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My mother was born of Scottish parents in the Argentine in 1919 and lived in Buenos Aires until 1942 when she travelled to Britain in a wartime convoy to be married.

She witnessed increasing Nazi influence in neutral Argentina in the build up to war.   Some neighbours ran up flag poles with Nazi flags in the grounds of their houses and she remembered once going to confession and finding that whoever was the other side of the grill was clearly not a priest when she was asked quite inappropriately for information about her expatriate friends and acquaintances.

It was in this rather sinister environment that she became a ship visitor.  Buenos Aires was a major port for British trade and both Merchant and Royal Naval ships were regular visitors to the River Plate estuary where, in December 1939, The Battle of the River Plate saw three British and New Zealand Cruisers bring about the end of the German pocket battleship Graf Spee which had been preying on merchant shipping across the Atlantic.

With a rich cosmopolitan culture, parks, striking architecture, café society, night spots, wonderful food and music and of course the exotic tango, Buenos Aires had long been known as the Paris of South America.  The contrast between this and the tedium and tension of shipboard life especially in wartime must have been quite astonishing for young seafarers.  My mother would have known all about the refinements of the city, she was courageous with a great sense of humour so with her as a guide they would have had an excellent tour of the city. 

Her itinerary included tea-dances in the most glamorous winter gardens, a pure joy.   In these circumstances she remembered Royal Naval sailors enjoying themselves in the same venue as their counterparts from German ships.  They didn’t come to blows but took the battle to their opponents through the medium of music.  British sailors in her care would bribe the orchestra to play British music while on the other side of the hall the band would be taking payment to play German popular and patriotic tunes.  This tunes happily with a seafarers sense of humour, enjoying life, detached for a while from harsh reality. 

At the end of her story, she always remembered her greatest challenge was to get her charges back on board under the beady eye of the Officer of the Day, at the end of the afternoon, sober.  That’s where courage and humour were needed most.

I undertake ship visiting in the port of Falmouth, Cornwall. The port is predominantly a repair yard, and our visits are to the crews of the ships who remain on board. It is also the home to the Bay Class vessels of the Royal Fleet Auxillary as well as RFA Argus, which is mistakenly referred to as a Hospital Ship. It’s actual role is that of a Primary Casualty Receiving Ship with a 100-bed medical complex on board and acts as a floating hospital in time of war. 

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) delivers worldwide logistic and operational support to Royal Navy military operations. They are the uniformed civilian branch of the Naval Service, staffed by UK merchant sailors. My son, Matthew, is employed within the RFA and one of his recent deployments was on RFA Argus. 

It helps to remind me what Stella Maris does, in that it serves seafarers from across the world, regardless of belief, nationality or race, meeting their needs through the provision of help, support and advice. To that end it is comforting to know that when Matt is away and may be in need of support I know that someone across the world is looking after him as I look after other families seafarers in the UK.

On this particular evening, I undertook ship visiting with Falmouth’s Port Chaplain, John Pinhay. Having visited some crews in the port, we then went to Argus, and there met up with Matt. John also knows Matt through St Mary Immaculate in Falmouth where Matt was an altar server with John. This visit with Matt really brought it home to me the important and compassionate work which Stella Maris undertakes and I am delighted to be a part of this global family undertaking this work, which now has a personal side.

When my wife Pat and I first became ship visitors, we were under the direction of our Port Chaplain.

I always remember one of the first visits we made on our own which has taught me never to make quick judgements.

Pat & I went onboard a tanker that was in dry dock in Falmouth for repairs. We were welcomed by the crew member who was on watch, who showed us to the crew’s mess. We were asked to take a seat while 2 crew members were finishing off their evening meal. They were African and kept eating without saying a word or acknowledging our presence. I recall that there was a television on which we sat in front. After what felt like a long time, Pat & I started to question each other if we should leave. Eventually, one of these men stood up and approached us. He cut a very formidable figure as he was well over 6 feet tall and very muscular. We introduced ourselves and straight away said he knew Stella Maris. He said, “You are carrying out Gods work.” He then proceeded to talk about prayer and then burst into an African Lullaby.

As we sat and listened the 2^nd African came over to say hello. He was of similar stature to his other crew member. He wore a very colourful sleeveless waistcoat. Pat told him that she liked his waistcoat and in the next moment, he started to take it off as he wanted to present Pat with this garment. He had no other garment covering the upper part of his body and Pat found herself pleading with him that the waistcoat would look better on him.

2 lovely spiritual men who taught us never to spring to conclusions.

Now 12 years later as the Port Chaplain of Falmouth & Fowey I always remember this encounter and never make quick judgements on the stranger I meet when carrying out a ship visit.

I am a ship visitor at Fowey, Cornwall. On 17^th December  2018 I visited a general cargo ship, the Burham Dizman-1, with my Port Chaplain John Pinhay. As we were approaching the ship we told one of the crew that we were from the Apostleship of the Sea. By the time we got to the top of the gangway we were delighted to be greeted by the Chief Officer and some of the crew.

We were invited to the galley and given a very pleasant Turkish coffee and had a chance to talk to several crew members who were from India and Turkey. When we handed over some Christmas packages from local supporters and Christmas cards from local primary schools. The crew were delighted to think that local supporters and children cared enough about them to provide the gifts and especially the cards which had seasonal messages written by the children. Some even wanted to have their photos taken with the cards to share with their families.