A CAPTAINS CALL

To whom it may concerns:

Since I started my seagoing career, I can hardly remember a contract, where there weren’t at least 2 or 3 crewmembers from Ukraine or Russia. On my first contract as cadet on a small coaster, the captain was from St. Petersburg, the Chief Mate from Odessa and the A/B who called me “little brother”, he was from Sevastopol. It was my first adventure at sea, and we faced a lot of sh***. storm, stowaways and a fire in the engine. But we managed it, we managed it together, as a team, as seamen, as brothers. When I became a 2nd mate, I sailed with Captain Mellin from Poland. He told me something I wouldn’t forget. He told: “Look at our ship and look on all these ships around. We come from all places of the world, we look different, we have different cultures, different ideas and opinions. But we are one nation. We speak the same language, we follow the same rules, we have the same traditions, and we have the same goals. Our homes are our ships, and our country is the ocean.”

The recent events in Ukraine are scaring me, they are disturbing me, and they make me sad. I think of my friend and of my former crew from Ukraine who are in fear of their life. Any I think of my friends in Russia, who find them suddenly in a position, the surely don’t want to be.

But as citizen of the world seamen’s nation, I call up to all Masters, all crews, all my brothers and sisters at sea. Hoist the Ukrainian flag, whistle your horns, ring your bells and most important, stay together. Take fotos of your crew staying together, show how our nation looks like. Upload fotos in the social network and show our unity to the world. Send me your pictures and I will post them here.

#seamens-nation

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This is for Victor, Ivan and Pavel. Stay safe!

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Capt. Benjamin Marcy