Humanise: Why Human-Centred Leadership is the Key to the 21st Century

CHAPTER 3 Shift 4: Moral drift

Adrift on a wide, wide sea

When I was a navigator on the ships of the British Phosphate Commissioners, we loaded raw phosphate at Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean and Nauru in the Pacific for shipping to various ports in Australia and New Zealand. Most journeys were relatively straightforward and uneventful, with the normal range of sunshine and cyclones, good weather and bad. But no-one looked forward to the ‘drifting season' between November and February when monsoonal weather could play havoc with our plans.

Nauru does not have a safe harbour, so the ship carefully ties up to buoys fixed to the ocean floor far below, holding her from blowing onto reefs. When the ship is safely moored, huge cantilevers swing into position and discharge a continuous stream of phosphate into the gaping holds. As sunset approaches the massive vessel is released from the buoys and stands off the island through the night, before returning to complete loading the following day — if the weather allows.

When the weather turns against you, the ship cannot be safely moored so she spends the day with engines off, silent and almost lifeless, drifting aimlessly around the ocean. The ship creaks and groans as she rolls in the monsoon swell.

On the following day the crew turn out early and bring the ship up to the island, waiting and hoping for the signal to proceed. They are often turned back for another day of silent drifting.

This scenario can repeat itself for days ...