By Dr Edward Harris‘If you are enthusiastic, motivated to succeed and have a love of the sea, then a career in shipping can be most rewarding’ — John Fredriksen, Chairman, Frontline LtdThe mind is the greatest editor of all, if you let it do its work, humming away in the background of your current thoughts, like a Drobo backing up computer data.Thus it was when the National Museum recently acquired a splendid photograph (courtesy of Robert Limes) of a small Bermuda sloop, racing with full sails in a location yet determined, that a memory in the hard disk that is supposed to be my brain suggested that I knew the image from a previous life, or whatever.Of course, it could simply be the mind playing tricks, immediately assimilating the photo with many others from our splendid maritime traditions of sail in the late nineteenth century.Then in preparation for this article, I searched for ‘sloop’ on the desktop and up popped a watercolour by a lady of Paget and the latent recognition of the image of the photo proved a reality, for the painting had been logged in some years before, courtesy of Martin and Fiona Hatfield.According to art historian, Jonathan Evans, Eliza (Bessie) Brownlow Gray (1854—1925) painted a number of scenic watercolours, including ones such as “Bermuda in June” and “Waterville, Paget ’96” (‘some of which appeared in American magazines’), as well as the one presented here.Comparing the photograph with Bessie’s painting, it would seem that she created her image from the former and a handsome replication of the photo it is.Perhaps such an association has been recognised previously, but here the two images are published side by side for your edification, and hopefully enjoyment, of a craft that was a major part of the sailing traditions that were established in Bermuda before 1674.Those traditions revolutionised the maritime trades for small vessels under sail, a major evolution for the ‘search for speed under sail’, which is yet exemplified by all of the yachts in regattas such as the Newport-Bermuda Race, which are powered by the ‘Bermuda Rig’.In recent years, the Bermuda International Shipping Association has been set on a new course for a former tradition of Bermuda’s maritime heritage, perhaps, it is fair to credit, with the participation of Herr Jens Alers, a Bermuda resident and sometime Honorary Consul for Germany hereabout.That course is the training of young Bermudians at sea in the skills of seafaring, albeit in ships the size of which our forebears could hardly have imagined.The Association, in conjunction with shipping companies with a Bermuda presence, has been arranging for young Bermudians to go to sea in the merchant marine and there to learn the trades that stood their forebears in good stead in previous centuries.Chad Townsell was the first such student (now a Branch Pilot in the Marine and Ports Services) and he took to the waves with the Great White Fleet, a member of the Association.Presently there are over a dozen Bermudians on the ocean or at maritime colleges, preparing themselves, through the sponsorship of the Association, for a life (more than a career) connected to the sea, which is, and always will be, a major aspect of existence on Bermuda.According to Mr Alers: ‘The Association’s (BISA) aim was to sponsor the education of cadets at suitable maritime colleges and secure berths for them on-board ships owned by the BISA members so that the cadets would earn the necessary sea time, with view to ultimately obtaining their officer ticket and embarking on a seagoing career.The BISA cadet programme was expanded and maintained between 2000 and 2012 in cooperation with the Department of Marine and Ports Services.The then Director Francis Richardson and Pilot and Training Manager, Mario Thompson, both of whom had spent time at sea on-board vessels of the Schulte Group, were instrumental in moving the programme full steam ahead.Blair Simmons, Operations Director of Bermuda Container Lines, and I, acted as “trainee mentors” on the industry side of things. Conduits for teenagers aspiring to go to sea have been the Bermuda Sea Cadets and the Bermuda Sloop Foundation.’The vessels on which the cadets serve are a far cry from the Bermuda sloops and ‘tall ships’ of yesteryear, but the ways of the ocean remain unchanged, as they always will, and the challenges that faced our ancestors yet wait for the modern seafarer, for the ocean seas have changed not for millennia.The ships the Bermudian cadets learn their trade are container vessels of up to 5500 TEU (Twenty Foot Equivalent Unit), LNG (Liquid Natural Gas) tankers of 170,000 cbm capacity, Bulk Carriers of up 50,000 deadweight, Car Carriers with a capacity of 4,000 vehicles: in other words, these are seriously large vessels trading worldwide.The learning experience the cadets enjoy is hard to summarise in a few words. Consul Alers notes: “The main industry supporters of the cadet programme throughout the years have been Bermuda Container Lines, Bermuda International Shipping, and the Schulte Group. In recent years, the programme has received excellent support from Teekay Corp, Frontline Ltd, Golar LNG, and Concordia Maritime, all companies represented in Bermuda.”This is a major contribution to Bermuda, quietly made by many corporations and individuals who have adopted Bermuda as a place of business and in return are making contributions to the development of Bermudians with a maritime interest, which they would have difficulty finding elsewhere: we should be indebted to BISA and its members and keep the abiding phrase, “Thank you so much”, at hand for all that such persons do for this island, often without appropriate credit.Letting Mr Alers have the last words: “The BISA cadet programme is a revival of the seagoing traditions which lie at the base of what Bermuda is all about.“The career opportunities young cadets have today in the world of shipping are incredible, as the maritime industry requires more and more personnel, and there is a worldwide shortage of qualified officers.“These cadets are quite literally expanding their horizons in the international employment market. Becoming an officer at sea is a career which promises excellent remuneration and benefits, to say little of the satisfaction of continuing in the maritime traditions of this second most isolated place on the ocean seas.’