'Back where it all began' for Captain Robert
Which Liverpool graduates are most primed to travel the world, do you think?
You’d be foolish to bet against LJMU’s Maritime alumni, who sail the seven seas, literally.
And the most travelled of all is arguably Robert Bellis, a first-class graduate in Nautical Science, who is as familiar with the world’s most distant oceans as the rest of us are with Liverpool One!
Rob, or Captain Robert, is Chief Officer on the RRS Sir David Attenborough, the British Antarctic Survey ship, which takes scientists to the coldest and most southerly places on Earth.
Cammell Laird lad
The Wirral-based mariner worked at Cammell Laird, the famous Mersey shipbuilder, after graduating as a deck officer cadet and later an officer of the watch in the merchant navy.
“Obviously in this job, you go all around the world and meet people from every country, but the Antarctic Survey ship is special,” he tells us on a brief return to Liverpool.
“You’ve got to pinch yourself some mornings as you’re doing your paperwork and you look out the window onto a polar landscape with thousands of penguins. It’s amazing!”
The Sir David Attenborough, the government research ship, was built at Cammell Laird and spends nine or 10 months of the year safely deploying marine and atmospheric scientists around the polar seas.
The hi-tech ship features a ‘Moon Pool’ at its centre to deploy underwater crews when the vessel is surrounded by pack ice – and all equipment on board is designed to work as temperatures as low as -35 Celsius.
'Just do it!'
“The ship is the best and I chose LJMU because it was the best. They were always the stand-out provider offering a Bachelor degree. And obviously this is a nice city to study in,” Rob reminisces.
“If you’re considering a certain career; just do it. There are a lot of people who hate their jobs but if you’ve got a job you enjoy, you never work a day in your life!”
- LJMU’s School of Maritime and Engineering is the oldest of its kind in the country, founded in 1892, with a strong maritime heritage linked with Liverpool’s world-famous docks and commercial shipping hub.
