Seven marvellous poems of the sea
In the profit-crazed world of shipping, who cares about poems of the sea? Not many for sure. Poetry serves no practical purpose, and it won't fill one's pockets. But, as English writer Robert Graves said in his 1963 lecture at the London School of Economics, “If...
The human factor in sea mishaps: a captain’s view
By Captain Ardeshir Yousefi NOTE: The sea is one vast cemetery, as the above photo of the RMS Titanic wreck from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the US reminds us. More than a century has passed since the sinking of the British passenger...
Three IMO sins the shipping industry ignores
Who would dare criticise the International Maritime Organization (IMO)? It is a leviathan — immense, powerful and rich. To assail its actions, one would have to be as intrepid as Musashi, the legendary Japanese swordsman shown battling a whale in Utagawa Kuniyoshi's...
Going gaga over old maritime photos
The past is never dead. It's not even past. ~ William Faulkner (from 'Requiem for a Nun') Of late I have been enamoured with maritime photos dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. It is not only the long gone social milieu they depict that fascinates me. It...
10 maverick quotes about Philippine manning
The world's ship manning capital has such a unique, albeit impaired, culture that it inspired me to publish my second e-book, 'Close Encounters in Maritime Manila', in April 2018. The following are brief excerpts from the volume. I hope this smattering of quotes will...
Fisherfolk in timeless century-old photos
There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea. ~ Kahlil Gibran (from ‘Sand and Foam’) The sea is perilous and unforgiving. Yet, fisherfolk from generation to generation wrestle with its power to earn a living and feed humanity....
10 great maritime photos from long ago
Some maritime photos from the turn of the 20th century and earlier decades can be so dull that they make you feel that you're really looking at people and things long departed. They leave you cold. Thankfully, you may stumble on old pictures that are not mere records...
Why I write about seamen’s rights
The shipping world is so rich and complex that no writer, if he is inquisitive enough, should want for something new to talk about. However, there is one theme I keep going back to aside from marine art: the rights and welfare of merchant sailors. In Manila's crewing...
A refusal to observe ‘Day of the Seafarer’
I should be joining the rest of the world and making whoopee on the 'Day of the Seafarer', 25th June. But I won't. I will spend the day quietly and alone like the monk in Caspar David Friedrich's circa-1809 painting 'Der Moench am Meer / The Monk by the Sea' (pictured...
Crewing agents as money changers
All manning agents in Manila wear two hats: crew supplier and money changer. The second function is an incidental adjunct to the first. It is not wrongful or illicit per se, but it has given rise to a silent scam that has gone on for decades. Under government rules,...
Maritime reality ignored by Filipinos
It is high time that Filipinos looked at themselves and where they stand in the international maritime arena without blinkers. That may not be so easy because of their fixation with ship manning. But as the British writer, Aldous Huxley, once wrote: "Facts do not...
5 dangers of maritime writing
It has been almost a year since I last posted in Marine Café Blog. For those of you who were wondering, I was busy with my studies and working on my second e-book, 'Close Encounters in Maritime Manila'. With the new book out of the way, I can go back to blogging...
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