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The worlds Merchant Navies today
THE GLOBAL PINOY
By Greg B. Macabenta
The saga of the Filipino seamen (Part I)
(I have 'known" for a few years now that the biggest national group at sea is the Fillipinos, (but I didn't know anything of their seafaring history) they have provided a cheap labour source to the shipping world for many years. I have been told one of their assets is that English is taught in school in the Phillipnes so they all have some English which makes them more adaptable in todays MN.
The story below makes no mention of the shady side of the wide spread employment of these seafarers, stories abound about how they have to pay to get and keep a job afloat to "agents" at home. ed)
WHILE the Filipino nationality of the first person to circumnavigate the globe, Ferdinand Magellan’s
interpreter, Enrique de Mallaca, is subject to debate, there is no doubt that Filipino seafarers have been at the vanguard of the diaspora, going back to the galleon trade, from 1565 to 1815.
According to journalist Floro Mercene, who has done a lot of research on Filipino presence in the
Mercene conjectures that “one of every five members of the crew was a Filipino native but some historians claim it went as high as 50 percent to 80 percent Filipinos.”
In a letter to the King of Spain in 1765, Spanish explorer Leandro de Viana wrote: “There is not an Indio in those islands who has not a remarkable inclination for the sea, nor is there at present in all the world a people more agile in maneuvers on shipboard or who learn so quickly nautical terms and whatever a good mariner ought to know.”
In the February 25, 1889, issue of the La Solidaridad, Graciano Lopez Jaena reported: “In a town near
Just as the Spaniards conscripted natives of Las Islas Filipinas for the galleons, the US Navy actively recruited young Filipino males as stewards and mess boys soon after
The book, Filipino American Lives, by Yen Le Espiritu, points out that in 1901, President William McKinley issued General Order 40 allowing the US Navy to recruit up to 500 Filipinos for the Naval Insular Force.
By World War I, there were some 6,000 Pinoys in the US Navy.
In his column, “Reveille” (Philippine Daily Inquirer), retired general and former customs commissioner Ramon Farolan wrote: “Under the RP-US Military Bases Agreement of 1947, only the US Navy was allowed to recruit Filipinos for its armed forces and during the Korean War, the Navy annually took in up to 2,000 Filipinos, ages 18 to 24. By 1970, there were close to 17,000 Filipinos in the US Navy.
Someone mentioned that there were probably more Filipinos in the US Navy than in the Philippine Navy.”
Farolan further wrote: “For many of our young men, a career in the US Navy was a life-long dream.
In a number of communities [and in many families] particularly those close to the
These installations exposed the local people to American wealth, culture and standards of living, generating strong incentive for enlistment. In particular, the monetary incentive for joining was exceptional—the salary of a raw recruit was a lot higher than many in the towns and villages where they came from. There was also the opportunity to gain permanent residency in the
Filipino naval personnel were assigned mainly to menial chores, as domestics, cooks and valets of officers, with little prospect of promotion. However, that changed over time, as the story of Rear Adm. Eleanor Connie” Mariano illustrates.
The daughter of a US Navy steward, Mariano became a medical doctor and then joined the US Navy in 1981, after getting a degree from the
Speaking at the 4th national conference of the National Federation of Filipino American Associations in
Today, based on available data, the
About half work in luxury cruise ships as hotel and restaurant crew.
The Department of Labor and Employment has a different set of figures: “180,000 Filipino seamen or 28.5 percent of the total maritime population of 632,000 are working worldwide.
The Bangko Sentral also reports that in 2001 alone, Filipino seafarers remitted $2.3 billion to the
But the good news ends there.
To be continued next week
*******
WORLDS BIGGEST LINER
(For Now! Watch this space!)
By Andrea Sachs
Biggest cruise ship ever set to hit the seas in June.
On June 4 the Royal Caribbean cruise line company will displace a lot of water with the launching of it’s new super liner the “Freedom of the Seas”.
The “Freedom of the Seas” eclipses the Queen Mary 2 as the biggest passenger ship ever:
This 160,000-ton ship can carry 3,600 passengers, and at 1,112 feet long it's so big it can't fit in many ports.
(By comparison, the QM2 carries about 2,600 passengers.)
Statistics aside, the amenities (spread over 15 decks) on the ‘Freedom of the Seas’ make other ships look like dinghies.
Among the attractions: a 43-foot-tall climbing wall with a centre spiral, a water park with surfing, an ice-skating rink, a full-size boxing ring and an adults-only solarium.
The ship's centrepiece is an extravagant seven-story atrium that looks as if it were pilfered from a Roman emperor's palace.
The staterooms also get the royal treatment, with flat-screen TVs and, in family-style cabins, with enough space for the Brady Bunch.
The 1,215-foot presidential family suite, for example, has four bedrooms and an alfresco dining area.
Upon its launch, the ship will be cruising the western Caribbean, departing from
For the seven-night trip, an interior stateroom starts at $800 per person, based on double occupancy, and $949 for an ocean view.
On the high end, the royal suite costs nearly seven times as much.
Departures are weekly starting June 4.
Details: Royal
The Freedom of the Seas is being built at the Aker Finnyards drydock in
Above- the "Freedom of The Seas" arriving in Hamburg from her builders Akers in Finland to go to the Vom & Bloss yard in Hamburg for final fitting out.
*******
BOARD OF TRADE SPORTS BECOMING A HEALTH HAZARD
Container ship crew member dead in safety exercise in
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE -- A man who died in a lifeboat accident during a safety drill was a member of the crew of a container ship based in Hong Kong, investigators in the
Jie Zheng, 25, drowned at Terminal 18 after a lifeboat containing him and three others from the crew of the OOCL Britain flipped while being lowered into the water near the mouth of the
Coast Guard personnel pulled all four from the water within about 20 minutes Sunday but Zheng died after being taken to
A second crew member was treated for a broken leg, and the other two others were returned to the ship.
The
The 'MV OOCL BRITAIN' in the Panama Canal by the look of it.
“MV LOWLANDS GRACE”
Two killed in Life boat drill accident in Australian waters.
TWO Filipino seamen were killed and three others taken to hospital after a lifeboat fell up to 30m from
an iron ore carrier during boat drill off the West Australian coast.
The crew of the Singaporean-flagged ‘Lowlands Grace’ were going through a routine safety exercise
12 nautical miles off Port Hedland about 3.45pm (WST) yesterday, when the accident occurred.
Sergeant Barry O'Meara, of Port Hedland police, said the lifeboat fell from it’s Davits. It capsized when it hit the water, trapping the men as it became almost fully submerged.
The frigate HMAS Melbourne was leaving the outer limits of the port at that time but returned to the scene under full steam," Sgt O'Meara said. "We're very fortunate they were in the area because they had all the resources on board to assist with the recovery effort and medical staff to assist with the injured persons."
HMAS Melbourne divers were able to free the men, but two of them could not be revived.
"This was just part of their ongoing safety exercises where they conduct this training for the crew and they've
probably done it a million times, but for some reason an incident occurred and unfortunately two
people died," Sgt O'Meara said.
The three survivors were taken to
and released, and two persons remain in hospital, one with suspected spinal injuries and the other with
a fractured leg," Sgt O'Meara said.
Police will today continue interviewing the crew of the ‘Lowlands Grace’ to determine the cause of the accident. Officers will prepare a report for the coroner.
A separate investigation will be carried out by the Department of Transport and Regional Services.
The dead men have not yet been formally identified, but Sgt O'Meara said both were from the Philippines.
Sequel to the above story
A CORRODED hook led to the deaths of two Filipino seamen when a lifeboat plunged into the sea and capsized during a safety drill aboard a bulk ore carrier off the West Australian coast, an investigation has found.
Unchecked corrosion led to the two deaths and the serious injury of three other crew members on the Hong-Kong registered Lowlands Grace about 12 nautical miles off Port Hedland in October 2004, an Australian Transport Safety Bureau investigation concluded today.
"The five casualties were members of the crew who had boarded one of the ship's lifeboats during a planned lifeboat drill," ATSB said. "All five of the boat crew were injured in the fall with two dying from their injuries."
All five were wearing hardhats and lifejackets and their seatbelts were fastened. But while they were being lowered a release hook failed and the boat fell about 16 metres, upside down, into the water.
The frigate HMAS Melbourne raced to the scene and navy divers were able to free the men but two could not be revived.
The ATSB investigation found that the lifeboat's after hook had failed where it was attached to the keel while the boat was being lowered. It concluded that unchecked corrosion was behind the failure.
"The ship's maintenance and survey regime with respect to the on-load release systems fitted to the lifeboats was deficient as the condition of the wasted keel stays had not been detected and rectified," ATSB said.
The report recommended shipowners, managers, authorities and classification societies ensure keel attachments for hooks on lifeboats in service were inspected without delay.
It also recommended that lifeboat-maker Umoe Schat-Harding review the design of its on-load release system.
*******
