An ode for seafarers stranded during the coronavirus pandemic 

The face of a merchant seafarer lost to the sea, The Merchant Seaman’s Memorial in Cardiff Bay. © Girl Wander

When we go to the shops with all the food on the shelves,

We buy what we want, in sixes and twelves. 

 

For the strawberries and others, we buy out of season,

We expect them to be there, on the shelves without reason. 

Anchor butter from New Zealand, via the Panama Canal,

After a month at sea, arrives with us, somehow. 

 

There is our fish caught at sea, in treacherous storms,

By fisherman, whose risks they consider the norm. 

Or the meat and the wheat, we receive from Argentina, 

And, tinned tomatoes via the Straits of Messina.

 

Working months at sea for the global supply chain, 

Our invisible seafarers through the wind and the rain, 

Keep our supermarkets supplied and fulfil our needs. 

Ensuring our children their regular feeds.

 

Surrounded by water here on the British Isles, 

It’s the seafarer’s efforts, that supports our lifestyles. 

Locked down by the virus, stuck at sea,

Missed at home by friends and family, 

Their efforts unrecognised by you and me.

 

So next time you applaud all our front-line staff, 

Whom work so hard on our behalf, 

Please try to make it just a little bit farer, 

And give recognition for the British Seafarer. 

By Stephen Cameron AFNI Liveryman, Hon. Company of Master Mariners, Freeman City of London. 20 April

 

If you would like to help seafarers, please go to the Emergency Funding for Developing World Seafarers crowdfunding, here.