25 April 2014
The winners of a national limerick competition to find the best poems in celebration of life at sea have been announced by one of the UK’s oldest maritime charities, the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society.
The Charity, which this year celebrates its 175 anniversary, launched the competition to raise awareness of its work providing financial support to ex-seafarers and encouraging those in need to come forward for help.
The competition, now in its third year, received entries from across the UK and was judged by poet, broadcaster and comedian, Ian McMillan and supported by the National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations. The competition, which ran across the Charity’s social media platforms and website www.shipwreckedmariners.org.uk, saw participants penning five line poems about the sea and the men and women who dedicate their lives to the ocean as well the challenges they face.
The winning limerick came from Peter Hamill from Accrington who penned:
When the wind from the west blows a gale With the waves washing over the rail Think back on the days When the sky was a haze And the sea was as smooth as the sail.
Peter entered the competition after seeing a post from judge Ian McMillan on Twitter and after “visualising a bearded castaway sticking his poem in a bottle and throwing it out to sea”. In his youth, Peter spent time on his uncle’s yacht in Greenock off the west coast of Scotland where he used to listen to tales of the ocean. In the 18 and under category, the winner was 18 year old Jade Cuttle from Selby, North Yorkshire, whose limerick was inspired by her Grandfather’s stories of his service in the Royal Navy.
Her winning entry was:
Through tides that tear the shore to shreds, And winds that whip and dust the decks, That rip at rails and sagging sails, Through gust and gale and hurling hail, This ship will storm the seas ahead.
Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society, Chief Executive, Commodore Malcolm Williams said: “We were delighted with the entries to this year’s limerick competition. Initiatives like this are an important way for us to raise awareness of the work we do on behalf of this vulnerable community and to encourage people suffering hardship to come forward for support. The past 12 months have again shown the importance of our work. We received 650 new applications for assistance and in total paid out over £1.4 million in 2,200 cases of need showing our work is as important today as it was 175 years ago.”
Ian McMillan commented: “I wanted to support this competition because my dad was in the Navy for 30 years and he often talked about friends he had lost at sea so this felt like a very relevant and important competition to judge. There are still mariners all over the country who are in need of support making the work of the Charity as important as ever. The limericks were extremely creative and really captured the feel of seafaring.”
National Federation of Fishermen’s Organisations, Chief Executive, Barrie Deas, said: “Through our work with UK fishermen, we see firsthand the often life changing support the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society provides to our island nation’s ex-seafarers. We are proud to be supporting this competition and think the winning entries really capture the feel of life at sea.”
The winners will receive a recording of their poems being read by Ian McMillan, as well as an engraved Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society barometer.For more information about the Society and to view a selection of limericks from this year’s competition, please visit www.shipwreckedmariners.org.uk