A life at sea awaits maritime students Kristen Greene and Vernon Harrison, who are back home in Bermuda and enjoying their break from the rigours of the Warsash Maritime Academy in Britain.

Aged 21 and 22 respectively, the pair are done with the first leg of their studies, with much-needed financial help courtesy of a local shipping firm, Concordia Maritime.

Students qualify for financial support in their schooling if they show their involvement in maritime trade, either out at sea or on shore.

The two young men qualified for scholarships in 2011, the year Concordia’s maritime scholarships were launched.

“We both went to Warsash at the same time,” Mr Harrison said. “Same class, same room.”

Warsash Maritime Academy, in Southampton, southern England, is a small college, he explained, taking in students in September and January for the first phase of an intensive five-phase programme.

“It’s a mixture of academics and hands-on experience,” he said. “You get your sea time in phases two and four, but since it’s a college as well, there are short courses to get through.

“You get hands-on courses in subjects like dealing with emergencies, firefighting, abandoning ship and medical first aid.”

The two stuck together throughout their studies until the required sea time separated them.

For Mr Harrison, it meant setting out on the container ship SFL Europa, plying the seas between Portugal, Spain, Morocco and West Africa, and on another giant, the Golar Grand, run by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, which travelled from Trinidad and Tobago to Chile, rounding the famously turbulent Strait of Magellan at the tip of South America.

Coming into the Pacific, the ship met waves as high as 11 metres, Mr Harrison recalled.

“I started out on the Oleander, which goes between Bermuda and New Jersey,” Mr Greene said, with winter weather and high seas making for gruelling work and sleepless nights.

Next came time on the colossus Sunbelt Spirit, a vehicle carrier running between the United States and Japan, before Mr Greene’s own stint on the Golar Grand.

Mr Harrison also had a spell on the Oleander — a familiar weekly sight at the docks of Hamilton after crossing often punishing waters to deliver much of the Island’s food.

The two graduated from Warsash at the end of November and took a final set of exams to get them started on their next level of certification.

Both of them credit the Bermuda Sloop Foundation and their student experiences aboard the local legend Spirit of Bermuda with starting them on the way to maritime careers.

The two mentioned the Bermuda International Shipping Association as another pathway to the seafaring life, and recommended Mario Thompson of the Department of Marine and Ports, along with the Bermuda Sloop Foundation’s Malcolm Kirkland, as valuable counsel in seeking a career out on the waves.

They thanked Concordia Maritime and its general manager, Angelique Burgess, for the invaluable support of the scholarships that propelled both through their studies. Mr Harrison further recommended the maritime training programme offered at Holland College on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, where short courses can provide “a good stepping stone before going into the industry”.

Both young men are now seeking work experience and both are interested in jobs aboard gas carriers.

Mr Greene is also on the lookout for jobs on passenger ships and super yachts, while Mr Harrison is keeping his contacts going with the Norwegian Cruise Lines.

In the meantime, relaxing ashore and back home in Bermuda, both said that they were glad for the rest while they sought further experience at sea.

“The last school term was busy and stressful,” Mr Harrison said.

“I’m not going to complain now. We both needed this break.”