One of the exciting things about meeting seafarers of various nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, and religious backgrounds is the variety of their comments and requests!
Recently, I was on board the MV Global Partnership, a bulk carrier that visits Roberts Bank yearly. At that time the Indonesian Chief Officer's very first question was, ' Do you conduct worship services? ' It was the first time ever for such a request. Usually seafarers ask about opening times of the
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The chief officer
seafarer's center, the price of a phone card, or whether we have wi-fi, etc., etc. When I asked him if there were more Christians on board he told me that he was the only one. There was sadness in his voice. Regretfully, we were unable to arrange a meeting....he was too busy. |
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| The young steward. |
The young steward pictured above wanted to talk to me. He told me that his father had diedof cancer while he was at sea making him now the main provider for his family. As he thanked me for listening, I could see that he needed someone he could share his sadness with.
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| Captain Glen Heredia. |
The older man on the picture above is not a crew member but, a surveyor. He is hired by the company that buys the coal to make sure the right tonnage is being shipped. It's all about measurement and very complicated. He is a former captain who's name is Glen Heredia. In 1977 he came as a young captain on the MV Eury Medon to the Port of Vancouver. They were loading grain for India at that time. According to Mr. Heredia, the chaplain who came to visit the ship then was Rev. J.E.F. Dresselhuis who "brought his daughter along as well." Rev. Dresselhuis was the first Christian Reformed chaplain in the Port of Vancouver. When I asked him how long they were in port for loading in those days, he mentioned that they were there for more than a week! That's almost 3x as long as the average time spent on shore nowadays! How times have changed for ship, crew and chaplain.
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| Crew members at the gangway. |
