26 | telegraph | nautilusint.org | January 2016
MERCHANT NAVY MEDAL The UK Merchant Navy s highest honour was presented last month to 19 of the industry s finest…
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The winners of the 2015 Merchant Navy Medal included a wide range of serving and retired seafarers, maritime welfare workers and the first soldier to receive the award. Lt Col Edmund Brookes — former deputy director-general of the Chamber of Shipping — served for more than 30 years in the Territorial Army in parallel with an engineering career that included time as head of technical services for ACTS in Southampton, responsible for the worldwide engineering of the container fleets of the five group members. He was presented with the MNM for services to the UK Chamber of Shipping and to the MN Ratings’ Pension Fund, from which he retired as chairman in September 2015. Former engineer officer Neil Atkinson — now principal surveyor with the Maritime & Coastguard Agency — received the award for his work in helping to develop and implement the international Maritime Labour Convention and his support for seafarer welfare, including the Southern Port Welfare Committee and the International Seafarers Welfare and Assistance Network. Captain Trevor Bailey, currently serving as master of the cruise vessel Hebridean Princess — which he describes as ‘the best job in the world’ — received the award for services to safety on high-speed catamaran ferries and to the Nautical Institute. Capt Bailey — who began his seafaring career as a cadet with
Maritime professionals who go the extra mile BP Tankers in 1971 — was one of the first masters of high-speed catamarans in the UK, and was also training master when Stena Line’s HSS 1500 was introduced. Former Shell Tankers officer John Rose — who is now the maritime director of the Confidential Hazardous Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP) — was presented with the medal for services to the Trinity House Yeoman Scheme
to support cadets and for his work to improve safety at sea. ‘This award is a great honour,’ he said. ‘What drives me on is the vision that every seafarer should return home from sea in the same condition that they set out in, and I am delighted that CHIRP now has 200,000 readers and the message is spreading around the world.’ Captain John Thompson, the deputy chairman of the Royal
Fleet Auxiliary Association (RFAA), received his Merchant Navy Medal for services to the welfare of seafarers. He was serving as a second mate on trampships when his father spotted an advertisement for the RFA and suggested he should apply. Capt Thompson went on to serve with the RFA from 1971 until 2003, and after his retirement he served as
“
I’m in such esteemed company here, just for doing a job I love
chairman of the RFAA before stepping down in 2012 and being elected as the organisation’s deputy chairman. A passionate seafarer, Captain Paul Compton has dedicated much of his time to training and motivating hundreds of young people for lives in the Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. For this, and his services to the Weymouth branch of the Merchant Navy Association, he was nominated
” MN Medal to become official state award P&O steward Alan Tinker
new state award, to be known as the Merchant Navy A Medal for Meritorious Service, is to be introduced by the UK Nautilus has welcomed the announcement that a
Trinity House cadets carried the red ensign at the medal ceremony and met the shipping minister
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government following the royal go-ahead. The new awards — the first of which will be presented in 2016 — will replace the existing Merchant Navy Medal, which has been awarded on behalf of the industry by the Merchant Navy Medal Committee for the past decade in tribute to meritorious service and acts of courage afloat. Shipping minister Robert Goodwill told the presentation ceremony for the 2015 Merchant Navy Medals that the new medal reflects a long campaign for formal recognition of the vital role played by merchant seafarers. ‘One can often forget how important merchant seafarers are to our island nation and it is only right that they are recognised for the role they play, often in difficult and dangerous conditions.’ Former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West, patron of the MNM Committee, said he was delighted by the decision. ‘The Merchant Navy needs to be recognised as people have absolutely lost sight of it in the modern world,’ he added. Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson commented: ‘This national recognition is excellent news for the Merchant Navy, whose seafarers give so much to ensure our nation’s prosperity and security.’ Nineteen Merchant Navy Medals were presented at this year’s ceremony, held at Trinity House in London. Captain Matthew Easton, chairman of the MNM Committee, paid tribute to these recipients, and all the others who have received the existing medal. ‘All holders of this award should
justifiably feel proud of their achievement,’ he added. ‘The success of this medal has paved the way for a state award and this reflects the high quality of the recipients and the well-established selection process. I want to emphasise that existing holders should continue to wear their medals with equal pride.’ The Queen signed the royal warrant for the new medal earlier this year. It will be a State Award with a place in the Order of Wear and the first recipients will be announced on Merchant Navy Day on 3 September 2016. Whilst the Department for Transport will ultimately be responsible for recommending awards to ministers, it has agreed to consult closely with the Merchant Navy Medal Committee during the nomination process.
f Nominations for the first awards of the new medal opened last month and further information on how to submit nominations can be found at: www.merchantnavymedal.org
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