Does anyone know where this painting is?

Have you ever seen it anywhere?

It was originally commissioned by the Apostleship of the Sea and painted by Ernest Reilly Leeming in Christchurch in the late 1950's.

 If you have ever seen this large painting can you please contact the son of the artist:

Patrick Leeming (ph 03 338 9628) 

email patrickleeming@xtra.co.nz

or Sandy Stewart (ph 07 543 9125)

email agstew@clear.net.nz 

Somali pirates have released seven Indian sailors after keeping them captive for four years, the Indian maritime regulator said on Tuesday.

An official of India's directorate general of shipping declined to say if any ransom was paid for the release.

The sailors have returned to Mumbai, where they were provided psychological counselling with and without their family members, through the services of a professional psychiatrist.

The regulator on Tuesday said formal de-briefing sessions with these seven seafarers are also proposed to be organized in Mumbai.

The sailors and their families are then scheduled to return to their homes from Mumbai, sometime this week, it said.

The sailors, held since the pirates hijacked the Panama-flagged ship MV Asphalt Venture in September 2010, were freed on 30 October. Earlier, eight of their colleagues were freed by the pirates along with the ship in April 2011 for a ransom. MV Asphalt was hijacked while it was on a commercial voyage from Mombassa in Kenya to Durban in South Africa.

The vessel was released along with eight of its 15 crew members, including its master, on 15 April 2011. However, in an unprecedented action, the pirates held back the remaining seven Indian seafarers of the ship.

"Eventually, following prolonged and persistent efforts of various stakeholders of the international shipping industry, including international maritime non government organisation such as the Maritime Piracy Humanitarian Response Programme (MPHRP) and national entities, made over the past two years, they were released from the captivity of their Somali pirate captors on 30 October," the shipping regulator said in a statement on Tuesday.

These seven sailors were escorted to Nairobi in Kenya, which is adjacent to Somalia. From there, they left by a Kenyan Airways commercial flight which landed in Mumbai on 3 November.

The government has already granted an ex-gratia financial assistance of Rs.2.5 lakh to the families of the seamen, early this year.

"With the release of these seven Indian crew of the said vessel, no Indian national seafarer is held captive live in Somalia, by pirates, as on date. However, one other Indian seafarer of ex-MV Iceberg-1, is missing and unaccounted for from Somalia during pirate captivity," the regulator said. 

Recognising the special needs of seafarers, experts have agreed on guidelines to assist governments to implement Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) provisions previously set down in the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006).

Intended to provide supplementary practical information to be reflected in national laws and other measures, the OSH guidelines deal with the special maritime working environment. This includes demanding physical working conditions; potentially hazardous tasks; isolation; long hours of work; rigid organisational structures; and high levels of stress and fatigue.

The guidelines, according to a statement by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) were discussed by a total of 102 delegates, including, six government, six shipowner and six seafarer experts, observers and advisers from 42 other governments, and observers from intergovernmental organisations and non-governmental organisations.

The meeting, held in Geneva last week, addressed all areas of seafarers' occupational safety and health, including such areas as alcohol and drug abuse; violence and harassment; and infectious diseases. The document detailed responsibilities for governments, shipowners and seafarers related to accident and illness prevention practices, implementation, training and emergency and accident response.

"We are very pleased with the outcome of the work of the expert meeting this week. We believe in promoting compliance with the MLC and the new guidelines that we have agreed will make an effective contribution to this," said Vice-Chairman for the Employers' Group, Tim Springett.

Also noting that he too was pleased with the experts' results, Executive Vice-President of the Seafarers' International Union of Canada, , Patrice Caron, said: "There will be many challenges to implement occupational safety and health in the maritime sector. The guidelines, he said should provide assistance adding that mnimising risk is a fundamental concern to seafarers and others.

Speaking on behalf of the government group, Head of Seafarer Safety and Health Branch at the United Kingdom's Maritime and Coastguard Agency, Julie Carlton said: "We are pleased to have agreed these guidelines for competent authorities on the implementation of this important aspect of the MLC, 2006. The final document provides flexibility without compromising on standards of occupational safety and health to protect seafarers, and will be a useful resource for those setting up or reviewing their OSH frameworks in compliance with the MLC, 2006."

The MLC, 2006 was adopted in February, 2006 by the International Labour Conference. It includes Regulation 4.3 on health and safety protection and accident prevention, and the related Code, "to ensure that seafarers' work environment on board ships promotes occupational safety and health."

The ILO has estimated that 6,300 people die every day as a result of occupational accidents or work-related diseases, adding up to more than 2.3 million deaths per year. Costs can be devastating to workers' families and their communities, while the economic burden of poor OSH practices is estimated at 4 per cent of global gross domestic product each year.

In their concluding document, experts said the OSH measures "should not be seen as an economic cost but as an investment to continuous improvement to the safety and health of seafarers." 

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 - Ships returning to the U.S. after taking aid cargos to Ebola affected areas, may find themselves having to fly the black and yellow L Lima flag, signifying that they are in quarantine, when they return to U.S. waters.

The Keystone-managed Cape Rise, part of the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Force fleet has been activated and has been loading supplies in Beaumont, TX, to take to Liberia.

Maritime union M.E.B.A. says that it appears that, as a precaution, crew members will be quarantined aboard the ship for 21 days following cargo delivery - though much of that time will be spent at sea on the voyage home.

NOTE: The plain yellow Q flag may have originally meant that a ship was in quarantine, but these days means just the opposite and signifies that the vessel is free of quarantinable diseases and is requesting port state clearance.

NOVEMBER 4, 2014 -Ships returning to the U.S. after taking aid cargos to Ebola affected areas, may find themselves having to fly the black and yellow L Lima flag, signifying that they are in quarantine, when they return to U.S. waters.

The Keystone-managed Cape Rise, part of the Maritime Administration's Ready Reserve Force fleet has been activated and has been loading supplies in Beaumont, TX, to take to Liberia.

Maritime union M.E.B.A. says that it appears that, as a precaution, crew members will be quarantined aboard the ship for 21 days following cargo delivery - though much of that time will be spent at sea on the voyage home.

NOTE: The plain yellow Q flag may have originally meant that a ship was in quarantine, but these days means just the opposite and signifies that the vessel is free of quarantinable diseases and is requesting port state clearance.