No Quitting: A Memoir of One Young Woman’s Cadetship in the Merchant Navy

210 pages

Chris O’Flaherty

Recommendations to purchase a book are rarely accompanied by a review that states it can be ‘a difficult read’. But this book is one that should be read and then cited by a broad cohort of seafarers – civilian and military. It is also unusual, but fully justified, for this review to firmly recommend a relatively cheap, self-published memoir.

Full disclosure; your reviewer knows the author, who has written under a nom-de-plume despite using personal photographs to enrich the text. She is now a highly successful Master Mariner, despite the troubled start to her career she sets out in this biography.

The book lays out in stark detail the attitudes towards female seafarers that existed at the turn of the millennia, and which still prevail in many sectors of our global industry. But this detail quickly moves beyond mere attitudes, setting out both actions and outcomes that demoralise, denigrate and damage our most important asset – our people.

The period of the book is when ‘Blue Stripe’, non-seagoing, WRNS were still a recent memory and integrated seafarer training was still in its infancy. It catalogues the challenges faced by a young woman trying to complete her merchant navy deck cadetship at Warsash Nautical College, and then at sea in a variety of ships plying ocean trading routes.  Many of the dits will resonate with members of the Naval Review: the nerves of a first meal in a new wardroom; the first time dolphins are seen playing in the bow wave; the first astronomical sight that gives a position at all close to where you (or your Navigator) knows you really are. But many other elements of her cadetship may be unique to female seafarers on an otherwise all-male ship – the fact that one such event has to be preceded by two separate trigger warnings may give you an idea of what happened.  That section is most certainly not an easy read!

This book receives a strong recommendation based on the occasional need to remind ourselves of what others may have to go through in order to achieve their dreams, before going on to contribute positively to our seagoing trade (and to our national wealth) through an outstanding maritime career at sea and also ashore. No Quitting is not just about the allure of the sea, it really is about personal resilience and an inner strength needed to succeed despite huge obstacles or traumatic events.

The author has kindly donated all proceeds to maritime charities that support seafarers who may be going through similar experiences to those described in this book, even now. This biography should duly reinforce all our resolves to never be the person who walks past a lapse in standards, a wandering eye, or a supposedly ‘innocent’ remark. We must treat everyone who answers the call of the sea with respect. After all, the author is now a Master Mariner who has been formally recognised for her career-long meritorious service to British seafaring.