Seafaring is career, a rank based long-term ladder climb that for
some results in a very well paid, often tax-free occupation in the
dizzying height of Captain or Chief Engineer. For some, a career on the
middle rungs of the ladder but one that satisfies and that will last a
lifetime!
For many more the future requires change, another rung to the
ladder, a shift in attitude, an accident or ill health or simply the
emotional need to spend more time with the wife/husband or children out
of love or necessity. A shift that requires the hanging up of the
discharge book, a move from the sea to land that produces an enormous
change in lifestyle, most likely a reduction in income and the
unfortunate circumstance of having to come under the watchful eye of
the tax-man once again!
NB: The Discharge Book is the official document that all seafarers
from Russia to Argentina, Iceland to Australia must have in their
possession. A document that records all vessels sailed upon, a history
of a career at sea presented in a concise and easily-read format. As a
doctor may hang-up the stethoscope, a cook the saucepan and a
taxi-driver the complaints, a seafarer will hang up the faded-blue
document to signal an end to a travelling lifestyle.
To change from seafarer to landlubber is not as easy as it may
sound. For many the shift may involve a change in career, a new start
at the bottom of a very high ladder, not an easy thing to do at the age
of forty, with three kids and unpaid credit card bills tripping over
themselves for attention. Generally, a career at sea has many side
benefits, a suitable income, long leaves between trips and an active
lifestyle that feeds the brain and the body. Shore jobs can often be
monotonous, paperwork based and for the most part behind a desk and
in-front of a computer screen. The twenty days leave per year a shock
to the system after six-months of a year of pure freedom to holiday and
party without company intervention.
Over the decades many ex-seafarers have reclaimed the life, unable
to cope with the wife's constant nagging and a resort to the 'absence
makes the heart grow fonder' reasoning suddenly shines, a suddenly
switched on 1000 watt bulb in a darkened cave! Others have returned to
the sea as the ever-eager credit card bills are joined by red-coloured
ones and a constant stream of abusive letters from loan agencies and
bank managers pushes for the need to earn more money, something that
only the 'sea; can bring about.
Many ex-seafarers though have built for themselves a happy and
successful existence ashore, a requirement borne from necessity or from
having found a new and rewarding career that negates many of the
attraction of the life at sea!
To split the careers at sea into categories, engineers generally
have a greater chance to move ashore into a more rewarding career as
more possibilities are open to them. Simply put; a Captain has spent a
life-time navigating vessels around the world, not something that
typically equates to a land-based occupation. Engineers on the other
hand have skills that are easily adapted to shore-based occupations,
engine manufactures, the oil industry or even 'garage mechanic' options
are available with a little research.
For many though the 'return to sea' is a result of what could be
called itchy feet. Seafarers over the years build for themselves a
simple suitcase-based policy; they can without pause live for months
out of bags that conform to airlines baggage policies, no more than
thirty kilograms and usually in two or less bags. Material possessions
mean little, what cannot be put in a suitcase is not required and with
a drop of the hat they can be off, unhindered and without looking back!
It is therefore common to find ex-seafarers feeling claustrophobic, to
one-day realise that living ashore has amassed belongings and
encumbrances that prevent instant departure and that they are
restricted by material possessions.
It has often been noted that many seafarers marry nurses. The reason
for this career match is often a result of an understanding of the
other, both careers involve change, emergency and long hours. Both
careers often require thoughts and happenings to be kept within, thus a
tolerance of the others moods can be better coped with. A seafarer's
life revolves around constant change, routine is not a word that many
know, change and excitement, ports to be visited, calamities to be
solved or borne and people to be tolerated or whose company sparks
hilarity and constant merriment. For a nurse to sit behind a desk and
fill out the same form from 9 to 5, life would soon drag and become
depressing. For a seafarer to suddenly find himself opening doors for
hotel guests, to be repairing elevators in Harrods, life would be
ultimately boring, life would revolve around routine, and each day
would be the same with the only thing to look forward to being the end
of the shift or day.
Many though have survived ashore, and will never sail on the waters
again! They have successfully hung up their discharge books, a memory
of a life gone by!
