Skip to Content

Book Review: The Outlaw Ocean

Ian Urbina, The Outlaw Ocean: Journeys Across the Last Untamed Frontier. New York: Alfred A. Knopf: 2019. xvi + 540. Based on a series of articles for the New York Times on crime and vulnerability at sea, Ian Urbina’s new book is a must-read for all those interested in the injustices seafarers and fishers can […]

Morse and Marconi: Connecting with Seafarers

Photo: British Post Office engineers inspect Marconi’s radio equipment during a demonstration on Flat Holm Island – near the port of Bristol, England, 13 May 1897. [British Post Office licensed under CC BY 3.0] By Rev. David Reid MA AFNI In 1836, the American artist Samuel Morse created the original Morse code that would make possible […]

The Lighthouse: a friend of the mariner

(Image: East Quoddy Head Lighthouse, [Head Harbor Light since 1829.] Campobello Island, NB, Canada. Photo courtesy of Nicholas Nasobko). Lighthouses are the friend of the mariner, and they have a long history of service to seafarers. There are some 21,200 of them around the world, according to the Lighthouse Directory. The earliest lighthouse structure dates […]

Chaplaincy to Seafarers from a Sailboater’s Perspective

Over the last year, NAMMA member Eric Phinney of the Saint John Seafarers’ Mission and his wife Val have been sailing in a sailboat called Tevah (the Hebrew word used for both Noah’s ark and Moses’ basket).  The trip gave him a chance to meet chaplains all along the East Coast and think about seafarers’ […]

“I know chaplains who are hurting”: Confronting Isolation

By Susan Huppert, NAMMA Isolation goes viral The poet John Donne’s line, “no man is an island,” is not only great poetry, but a human reality: people need to be connected. Yet loneliness and isolation seep into our lives even in a time of unmeasured options to be in touch. Connect is the new buzzword […]

Gamification in Online Learning: MARE Training’s Approach

by Kevin Walker, NAMMA MARE Training A top priority of the developing strategic plan for NAMMA is the focus on training to attract and retain people in seafarers’ ministry.  This continues a trend developed in the last few years: NAMMA has prioritized training at its conferences and seminars, and also taken up management of the […]

Book Review: Dreaming of a Better Life

Stefan F. Lindberg and Lennart Johnsson. Dreaming of a Better Life: Humans as Commodities. Stockholm: Wall & Vivien, 2017. This book is a collection of stories and photos of migrant workers around the world, intended to humanize the workers and help us understand their stories as they themselves understand them.  Launched at the ITF Congress […]

MLC: Mixed blessings for seafarers

by Carolyn Graham, PhD and Captain Kunal Narayan, MSc   The International Labour Organization (ILO) is celebrating its 100th anniversary in 2019, and with good reason.  Like a storm-tossed ship, it has weathered many internal and external adversities, some so great that its continued existence seemed in danger, but it has nonetheless survived.  For those of […]

Back to top