by Manal Barakat, SeaNewsEditor
Q: Captain Georg Theda, Happy International Seafarers Day and thank you for agreeing to this interview. First, we’d like to know, what got you into seafaring? What inspired you to choose this career?
Captain Georg: When I was a young boy in Poland, I dreamed of travelling around the world. I wanted to visit all the ports and meet a lot of people. As a child, I had an Atlas, and I travelled the world with my fingers using that Atlas. When I reached the 7th grade, I attended a technical school to learn seafaring.
I then worked for a couple of years in my home country, Poland, on general cargo ships. That was in 1966. I started working with container shipping around the mid-seventies. Now, after 50 years as a seafarer, I am retired.
Q: Did you have to attend a special school or college to become a seafarer?
Captain Georg: Yes. I studied for 3.5 years. Then, after six years, I obtained the certificate to be a captain. I worked different jobs on the ship, and that's a requirement for every seafarer to be allowed to become a captain.
Q: What has kept you going for all these years?
Captain Georg: I loved working as a seafarer, and that’s why I continued despite the challenges. I was very happy working at sea. When we were at sea, we had a lot of time on our hands to do the things that we loved, and I loved sports. Unlike now, ships did not have gyms. I created my own equipment to exercise using rubber bands and metal rods.
Let's not forget that at that time, people had to get a visa for each European country they wanted to visit. Seafarers didn't need that, which made the job more appealing to me.
Seafaring now and then
Q: You said you witnessed life at sea before and after containerisation. How did containerisation change your experience?
Captain Georg: Before containerisation, we used to stay for weeks in each port city, sometimes up to four weeks. That’s because work on ships was largely manual. We had to use slings and nets to handle goods. Quite a few people were required to complete one operation. If we had bad weather, we had to wait until the weather calmed down for us to work safely.
That’s why those were great times for seafarers, because we had time to see the world. After containerisation, there was absolutely no time to visit the cities.
At that time, a ship would call many ports in one sailing. If we wanted to sail from Poland to India, we would start from Gdynia port and call at almost all ports in northern Europe: Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Le Havre, and then through the Suez Canal, bunkering in Jeddah and then further to Mumbai.
Q: How did seafaring evolve throughout your career?
Captain Georg: In the past, there was the job of a radio operator on the ship. With technology, fewer people were needed, and this job was then assumed by the captain himself. This is one of the reasons why fewer and fewer seafarers were required over time to work on board. The crew had to consist of many service staff, especially to work the cargo gear.
For example, now, there are around 20 to 25 seafarers working on board a ship that’s 300 to 400 metres long. In the past, ships of 150 metres had about 40 seafarers working onboard.
Seafarers had to share bedrooms and showers. With a smaller crew, more automation and more organisation, seafarers now have a more comfortable work environment, with individual bedrooms and recreational facilities.
A personal hero story
Q: Have you ever experienced or witnessed a situation where safety was compromised? How did you handle it?
Captain Georg: One time, I rescued around 12 people from drowning in the Indian Ocean. I was working on the container ship MOL Wish near Mauritius in 2008.
The incident happened at night. We had very bad weather and very strong winds. The waves were around 10 metres high. I was the captain of the ship, and we were sailing from South Africa to India, if I remember correctly.
One of the smaller fishing boats in the area had sunk. The crew members were on the liferafts by then, and our ship caught the distress SOS signal through the VHF channel. When the third officer on the ship informed me about the signal, I immediately contacted the coast guards of Port Louis. They said they had also received the signal.
Then, I sounded the emergency alarm. Because of the severe wind, we had to sail slowly, and it took some time to find the distressed crew. When we arrived, we used the heaving lines to pull the crew closer to the ship. We prepared the gangway for the crew to board from the leeward side [editor's note: a gangway is a movable bridge used for boarding or leaving a ship, while the leeward side refers to the side of the ship that is sheltered from the wind]. We then sailed the people to Port Luis to get the crew ashore.
️Women in seafaring
Q: The maritime industry is taking steps for more gender inclusion in the seafaring profession. Have you ever worked with female seafarers?
Captain Georg: Seafaring is still mostly a male profession. But in my career, I worked with women who held jobs as cooks and stewardesses on the ship, sometimes as radio operators. I also remember I once worked with a female captain.
Q: What challenges do you think women face at sea, and how can the industry attract more female seafarers?
Captain Georg: Working at sea is very tough. It is especially tough to work in the engine room and with container lashing. Luckily, I did not encounter major issues between male and female seafarers. But women faced other challenges. The most common was that it was difficult for them to stay long periods away from their families.
One way to encourage women is to offer a good work-life balance, where seafarers have enough time to spend with their families, whether on the job or outside the job, during vacation days.
Reflections & hopes
Q: If you had the chance to change one thing about seafaring, what would that be?
Captain Georg: I would impose a no-screen time at least once a day on the ship, for example, after dinner, for the crew to sit and talk. In the past, the crew was like a family. They used to sit together, exchange talks, jokes and activities. But for me, life on the ship now has died.
I remember once there was a young man who spent all his off-duty time drinking Coke and watching videos locked in his cabin. I tried to encourage him to exercise with me once.
As a captain, I often felt the responsibility of bringing my crew together. I remember once installing a darts game in one room. I also planned a grill party every month on deck once and a movie night for all crew members.
Q: In addition to travelling the world, what other things did you enjoy during your career?
Captain Georg: I'm a person who really likes the arts. I loved visiting churches, temples, mosques, and shrines. The different cultures and ruins fascinated me; whether artefacts from Egypt, India or museums in the United States and Europe.
My travels allowed me to see many famous paintings, too. The painting that impressed me the most was Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper of Jesus Christ. It was beautiful!
Thank you, Georg, for sharing your remarkable journey. Your story reminds us of the personal joys and challenges seafarers experience and of the spirit and camaraderie of men and women at sea.
