Kevin Walsh was 16 when he first boarded a cargo ship at Liverpool's Gladstone Dock, having never spent more than a night away from home. With no qualifications and little idea of what lay ahead, the teenager from Old Swan set sail on what became a 46-year career, rising from deckhand to Merchant Navy captain before becoming a Mersey pilot guiding huge vessels into Liverpool.
A career begins by chance
Now 63, Kevin looks back on a lifetime at sea ahead of Merchant Navy Day on September 3. His journey started almost by accident while working on a Youth Opportunities Scheme in 1980. A friend suggested he visit the old Shipping Pool on Mann Island, once the heart of Liverpool's maritime industry. "I didn't even know what it was, but I signed up, took a little exam, and the next thing I knew I was in Gravesend in London at sea school. A couple of months later, I was on my way to New York," he told the ECHO.
His first voyage lasted six months, taking him from Liverpool to Glasgow, Rotterdam, Sicily, through the Suez Canal, and into East Africa. "I remember it vividly. We finished in the Persian Gulf before going down to East Africa," he said.
Seeing the world and its hardships
One stop changed his perspective forever. Years before Live Aid, Kevin delivered food to Ethiopia as a teenager. "We went to a place called Assab in Ethiopia. What we saw was devastation. We were delivering food, and it was so sad. I was only 16. It was such an education," he recalled.
Despite never feeling homesick, life at sea came with sacrifices. Before mobile phones and email, letters were vital. "There was nothing other than a bit of a crew bar, so the camaraderie was unbelievable. But don't get me wrong there's also lonely times at sea so letters were incredibly important. You'd get three or four weeks' worth of them when you arrived in port. My mum and dad used to number them, because if you read the newest one first, nothing made sense," he said.
Returning to education and rising through the ranks
As the Merchant Navy changed and cheaper overseas labour became common, Kevin found himself unemployed for months. At 31, he returned to education. "I enrolled in night school and got my Maths GCSE just to see if I could do it. I found out at 31 I wasn't daft," he said. He qualified as a navigation officer in 1994 and became a captain within seven years. Today he works as a Mersey pilot.
His sons Carl, 36, and Sean, 34, are both captains on one of the world's largest superyachts, taking turns at sea. Their vessel has circumnavigated the globe over two and a half years. Kevin also mentors friends of his sons. "They're always coming round to the house for a bit of advice. I tell them it's a 10-year plan because that's how long it takes to go from cadet to captain. They're always ringing me when they've passed exams or got promoted. I just help nurture them," he said.
Honouring the Merchant Navy's legacy
Kevin hopes Merchant Navy Day reminds people of the sacrifices made by merchant seafarers during the Second World War. "The Merchant Navy lost more people proportionally than any of the armed services. It should never be forgotten. Everybody in Liverpool had somebody who went away to sea. We don't want to lose those roots," he said. "The Merchant Navy has been my life. It's given me everything. If kids in schools knew about it, what an opportunity it is, I think we'd have more interest."
