Join us in supporting our Naval Heroes
When someone dies or is injured in our country's service, we normally meet them as a statistic: "8 Marines were killed last night when a helicopter carrying medical supplies crashed off the coast of Somalia".
They're not just numbers to us. Someone's husband or wife has died far away. Someone has lost a parent, a brother or sister, a friend. Families lose their income and their role in the community. Injured sailors often lose their profession, their place on the sea and the chance to use the skills they've learned.
Britain's Royal Navy and Royal Marines make up one of the most modern and effective fighting forces in the world, but even now, death and injury are part of their normal working life. As well as the normal dangers of life at sea, the RM and RN will find themselves suddenly involved in military action in hostile waters or peacekeeping and humanitarian missions in other people's war zones.
There are pensions, of course, both for servicemen and for their widows and families. There are sometimes grants and retraining courses, and there are charities that help people to pick up the pieces and get on with their lives. That's where we come in.
Seafarers UK is an umbrella organisation that funds other maritime charities: we were set up in 1917 to provide whatever support is needed for sailors and their families, and we still do. That includes support for Navy veterans, for the bereaved and the injured and for the families who endure long separation while one parent is serving at sea. We support all the main maritime charities, and many others that you will never have heard of and, we hope, will never need to.
If you're a Navy man or woman, you know all this. Please consider supporting our work for the Navy community and all the rest of Britain's seafarers. The easiest way for servicemen and women to help Seafarers is through VDP, but there are also many other ways you can help.
You might also like to have a look at our Challenge Events and show the civilians a thing or two about bravery and endurance...