist attraction and holidaymarketing ploy. Their serendipitousexistence today is because the economicblockade after 1960 preventing imports ofnewer cars necessitating the continuedrepair of what they had to hand. TheCaribbean mini-cruises in the 1950s weregood years for the P&O and passengerscould cruise from Miami to Havana, Cubafor $42.00 per person, this fare including

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all transportation, two nights aboard ship, aday in Havana and four meals on boardship. In 1950’s $42 was equivalent to $400today and compares favourable withtoday’s 4 day cruises.There were, however, dark clouds gatheringfor the P&O. The Cuban Revolution whichhad rumbled on since 1953 achieved itsaim on the 31st of December 1958, whenFidel Castro and his guerrillas oustedPresident Fulgencio Batista. A Communiststyle government followed in 1959 and thisput it at odds with America. With anembargo of certain products, includingluxury cigars being imported to the US,Cuba found this time very difficulteconomically and it responded bynationalising $25 billion worth of privateproperty. In a response to the Americansanctions the Cubans banned US cruiseships from their ports in 1960. The ban onUS cruise ships in 1960 was followedshortly afterwards by the arrival of Russiancargo ships laden with SS-4 and R-14missiles as a response to the CIA backedand failed Bay of Pigs invasion of theprevious year. The American naval blockadestarting on 22nd October 1962 to preventfurther missiles arriving on their backdoorstep precipitated the Cuban Missilecrisis in the same month. After several daysof very tense negotiations PresidentKennedy and Premier Khrushchev agreed asolution, removed the very real threat of anuclear war, the US naval blockade wasended on 21st November 1962 and theworld breathed again.The P&O.S.S.Co had weathered the politicalstorms as well as the meteorological onesand continued in the Caribbean cruisemarket to other, new destinations such asNassau in the Bahamas.However, the Cuban cruise route had beenso financially rewarding that its absencemeant a slow economic death and thecompany finally ceased trading in 1967.

Offshore drilling todayCaptain Mike Rowland The Oil & Gas downturn has deeplyimpacted offshore operations over the pastfive years. A perfect storm of weakeningglobal demand, unwinding globalgeopolitical risk, and the appreciation ofthe U.S. Dollar were all driving factors. OilCompanies abandoned the majority ofoffshore capital projects before FID (finalinvestment decision), focusing on balancesheets and shareholder requirements.

Another impacting force of the downturnwas OPECs change in policy. Theadvancement of unconventional drillingtechniques (Shale Oil Fracturing) acted as adisruptive technological advancement,changing the balance of global supply anddemand. While the U.S. consolidated itsgrowing role as an oil producer, OPECstrategized to protect its position as “swingproducer.” Abandoning its pricing policy infavour of increased supply, OPEC drovedown pricing. As shale battled to attunetechnology to survive the ensuing Bearmarket, OPEC fought internal friction asSaudi Arabian led policy tested the groupsresolve, with member states feeling thepinch at home.

Since 2014, shale has been accepted as a“new entrant” and speculation hasincreased as to whether the Permian Basincould become the future “swing producer.”Either way, it appears a policy of the TrumpAdministration’s is the strengthening ofU.S. independence from foreign oil fornational and economic security. Meanwhile,cash-rich China has been taking advantageof the bountiful market, thirstily stockpilingcheap oil reserves.

Today, with markets closer to equilibrium ataround $60dpb, offshore upstream oil &gas operations are back on the table asoffshore blocks are being auctioned off.While faster and cheaper produced shale oilcontinues to provide short term reserves, oilcompanies are thinking towards the long-term rebuilding of dwindling reserves.Capital projects are receiving“Authorization for Expenditure,” this year’sFID rates are up to three-fold. Good newsfor the offshore sector, however, it’s likely arocky road to recovery for drillers.

Drilling Contractors face further market-driven rebalancing factors outside ofpricing. During the previous upturn, drillersflooded the market with a surplus of newbuild drill ships and semi-submersibles.During the period 2008-2013 with nodownturn in sight and oil prices rising toaveraging over $100dpb (2011-2012) cash

was not a problem. Hi-tech drill shipsbecame extremely popular due to theirability to quickly complete ultra-deep-water wells by offering the customerincrease drilling capabilities and variabledeck loading. Between 2000 and 2012technological advancements increasedconsiderably, reducing days versus depthoperational targets. Clients were willing topay for such improvements, and by 2012deep-water drilling projects approached amillion dollars a day Open.

“Dual activity” offered clients the ability toutilize two drill floors side by side,increasing the volume of offlinepreparations. The initial construction of adeep-water well typically consists ofrunning 36” and 30” conductor first.Drillers jetted through the mud-line, thendrilled ahead to a predetermined depth inrecord times. Top-hole drilling is designedto isolate potential shallow gas H2S zonesand provide structural stability for thewellhead (once cemented) to support theweight of a 380t blow-out preventer (BOP).Dual-activity allowed the client to drill thehole from one drilling centre while runningcasing to the mud-line from the other. Assoon as the drill bit is recovered to openwater, the ship moves using DynamicPositioning approx. 20mtrs, stabbing thecasing string already built (offline) straightinto the hole. In water depths of up to3000mtrs, it can take hours to run orrecover assembles to deck and dual activitycould shave days off the overall program inthe top-hole section alone.

Once the 18 ¾” (inside diameter) BOP is runon continuously connected 30mtr (40mt)marine riser and connected to the wellhead,all activities run through one well-centre.However, dual-activity allows for assembliesto be pre-made and stored in the derrick orbroken down offline so as not to interrupt“critical path” downhole operations.

Production wells may be drilled to depthsof 12,000mtrs before completion, lifting(flowing), and handover to an FPSO forproduction. Another technologicaladvancement was the development ofMulti-Machine Control (MMC). MMCautomates operations on the drill floor bycoded sequence reducing the crew size andmanual activities. Automation such asMMC has changed the driller’s roleremoving the physicality but increasingdata processing skills. MMC has improvedthe accuracy of planning while reducingsafety risks and reducing Non-ProductiveTime due to human related errors.

Managed Pressure Drilling has alsoadvanced the safety of operations in


geographical areas where downhole drillingparameters are tight. Typically offshore wellswere drilled in an “open” circulating system,monitoring flow and volume at surface.MPD allows drillers to run a “closed”circulating system at an induced monitoredpressure. The benefit of which is a reductionof the mud weight required to drill,therefore reducing the hydrostatic pressureexerted on the formation penetrated.

The downturn and supersaturation ofoffshore drilling markets have resulted insome anomalies along the way. Case inpoint is the drillship Cerrado which wasbuilt by SHI (S.Korea) in 2011 forapproximately $650million. The vessel soldat auction following the bankruptcy of heroperators in 2016 for just $65 million, afraction of her depreciated cost. Drillers atthe time were so fixated with staying afloator navigating through chapter 11bankruptcy protection, purchasingdistressed assets was low on the prioritylist. The sector has witnessed somespectacular M&A activity, which is likely tocontinue across supply chain from oilcompanies to service suppliers. Ocean Rig,the company which purchased Cerrado for$65 million were bought by Transocean, alarger Drilling Contractor in 2018.

Over 70 mainly midwater or older floatingvessels have been scrapped since 2015,more scrapping is still expected. Anunwritten rule is that drilling markets needto be at about 85% asset utilization forrates to improve. Other assets are“cold/warm stacked,” either shut down andunmanned or manned by a skeleton crewon standby until market conditions favourreactivation. Most analysist agree that therecovery will take at least a few more years.Latest estimates to reactivate these hi-techrigs are between $30-$60million dollars pervessel (hydraulics/PLCs don’t like to beswitched off for any length of time!).Similarly to the downturn of the 1980s, theindustry has lost a wealth of experience inthe process and re-education anddevelopment will take time.

Contracting has undoubtedly benefited thecustomer during the downturn, and it is myopinion that rig day rates will need toincrease to rebalance business in theinterests of all across the supply chain.Today mobilization fees are uncommon,

and “blend and extend” deals have seen themore lucrative long term contract pricesreduced in favour of continued operations.The majority of contracts awarded now arefor short term operations. Today’s rates fordrillers are priced at $150K-$250K per day,some $400K cheaper than at the top endof the market in 2013.

5 x Ultra Deep Water drillships built post 2011at approx. $650 million each “cold stacked”.

Of course, the downturn has not been alldoom and gloom; lessons are being learned.The whole upstream oil and gas sector hassignificantly tightened its belt, executingimproved financial discipline. Daily drillshipOperating Expenditures (for example) hasbeen reduced from $185K (2012) to $90Ktoday. Smarter procurement decisions suchas dealing directly with manufacturers,have controlled cost. Condition-basedpredictive maintenance systems have beenimplemented, reducing reliance onunnecessary preventative maintenance.Standardization of operations andautomation have reduced labour costs andenabled drillers to streamline similarprocesses effectively.

Las Palmas quayside non-operationaldrillships as of June 2019.

The offshore drilling sector has kept busydeveloping the next generation oftechnology to increase operationalefficiency, some examples include thedevelopment of big data analytics (GE Isleading this advancement), digitization,automation and IoT. A.I. technology isadvancing to drill virtually reality wellsbuilding a better planned picture ofpotential challenges. A.I. is being utilized toimprove real-time data while drilling,predicting future impediments such asstuck pipe or the fracturing of a formation,warning the operator ahead of time.Simulators are appearing offshore to

shorten machinery learning times for newemployees. Human Factor training is alsobeing implemented into training programsto develop operational capabilities. There isa greater emphasis on the development ofso-called “soft skills,” situational awarenesstechniques, stress management, and hands-on well control (similarly to BridgeResource Management). The future looksbrighter, and opportunities will present forthe next generation of seafarer interestedin Dynamic Positioning and offshoreoperations. As with any other sector of themarine industry machinery is justmachinery, it’s the people along the serviceline who make a competitive advantagereal. As drilling contractors put assets backto work, the challenge is to do so safelymaintaining control. H.R. teams must hirethe right personnel, and operational teamstrain them, allowing organizations to growconfidently. Experience must be balancedeffectively across the sector as a wholewhile maintaining a sense of vulnerabilitythrough the startup period.

Drilling simulators – example of officebased simulator

Onboard drilling simulator replicating drillfloor control systems

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THE HONOURABLECOMPANY OFMASTER MARINERSLADIES’ CENTENARY GROUP [Consorts]

HISTORYIn 2018 following the formation of theCentenary Fund the Mistress canvassedMembers’ consorts to ascertain the viabilityof a group not only to support the Membersin this aim but to develop and maintain thefriendships and connections made onboard.

In 2026 when the Company will celebrateits 100th anniversary, it is hoped to hold avery special function, and to this endvarious efforts will be made to raise extrafunds to ensure a night to remember.

The Mistress and Wardens’ Consorts feelthey would like to make a contribution andwish to invite all Members’ consorts to jointhem in doing so. Their intention is to meet,have fun, and develop friendships whilstadding to the Centenary fund. 2026 is quitesome time ahead but to accumulate aworthwhile sum does take time, however,the fun and friendship would give animmediate and lasting return. It is hopedthat the Group will continue in support ofHCMM and The Wellington Trust post 2026.

OUTPORT PARTNERSIt is hoped that Outports will form theirown autonomous Groups but in supportof HCMM members of that Outport . Anyfunds raised would be used solely at thediscretion of the relevant OutportConsort Group.

LONDON & DISTRICT GROUPThe initial outing to the LondonFreemasons’ Hall followed by an Italianlunch was successful. Twelve ladiesattended and gave positive andencouraging feedback. The second outingto Somerset House, again followed byluncheon was supported by three Members,including the Master, and Consorts andachieved twelve participants whothoroughly enjoyed themselves.

PROPOSED OUTINGReserve the date – 26th November,2019 - Christmas Shopping withAfternoon tea [1500hrs at the CafeRouge, Covent Garden]

INTERESTED?Further information can be obtained from

The Mistress, Mrs. E. [email protected]

The Immediate Past Mistress, Mrs. C. [email protected]

LONDON FLYINGANGEL COMMITTEE

Raising Funds for the Mission toSeafarersThe London Flying Angel Committee,raising funds for The Mission to Seafarersto benefit Seafarers worldwide require torecruit some new committee memberswhich historically have been wives ofMaster Mariners. It does not take up agreat deal of time, we meet 4 times a year on board HQS Wellington and arrange 2 Fund raising lunches also on HQS Wellington, a Spring Lunch in Mayand an Autumn Curry Lunch in November.We would 1ove to hear from you and ifyou would like more information pleaseemail Maureen Hockliffe Chairman of LFAat [email protected]


HONOURABLE COMPANY OF MASTER MARINERSHCMM LADIES CENTENARY GROUP

Have arranged forthe National Trusts Chartwell's Learning Officer to give a talk on;

"WHO WAS CHURCHILL"

OCTOBER 05 2019 1400 HRS

At the Tunbridge Wells Sea Cadets and Royal Marines Cadet Detachment

Albion Road Tunbridge Wells TN1 1PF

The talk will last about one hourwith questions being taken at the end.

Tea, coffee, soft Drinks and homemade refreshments willbe served following the talk.

If you wish to attend the cost is £10.00 per person andtickets can be purchased from the current Master's wife;

Elizabeth Barclay. ([email protected])

All proceeds will go towards The Ladies (HCMM)Centenary Celebration Fund.

All Members, their Family and Friends will be welcome.

We look forward to your company for what promises to bea very interesting afternoon

Map showing the Car Park at Camden Courtand route to the Sea Cadet Unit, TS Brilliant.Distance approximately 0.1 mile (176 yds)

For those coming by train to TunbridgeWells Station transport can be arranged atthe time of booking.

TS Brilliant

CAR PARK

• The Journal • Issue 1/2019 www.hcmm.org.ukPage 102 • The Journal • Issue 3/2019 www.hcmm.org.uk

Events Diary

The HonourableCompany of MasterMarinersEditorial

The views expressed in articles or incorrespondence appearing in the Journalare those of the writer and are notnecessarily endorsed by the HonourableCompany of Master Mariners.

Items appearing in the Journal maynot be reproduced without theconsent of the Editor.

The Editor will be pleased to receivecorrespondence from Members intendedfor reproduction in the Journal.

Committees

Education and Training CommitteeChairman: Captain Jerry Mooney

Finance and Risk CommitteeChairman: Mr Matt Burrow

Membership CommitteeChairman:Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh GCB Vice Chairman:Commander L Chapman CMMar RN

Professional & Technical CommitteeChairman: Commander Derek Ireland RNR

All correspondence, books, documentsor enquiries relevant to the work ofthe P&T Committee should beaddressed to the Secretary, Mrs AlisonHarris c/o HQS Wellington.

Treasures CommitteeChairman: Captain Martin Reed RD* RNR

Joint Informal MeetingsHonorary Secretary: Mr Andrew Bell

Wardroom Mess CommitteeChairman: Mr John Johnson-Allen

The Journal

EditorCaptain Rob Booth, AFNIEmail: [email protected]

All new correspondence, articles andreports for the Journal should besent to the Editor via email or C/OHQS Welington.

Copy for Issue 4/2019 of The Journalshould be received by Friday, 22 November, 2019

Provisional bookings by email, fax or phone will not be confirmed until payment is made.

Please note the cancellations policy as set out in the HCMM bookmark.

CURRY LUNCHES – ALL 2019 CURRY LUNCHES ARE NOW FULLY BOOKED, BUT PLEASE CALL TO BEWAIT LISTED AS PLACES ARE OFTEN FREED UP, PARTICULARLY IF YOUCAN ATTEND AT SHORT NOTICE

Ladies Night Dinner

Post-ANSS Hot Pot Supper

Members’ Lunch (Lord Mayor)

Christmas Lunch

Curry Lunch

Curry Lunch

Friday 31 January 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie

Cost: £35 members/ £40 non-members

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 29 January 2020

Wednesday 9 October 2019 – 1830Dress: Lounge Suit & Tie

Cost: £23

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 7 October 2019

Friday 4 October 2019 – 1830Dress: Black TieCost: £72.50

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 1 October 2019

Friday 15 November 2019 - 1230Dress: Lounge Suit & Tie

Cost: £65

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 12 November 2019

Wednesday 18 December 2019 - 1230Theme: Stars

Dress: Lounge Suit & Tie – Cost: £62.50(Very Limited Availability)

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 16 December 2019

Friday 28 February 2020 – 1230Dress: Lounge Suit + Tie

Cost: £35 members/ £40 non-members

The closing date for reservations is 1200 on 26 February 2020


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