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Annual Review 2017
Apostleship of the Sea (AoS), also known as Stella Maris, is an international Catholic charity that provides pastoral care and practical help to seafarers. It does this through its network of port chaplains, volunteer ship visitors, and cruise ship chaplains.
“Thank you so much for your very kind support you have my crew a good communication to their loved ones, family and friends at home.”
From Captain Jose M. Relox of the Alphagas to AoS ship visitor Jimmy Ross on North Tees for sending phone card
information to the ship
2 Annual Review 2017
What seafarers are saying about AoS
“I am happy when you come on board. I feel refreshed because I meet someone new and I share about my family.”
Chim speaking to Reverend Roger Stone , Southampton and Southern Ports
“ Thank you for visiting us so we don’t feel forgotten.”
“ Thank you it’s so nice to go out for a while. Sometimes this ship feels like a prison.”
“ I see the world through that small galley window.”
From seafarers to Paul Atkinson, AoS port chaplain on the Tyne
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Canada conference
AoS port chaplains in Canada met in Montreal for a conference to review their work and plan for the future.
Chaplains from Montreal, Trois Rivières, Oshawa, Toronto and Vancouver, together with overseas delegates, heard Bishop Thomas Dowd, their bishop promoter in Canada, challenge them to be “fishers of people, to those on the sea.”
Bishop Dowd summed up the priorities of the future work of the AoS in Canada, “Give our brothers and sisters the opportunity to be involved in something that is so important. One thing I’ve noticed is your enthusiasm, you folks care; you care about the ministry, you care about seafarers, you care about the future of the ministry.”
A number of chaplains provided moving accounts of their ministry. Fr Andrew Thavam, port chaplain in Montreal, told of a moving remark of a seafarer he’d had a long conversation with, “If I hadn’t met you today, I would have ended it.”
The conference also heard from John Green, from AoS Great Britain, who spoke about its aim to extend the ministry to more seafarers and their twinning programme to share its experience with other countries, including AoS Canada.
The conference concluded considering a number of recommendations; to improve their identity, to extend the ministry into new ports, to attract more volunteers to visit more ships and to raise much needed funds.
Sick seafarer supported
AoS port chaplain to the Tyne, Paul Atkinson, visited a Filipino seafarer who was rushed to North Tyneside General Hospital after being struck down by appendicitis.
Having had an operation, he was desperate to contact his family back home in the Philippines, but needed phone top up cards and internet access.
Paul and AoS ship visitor Terry Patchett visited him, bringing a SIM card with unlimited data allowance, toiletries, magazines and Filipino newspapers.
Paul said at the time, “He was delighted to see us and was able to speak to his wife to inform her about his condition. He has now been moved to a good hotel in the city.”
4 Annual Review 2017
AoS Great Britain in 2017
seafarers and fi shermen assisted223,806
ships visited10,173
seafarers helped in hospital
58
ships where seafarers requested transport
1,824ships where seafarers were provided with phone or SIM cards2,790
ships where seafarers were provided with faith resources3,201
74Masses celebrated on ships
111Volunteer ship visitors
AoS port chaplains18
cruise chaplaincy days
333
ships where seafarers were offered welfare assistance 5,891
The Apostleship of the Sea provides spiritual and welfare support for seafarers.
AoS boosts ministry in Hull city of culture 2017
AoS has taken over the running of the seafarers’ centre in the Port of Hull.
The centre, in King George Dock, is open 24/7. Seafarers access it through a key code, which is given to them by port chaplain Anne McLaren and her team of ship visitors when they go on board a vessel.
Inside the centre, seafarers have free WiFi and tea, coffee and biscuits, along with free clothing donated by AoS supporters and local Catholic parishes. The centre also has newspapers in different languages, a TV, comfortable sofas, and information about the city of Hull and the surrounding area local amenities.
“I believe it is important to have a presence on the docks,” said Anne. “A base and place where seafarers can come to relax and enjoy time away from the ship if they can and escape from the constant noise on vessels when they berth and discharge their cargoes.”
When seafarers arrive in a port and have the opportunity to go ashore, the first thing most want to do is contact their families back home. Often they’ve had no contact for weeks. It’s often the seafarers with young families that really struggle the most.
Anne believes this is one of the reasons the centre is important. “The centre is a place where they can communicate with their families and speak to them in their homes all over the world. I would like to think that we provide in Hull an AoS home for seafarers, somewhere where they can put their feet up and relax.
“What greater gift can we give to someone than for them to feel, albeit briefly, at home in another country and welcomed not only on board the vessels by our chaplains and ship visitors but also at the centre, where they can have some privacy, some time to unwind before they begin their journeys again.
“We all look forward at the end of the day to coming home. Most seafarers have to wait many months before they can do this but what we can and should strive to do is provide a home away from home with a warm welcome and the understanding that we will do all we can to help and assist them until they have the joy of returning to their own families.”
Chris Green, ABP’s port manager of Hull and Goole, officially opened the centre along with AoS national director Martin Foley and Anne.
He said, “We’re delighted that Apostleship of the Sea has taken over the centre to ensure a very important job continues with giving our seafarers a warm welcome and a helping hand with anything they need to make their short stay as comfortable as possible.”
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Why I’m a ship visitor: David Chamberlain, AoS Poole
“What I find most rewarding is a sense that AoS welcomes the stranger, and does so in the name of Jesus; seeing Christ in those we meet – in a work place and in situations which few see but on which all of us in the UK depend,” says David Chamberlain.
David is an AoS ship visitor in Poole in Dorset. Ship visitors are volunteers who spend a few hours each week supporting port chaplains in providing pastoral care and spiritual help to seafarers.
He decided to become a ship visitor after moving to Poole from Hertford in 2015. “My knowledge of the maritime world was very limited in so far as merchant shipping is concerned but I’ve always had a love for the sea and ships.
“I served for a while as a naval reservist in my twenties, in Leicester and Nottingham, so it was very much a case of ‘the dry land
navy’. I have done a bit of sailing, dinghies and windsurfing. I’m now fortunate to have my own boat, in Poole Harbour.”
Before retiring, David spent 30 years as a civil servant in what was then the Department of Health and Social Security, ending up as a district manager in Hertfordshire. He also spent 15 years working in a foster care project led by his wife Ingrid.
“My first impressions when I began ship visiting were really ones of surprise. The crew on many ships is quite small, maybe five or six, including the captain, chief officer and engineer.
“I was also struck by the loneliness of seafarers, who spend months away from their homes and families. The vast majority of seafarers of ships visiting British ports – and bringing in the greater part of the ingredients for the food we
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eat and a majority of the items we use in daily life – are from abroad, notably from the Philippines. And this isolation is compounded by the limited opportunities for interaction with other crew members.
“Also, while conditions on nearly all of the ships I’ve visited have been good and clean in the mess and the crew’s quarters, these areas are invariably somewhat cramped – and the work on ship is still a hard way of earning a living.”
Most of the ships that dock in Poole are known as coasters and short sea traders. Some load up with grain or Purbeck clay, which is taken to Spain and Portugal for the ceramics industry. A number of ferries operate to the Channel Islands and cruise ships also use the port.
David’s role as a ship visitor is to offer whatever help he can to the seafarers he meets. This might mean providing mobile phone top-up cards or access to the internet (most ships don’t have this but if they do it can be quite limited), arranging transport to local shops, or for a priest to celebrate Mass on board a vessel.
Going to sea might sound romantic, but the reality is very different. Seafarers can go weeks without having any contact with their families back home. This means they not only can miss the birth of a child or other significant family moments, but they can also experience anxiety over relationships.
Seafarers live a semi-nomadic life that is hidden from view. Many ports are far from towns and cities, and they
exist behind security fences. The turn around time for ships is quick and the shifts continue when a vessel is in port, so the opportunity for any kind of change of scenery or change in general is very small. In some cases, the ship can feel like a prison.
Having someone to talk to about what they are feeling can be of enormous help to a crew. Following the sudden death of the captain of a ship last year, David, along with port chaplain Rev Roger Stone and Fr John Webb, parish priest of St Mary’s, Poole, were on hand to support the devastated crew.
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Stella Maris Masses
In a homily at the Cathedral of St Barnabas in Nottingham, Fr Andrew Cole (pictured right), parish priest of Grimsby, Cleethorpes, and Immingham, said, “I can see the good AoS does from my own personal experience as parish priest of the country’s biggest port, Immingham.
“It’s a real joy for me to support the chaplains’ mission, to celebrate Mass on board ships, to make Christ present in the lives of seafarers, to visit the seafarers’ centre and to say hello to some of the thousands who come to Immingham.
“I recently celebrated Mass at the centre and met two seafarers who told me this was the fi rst time they’d been able to
AoS supporters, staff, volunteers and local parishioners gathered at twelve cathedrals around Britain in September for the annual Stella Maris Mass.
Archbishop Tartaglia greets seafarers at the Glasgow Stella Maris Mass
Annual Review 2017
attend Mass and receive Holy Communion for nine months. That was a real insight into the life of a seafarer and the sacrifice that they make.”
In his homily at the Cathedral of St Mary and St Helen in Brentwood, Fr Paul Dynan said, “The sheer volume of goods, materials, medicines and other products arriving by sea into the ports of Tilbury, Harwich and other ports here in our diocese, brings home to us the huge debt and thanks we owe to seafarers and those who support them.”
He also thanked all the parishioners and the many volunteers who support seafarers and the work of AoS, and who put into practice what Jesus says about feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, welcoming strangers, clothing the naked, and visiting the sick.
He said, “That is exactly what is happening every day of the year in ports in Great Britain and all over the world.”
The first ever Stella Maris Mass to be held at St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh also took place in 2017, where amongst the congregation was businessman Sir Tom
Farmer, who founded Kwik Fit and who used his personal money to save Hibernian F.C. when it got into financial difficulties.
He said, “It’s great to be part of this celebration. AoS has a strong Scottish connection and put in a lot time and effort in the nearby port of Leith. It’s a charity that deserves all the support it can get.”
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AoS held Mass on board a ship following the death of a seafarer at the port of Trois-Rivières in Canada in May.
Fr Andrew Thavam, AoS Canada national director and Montreal port chaplain (pictured), celebrated a requiem Mass for the deceased seafarer who was a crew member of the bulk carrier Nord Quebec.
The 38-year-old Filipino man was found unconscious and with serious injuries on the deck of his ship. He was rushed to hospital but died later that night.
The tragic accident left the remaining 18 Filipino crew members shocked and saddened. They requested for Mass to be said in English. Fr Andrew offered to do this and drove from Montreal to Trois-Rivières with a Filipino AoS volunteer in the early hours the next morning.
They joined Deacon Paul Racette, AoS Trois-Rivières port chaplain, and four other AoS volunteers at the port. After meeting the captain, chief officer and ship’s agent, they boarded the ship.
Fr Andrew said, “The captain said it was an
unexpected tragic incident which had caused a great deal of distress to the crew members.
“We celebrated Mass, heard confession and offered counselling. Later, we blessed the ship and shared a meal with the crew,” said Fr Andrew. The AoS team remained on board supporting the men till late in the evening.
“After the sacraments received, on behalf of the seafarers the captain expressed a sigh of relief and said the crew were now happy and ready to face the future. I told him the crew were assured of continued prayers and support from AoS.”
Through the AoS global network, Fr Andrew was also able to contact the family of the deceased seafarer in the Philippines and provide them with comfort.
Unlike most shore-based workplaces, seafarers don’t normally get time-off for bereavement or the necessary support. This is where AoS port chaplains are able to fill such gaps.
In Canada, AoS has chaplains in 12 ports to support the faith, pastoral and practical needs of seafarers.
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Mass held on ship after seafarer dies in Canadian port
AoS supports crew after fire on board
Durban port chaplain Fr Herman Giraldo provided support for a crew who had to abandon a fishing vessel after it caught fire.
The fire on the Hsiang Fuh broke out 400 miles from land. The 30 seafarers on board took to life rafts. They were spotted in the ocean by a passing container ship, which alerted air sea rescue from South Africa.
The crew from Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam were transferred to Durban. Two were admitted to hospital with serious burns; the others were put up in a hotel.
AoS, with the assistance of a grant from IMarEST’s welfare charity, The Guild of Benevolence, provided clothing, mobile phones, toiletries and help with costs to travel to and from the hospital to visit their crew mates.
Father Herman visited the crew both in hospital and in the hotel.
He took the uninjured seafarers to buy new clothes. “The crew were landed with just the clothes on their backs; they had nothing,” he said.
He added, “This tragedy breaks one’s heart; these men were working to support their families. I suppose one consolation is that we are here to help them in this traumatic time with whatever they may need. It is not only practical help that we’re providing, and particular thanks to The Guild of Benevolence at IMarEST for their contribution, but equally important is our role of listening and helping them find a way through this ordeal.”
Ray Wong, AoS ship visitor in Montego Bay, Jamaica, came to the aid of a young dock worker in the port after he broke his leg in an accident.
Ray said, “Ships and docks can be dangerous places to work, and when accidents happen it is the role of Apostleship of the Sea to provide emotional and practical support. It’s not only the physical injury that needs attention, but there is often an emotional toll. I’m just glad to be there to help in whatever way I can.”
AoS helps dock worker in Jamaica
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Where AoS works1 Australia AlbanyBell Bay, TasmaniaBrisbaneFremantleHay PointMackayNewcastlePort AdelaideSydney
2 Bangladesh Chittagong
3 Belgium Antwerp Gent Nieuwpoort Oostende Zeebrugge
4 Benin Cotonou
5 Brazil Rio de Janeiro Rio Grande Santos
6 Cambodia Sihanoukville
7 Cameroon Douala
8 Canada Halifax Hamilton Montreal Oshawa Quebec Sarnia St Catherine’s Sydney Toronto Trois-Rivières Vancouver Welland Canal
9 Chile Quinterio Valparaiso
10 Colombia Barranquilla Buenaventura
11 Congo Pointe-Noire
12 Croatia Karlobag Rijeka
13 Democratic Republic of the Congo Matadi
14 Ecuador Guayaquil
15 France Arcachon
BassensBayonneBlaye BordeauxDunkerqueLa RochelleLe GuilvinecLe HavreLe Verdon Les Sables d’OlonneLorientMarseille EstMarseille OuestNantesNantesPort-VendresSaint Guénolé- Penmarch Saint-Malo
16 Gabon Libreville
17 Germany Brake BremenBremerhavenElsfleth HamburgNordenham
18 Ghana TakoradiTema
19 Gibraltar Gibraltar
20 Great Britain AberdeenArdrishaigBerwick upon TweedBlythBostonBristolBuckieCampbeltownCardiffCorpach by Fort WilliamCowesDoverDundeeFalmouthFawleyFelixstoweFraserburghGooleGrangemouthGreat YarmouthGreenockGrimsbyHartlepoolHarwichHound PointHullHunterstonImminghamIpswichJerseyKing’s LynnLeith
MacduffMallaig MedwayMilford HavenNew HollandNewportObanPembroke DockPeterheadPlymouthPoolePort TalbotPortlandPortsmouthSeahamSharpnessShorehamSouthamptonSunderlandTeesTeesportTeignmouthThamesportTilburyTrent Wharves TroonTyneWhitby
21 Hong Kong Kowloon
22 India ChennaiCochinKandlaKolkataMazgaon (Mumbai)MurmagaoNew MangaloreParadipPortblairTuticorin VallarpadamVishakpatanam
23 Ireland Dublin
24 Italy AnconaBariCivitavecchiaGenoaLivornoMonfalconePalermoRavennaSalerno
Torre del GrecoTriesteVoltri VTC
25 Ivory Coast Abidjan Grand-Bassam San Pedro
26 Jamaica Montego Bay
27 Japan KushiroNagoyaSakata PortSendai PortTokyoYokohama
28 Kenya Mombasa
29 Madagascar Antsiranana (Diégo) Majunga Nosy Be Toamasina Tuléar
30 Malta Valletta
31 Mauritius Port-Louis
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Duluth/SuperiorErieGalvestonGreen BayGulfportHouston JacksonvilleJuneauLake CharlesLong BeachLos AngelesMartha’s VineyardMiamiMobileNew HavenNew LondonNew OrleansNew YorkNewark/Port ElizabethOaklandOrangePascagoulaPhiladelphiaPort ArthurPort of SavannahSabine PassSan DiegoSan LeonStocktonTampaTexas CityWest Sacramento
58 Venezuela Puerto Cabello
32 México Veracruz
33 Morocco Casablanca
34 Mozambique
35 Namibia Walvis Bay
36 Netherlands Amsterdam DordrechtMoerdijk Rotterdam
37 New Zealand Auckland Lyttelton Napier Tauranga Wellington
38 Nigeria Lagos
39 Pakistan Karachi
40 Panamá Balboa
41 Peru
42 Philippines Batangas Bohol Cagayan de Oro Cebu Iligan La Union Maasin Makar, Gen. Santos Manila Sasa, Davao City
HuelvaLas Palmas De Gr. Canaria MálagaOviedoSantanderTarragonaTenerifeVigo
51 Taiwan Suao
52 Thailand Kerry Siam Seaport Laemchabang PortMaptaput Port PattaniRayongSamae SanSi Chang AnchorageSongkhla Sriracha
53 Togo Lome
54 UAE Jebel Ali Sharjah
55 Ukraine Illychyvsk Odessa Yuzhny
56 Uruguay Montevideo
57 USA AnchorageBaltimoreBeaumontBienvilleBostonBrunswick (Georgia)CharlestonChicagoClevelandCorpus ChristiDetroitDickinson
43 Poland Gdansk Gdynia Swinoujscie Szczecin
44 Portugal Setubal
45 Senegal Dakar
46 Seychelles Port-Victoria
47 Singapore Singapore
48 South Africa Cape Town Durban Port Elizabeth Richards Bay
49 South Korea BusanIncheonKamcheon Kamman, New Kamman Sin-seon-dae
50 Spain A CoruñaAdra AlicanteAlmeriaBarcelonaBilbaoCádiz CastellónFerrolGarrucha GijonGranada
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World congress turns spotlight on fishing
Human trafficking in the fishing industry has become a major problem. This was why the theme of the 24th World Congress of AoS, held in Taiwan in October, was “Caught in the Net.”
The congress attracted around 250 delegates from around the world. They met to discuss the scale of human trafficking in the fishing industry and how to help those who are victims of it.
Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, noted that 38 million people were engaged in fisheries, 90% of whom were working in small scale fisheries, largely located in Asia and Africa.
Flags of convenience still make identifying ownership difficult, he said. Abuses are still present including cases in the fishing industry of forced labour and human trafficking. Exacerbating the problem is the practice of some fishing vessels being at sea for months or years, making it difficult for fishermen to report abuses.
Cardinal Charles Bo, Archbishop of Yangon in Myanmar, highlighted that the Thai seafood industry, the third largest in the
world, is sustained by migrant labour, including many youths from Myanmar.
“A culture of indifference prevents us from seeing sea slaves and fishermen who are modern day refugees living and working in lawless seas. Christ is crucified in our brothers and sisters today,” he told delegates.
Cardinal Bo noted that currently 25 million fishermen have little or no legal protection, which will change with the implementation of the Work in the Fishing Convention, introduced in 2017 by the International Labour Organisation, a UN agency.
The Convention covers minimum requirements for working hours and hours of rest for sea fishermen, conditions of service, occupational safety, protection for work-related sickness, procedures in the event of injury or death, medical care on board, payment of fishermen, accommodation and food.
Mick Duthie was also there, Mick, a former detective chief superintendent in the Metropolitan Police, is now deputy director of the Santa Marta Group, an
Pope tweets for seafarers
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initiative to get international police and other agencies to work together to prevent human trafficking. Mick said the Congress helped him understand the global fishing industry and just how difficult and dangerous a job it is to go to sea to catch the fish we eat.
“I was fortunate to visit ports in Taiwan and meet Indonesian and Filipino fishers. All were young men who had left their homes and families behind to earn a better living. Some of their contracts were for two years meaning they would not go home in that time.
“I asked what would happen if a child was born, a wife or family were in crisis or if there was a death and they just shrugged their shoulders and said they would just have to continue working. Most had some form of debt and needed to pay this off.
“I saw some of the tuna vessels that are used and having heard the term ‘floating coffins’ I now totally understand this concept. “The vessels were small and cramped with poor toilet and kitchen facilities. The fishermen slept on the floor with people having to climb over each other to get out. Their clothes were limited and were washed with sea water and the food they ate was very basic.”
Delegates heard about the physical, sexual and mental torture of seafarers and even cases where they have been thrown overboard and killed.
Mick said the Congress raised questions about what we do here in England and Wales and the fish we eat. “How sure can we be that the fish is ethically caught? How do we really know companies don’t put profit before fishermen’s welfare? I will certainly think hard and long about the fish I buy.”
Pope Francis made history on 9th July 2017 by tweeting for the first time about Sea Sunday.
The pontiff’s tweet, which went out at 12:30 pm read, “I entrust sailors, fishermen, and all those in difficulty on the seas faraway from home, to the motherly protection of Mary, Star of the Sea.”
The tweet went out in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Latin, Polish and Arabic.
The tweet in Arabic was particularly poignant given reports about an increase in crew abandonment cases during the year in the Gulf region.
Thousands of churches around the world marked Sea Sunday with Mass and prayers for seafarers, their families and those who support them.
AoS south coast port chaplain Rev. Roger Stone preached at all the Masses at Westminster Cathedral during Sea Sunday weekend.
He introduced the congregation to two seafarers he had supported and told how one was literally kept as a slave, while the other was unable to get home to the Philippines after learning his brother had been shot dead.
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AoS Mombasa volunteer George Sunguh provided spiritual support to the crew of a fishing vessel who were not paid their wages, denied shore leave and had to endure poor living conditions on board ever since their ship was detained at the port more than two years ago.
George organised a Mass on board the Taiwanese-owned MV Lean Fong Tsai, following requests by the crew.
The Mass was celebrated by Rev Fr. Willybard Lagho, the AoS chaplain and the Vicar General of the Catholic Archdiocese of Mombasa.
“Mass was celebrated at the crew’s request. They had been months without spiritual support. AoS also provided faith resources, such as rosaries and other sacramentals,” said George.
He also spent time with the crew, listening to their concerns and helping them keep in contact their families back home.
The ship first arrived at Mombasa in December 2014 when it was detained by the Kenya Maritime Authority after it was found to be unseaworthy. Repairs were still not done by 2015, so the crew were repatriated and a new crew comprising of 11 Filipinos and a Taiwanese engineer and master were subsequently brought in to take over without the authority’s knowledge.
“The captain repeatedly told the men, we will sail next month: but it never happened. The crew were only provided with rice and chicken, with no vegetables and fruit, and limited drinking water,” said George.
He added, “The ship owner decided to repatriate the crew without the authority’s knowledge, but one of the seafarers was able to contact police overseas. It was at this point that AoS and other seafarer welfare agencies stepped in to assist the men.”
Seafarer reunited with sister
AoS Felixstowe port chaplain Patricia Ezra reunited a brother and sister who had not seen each other for over 10 years.
Pat got a phone call asking if she could help a lady who had not seen her brother, a seafarer, for over 10 years. When Pat discovered what time his ship would be arriving in Felixstowe, she arranged to meet the sister at the station.
However, explained Pat, the sister’s train from London was delayed and she arrived minutes before her brother’s shift on the ship was due to begin.
“I darted out to the ship and made contact with Florens, the seafarer. After some negotiation he managed to arrange cover for his shift and was able to join his sister at the seafarers’ centre for the afternoon. It was a lovely time for them both.”
Crew in Kenya not paid
AoS national conference
Margaret Charlton, AoS parish contact in St Alban’s, Macclesfield, Cheshire, shares her experience of attending the AoS National Conference at Swanwick in Derbyshire in May.
The conference topics were wide-ranging. There were reports of work on
fishing fleets and cruise ships as well as human trafficking
and seafarers’ health.
Fr Bruno Ciceri, Co-ordinator for AoS at the Vatican talked about the international work of AoS and the Pope’s
initiative to promote human development by
establishing a new dicastery.
Many seafarers come from the Philippines, India and Poland and are Catholic. There was a talk about the work of AoS in Manila, which opened my eyes to what happens when seafarers are recruited.
I heard stories of how AoS had helped seafarers in trouble for example buying provisions for starving crews who had run out of supplies, stopping exploitation, and being a human face in a cargo-oriented world.
Although Macclesfield is a long way from the sea, many of the goods we buy are brought to us by ship. I have learned from my work with AoS that life at sea can be hard. And I have seen at first hand the good work that AoS does for seafarers visiting the ports of Hull and Immingham.
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Cardinal visits cruise ship
Cardinal Peter Turkson (pictured right), whose Vatican department covers the care of seafarers, met the crew of the P&O cruise ship Oriana when it docked in Civitavecchia, near Rome, in April.
At the beginning of the visit Cardinal Turkson, head of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Promotion of Integral Human Development, presented Captain Stephen Howarth with the AoS crest. The cardinal also went on a tour of the ship and shared lunch with the crew in the crew mess.
He then celebrated Mass for about 120 of the ship’s officers and crew in the Theatre Royal. Also present were Rev Roger Stone, AoS port chaplain to Southampton and the south coast;
Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, secretary of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Fr Bruno Ciceri, AoS international coordinator; and Fr Agnelo Mascanheras, a cousin of one of the crew.
After Mass, Cardinal Turkson blessed crew members individually and presented each one with a rosary. He also presented Peter Pereira, a cabin steward, with a special rosary in recognition of the hard work he undertook preparing for the Mass on board.
Doug is the pride of Aberdeen
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Winning an award was the last thing Aberdeen port chaplain Doug Duncan thought of when he fi rst began supporting the crew of the offshore supply ship Malaviya Seven back in June 2016.
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Receiving the Award for Tourism and Hospitality at the Pride of Aberdeen Awards 2017 was an acknowledgement of the outstanding work Doug did to brighten up the enforced 18-month ordeal of the crew in Aberdeen.
Doug first got to know the crew, all of them Indian, when the ship was detained in June after an inspection by the International Transport Workers Federation discovered the crew hadn’t been paid their wages. Once the crew had been paid the ship was released only to be detained again in October, with the 24 crew members owed over £600,000 in wages.
Doug came up with a plan to make their enforced stay in Aberdeen more bearable. He understood how frustrated and bored they must have been, stuck on a ship going nowhere in a foreign land where they knew no one.
Assisted by his team of ship visitors, Doug provided a generator to ensure heat and electricity on the ship, food parcels, toiletries, and warm clothing. As well as this, he took crew members to the A & E unit at the local hospital, for dental appointments and haircuts.
Doug realised that the crew didn’t just need practical help; they also needed ways of keeping their spirits up as their ordeal dragged on.
“Some of the guys had been on the vessel for nine months. Having built up a good relationship with them, I offered to take them out for a few hours each week,” Doug explained.
“The captain was pleased, as it seemed to relieve the stress from the uncertainty that was going on with the company and the crew’s worries over their families back home.”
Doug took the crew to a number of local attractions, including Broughty Ferry Castle and Pluscarden Abbey. They also attended a concert performed by a Russian choir.
“At Christmas time I arranged to take some of the guys to Christmas Day Mass, which then developed into a full programme of events. It was decided that we would provide a timetable and the crew could agree their shift patterns and sign up accordingly, as there had to be four guys remaining on the ship for watch duties at all times.”
The crew met Bishop Hugh Gilbert, who later visited the ship to bless it. Four of the crew helped serve Christmas dinner to the homeless at St Mary’s Cathedral, which they saw as a way of giving something back.
Discovering that several of the seafarers were Hindus, Doug drove them to the Hindu temple in Dundee, but it was closed. ‘The guys thanked me for making the effort and one of them asked me to take him to a Catholic church in order to find some solace.”
When some of the Catholic crew asked Doug if there was a Mass for the feast of St Francis Xavier, the patron Saint of Goa, he took them to St Joseph’s church in Aberdeen.
“Most of the congregation were Indian and they were appalled when they heard about the plight of the crew, so they put on a Christmas meal for them. They had a wonderful time!”
“Pope Francis tells us that we have to be shepherds living with the smell of the sheep. Having spent so much time with the crew of the Malaviya Seven, I have realised that we must be united in righting the wrongs and the exploitation that is happening throughout this world we live in.”
Some of the crew began returning home in September. The final crew members travelled home in November after the ship was sold. Aberdeen Sherriff Court had ordered its sale in an attempt to recoup some of the wages owed to the crew.
One crew member said after hearing of Doug’s award, “We are extremely pleased to know that Doug has been announced the winner of the award. In him receiving it, we feel like we have been awarded the honours.”
20 Annual Review 2017
Fundraising – ensuring we will be there for tomorrow’s seafarers
Thank you
In 2017 it cost over £1.5 million to maintain our work, visiting over 10,000 ships and helping countless seafarers and fishermen from around the world. This has only been possible thanks to the generosity of people like you, especially on Sea Sunday, the second Sunday of July. The second collection taken in parishes on Sea Sunday goes a long way in helping us raise the funds for our work. We are aware that many people and parishes have supported us for years and we consider you a part of the AoS family. Because of this our small fundraising team works to ensure your privacy is respected and that our communications with you respect your wishes.
Keeping your details safe
At AoS we take your privacy seriously and are committed to protecting your personal information. We never buy or sell lists of supporters and only provide your details to organisations providing a service for us, such as our mailing house or where we have a statutory obligation e.g. HMRC for gift aid claims.
Our fundraising ethics
We would like to contact you with relevant and timely communications about our work, but only as often as you would like to receive them. Our fundraising and communication with you is based on what you tell us, for example by completing a supporter survey, or contacting us directly. To get a better picture of who our supporters are we may also use other sources of information about you that are publicly available. We may use a third party company to help us with this. Developing a good understanding of our supporters in this way allows us to fundraise in a more efficient and appropriate manner,
All our activities, including our fundraising activities, are based upon our core Christian values, such as dignity and respect to all.
which ultimately helps us support many more seafarers. Knowing our supporters’ profile better will help us in many ways, such as identifying those who may be interested in remembering our work in their Will, or finding the right people to support specific projects that may be of interest to them.
Our full privacy statement can be found here www.apostleshipofthesea.org.uk/privacy-policy. Please do contact us if you would like more information about how we use and look after our supporters’ details, to opt out of any aspect of communications or to give us specific instructions regarding the processing of information we hold about you.
If we’ve got something wrong, please tell us
All our appeal newsletters contain an option to stop receiving mailings from us and if you want to reduce the amount of communications you receive from us do let us know. We will record your preferences and act on them. If you are unhappy with our work or something that we have done or failed to do, we want to know about it. We also welcome your views on what we do well. Your comments enable us as an organisation to learn and continuously improve our services. Please do email or phone us during office hours to let us know how we can improve or even to say thank you if we’re doing a good job. We are deeply aware that all our work, including our fundraising, is only possible thanks to the prayers and donations of generous people. Thank you for your generosity, prayers and for being part of the AoS family.
Legacies help one in seven seafarers
Thanks to the generosity of more supporters leaving gifts to AoS in their wills in recent years, this form of giving now provides funding for us to support an average of one out of every seven seafarers across Great Britain.
We are so grateful that an increasing number of people are realising that they can continue to make a real difference in the lives of seafarers and their families, long into the future, by thinking of including gifts in their Wills, after taking care of their loved ones.
“This is really helpful,” said AoS legacy officer Alastair Emblem, “but it seems that many people still don’t realise just how important to our work these legacy gifts really are, or how easy it is to arrange them.”
In order to make it even easier, AoS is now offering to pay for supporters’ standard will-writing costs, with no strings attached, through their participation in the National Free Wills Network. This gives access to around 800 tried and tested solicitors across the UK with specific expertise in Will writing.
The free wills scheme is yet another fruit of AoS’s membership of “Your Catholic Legacy”, a consortium of 26 Catholic charities working together to raise awareness of the importance of legacy giving among Catholics.
November 2017 saw the launch of “Catholic Legacy Week” in a pilot promotion in Southwark and Portsmouth dioceses, when parishioners were encouraged to think about leaving a gift to their local church or favourite Catholic charity. It is planned to extend the promotion more widely in future years.
For more information about legacy giving and the free wills scheme, please contact Alastair Emblem, Telephone: 020 7901 1931 Email: [email protected]
21Annual Review 2017
Gifts in MemoryWhen a loved one dies, it can be comforting to celebrate their life by helping others. Making an in-memory gift to AoS at their funeral, or leaving a legacy in their memory, will enable us to offer spiritual, pastoral and practical help to seafarers from all over the world: a wonderful way to keep alive the spirit and values of those you love. Also, every November we celebrate a special Mass when we pray for everyone in whose memory we receive a gift; everyone who leaves us a legacy; and every AoS supporter who died in the previous year.
All our activities, including our fundraising activities, are based upon our core Christian values, such as dignity and respect to all.
22 Annual Review 2017
Pupils make cards for seafarers
Pupils at St Polycarp’s Catholic Primary School
in Farnham, Surrey, produced a range of letters and prayers for seafarers, as well as posters and greetings cards with shipping themes.
Many of the letters had focused on
praying that seafarers would not miss their
families too much on their long journeys away
from home.
At the school assembly, Alastair Emblem, AoS legacy officer, thanked the children and explained how their work would be distributed to seafarers by the Portsmouth and Southampton port chaplains.
“I was really impressed by the depth of understanding shown by the children in their letters and prayers,” said Alastair, whose own children had attended the school many years ago.
Some of the posters and cards were also used to make a Sea Sunday display in the Church of St Joan of Arc next door to the school.
Sponsored canal walk by Glasgow children
Children at St Mungo’s Primary School in Townhead, Glasgow, raised £150 for AoS by taking part in a sponsored walk round the Forth and Clyde Canal and also making cupcakes, which they sold within the school.
Clyde port chaplain Joe O’Donnell, who is deacon at nearby St Mungo’s Church, joined Scottish development officer Euan McArthur for the Monday assembly and thanked the children for their efforts. AoS had visited the school earlier in the year to give a presentation on its work.
Football fans support AoS
AoS volunteers in Glasgow raised £750 with a bucket collection outside Partick Thistle’s Firhill Stadium before the Premiership match with Celtic.
Thirteen volunteers kindly gave up their time for an hour and a half before kick-
off to raise funds. Fans from both teams dropped coins into the bucket.
Scottish development officer Euan McArthur said, “A big thank you to all who supported the collection on the night. It was fun and very generous of everyone who donated.”
Principal teacher Catriona Ward said, “We are delighted to help Apostleship of the Sea. The children showed great enthusiasm in raising money which can hopefully help this special charity.”
Euan said, “The pupils seemed to have enjoyed our visit when they heard all about our work and they have been so generous with their time and efforts.”
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