PO Box 1389
Darlinghurst NSW 1300
Telephone 02 9319 5090
Mobile 0425 312 334
info@redroomcompany.org
ABN 35 103 464 446
MEDIA RELEASE
24 November 2009
SEA THINGS GO BETTER WITH POETRY
FOR COMMANDER DAVE
A veteran Navy Officer who experienced his fair share of skirmishes in world
trouble spots during a 25 year career is not afraid to reveal his love of poetry.
David Jordan, a retired Patrol Boat Commander whose forebears arrived in Australia in chains
on the First Fleet, is a confessed “pushover” when it comes to sea shanties and verse that
evokes personal emotions and experiences.
Jordan is the “spiritual skipper” of Sea Things - a quirky national literary project dedicated to
celebrating Australian’s love affair with the oceans that reaches a crescendo on Thursday after
a six week “voyage” along the east and west coasts.
Hundreds of poems submitted by the general public together with commissioned works from
professional poets will be opened at a ceremony on Sydney Harbour.
“Verse is a niche art form and poets are part of a reasonably small artistic community and that
appeals to me as someone who worked with small, energetic teams for several decades in the
Navy,” says Jordan
“Any conversation that invites people to learn or portray their thoughts is something I can relate
to…be it Indigenous artists and their dot paintings linking to the Dreamtime, or people wanting
to express a scenario that appeals to or disturbs them.
“The oceans and Australia’s maritime history certainly provide plenty of scope for expression,
both visual and verse.
“As a member of the Navy Reserve I get to command the Young Endeavour on voyages and
there is a natural bent for people at sea, young and older, to turn to poetry as an outlet for their
feelings.
“The Sea Things project is a reflection of this urge and is reaching out to people to put their
thoughts down on what the oceans and seaside lifestyle means to them.
“In that respect it is building on Australia's maritime poetry tradition in a contemporary context,
imagining the nation’s sea history through new work that can be shared nationally and
internationally through print, audio, film and web forms.”
Jordan, a business executive, who has three Sydney to Hobart Yacht Races and a handful of
stints todate on the Young Endeavour, served in the Pacific and Indian Oceans as well as in the
Middle East (first Iraq War) aboard frigates and patrol boats.
His naval experiences ranged across intercepting rogue fishing boats, shepherding illegal
immigrant craft, assisting legal refugees, protecting turtle migrations and overseeing Parks and
Wildlife programs.
PO Box 1389
Darlinghurst NSW 1300
Telephone 02 9319 5090
Mobile 0425 312 334
info@redroomcompany.org
ABN 35 103 464 446
Jordan participated in more than 100 boardings of
suspicious vessels and had 10 months of active service
during the first Fiji coup in the 1987. He also helped
enforce United Nation’s sanctions in the Middle East and
commanded patrols to protect US ships.
He received a Conspicuous Service Cross for outstanding
devotion to duty in the 2002 for assisting 276 Iraqi
immigrants whose boat was in trouble off Ashmore Reef, in the Indian Ocean.
His involvement included helping a pregnant woman give birth.
“The Navy is a wonderful vocation for learning about different cultures and cultural heritage,”
comments Jordan.
“I was never big on poetry as a means of expression before joining, but it certainly was a
passionate art form for me by the time I left, and remains so now.
“For Sea Things, helping organize the ships that have voyaged along both east and west coasts
picking up commissioned and contributed poems along the way has been a real joy.
“For starters, it has been linked to a maritime adventure, and on top of that it is a mystery what
people taking part have come up with.”
Two duffle bags containing the final “cargo” will be opened as part of a finale performance on
Thursday.
Sea Things is a venture of The Red Room Company.
Media inquiries: Johanna Featherstone, Red Room Company, on 0425 312 334, or
Graham Cassidy, Cato Counsel, on 0419 202 317
The Red Room Company creates, promotes and publishes a spectrum of poetry by Australian writers, in unusual
ways. The company is not-for-profit and is supported by The Vincent Fairfax Family Foundation, The Australia
Council for the Arts, Arts NSW, The Ian Potter Foundation and The Keir Foundation.
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