Did you sail in the Dutch Merchant Navy in the 1950s, 1960s or 1970s, and do you have any stories about LGBT+ culture onboard ships? For an oral history project, the National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam is looking for people who are willing to share their stories on this subject – anonymously if you prefer.
The museum wants to capture the important stories of gay, bi and trans crew members for the future. Perhaps you deliberately chose a job at sea at a time of exclusion ashore? Was the ship a place where you could experience your identity in a freer way? What culture prevailed? Were you among like-minded people?
If you can help us, we would be pleased to hear from you by 31 March 2022 at: oralhistory@hetscheepvaartmuseum.nl
Sara Keijzer, Niels van der Linden and Tim Streefkerk
Netherlands National Maritime Museum
More letters
In memory of Henk Lafèbre
I have been advised by his family that former Nautilus trustee director Henk Lafèbre died on 21 December after a brave battle with cancer.
Employers can't be trusted to deliver new fuel training
In my 38 years at sea as an R/O and ETO, I never found shipping companies very willing to train crews in any new machinery or technology, preferring to either poach ready-trained personnel or to throw us an instruction manual.
Rebranding could help the public understand us
Thank you for my recent copy of the November/December issue. My issue relates to the article on page 8: Maritime barometer survey. Coming straight to the point, I think after reading the feedback from the dumb public that we should rebrand ourselves.