International Day of the Seafarer: What's it like to spend your life on the sea?

International Day of the Seafarer is observed annually on 25 June. The day is observed to acknowledge and spread awareness about the importance of the men and women who work at sea.

Members of the Baltimore lifeboat crew - Aidan and Tom Bushe Cathal Cotterll, Ronnie Carthy, J, J, Cotter, Kieran Cotter, and Brendan Cotterell. Picture: Richard Mills.

Brendan Cottrell has spent his life on the sea. Like many of his neighbours, the Baltimore boatman was born into a life on the ocean waves.

“I started on the ferries to Sherkin Island when I was about ten,” says the forty-five-year-old. “My father is from Baltimore and my mother is from Cape Clear Island.