“Go to Sea!” is the slogan of the International Maritime Organisation’s campaign, begun today, to address the acute shortage of recruits choosing a life on the ocean waves.

However, unlike some previous recruitment drives, the exhortation was not accompanied by any glossy images of exotic foreign lands.

A career at sea still means travelling the world, but tight turnaround times mean seafarers rarely venture beyond ports, which have often been relocated to desolate industrial areas far from town.

Tanker crews, particularly those serving on the large crude oil carriers, often spend six months on board without once leaving the ship.

They pump their cargo into pipelines several miles off shore and barely glimpse the coast, much less visit it.

The IMO said that there was presently a global shortfall of 34,000 officers and the situation was rapidly worsening, with a shortfall of 84,000 predicted for 2012.

Pay does not seem to be the problem. After three years’ training, including 12 months at sea, a newly qualified first officer will earn about £20,000 to £25,000. This will be tax free if the officer spends more than 183 days a year out of British waters. A captain of a large gas tanker can earn more than £100,000.

With meals and accommodation provided on board, there is plenty of opportunity to save during a typical working pattern of four months on followed by two months leave.

Yet it is these long stretches away from home that are deterring people from applying for nautical training and resulting in increasing numbers abandoning their career soon after qualifying.

Seafarers also complain of feeling isolated on board merchant ships with only a handful of crew, few of whom may speak the same language.

Most merchant ships now have large DVD libraries, but only a minority have internet access or satellite phones for the crew to use in leisure time.

There is a relentless pattern to working days, with a typical watch system being six hours on and six off.

Gavin Simmonds, who spent ten years at sea and is now head of policy at the Chamber of Shipping, said: “It is unrelenting hard work followed by long periods of time off.

“This is not an attractive package for young people these days and the majority of officers and ratings now come from less developed countries such as the Philippines, India and Pakistan.”

Robert Hall, a merchant seaman for 25 years, said: “Like the old song goes, I joined the navy to see the world but what did I see? I saw the sea.

“On my first transatlantic trip on a container ship we arrived in New York at midnight and left at 6am. All I saw was the Statue of Liberty as we passed.”

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