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The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of industries to reluctantly close their doors temporarily with staff members being caught in this unprecedented wave of uncertainty, having to settle for the government furlough scheme or worse; redundancy.

We have joined forces with an alliance of maritime welfare charities Maritime Charities Group (MCG), the Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) and Trinity House to launch a bursary fund solely catering for merchant seafarers based in the UK who are facing or have already faced redundancy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through this new resource, applicants will feel an element of security in regards to looking for a new role in the maritime industry, due to now being eligible for up to £500 funding towards essential training in these roles.

Applicants can self-select whatever training and/or qualifications they feel will help them to achieve this. This can include transferable skills such as interview preparation or CV writing tailored to a maritime industry. Courses can include MCA-approved and STCW refresher qualifications, maritime-related professional diplomas or ICS qualifications.

The ultimate aim is to keep as many people in the industry as possible, as we not only battle this unforgiving pandemic but also try to keep the maritime industry flourishing and up to date, both technologically and environmentally. We need as many people in the industry as possible to help us do that.

Commander Graham Hockley LVO RN and Chair of the MCG said this about the initiative and why now is the right time: “The cruise and ferry sectors have been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. We know from our trade union contacts that around 2,000 merchant seafarers are already facing redundancy and more are likely to follow. Jobs are in short supply but the market will pick up so now’s the time to invest in training and skills development.”

Our Director of Maritime Training and Development, Darrell Bate emphasised the simplicity of the process and how the Marine Society are always there for to provide help and guidance: “We want to make the process as simple as possible for anyone applying for this new funding. All they need to do is prove that their job is being made redundant, find a course that fills a gap in their training or skills, and apply online through a dedicated page on the Marine Society website. We can also provide information about what’s out there, so if you need help with ideas just get in touch.”

Seafarers that plan to transition to a shore-side role can use their bursary to access our Coming Ashore programme - https://www.marine-society.org/coming-ashore - that provides industry mentoring and access to learning resources.

To find out more about the MCG redundancy and retraining bursary fund and how to apply go to https://www.marine-society.org/redundancy-fund .

Our Learn@Sea courses have been created to cater for every seafarer across the maritime sector, whether you are a Bosun’s Mate or a Captain of a vessel. Everyone should feel they have the opportunity to gain an education at sea and our award-winning suite of courses helps fulfil that.

The key to making this a success is to spread the word as quickly as possible. Therefore we have collaborated with the Fisherman’s Mission, a Fisherman’s charity based in Hampshire, in order to expose our services to their audience.

Helen Lovell, Mission Port Officer for the charity, spoke to members of the public during an Oral Health Tour and had some promising responses.

Alex Passmore of More Seafood attended the tour and he felt he could use the courses to his benefit, taking advantage of the English@Sea and English@Sea Plus courses to provide for his European employees.

Passmore’s family own a fleet of day haulers and a fish processing factory and, with the rules for bringing foreign workers into the UK soon to change, employees will likely need a certain level of foundation English. 

Elsewhere, Leon Tooley, a deckie learner on the Julie of Ladram, felt that he could use the course to broaden his general shipping knowledge in order to reach his ultimate target of becoming a skipper like his grandfather.

Leon already has a Maths and English certificate to his name from college, but would like to explore courses such as Leadership@Sea which simply were not available to him.

Moving forward, Learn@Sea would be a great option for any deckie learners who feel like they are plateauing or stalling when it comes to development. No matter the size of the fleet, managers could really use our product to their advantage.

The Fisherman’s Mission have been a well-respected charity for 130 years and have travelled almost 100,000 miles to deliver their services, and they have realised and discovered the niche that we are trying to fill.

Adapting in this technological era is vital and our Learn@Sea courses being available portably whether the user is online or offline, is a huge selling point for us and an efficient perk for the seafarer.

Whether you need to polish up on your maths and English or work on more soft skills like leadership and project management, we have the resources and the platform for you to achieve your short-term and long-term goals.

To sign up or find out more about our Learn@Sea product, please visit: https://www.marine-society.org/learnatsea 

We've launched English@Sea Plus, a new course aimed at improving English language skills at sea.

English@Sea Plus will help international seafarers improve their standards in reading, writing and listening in the world’s maritime language. The online course allows those who understand some English to communicate more effectively by taking learners from CEFR A1 or A2  (IELTS 2 or 3) to CEFR B1 towards B2 (IELTS 5 or 6).

Seafarers can prepare for IELTS or Marlins tests through this course. It can help them reach a level of English proficiency that enables them to sit the relevant STCW for career progression. It is more likely to assist those to get to officer level.

The importance of good language skills remains a priority for all those on board. All officers in charge of a watch must be comfortable with written and spoken English, while ratings must be able to follow orders given in English. In emergency situations, crew members need to be able to communicate in English with passengers or in the language of the passengers themselves.

English@Sea Plus is packed with audio-visual content, presented to allow students to learn flexibly. It will help students learn more about grammar, understand how sentences break down and give them greater freedom to describe their experiences, dreams, hopes and ambitions.

Marine Society’s Digital Products Manager Iffaf Khan said, “English is the primary language on almost all vessels and effective communication is of vital importance.  I believe that this course will give seafarers the opportunity to build their confidence when communicating with either ratings or officers.”

For more information about English@Sea Plus or the Marine Society’s beginner's English course, please go to marine-society.org/learnatsea

To celebrate 264 years of Marine Society and Day of the Seafarer we bring you a testimonial from cadet Henry on how Learn@Sea has helped him develop during lockdown.

In April while the whole of the country was in lockdown and life was very bleak I received an email regarding courses available online through the Marine Society. Being a Sea Cadet and wanting to go into the navy in the future I thought it sounded very interesting. It gave me time away from home learning and a different focus but still learning at the same time.

Maths isn’t my strongest subject so I decided to sign up for maths@sea first. Having a nautical theme got me engaged straight away. I then tackled writing@sea which was again based around the nautical theme. I felt proud of being given this opportunity by The Marine Society to sign up for free through my local Sea Cadet unit, TS Eliza Adams, Wells-Next-The-Sea. The instant printable certificate was something to show off the achievement. It gave me a focus of still being involved with cadets while all face to face contact had stopped due to the Covid-19 outbreak. It helped to take my mind away from all of the things that had promptly stopped which I loved to do - Sea Cadets being a big part of my life. This made me want to look into the other courses available through the Marine Society.

Cadet Henry learning first aid at Wells-Next-The-Sea Sea Cadets.

Spreadshets@sea was another free course but I was a bit disappointed there was no printable certificate! For £2.99 I decided to sign up for the Geography@sea and I found this course fun. My favourite one out of the four.

I will certainly go and do further courses in the future through the Marine Society and would highly recommend to anyone who is either a seafarer or Sea Cadet

Ordinary Cadet Henry T.

Aged 14

Wells-Next-The-Sea Sea Cadets

On 29 May 1920, the SS Aeneas sailed for Australia with a library of 150 books on board. This was as a partnership between the pioneer of seafarer education, Albert Mansbridge of the newly established Seafarer Education Service and enlightened Liverpool ship-owner, Lawrence Holt of Alfred Holt and Company’s Blue Funnel Line.

Libraries on ships were not necessarily new and had been present on passenger ships since the late 18^th century. But this was a bold move to improve the welfare of seafarers by the man who lay the foundations of what would become the educational arm of the Marine Society.

In was a great success and natural history titles proved to be very popular. On the following voyage the number of books had increased to 200 and loans exceeded 1,000.  Within 10 years the provision of libraries had become universal within the British Merchant fleet with four hundred carrying SES libraries.  By the 1960s this number had increased to 600 ships.

The service continues today, 100 years later albeit in smaller numbers. Marine Society loan libraries still exist on National Oceanography and British Antarctic Survey ships but the majority of fleets have switched to non-returnable paperbacks and the newly launched digital library app.

The Marine Society digital library app is definitely the future for onboard libraries as seafarers can now download books to read on their phones or tablets. They can access thousands of books in the language of their choice to enjoy at leisure. After 100 years the Marine Society is still at the forefront of supplying libraries to ships.