Leschen, Peter; Ward, Marion W --- "Book Reviews: The Australian Centenary History of Defence, Volume III, The Royal Australian Navy; Voyages of Abuse: Seafarers, Human Rights and International Shipping" [2002] MarStudies 9; (2002) 123 Maritime Studies 30

• BOOK REVIEWS

BOOK REVIEWS

David Stevens (ed), The Australian Centenary History of Defence, Volume III, The Royal Australian Navy, Oxford University Press, 253 Normanby Road, South Melbourne, Australia, 2001, pp. xv + 336, 11 foldout plans, 6 maps, 5 figures, 69 photographs, 5 appendices, notes, further reading and index. ISBN 0-19-554116-2. $49.95

The Royal Australian Navy is the third volume in the Australian Centenary History of Defence series. It has been edited by Dr David Stevens, the Director of Naval Historical Studies, and authored by him and five other noted naval historians. All have had a long association with the Navy as historians and academics and all have served in the Navy, most with long experience as serving officers. Between them, the authors are widely published on a range of navy and maritime related subjects.

The book chronicles the development of the RAN from its genesis in the colonial naval forces at the end of the 19th Century, through the creation of the Commonwealth Naval Forces at Federation, the grant of the title Royal Australian Navy by King George V on 10 July 1911, and the arrival of the Australian Fleet in Sydney in 1913. Subsequent sections of the book cover World War I, the interwar years, World War II, Korea, the move from Forward Defence to Self-Reliance, and the change, uncertainty and reforms that have taken place in the RAN in the last twenty years.

The description of historical events is quite detailed but very readable. While the famous events of RAN history, such as the SYDNEY – EMDEN battle, are all well covered, it is perhaps more interesting to learn just how many other, sometimes obscure, operations the RAN has been involved in, in both peace and war. It is striking that there is no period in the last 100 years when the RAN has not been almost continuously engaged in operations, independently, jointly, or in concert with allies and coalition partners.

But if the chronicle of events is both interesting and useful, perhaps the greater strength of this book is the way it puts these events into their political, strategic and technological context. The book clearly shows how government and the RAN assessed and responded to the events of the day, and how the force structure and personnel base waxed and waned over time. Herein lies one of the most valuable lessons of the book, if we did not already know it; the current period of major change, budgetary constraints and Defence reform is, in many respects, not new. Nor are current difficulties with recruiting and retention of people; this book clearly reveals that this has been a recurring problem throughout the RAN’s history.

Another theme of the book is the quest for a balanced fleet. This has always been a goal for the RAN, and one which has been achieved to a credible level by the standards of the day on a number of occasions. Nevertheless, the book makes it clear that it has been a constant struggle to achieve and maintain such a force structure. Two of many possible examples make the point. The RAN fielded a submarine force early in World War I, with the ‘J’ Class from 1919-22, the ‘O’ Class from 1927-30, and then the Oberon and subsequent Collins Classes from the mid-1960s. Similarly, Fleet Air Arm fixed wing and helicopter forces have undergone major changes. In recent times the RAN has had to work very hard to restructure the aviation force around Seahawk (and soon Seasprite) helicopters operating from frigates. It is interesting to learn, however, that in the late 1950s the future of the Fleet Air Arm was under real threat and that it was a hard fought battle, under then Minister for the Navy Gorton, that eventually led to decisions to acquire Wessex, Tracker and Skyhawk aircraft between 1961 and 1965. One lesson of these and other examples is that the loss and subsequent reintroduction of major naval capabilities has occurred quite regularly, and has always been a traumatic experience. Navy can, therefore, be well pleased with the direction set in ‘Defence 2000: Our Future Defence Force’, but history suggests that full implementation of the program will require a long and hard fought struggle.

The book has been very attractively produced by Oxford University Press. The format includes foldouts showing interesting cut away drawings of some of the more important classes of RAN ships. The appendixes contain a wealth of information; the charts showing the development of the RAN force structure through the 20th Century provide a particularly useful reference that supports the text very well.

Overall, The Royal Australian Navy is a most interesting and readable book. It should be a standard reference for all those with a professional or more general interest in the RAN and its vital importance to Australia’s security. And here, perhaps, may lie its most important contribution to the defence debate in Australia. For a maritime nation, Australians in general are not well informed about the long term and continuing importance of maritime issues to Australia. This book goes a long way towards addressing this lack of understanding.

Peter Leschen

(This review was originally published in the Defence Information Bulletin.)

VOYAGES OF ABUSE, Seafarers, Human Rights and International Shipping, by A. D. Couper, with C.J. Walsh, B.A. Stanberry and G.L. Boeme. Pluto Press, London; Sterling, Virginia, first published 1999. ISBN 0 7453 1545 3 hbk. 211pp.

This book should be essential reading for all concerned with employment at sea. It is a lucid examination of the causes and consequences of the abuse of seafarers by unscrupulous ship-owners, the legal minefields which obscure the issues, and possible solutions to rectify the problems.

The book contains 10 chapters, which fall into three groups. Following an introduction, the second chapter describes the functions of international shipping, particularly since 1973 when the globalisation process and techno-logical developments began to affect the economics of the industry, labour, and the flags and structure of the world fleet. Chapter 3 focuses on seafarers, the countries from which they are drawn, their training or its inadequacy, linguistic and social divisions which often prevail on ships, earnings, the hazards faced by seafarers, and impacts on their families. The fourth chapter discusses the causes of company failures and their consequences to seafarers, and frauds and abuses, using data from a survey of the files of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) of 992 cases over a four-year period in the 1990s.

Chapters 5, 6 and 7 are a case study of Adriatic Tankers, which owned at its peak over a hundred vessels, mostly small to medium-sized chemical and other tankers, dry cargo and bulk carriers. They examine in detail the origins and history of the company, its structure, management and finance. It employed up to 2500 men at sea, drawn from diverse nationalities, including Russian, Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, Yugoslav, Sri Lankan, Polish, and others, including some British and Norwegian captains, chief engineers and officers. The majority of its ships were flagged in Panama. The growth of the company was financed initially through ship mortgages from traditionally shipping-oriented banks, but later the owner turned to the private placement debt market and borrowed several hundred million dollars from US insurance and pension corporations. Eventually the cash flow problems mounted, with the need to repay loans, pay crews’ wages, meet port dues and bills, insurance premiums and other commitments. The condition of the ships deteriorated, survey reports were falsified, some financial backers operated naively, and many dubious practices occurred.

Chapter 7 traces in detail for two oil tankers - the Lourdas and Kyoto1 – ‘the impacts of reckless loans, debts, frauds, and incompetence on seafarers, and the systematic disregard for their rights and welfare by a typical substandard company interested in seafarers only as expendable assets’. The crews were reduced to despair and desperation. Chapter 8 considers further the impact on seafarers and their families, citing examples of hardship and deaths resulting from unscrupulous behaviour by the company. It also details the organisations from which seafarers can and do seek assistance, including the IFT and the Christian Missions.

The ninth chapter examines the legal rights of abused and abandoned seafarers, including international maritime labour law and the role of the ILO, and considers the merits of compulsory insurance as a solution. The final chapter traces moves towards global governance in shipping, points out the defects in the present system and offers suggestions that might overcome the legal fictions which are used to protect unscrupulous shipowners, and establish and defend the human rights of seafarers.

The book also contains useful appendices of factual data, definitions, and examples of the national laws of Flag of Convenience and Second Registry countries, which are used to obscure and weaken international conventions designed to protect seafarers.

In all, this book provides a comprehensive exposé of the abuse of international maritime labour. It is warmly recommended and should be in the library of all organisations and individuals concerned with this aspect of maritime affairs.

Marion W. Ward

March 2002