By Michael Grey* For the last 82 years, those making a passage in and out of the River Thames have been aware of the weathered

By Michael Grey* According to my calendar, this was written on World Peace Day, which could occasion a hollow laugh, but might be joyfully celebrated

By Michael Grey* The doorbell rang just as I had taken a huge bite of my lunchtime sandwich. I opened the door to find a

By Michael Grey* A ship which can charitably be thought of in the autumn of her days. A cargo known to be problematical and with

By Michael Grey* Without delving too deep into any debates about gender, some of us are better than others at « multi-tasking ». But the arrival of

By Michael Grey* There is an open season on merchant mariners at present, and not in a nice way, with the warring parties around the

By Michael Grey* On the occasion of last month’s “Day of the Seafarer”, I wonder how many of them felt properly appreciated. As members of

By Michael Grey* As this is being written, and if nothing more untoward occurs, the little expedition ship Hondius is due to arrive at Rotterdam

By Michael Grey* “Hormuz commanded the traffic along the shores of the Indian Ocean, linking what are now Oman and Pakistan, as well as the

By Michael Grey* It was in the 1950s, during an earlier Middle East crisis, that the wife of a British Prime Minister complained that the

By Michael Grey* You would like to hope that all sorts of useful lessons are being learned from the current conflict in the Middle East,