Perhaps the biggest influence in my career choice was that first ride on an outrigger in Manila Bay my father brought me to in those balmy days when steam ships of Madrigal shipping and Compana Maritima proudly sailed these waters. Next would be my high school teacher in literature who made us paraphrase poems; serendipitously assigning me to do Sea Fever by John Masefield. I was immediately smitten by the poet's spirit and passion for adventure on the high seas, and begun dreaming of seafaring with only 'a star to steer her by'.
Some of the boys in class were equally lured by that poem and joined the US Navy. I had a more romantic take of Masefield's verses and decided that I'm cut for the less rigid merchant marine until I entered PMMA. I've been nursing a sea fever since then, and now in my post meridian years still wish I could 'go down to the seas again, to lonely sea and the sky....'
Today's young men are apparently more into the financial rewards of seagoing than for the love of sailing. Sadly, most of them, if not all, missed the opportunity to appreciate those elegant poems brimming with the beauty of the sea and the sky. I am told these poems are no longer the staple in today's high school prose and poetry.
If I had my druthers, I'd require our first year midshipmen to memorize by heart (in addition to boxing the compass) the works of John Masefield and Alfred Lord Tennyson about the sea and seagoing. That way, they might consider the sea not just an avenue over which to move trade and commerce, but a beautiful part of God's Creation that must be preserved and protected for succeeding generations. Maybe there'll be less oil spills and dumping of toxic wastes over the side when a healthy respect and love of the sea become part of a seafarer's set of values.
This set of values if ever, may keep the temperature of that sea fever ever burning for some captains and chief engineers on whom it has lost its appeal, what with the mountain of paper works and strict IMO and marine environmental laws being implemented in some countries. I'm told some have lost their shirts in U.S. ports, not to mention bringing their ship owners to bankruptcy.
I could only sympathize with these fellow seamen whose sea fever has turned into a dreadful malaise. Maybe the eloquence of John Masefield and the other poets of the sea had their appeal only on those who are truly mariners at heart.
1 comment:
I agree with you that today's young seafarers are more into the financial rewards of seagoing. Gone were the days that seafarers sail because of passion. It is really the money that matters, the amount of salary being offered. It is now the reality, most of the students choose to become seaman because it offers big salary. We now live in a different world where money is one of the most or even the most important thing in life. How i wish people in the maritime industry think the way you do.
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