Caring for seafarers

All year round, Britain’s ports are a stopping point for the world’s seafarers. From the largest container ships and cruise liners, to tank carriers and small boats, London City Mission chaplain Paul Cave is there to greet them when they dock.

It’s no surprise to the crews, he says, when a chaplain climbs up the gangway to visit them. Chaplaincy to seafarers is a long tradition and London City Mission has been doing it for over 170 years.

Although it’s a working environment and port time is busy, the largely male crew is often only too happy to see a new face, having spent weeks or months out at sea with the same 10 or 20 people, Paul explains.

If he’s managed to catch them at their lunch break, there’s time for a longer chat.

“When the ship is in port they are pretty busy but I have a chance to spend some time with the guys in the mess room. Very often everybody’s having a bit of a laugh and there is a lot of banter, and then maybe you see a guy in the corner not saying very much and when the other guys have gone, you can go and sit and talk to him.

“We often say as chaplains that we use the things stuck on our heads that God gave us and there’s a reason why God gave us two ears and one mouth. Very often a guy will open up to you because what seafarers suffer from is isolation and loneliness.”

The crews are multinational but a large proportion of them come from the Philippines and China, and they are at sea for a long time – Filipinos nine months, Chinese a year.

Regardless of the crew’s size and make-up, Paul’s aim is to meet their needs, be a listening ear, and demonstrate the love of Christ. That means a lot of what he does is practical.

“We’ll see if there’s anything we can do for the guys, give them telephone cards because contact with their family is so important. We’ll invite them into the seafarers’ centre at the port and show hospitality to them by inviting them to our own homes for dinner,” he says.

If the crew members want to, the chaplains will take them to a place of worship and this year some Filipinos from one ship went to a Christmas carol service where they sang in their own language.

Although Paul loves his job all year round, Christmas is a particularly special time. Most of the crew spend every second Christmas at home, but Paul has met men who haven’t been home for five or six Christmases.

It’s an opportunity to give that bit more

“Guys away from home at Christmas, it’s tough, it’s not easy,” he says. “And these are guys with families.”

In addition to holding carol services, Paul and the chaplaincy team at Tilbury handed out thousands of parcels in the last few weeks.

Each parcel contains gloves and hats knitted by churchgoers across the country, toiletries, a personalised Christmas card, and Christian resources, including an SGM Lifewords presentation on the Christmas story.

The crew – even those of different faiths and none - really appreciate the visits, says Paul, but the Christmas parcels add that something special to what he does.

Many of the ships have an artificial Christmas tree and the men will often put their parcels under the tree to open on Christmas Day.

“Very often they say ‘thank you for coming, we appreciate that someone cares’,” says Paul.

“One captain said ‘thanks for bringing these [parcels]. It’s not the value but to know that someone cares’.

“We have a good laugh when I tell them ‘you’re not to open it till Christmas Day’.”

The turnaround at port is very fast these days, usually 24 hours, sometimes even 12, so Paul knows that what he is doing is simply planting a seed.

But the chaplains have an international link-up and use it to let the chaplain at the next port know how things have been on the ships heading their way.

This came in handy one time in particular, when a Muslim Iranian second officer invited Paul to have a cup of coffee onboard his ship. He mentioned he had been reading about Christianity and Jesus, and before leaving his office, Paul gave him some literature and a DVD for Muslims. Two days later, he received a call from the second officer from the seafaring centre in Bilbao, Spain, telling him he had accepted Jesus.

“We use a lot of literature and I’m constantly handing out brochures, tracts, New Testaments,” says Paul.

But the vision is even bigger than resourcing seafarers; chaplains everywhere would like to see church services onboard ships around the world.

A new initiative, Church on the Ocean, is training guys every three months to take service and hold Bible study classes onboard the ships.

Hundreds of churches have been created on ships already, says Paul.

“Most seafarers, whether Christian or not, do have some faith. You find very few atheist seamen,” he says.

“These guys are often in danger and when you are up against it, who do you look to?”

The personal relationships remain crucial to his work, however, and Paul is still in touch with many of the seafarers he encounters via email.

When the Iranian second officer docked at the port in Felixstowe, Paul drove over to see him. When a Ukrainian captain who was once a professional cyclist docked at his port, the two men went cycling together and still email each other about cycling.

Little wonder Paul can’t imagine doing anything else right now.

“This is one of the best things I’ve ever done. It really excites me and it’s no trouble for me to get to work every morning!”