March 4, 2008:
The enormous growth of the world economy over the last
half century has produced new opportunities for Britain's Royal Navy. No, not
Letters of Marque (license to be a legal pirate), but training crews for the
dozens of new "super yachts" now at sea. These are pleasure boats the size of
small warships (corvette or frigate). Ships this size are complex bits of work,
and their wealthy owners tend to load them up with many new gadgets. Finding
competent crews to staff these chips has become difficult. So the Royal Navy
came to the rescue. Several retired Royal Navy officers saw an opportunity to
form a company, using retired Royal Navy NCOs and officers, to provide well
prepared crews for the super yacht trade.
They even got the Royal Navy involved, to obtain access to some training
facilities and equipment, for a fee. But the thought of having all those former
Royal Navy people staffing the yachts of the rich and powerful, well, that's
priceless.