The Seaman, His Profession and the Industry- A Transformation !

Capt. R Wilfred Pereira
Nov 1 · 6 min read

Since the creation of the human being, Man always had to work to earn a living.

To some men work came as an obligation, such as to serve the Almighty, Religion, Country, Cast, Family or simply another Person, through slavery or through free will. Those that form a part of this list would be holy men, warriors, politicians, slaves, servants etc.To some it was a profession such as a Cobbler, Mason, Black smith, Prostitute, etc.Yet to some it was just a means of survival. These would include daily wage laborer etc.

To the rest it was presumed that there was nothing that these humans were capable of doing. They were classified as ‘Good for Nothing Humans’. Commonly referred to as, ‘The Seaman’.

As the clock moved forward, so did the humans evolve? The unsatisfying nature of humans forcing desires to extraordinary heights, changed the world and the humans with it. The Good for Nothing Human –‘The Seaman’ changed too making seafaring his profession. The notion of a seaman being good for nothing has subsided long ago.

Let us discuss the various aspects of the seaman, his profession and the industry in brief.

Modern day sailors are civilized, intelligent, well educated and come from reputed or good family background. Most of them have a sense of awareness towards safety, environment, care of personal etc. Pose qualities such as love, gentleman ship sobriety and so on. These are all the qualities of what we generally term as a ‘good person’.

Medical checks prior boarding any ship ensures that the seaman is fit for duty. Some companies conduct medical checks including psychology test even after the seaman has returned from the sea. The repeated nature of medical checks guarantees a healthy seaman.

Now that we have proved that the seaman is a good person and a healthy one too, let us move further to his profession. A very big topic, hence various factors should be considered in deciding. Yet let’s keep it simple.

Every year an increasing number of candidates take to sea. The concept of only men going out to sea has faded away with an increasing number of girls taking to sea, making seafaring their profession. The younger generation brings in a newer thought process resulting in brighter ideas.

Strict selection process, state of the art modern maritime colleges or universities, decently paid staff and a curriculum adeptly formulated by STCW ensures that new seamen are adequately trained and readied for the various designations at sea.

The profession demands the seaman to work for long periods of time which could be, being months away from home and family. This is accepted gracefully. Leaving behind family and friends is as much difficult a task to the Seaman as it is to the family and friend, who lose contact of each other for months. Even with all this in his subconscious mind, the Seaman is able to complete his assigned duty. This is proof enough of his ability to concentrate and work as a professional.

With the advent of the telephone, the seaman could call their homes regularly. Now with the more recent Internet, cheaper VOIP phones and cheap email facility, seamen are continuously in touch with their loved ones back home. Modern recreational facilities including LED TVs, music systems, gymnasium equipment and other indoor games are now being provided by most ship owners. Contract periods have reduced over the year and seamen are at sea for three to nine months only, depending on their rank or rating.

It is said that harsh climatic conditions exist in Siberia or Alaska with temperatures lower than -45*C and extremely hot conditions in the Sahara desert with temperatures higher than 55*C, but the article asks the reader if its any match to the forces of nature and the harsh conditions experienced at sea?

At sea a seaman could experience winters with ice covered seas and frost biting cold in the northern and southern latitudes or extremely hot climate in the Arabian gulf. All this gets compounded with the hurricane force winds and raging seas which spit out vengeance by way of huge waves many meters high, making ships roll and pitch heavily and at times even capsize smaller ones. Could it get any worse than this?

When the almighty made Man, he designed him so as to live on land giving him the required body parts to survive and multiply. If he had intended that Man should live in the sea, he would have designed gills, fins etc, but he did not do that. By working at sea we actually go against our very form of existence that is existence on land. Is this not the most challenging of all?

Nowadays ships are provided with all kinds of weather routing support form shore, where accurate online information helps the Master to reasonably predict areas of concern and manoeuvre his ship accordingly, keeping it out of harms way. Weather related incidents are insignificant these days. Voyage routes are planned meticulously and voyages accomplished diligently. Ships too are built, managed, maintained, operated and frequently surveyed to ensure better safety and complete seaworthiness. All factors account to making life more comfortable on board.

The representation of a seaman as being a man of the ports, which means ‘wife at every port’ does not hold ground or make sense any more. Newer technology at ports as well as on board ensures that ships leave port faster, ensuring lesser shore leave in port. The concept of ‘saving for future or sail for ever’ is catching up fast with the modern seaman. Diseases such as HIV, Syphilis, Gonorrhea, have scared the seaman to such an extent that night clubs are running lower on business with each passing year.

Seaman welfare bodies such as ITF and seaman unions have agreed that a substantial part of the salary should be compulsorily sent to the seaman’s home town. Seaman clubs in many parts of the world have Chaplains who invite crew to pray, also arrange to and fro transport to shopping malls, thus further reducing such unwanted activity at port.

The saying ‘once a seaman, always a seaman’ is very true. Here we do not talk about the sailing seaman, but about the seaman who has left sailing to work at a desk in an office. A change accepted both willingly as well as unwillingly.

To some it’s due to family pressure, to others the desire to rise up the ranks is very strong, eventually becoming Managers and Owners of shipping companies / Principal’s of Maritime colleges or institutes or even Officials / bureaucrats in Government departments or other organizations such as the IMO etc. This keeps these seamen away from sea, striving for the betterment of the industry on the whole.

The industry requires these seamen very much the same way as the sailing ones, for the fact that modern vessels cannot be operated by the likes of the Captain alone and that he needs all the assistance and support from shore. This is where these Seamen shine, they being in a constant state of readiness to assist when required, never forgetting that they belonged to the sea some time ago.

The modern sailor attributes the profession to his predecessors- veteran seafarers who due to their unparalleled seamanship found new worlds and conquered them. Whose brave efforts at sea saved many lives and whose errors made various conventions which stand backbone to the shipping industry on the whole. Learning from them and their mistakes and ensuring that mistakes are not repeated is what seamen and this industry has always done. Any profession like any other walk of life will change with time and professionals have to amend their work ways to ensure continual improvement.

To every change there will be an initial resistance, but it’s accepted after some time and change happens. The formation and implementation of conventions such as SOLAS, MARPOL, ISM, STCW, ISPS, and MLC etc. have ensured that the required change was addressed.

It was the ‘Good for Nothing Human’ commonly referred to as, “The Seaman” who realized the need to change his attitude and made shipping his profession.

It was this Professional Seaman who realized through experience the need to transform, in order to progress not only as an individual, but as an industry on the whole.

It was the industry who then realized the need to transform itself by raising the bar to ensure a safer work place, safer ships, safer seas, safer environment and a better world.

Does the Professional Seaman transform the industry or does the industry transform the Seaman? It’s debatable and probably will never be known. However we surely are moving ahead together.

  • **Thank You for reading and sharing***
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