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Friendly faces and helping hands welcome visiting seafarers
By modern travel standards ships are slow, so their crews spend longer on the job than those in most other transportation modes. After weeks confined aboard a ship seeing the same faces each day, seafaring men and women often look forward to a change of scene at the next port, even if only for a few hours.
St. John's has a long history of welcoming ships and their crews from distant places. Helping continue that tradition today is the local branch of the Missions to Seafarers (formerly Missions to Seamen) which, for 145 years, has cared for visiting crewmembers at some 300 ports around the world. Rev. Christopher Snow, rector of St. Michael and All Angels Anglican Church, is the honorary chaplain of the mission in St. John's. He emphasizes that the mission, whose Flying Angel logo (above) is familiar to most international sailors, is dedicated to serving seafarers of all creeds and races, not just Christians and not just Anglicans. Also supporting the service in St. John's is the Korea International Maritime Mission represented by Rev. Hye Jong Go.
In more than 100 ports the mission has permanent seafarers' centres. The St. John's mission, dormant for several years, was revived in September, 1999. Although the volume of shipping here has declined, the need for a part-time mission still exists, says Rev. Snow, who notes the emphasis here tends more to foreign fishing crews than to those on cargo vessels. He and a group of volunteers respond as needs arise, visiting ships when they arrive in the port or at others within driving distance of the city such as in Conception or Placentia Bays.
Rev. Christopher Snow and John Snow. (Photo by Dick With)
Sometimes the mission simply offers seafarers access to a telephone to call their families, or TV and reading material, or spiritual counselling, or a place to have a coffee and meet people from other ships. But sometimes when crews become stranded in Newfoundland for economic or other reasons, as has happened several times in recent years, the mission organizes food supplies and other needs to help the distressed crews survive until they can return home.
The St. John's branch also tries to anticipate when visiting seafarers need a little cheering up. One Christmas, for example, the volunteers passed out ditty bags to more than 80 crewmen from ocean-going trawlers visiting the port during the Yuletide season.
One of the main volunteers at the St. John's mission is the chaplain's father, John Snow. A St. John's native, who as a boy helped aboard the mission's boat Jacob Brinton as it visited the famous Portuguese White Fleet of fishing vessels when they came to the port, he and his son later became involved with the Flying Angel mission when they lived in Toronto. Now retired to his hometown, John Snow continues helping seamen when he can.
Contrary to what some may believe, say the Snows, instead of immediately finding the nearest bar or tavern, most visiting sailors want to contact wives and families first when they reach shore. The Mission to Seafarers serves that need by offering facilities and counseling that visitors know they can trust.
Although marine activity is high in the Avalon Peninsula region, largely due to development of offshore oil resources and smaller ports attracting foreign vessels, containerized freight has revolutionized the cargo industry, creating faster turnarounds and shorter periods in port. Rev. Snow says this has lessened the need for the mission here.
Based in London, England, The Mission to Seafarers' objective is to promote the spiritual, moral and physical well-being of seafarers and their families worldwide.
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