Nick Churchill, Melanie Warman, Charis Gibson, and James Leslie. 200 Stories from the Sea, 1818-2018. Southampton: Sailors’ Society, 2018. This is a commemorative book with 200 short vignettes about the work of the Sailors’ Society on the occasion of its 200th birthday. The source of most of the stories is the Society’s magazine, Chart & […]
by Roderick G Galam ‘If you stayed and worked here, nothing is going to happen to you.’ These are the words of 23-year-old utility man, Anton, when speaking about his life chances in the Philippines. He feels stuck and concludes that he can find a better life elsewhere. Anton belongs to what the International Labor […]
On April 13, 2018, members of the Canadian maritime community gathered at the newly-constructed Montreal Seafarers’ Centre for a one-day seminar on seafarers’ welfare in our country. Addressing more than forty attendees, the panelists represented a diverse cross-section of the maritime world, expanding the conversation and helping cultivate a broad network of support for the […]
Free COMPASS E-Learning Courses are Now Available! The commercial fishing industry, deemed one of the most important economic sectors in the world, relies on large numbers of migrant workers to flourish. These migrants are frequently recruited from refugee and displaced populations and are highly vulnerable to human trafficking. They often are subject to force, fraud, […]
A short time ago, I read Virginia Hoel’s monograph, Faith, Fatherland and the Norwegian Seaman. The work of the Norwegian Seamen’s Mission in Antwerp and the Dutch Ports 1864-1920 (Verloren, 2016). This study provides us with a beautiful insight into the workings of maritime ministry in some western European ports in the nineteenth and early twentieth […]
A new podcast teaches consumers a lesson in globalization, its promise, and its potential liabilities. Originally published in US Catholic. Most of us devote little thought to ocean-borne shipping. Yet it plays an enormous role in our lives, as around 90 percent of everything that needs to go from point A to point B does so on […]
Richard L. Byrnes, Christ with a Priest’s Face: Spirituality in Action: The Remarkable Life of Father Charles Hubert McTague. 2002. 139pp. As the continuous stream of container trucks rumble past, the Stella Maris Chapel on Corbin St. in Port Newark, NJ sits as a quiet oasis. The present building has been there for about […]
Roald Evensen, Terje J. Eriksen and Bjørn Lødøen, Velferden – Historien om States Velferdskontor for Handelsflåten. Sofiemyr: Bjørgu Forlag AS, 2017. 194pp. This is a beautiful pictorial history of the work of the Norwegian Seamen’s Service over the past 70 years. Assembled by three very capable editors – Roald Evensen, Terje J. Eriksen and Bjørn […]
Social life on a ship is not what it used to be. A complaint that is often heard from crew: “Everyone disappears to his cabin after the watch.” Does the Internet separate people from each other on a vessel? Has social isolation hit the fleet? These questions were explored at the annual conference of Dutch […]
Representatives of the Port and supporting communities gathered on November 23 for a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially re-open Mariners’ House, the seafarers centre in the Port of Montreal. Robert Zeagman, President of Seagulf Marine Industries and the Mariners’ House board, welcomed all gathered and expressed how happy he was to see such a warm […]
