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A modest enough name, eh? But these guys ‘n gals really are leaders of the pack when it comes to taking care of historic ships. First they sorted out HMS Alliance, a classic Royal Navy submarine from the pre-nuclear era at the submarine museum in Gosport. Then ML got a bit more room to work when they helped make the big-gun monitor HMS M33 anew, in time for the centenary of the Gallipoli campaign – in which she served. Now they’re hard at work with HMS Victory, delivering and helping to test the new props that will support her so much more effectively. And in their spare time..? Well, the ironclad battleship HMS Warrior, also moored in Portsmouth, needs some TLC, especially on her wooden bulwarks. Go on board her – it’s so worth it – and you’ll find ML there too. Sorted!

… when you come to Fenton Holloway, consulting structural engineers, in Bristol. They’ve been commissioned by the National Museum of the Royal Navy to work out exactly how and exactly where to put the new supports HMS Victory needs, to stop the process of sagging and bowing that’s been building up over the last 100 years; and long-term, would put a question mark over the safety of the ship and all who want visit her. Fenton Holloway are the ones who’ve used Andrew Baines’ 90 billion laser points (actually, sorry, 89.25 billion) to make staggering computer models like the one in the picture, to work out the stresses and strengths of the great ship’s hull. That tells them where the props should go for the best effect. All in a day’s work for them (they’re super-cool) but still – amazing!

… Andrew Baines, Head of Historic Ships at the National Museum of the Royal Navy, will be to re-support this great ship Victory – all 3,556 tons of her. After getting her hull repainted in the right colours, of course! Then, we’ll need a computer model, won’t we Andrew, which you can get from – say – oh, I don’t know – about 90 billion laser points all round the ship and inside her, down through every deck? That’ll do it. Then you’ll know how to support her so she doesn’t keep on sagging and bowing. Make sure you don’t damage her or her dry dock (oldest in the world), though. Oh – and don’t forget you’re also managing the rebirth of HMS Caroline in Belfast, in time for the centenary of the Battle of Jutland (where Caroline fought in 1916.) All good? Fine!

HMS Victory – flagship of Lord Nelson, victor of the Battle of Trafalgar, icon of the Royal Navy – has a problem. She’s not where she ought to be – hasn’t been since 1922, the best part of a century. That was when she was dry-docked, after years spent out in Portsmouth harbour. And that’s where the trouble started. Because a ship is designed to be supported evenly by the water she displaces. Every part of her is designed for this. So, when she has to come ashore – and this is especially true of a wooden ship – she’s not where she belongs, and her weight distribution starts to tell on her.  She sags and stretches. It takes a long time – in Victory’s case, many decades. But now she needs fixing, with a new system of props to support her.

ISWAN – the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network – meets a real, daily demand. Many of the world’s seafarers – who bring us here in the UK virtually all we need in bulk goods (95% of everything we use and depend on) – are often out on their own when they need help. The same applies to their families, at home with their breadwinner at sea for months at a time. (One seafarer MFUK encountered, on a Chinese coal carrier, had been away from home for 18 months straight.) So – how do the numbers stack up? Last year ISWAN – working closely with partners like the International Transport Workers Federation, the International Chamber of Shipping, and governments worldwide – dealt with:

1,920 cases…

… on behalf of 7,710 seafarers…

… of 84 nationalities…

… in 113 countries.

Needed? You bet.

That could be the motto of ISWAN – the International Seafarers’ Welfare and Assistance Network, heroes and heroines of our latest film ‘Lifeline’. They do just what it says on the tin – they’re always there for seafarers, of all nationalities, 24 / 7 / 365. With seafaring more and more of an isolated job, with ships only in port sometimes for a matter of hours, even occasionally not touching shore at all (like when loading oil or gas from offshore terminals) the work of ISWAN is more important than ever. Pick up a phone, send an e-mail, whatever, and they’ll help with vital advice and put you in touch immediately with the nearest people who can assist you. Like the Mission to Seafarers and Seafarers UK, they’re a force for good. That’s the story our film sets out to tell.