[image] Shipping out - The Martha's Vineyard Times Updated 11/18/19 “The major part of his life must be lived at sea, must be lived in a world which automatically cuts him off from the world ashore, and so home, friends, and family all fade into time as soon as the stern of a ship disapp…

Even 50+ years ago, the USN would have chaplains and family specialists visit ships on their return transit from deployment (usually six months), to advise these young sailors how to transition smoothly back into the family sphere. e.g. your very capable spouse has been reliably paying the bills f…

I see a claim on another thread that divorce rates for mariners are very high, anyone got statistics on this? I checked the claim made here that firefighters have high divorce rates but from what I looked at it’s not true.

[image] Shipping out The story of merchant mariners, and their families, who carry on at home Professional Mariner Forum I see a claim on another thread that divorce rates for mariners are very high, anyone got statistics on this? I checked the claim made here that firefig…

[image] Kennebec_Captain: There’s a book by the same name which is mentioned: Shipping Out; A Sociological Study of American Merchant Marines The book was published in 1972. I’m slightly curious what sociological changes have changed in the 52 years that have intervened. We talk about how di…

I read “Shipping Out” in the early 80’s sometime, a shipmate recommended it, lost my copy at some point but been looking to replace it. That’s how I found the article in the OP. What I recall about the book is it was written by the daughter of a deep-sea union mariner and the concept passing throug…

Here’s something out of another sociological study. This one came out in 1983, the same time I was joining the maritime world. (I can only screen-grab the text, so it gets cut-off at the end). https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-american-merchant-seaman-and-his-industry-craig-j-forsyth/1123284496 …

The author of "Shipping Out", Mariam G. Sherar was a Professor of Sociology and the wife of a merchant seaman. She also wrote “Joe’s Diner and Other Maine Stories”, so apparently some connection to Maine. Which is relevant to the subject about mariner’s wives in chapter 5 “To Marry or Not” (book …

Anecdotally, sitting in the control room with a pumpman who had spent his adult life at sea. My wife had just became pregnant with our first, and we were talking. He had been married to one woman for a guess 30 years. 4 children. To me he was kind of a living proof you can be a husband and…

Sometimes it’s instructive to inspect other lives. I’ve been reading about movie directors from the Golden Age of Hollywood. 1940s etc. Howard Hawks, Cecil B Demille etc. These were enormously wealthy men. For the most part lived maybe 10 miles from where they worked. Most had several wives over th…

Shipping out The story of merchant mariners, and their families, who carry on at home

Professional Mariner Forum

freighterman1 June 25, 2024, 6:24pm 8

Here’s another screen grab from the same study, circa 1983:

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Shipping out The story of merchant mariners, and their families, who carry on at home

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