Mags GarganMags Gargan visits the Stella Maris centre in Dublin
Regular passengers on the Luas red line might pass the Stella Maris sign on an inconspicuous building in Beresford Place thinking this was some kind of retirement club for old Irish sea dogs. In fact each night this building becomes a hub of activity for international seafarers docked in Dublin port after weeks or maybe months at sea.
Stella Maris is an affectionate name given by the maritime world to the Apostleship of the Sea, which offers support to about 1.2 million seafarers who are responsible for the safe loading, transporting and discharging of cargo in ports throughout the world. It operates in about 60 countries, creating a network of practical and pastoral care for seafarers as they move from port to port. The name comes from the ancient title given to Our Lady ‘Stella Maris’ – Star of the Sea.
Through ship visitations by the port chaplain, Fr Padraig O Cuill OFM Cap., and trained volunteers the organisation offers welfare services and advice, practical help, care and friendship to the officers and crew.
Each night the Stella Maris bus transports the seafarers from Dublin port into the centre, where they can play pool or table tennis, watch TV, skype their family, socialise and escape the restricted confines of the ship. Volunteers will also escort the sailors to the shops if they need help buying medicine or phone credit, and they even offer warm clothes to sailors from hotter climates not equipped for an Irish winter.
Volunteer
The night before I visit the Stella Maris centre it had hosted a crew from an Argentinian ship in Dublin port. “It had to stop for bunkering in the Canary Islands for maybe 14 days, and then it came to Cork to unload fertiliser and animal food stuff, before coming to Dublin,” explains Rose Kearney, the administrator at Stella Maris and a volunteer for 46 years. “So in those two locations they didn’t have a possibility of going ashore and they had umpteen things to get. When they are in transit for example, if they are running short of toothpaste there is no place to buy more so they have to do without.”
Rose says it is “a fairly tough world for seafarers”. “In fact they are a silent workforce. They work shifts (4-6 hours on/4-6 hours off) in all weather conditions when sleep may be totally impossible due to the rolling and pitching conditions. Nowadays, seafarers are from the developing countries and Eastern Europe. They are placed on board ships by manning agencies in their own countries and this may mean a contract from six to nine months away from family and loved ones. While technology has benefited greatly, especially in the area of communications, loneliness is always prevalent,” she says.
Life on board can be more complicated with mixed crews having to learn to appreciate and respect each other’s cultures amidst the pressures of tight deadlines in the shipping industry.
“In general, they never complain, they are grateful for employment and despite the separation from their family and loved ones are proud of their achievements and ensuring their family members (and quite often their extended family members) are better equipped educationally thus opening up better possibilities for them in the future,” Rose says.
Being away from family is difficult for the seafarers, but through the apostolate’s international network, they are able to keep connected with home. “A colleague of mine in Southampton might say there is a crowd of Indian chaps coming and it’s the birthday of one of them so have a cake ready. So there would be that friendship,” Rose says.
“I might get an email from a colleague in Tasmania that a seaman has just left there and they are sending me a picture of his child, and that would be the first time he saw his new baby. Those are great moments.”
Field trips
Dublin Port has changed a lot in recent years with dockers being replaced by automated systems and ships staying less time in port due to time pressure. So the days when Stella Maris could organise Sunday field trips to the zoo or to Glendalough are over, but the services they offer remain vital to international seafarers and Rose says they are as busy as ever.
Stella Maris is a work of the St Vincent De Paul, with about 35 volunteers on roll. They fundraise to sustain the organisation so many of these volunteers are involved in organising the annual table quiz, raffles and bric a brac sales.
On Sunday, July 12 Stella Maris will co-host an ecumenical service with the Church of Ireland, who also run a mission at Dublin port, to recognise the contribution of seafarers to the world’s global economy. The Sea Sunday service is usually held onboard an Irish ship or in the chapel of the Stella Maris centre, which has an altar made from a ship’s wheel and a crucifix made from an anchor and twisted rope.
This year the Sea Sunday message from the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant People in particular recognises the “great humanitarian effort done by the crews of merchant vessels that without hesitation, sometimes risking their own life, have engaged in many rescuing operations saving thousands of migrants’ lives” in the Mediterranean Sea.