Posted by Sorry to be absent these past several weeks. Covid and family healthcare have kept me busy. Thanks for your patience.
The good news is that on “Giving Tuesday” you have an opportunity to give $10 to a worthy cause and watch one of the great oral narratives of shipwreck and rescue as Gene Kelly tells it from the heart at the Massachusetts Maritime Academy in the Ed Fouhy Distinguished Speaker series sponsored by the Chatham Marconi Maritime Center. Gene was the third mate on the SS Marine Electric and his testimony was critical to major safety reforms. His recollection here of the catastrophe and rescue gave me goose pimples. (I should note that I follow Gene in this session — and I felt a bit like Gallagher following Springsteen.).
Here is the link to the video directly.
You will see here separately also a gripping presentation in the same series by Rachel Slade, author of Into the Raging Sea, a modern maritime classic about the sinking of the SS El faro. The quality of speakers in this series is incredible and my hat is off to the folk at Marconi. They zero in precisely on both historic and contemporary issues.
Ship and Shore by David Reid
David Reid is one of my favorite people in the maritime business and his new book, “Ship and Shore — An Insider Explains the Maritime World” may appeal to you particularly now as he is donating all income to benefit seafarers. He writes, “I have donated my writing so that all book sales will benefit the work of the seafarer missions across North America. This is a worthy cause in this time of great stress for seafarers as they battle both Covid and the supply chain delays at the ports. This book would be an ideal Christmas or Holiday gift and it will open people’s eyes about a world that most know little about. “
The cover leaf notes:
Ship and Shore is an insider’s view of the global maritime industry As a former seafarer, David Reid plots a course of discovery through the lives of seafarers, the shipping industry, and the past 50 years of change. Each of its chapters, which can be read in sequence or independently, covers a key topic in the unique world of the global seaborne supply chain As a former mariner, former port sector CEO, and former port chaplain, Reid aims to impart some of his knowledge on all things maritime, from Marconi men to dockers to cabotage legislation.
The book also can be purchased from the NAMMA bookstore: https://namma.org/member-resources/bookstore/
Giants of the Sea by John McCown
Finally today: Giants of the Sea by John McCown. I consider John one of our finest analysts of today’s modern shipping scene — including the current turmoil in worldwide logistics and supply. Here, he looks at the long game — the impact of containerization.
From the book cover:
The author, who worked on a daily basis for twenty years with Malcom McLean, the inventor of container shipping, demonstrates the direct link between the efficiency of the shipping industry and the explosion in world trade it has enabled. The book outlines how today’s shipping industry touches almost everyone on the planet in ways that they may not even be aware.