Interview MtS Retired Port Chaplain Thailand, Australia and UK

I began my ordained clerical career as a curate in Chilvers Coton, Nuneaton, within the Coventry Diocese, an area noted for its historical connections to literary figures such as Mary Anne Evans (George Eliot). While I initially found satisfaction in parish ministry, I soon realised that the routine of funerals and school visits did not wholly fulfil his sense of c'alling. Having previously worked as a ship's photographer and lived a life at sea, I felt a strong pull towards ministry among seafarers. My decisive moment arrived when I saw an advert in the Church Times for a Mission to Seamen Chaplaincy post in Hong Kong. Although that posting proved unsuitable for my growing family, it set me on the path to international port chaplaincy.

My first significant overseas port post was in Bangkok, Thailand, to which I and my family moved in early 1976. This relocation, undertaken with a newborn daughter and young son, marked the beginning of my deep engagement with seafaring communities of South-East Asia. During nearly three years in Bangkok, my pastoral work included visiting ships in port, providing spiritual and practical support to seafarers, and liaising with local communities and authorities.

Life in Thailand exposed me and my family to challenges and rewards of cross-cultural ministry, particularly in a major shipping hub where many seafarers spent months away from home, often facing isolation and hardship.

After my tenure in Bangkok, I moved to Fremantle, the port for the Perth metropolitan area in Western Australia. Fremantle, with its busy harbour, presented new challenges: the pastoral needs of crews from diverse nations, the demands of a passing population, and the need to foster relationships with shipping companies and local institutions. I served for a year before an opportunity arose in Bunbury in 1980, south of Fremantle. Recognising the practicality of moving an experienced chaplain locally rather than recruiting from abroad, the Mission assigned me to Bunbury, where I served for over eight years.  In Bunbury, ministry was especially significant. The port, though smaller than Fremantle, was a vital regional hub where I responded to emergencies at all hours, comforting a distressed seafarer, intervening in cases of medical need, or helping with legal or welfare issues. My service often extended beyond the port, building relationships with local churches, and advocating for the rights and well-being of visiting crews. 

After nearly a decade in Bunbury, I was invited by the Archbishop of Brisbane around 1989 to take up the chaplaincy in Brisbane, Queensland's capital. The move coincided with my children's transition to secondary school.  Brisbane, a major port city, presented a new scale of ministry. My responsibilities included overseeing teams of volunteers, managing the seafarers' centre, and responding to needs of crews from around the world. During this period, my work involved ship visits, advocacy with port and crisis intervention, such as supporting crews after accidents or during industrial disputes. My role also included providing hospitality to seafarers, many of whom faced long periods of separation from their families. My pastoral care extended to offering bereavement support, conducting ecumenical services, and facilitating communication between seafarers and their loved ones, often in the face of language barriers and cultural differences.  After two decades in Australia, culminating in Australian citizenship for myself and family, I felt it was time to move on from Australia, having given much of my professional and personal energy to the Mission's work there.  So, I returned to port chaplaincy with the Mission in UK ports, for a time at Gravesend in the South East and subsequently on the Humber Estuary, from around the year 2000, for the final years of my port chaplaincy service.

   

Throughout my thirty-year and more career, ending in 2013, my service to seafarers has been characterised by flexibility, empathy, and practical support where I sought to meet the immediate needs of those I served. Examples of my ministry included attending to seafarers in times of crisis, such as illness, injury, or bereavement, and liaising with local medical and welfare services; establishing or enhancing facilities at seafarer centres, providing access to telephones, reading materials and social activities that offered respite from the isolation of shipboard life; spiritual and pastoral care, leading services, offering confidential counselling, and supporting individuals struggling with loneliness, culture shock, or family separation.

My career as a chaplain with the Mission to Seafarers is significant, I feel, for its international breadth and steady focus on the welfare of those who work at sea. From the ports of Bangkok and Fremantle to the docks of Bunbury and Brisbane, and finishing in Hull in the UK, my ministry has been shaped by a readiness to respond practically to need wherever it has arisen.