FOR WHOM DID THE WHISTLES BLOW?

FOR WHOM DID THE HORNS BLOW? 

 

Captain Ricardo E Caballero Vega

     Panama Canal Pilot 

A ship's whistle is one of the oldest devices used by mariners to alert of a specific situation. To be exact, for communicating passing intentions (one short blast means "let's meet port to port", two "starboard to starboard", and so on).

But before ships were equipped with modern whistles or horns, these were  already an integral part of some lighthouses and sea buoys to aid mariners navigate. It is a fact that sound travels more efficiently across fog and heavy rain. Sound is more effective than light when navigating in reduced visibility. With all the technological advances, such as the AIS, the whistle of a ship is rarely used these days. 

Rule 35 of the International Regulations for preventing collisions at sea (COLREGs) prescribes the sound signals given by ships in or near an area of restricted visibility.  

However, the ship's whistle is sometimes used unofficially to mark a specific event, like commemorating a particular date or a celebration. Here, in the Panama Canal, if the Captain of the ship allows it, we blow the whistle during someone's last day at work before retiring. (By the way, a non working whistle is considered a deficiency bad enough for a ship to be denied transit.)

But the reason why the sound of ships' whistles were heard across most bays and ports around the world this past May 1st was a unique one. Some might think the whistle were blowing to celebrate international labor's day. In a sense, it was. But the real reason behind pushing the buttons or pulling the levers that activated the devices was one with a deeper meaning. After all, there isn't much to celebrate these days. Especially for workers who have lost their jobs and are now left without a mean to support their families. In the case of seafarers the situation isn't any better.  Many saw how their contracts vanished in just a couple of days as ship owners were forced to lay part of their fleet off for there was no cargo. Because a ship with no cargo is barely better than a wrecked one. This is what happened to cruises. 

Those seafarers who kept their jobs however, found themselves stranded aboard  as airports across the globe shut down making crew changes impossible. Until now, many are still there. Aboard, even though the term of their contracts have expired. No one knows for sure when will all of them be relieved so they can reunite with their loved ones.  In spite of that, they still continue to fulfill their duties.

Ironically, thanks to Covid19, the world has come to realize how crucial the work of seafarer's is. Men and women from different nationalities, mainly from the so called third world, are making things easier for everybody on land, amidst a major crisis, by keeping the supply chain active. By making sure, that the shipping industry, very often the subject for rampant criticism, keeps trade afloat, and keeps, again, the supply of goods alive. 

Stranded seafarers are tired, both physical and psychologically. They are not angry, I can guarantee you that. They are most likely frustrated and satisfied at the same time because. They can't go home, but at the same time they also love to serve. 

Seafarers are special people. They know what being patient means, they know how to make it through a storm, they know the rules and also know the price to pay for breaking them. They are honest people. While in the middle of the ocean you can't be otherwise. There is no one to fool but yourself.   

Very much like workers in specific fields they know they can't  rest when duty calls.  Similar to nurses, doctors, and hospital personnel who have found themselves battling a war they have yet to understand, seafarers are also battling the same war, only at a different frontline. It is the same war, being fought in many fronts, with different levels of risks, but still a war that requires the best from all of us. 

Rest assure that, that is exactly what seafarers do, give the best out of themselves, whether in times of peace or times of war. People ashore were oblivious, all this time, of the seafarers' contribution to their lives.  

The whistles were blown as a reminder that seafarers are out there, crossing the oceans to make trade possible. 

 

We  watch the ships coming and leaving the bay as if they were  a normal feature of the landscape. We watch them loom above the horizon as they arrive, or  disappearing under it, as they depart. Or we watch them out in the anchorage at night, resembling small buildings with their lights on. 

People pull out their cameras and take a selfie with the ship on the background. Many of them have no idea how it made it there, or even bother to think how is the life of those aboard. Why should they anyway? Curiously, many of them don't even know that the clothes they are wearing, the car they drive, the gas it burns, and even the food they eat, most likely came on a ship like the one out there. A ship manned by people, by seafarers. People, connecting ports, people connecting people.

But it is not only seafarers' contribution to humanity that has come up to the surface amidst CODVI-19. 

We humans tend to categorize everything, including jobs. We say that there are important, not so important, and even that there are unnecessary jobs.  Likewise we label workers as being essentials, not so essentials, and as being non essentials. That is how the gap in importance between a security guard and the manager of a bank is extremely huge, of course with the manager being at the top. But I guess you might agree that, depending on the situation, the security guard might save the day for the bank, and the manager too. At that moment his essentiality could match that of the manager. 

Covid19 has unveiled the importance of those who pick our trash and keep our cities clean, of those who deliver our meals, the ones who drive us home, and all of those who in the past have been underappreciated by many almost to invisibility. 

We have come to realize that we need people to do the jobs we wrongly classified as not being essentials. We also need good and honest businessmen, good and honest leaders, scientists, artists, and everyone that gives humanity  a direction. a right direction. 

The coronavirus has locked us down in most countries. Authorities are classifying some workers as being "esential". And maybe they are correct this time, given the current circumstances. But the essentials do not make others non essentials.

Anyway,  we should not forget that there are not "non esencials" workers. My experience aboard ships taught me how essential each member of the crew is. From the Captain to the boy in the mess room who serves the meals and keeps the officers' cabins clean and tidy.  From the Chief Engineer to the oiler, whose coverall is grease stained as prove of his dedication. A Pilot wouldn't be able to safely navigate a ship into port if it wasn't for the helmsman. And how about tying up the ship? 

We are living difficult times, no question about it. But we are also living an opportunity that we should not let slip by. It is like nature is giving humans a golden opportunity to rethink and redirect our course. To be more appreciative of what those "invisible" people do for us. An opportunity to upgrade our humanity and stop thinking that the most important goal of our lives is  to make profit. 

Let's not forget that, like the seafarers that are stranded on their ships, we are all aslo stranded in this planet that sails in a space of uncertainty, unable to escape since there is no other place in which we could thrive.  Probably the best way to survive is by doing like seafarers do: they give their best. They give their very best, especially during bad weather. When there is a storm, like Covid19. 

 Perhaps, in order to survive these and future storms,  humanity needs to mimic a ship's crew. By looking after each other, and seeing each other as being "essential."  I know it "sounds" impossible. But I already said that sound is capable of reaching places to where light can't. Places such as the heart of a person.

"You may say I'm a dreamer" sang John Lennon a while ago, "but I am not the only one", the lyrics goes on. Many of you would agree with Lennon, I am sure. I also do.  And I also hope that the sound of the whistles blown the first of May remain lingering in the ears of those of us who heard them. It will remind us not only that, out there in the middle of the ocean, some essential, humble people are working for all of us.  And it will also remind us of our fragile humanity, of the need to reach to each other's hearts,  and of our very place in the Universe.  

For all of us, not to forget that we are in many ways essential to each other, connected to each other,  was... for whom the whistles... were blown.