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All Hands 2020-1 (UK Spring) P a g e 11

Women at Sea: Stay healthy greetings to all above "Fifty-eighters,". We are all in the "high risk" category I
understand. Here in southern Alberta, Spring is not happening yet and we are still experiencing minus 15 overnight
temperatures and so having to "hunker down" and stay indoors is not too bad. At mid-day today ( Sunday ) the
outside temperature is now minus 7 and there is still snow lying around. Our daughters, who also live in Calgary,
are doing our shopping for us and we manage to go for a local walk most days. Driving around the city is like a
ghost town. Who would have imagined such a situation two short months ago?
On the subject of "Women At Sea," I believe we should respect all the women who first became seafarers in n on-
pink-collar jobs. As a husband, father of daughters and grandfather of grand-daughters, I salute them. They
pioneered and put up with all the sexist bull-shit which prevailed in that era. I can remember the transition period
in the early 70s when we first had a female deck cadet on board. This was also the transition period from mostly
male table waiters and cabin attendants to mostly female. In the former case there was a problem for the chief
officer, masters at arms, and other deck officers of keeping crew out of the passenger accommodation, particularly
on the tourist class "line" voyages with lots of young women emigrants. Later on with a large number of young
women in the crew and a more mature passenger demographic, the problem was keeping the passengers out of the
crew accommodation.
I also honour the women who married seafarers. They suffered long periods of loneliness and by far and away the
major burden of house-keeping and parenting. Hats off to them all.
In my case, Jackie joined me at sea on several occasions. We had been married less than a year when she joined
me aboard "Cedric" in early 1971 for a trip to Australia. We joined in Genoa at the start of the loading programme
and we had previously signed a declaration that she was not pregnant. However, our joining date had been delayed
by about a month for various reasons, and after further delays loading in Marseilles and Malaga and sailing around
Africa via Capetown, she realized she was indeed pregnant. I remember her morning sickness and "cravings" for
things like "Granny Smith" apples. However, she continued the voyage and we had a good time while discharging
and loading in Australia (11 ports but some of them twice). Before departure from Fremantle, I asked the agent to
find me a doctor and she had a check-up. As the chief officer or first mate I was the "medic" and so I also topped
up the ship's medical supplies with a few emergency drugs and items to enable me to cope with such events as a
miscarriage if necessary. She finally flew home from our first port of discharge in the Mediterranean when we
arrived back there again. I also remember all her bikinis and summer dresses didn't fit when we were homeward
bound and she wore some of my shirts as a larger top. At the time we didn't think it was either foolhardy or that
she was particularly brave. Nowadays, our friends and my daughters in particular think we were crazy.
When I was an undergraduate mature student living on a grant and overdraft ( courtesy of a kind bank manager )
I used to go back to sea for about 10 weeks in the summer holidays. Shaw Savill's large passenger ships were
mainly cruising by this time and I found that their pre-determined schedules fitted my needs fine. I did this three
years in a row. I could also take Jackie and the children with me. They could enjoy a summer holiday with proper
meals, rather than beans on toast type fare, and the children enjoyed the pools, deck games, children's
entertainments and visiting and taking trips in "foreign ports."

Before I finally left Shaw Savill in 1976, Jackie and the children joined me aboard "Mayfield" for a six-port
discharging programme in the Mediterranean. Lots of happy memories and at the time we didn't think having small
children aboard a freighter was particularly dangerous. More recently, Jackie and I have been on a few cruises
aboard modern cruise ships, but find it very much like Las Vegas afloat. I most enjoy the trips with fairly long
passages at sea - Vancouver to Hawaii or Marquesas to San Diego etc. Jackie, brave woman that she is, also joined
me aboard a freighter on a voyage from the Great Lakes to Italy.
I must now stop rabbiting on. It's all this "locked down" time on my hands. I'll go and look up the Jo Stanley
book. Best regards to all, once again I hope you and yours all stay healthy. Andrew.
3 Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering News

Extracts from the WMASE (Warsash School of Maritime Science and Engineering) website.
3.1 Matthew Gigg HND Nautical Science (2015)

What made you want to be a deck officer in the Merchant Navy?
I used to teach water sports and while I loved it, there was something niggling away. Something wasn’t fulfilling
my needs, and I realised it was my thirst for adventure. I loved the idea of seeing the world. I spoke to a friend
who was doing a cadetship, who told me about his course and his sponsoring company – from that point on, I was
hooked!