Seafarer Chaplain
Seafarer Reader Online
Always a good read
Don't break these Guinness World Records...
Capt. Oguri Jukachi and two (14 died of scurvy)
484 days October 1813 - March 1815.
Pacific Ocean. Drifted 7800 km/5400 miles, Edo, Japan to southern California.
Cargo vessel carrying soybeans. Heavy storm. Captain ordered mast cut down in windstorm. Lost rudder.
Lived off soybeans and distilled water. First Japanese to arrive in America.
Longest time adrift alone.
Fisherman Jose Salvador Alvarenga (1 died of lost hope and refusal to eat)
438 days. November 17, 2012 - January 30, 2014.
Pacific Ocean. Drifted 10,000 km/6200 miles, Chiapas, Mexico to Ebon Atoll, Marshall Islands.
Open 7-meter fiberglass fishing boat. Five-day storm.
No oars. Motor and GPS quit.
Lived off fish and turtle blood.
Longest castaway alone on an island.
Alexander Selkirk. Scottish privateer and sailing master.
4 years and 4 months. South Pacific. Island of Más a Tierra, renamed Robinson Crusoe Island, 670 km/615 miles west of San Antonio, Chile.
Selkirk’s ship, CINQUE PORTS, landed at uninhabited Más a Tierra. He refused to sail on due to questions of seaworthiness. Captain put him off the ship with sparse supplies. Lived off native vegetables and fruits, and goats left by earlier seafarers. Rescued four years later. Inspiration for Daniel Defoe’s book The Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe.
(Life lesson: don’t argue with the captain while near uninhabited islands.)
Poles of Inaccessibility
Poles of Inaccessibility are remote geographic locations that are challenging to reach. They are the farthest point from somewhere. If you are at that point..............
Point Nemo – South Pacific 48°52.6′S, 123°23.6′W
When you sail over Point Nemo you are the farthest you can be from land. Point Nemo is a geographical point on the surface of the South Pacific, midway between New Zealand and Chile. The nearest land is Easter Island and uninhabited Ducie Atoll, 2700 kilometers to the north. Antarctica is 2700 kilometers to the south.
Hope your lifeboat has lots of fuel or you’re a good swimmer. And looking at the Marine Traffic vessel map, you’re a long way from another ship.
Also, Point Nemo is the splashdown target for deorbiting and disposing doomed satellites.
Tristan Da Cunha - South Atlantic (37°6’S, 12°16’W)
If you are shipwrecked in the South Atlantic and make it to the island of Tristan Da Cunha, you are stranded on the world’s most remote inhabited island. Tristan’s 300 islanders are friendly.
But you won’t be going home soon. There’s no airport. It receives about 10 supply ships a year from South Africa. Each carries up to 12 passengers but gives priority to medevac, government officials, and urgent-need passengers. Then you. Enjoy your stay and hope its volcano doesn’t wake up...again.
Eurasian Point of Inaccessibility - Northwest China (46°N 86°E)
If you’re in northwest China near the Kazakhstan border and you get a call to join a ship ASAP, you better get moving fast. You are 2600 kilometers from the nearest ocean. I wonder if the airline briefing includes, “In the unlikely event of a water landing....”
Interestingly, if you drilled down through the center of the earth from the Eurasian Point of Inaccessibility, you’d pop up near Point Nemo. And you’d be almost the same radius from water or land.
There was a time when you could only sail in two directions.
One direction sailed the familiar trade routes. The other sailed toward the rim of the earth, where sea monsters patrolled the waves. If they caught you they ate you.
Cunning and silent, they could follow you for days, then rise from nowhere and crash down upon you. Ugly monsters come alongside, wrap their tentacles around your ship and drag it to the depths. Along a distant shore, beautiful women call you toward them with their beautiful singing.
The dark depths
Darkness loves mystery. Mystery loves darkness. Mariners looked down from their ships and could only see three or four three meters into the dark murk. What was down there? What was watching them from the horizon? And what circled above them at night? The sea bound them with its darkness and mystery.
Mythological monsters
Mythological monsters came from mysterious beginnings and mystical times. Part god and part beast, they defied description. Their exploits were illogical and had no proof. Ancient people developed myths around them to explain their own origins and histories. Over time, these monsters got bigger and more terrifying.
The Scandinavians had the kraken. The myth began in the 1100s. This squid-like beast’s tentacles could encircle a ship and drown it in the depths. No one got a good look at it. They just knew it was out there watching them, churning the water, casting shadows, and making noises. It wasn’t until the 1700s that biologists began unraveling the story, and kraken lost its power.
Sea legends
The sea monsters of legends are more dinosaur-like, seeming to have flesh and blood. They would be seen over the centuries and interact with people.
The Loch Ness monster, or Nessie, began in Scottish legend during the 2nd century AD. The ancient Picts saw water beasts and carved them on stones. Then, in 565AD, a monster in Loch Ness killed a swimmer and started to attack another. But St. Columba rebuked it and banished it to the depths of River Ness, and there it stayed.
Its legend grew in 1934 when Dr. Robert Wilson “photographed” it. Sixty years later, the photograph was proved to be a tabletop hoax of wood and plaster. But that hasn’t kept people from searching for Nessie.
Real monsters
Until a few centuries ago, people had little knowledge of the world beyond their home. Seafarers exaggerated giant squid and oarfish into sea monsters.
The standard cargo ship of the Middle Ages was the cog. Cogs were slow, single masted, flat-bottomed 20-meter vessels. Imagine bumping into a giant squid as long as your ship! It could raise its head above water and stare at you with its football size eye. It could twist and turn and slide its slimy tentacles out and along your boat. No wonder seafarers brought back terrifying stories about them.
Oarfish are deepwater fish that can grow to 10 meters. Lacking a tail fin, they move through water like a snake through grass. When they surface, they swim on their side. Their body humps out of the water.
Dead whales and sharks wash up on shore. Their appearance changes due to decomposition. Marine biologists can immediately identify them, but 1500 years ago a villager would have asked, “What evil has come to our shore?”
Beauty and the beach
Stories of half-human half-fish creatures have been around for thousands of years.
Suppose you’re sailing in new waters. For months, you’ve lived on rancid salt pork, weevil-infested sea biscuits, and foul water. You near a strange shore and hear a soothing, clear voice coming across the surf. In the distance you see a beautiful woman sitting on the rocks along the shore. She strokes her long hair and flaunts it to the wind.
You launch a landing boat. To get to her you must cross rocks and reef, but the risk is so worth it.
Your boat crashes and breaks. You tumble in the raging surf. You surface, gulp for air, and cast your eyes on her. Hallelujah! She’s coming to rescue you. She reaches for you, and you for her. Oh, those beautiful lips.
As you go to kiss her, she opens her mouth. A hundred razor-sharp fangs swing out. She sinks them deep into your neck and shoulder. With powerful strokes, she drags you to shore, and like every other sea monster, she eats you.
What if...
We're a quarter of the way into the 21st century. Technology is king. We can see quantum particles inside atoms and stars millions of light years away. Yet 95% of the ocean remains unexplored.
Maybe, just maybe, sea monsters still lurk down there. Maybe they can sneak up behind submersibles, bite them, and snap!, they implode.
Hmmm…remember the TITAN submersible that imploded while diving to the TITANIC? They say it imploded. But what if they saw something down there and the government is hiding the truth from us?
The difference between animals and humans is that animals follow the Law of the Jungle. They have their own form of greed, competition, position, and control.
Humans follow the Law of Empathy. The rich look after the poor; the strong look after the weak.
Actually, it seems a lot of humans follow the Law of the Jungle.
(Anonymous, 2022)
you get shot with the wolves.”
Many years ago, I was a missionary in northern Canada. Canada’s wilderness is known for its wolves. When they become a problem to a community or camp, they get shot. Every one of them.
I was talking with a wise old man about a good teenage boy who was getting involved with a group of bad kids. I was worried he would get in trouble with them.
My wise friend said,
“If you run with the wolves, you get shot with the wolves.”
So true. People who hang around with bad company will be influenced and accepted by them. They will run in that pack of kids. And when the pack causes trouble, they'll suffer the same penalty. No excuses.
Pass this lesson on to younger family members. Whoever they hang out with – that’s who and what they’ll become. And when their pals get in trouble, they’ll be rounded up with them. Everyone’s equally guilty.
It’s also a lesson for us adults.
When you join a ship, you immediately begin looking for friends. But who?
Observe the attitudes of each man toward his fellow crewmates and ship authority. Is he a peacemaker or disrupter? If you buddy up with a disrupter, your name will be associated with him and his followers. And if there’s grumbling on the ship, you’ll get “shot with the wolves.”
The Bible says, “A righteous man is cautious in friendship, but the ways of the wicked lead them astray,” and “Do not be deceived: “Bad company corrupts good character.” (Proverbs 12:26 and First Corinthians 15:33)
We all want friends and acceptance. But as you look for friends, observe their moral character and their attitude toward others and the work environment. Choose friends who share your personal values. Don’t get linked with problem crew. It’s better to have fewer friends than get in with the wrong bunch because...
“If you run with the wolves, you get shot with the wolves.”
“Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.”
(Proverbs 13:10)
The seaman and his young wife stood together at the gate;
His plane was almost ready to depart.
There was that final silence as the time was getting late;
He took her hand and placed it on his heart.
He said, “I make this promise, and this promise I will keep;”
She said, “I make this promise to you, too.”
He said, “We’ll pray each morning and each night before we sleep;
I know I will come safely back to you.
Because...
Our Promise is our Promise, and our Promise we will keep.”
~1~ Seafarer
The ship arrived at Shanghai after months of dreary ports;
The boys were ready for a night in town.
It started well, but soon they craved for needs of other sorts:
Some drinks and then some girls to snuggle down.
The seaman had no choice, he had to wait ‘till they were done;
The city was unsafe to go alone.
They said, “Come on, she’ll never know; Go in and have some fun!”
He turned away and thought of her at home.
Because…
A Promise is a Promise, and his Promise he would keep.
~2~ Wife
While he was gone his wife would tend to home and work and school;
Men thought that she was “free” when he was gone.
She would not play their deadly game; she’d turn their “hot” to “cool”;
And she would still be pure at morning’s dawn.
Because…
Her Promise was a Promise, and her Promise she would keep.
~3~ Officer
As Officer, he kept her faith, though lonely it had been;
He would not break his Promise…so he thought.
Eight months he sailed from one port: 10 days out and 4 days in;
Then someone tied his Promise in a knot.
She was a gracious woman and she liked his gentle heart;
For honest reason she came on the ship.
There seemed to be no intent of a conquest on her part;
But soon he felt his heart was in her grip.
They got along superbly, but somehow it didn’t seem right;
Their friendship deepened each time he returned.
He saw where this was leading every time he prayed at night;
“Oh God, protect me so I won’t get burned.
Because...
My Promise is my Promise, and my Promise I will keep.”
~4~ Captain
Years later, now a Captain, on a long and weary flight;
A classy lady had the window seat.
She said, “I have to stop and take a hotel for the night,
Why don’t you come and share the room with me?
“This isn’t an affair,” she said, “We’re adults and alone;
No strings attached, it’s only for tonight.”
He thought, “Who hasn’t dreamed of this…a stranger, all my own!”
But said, “No thanks. I’ll wait for my next flight,
Because…
My Promise is my Promise, and my Promise I will keep.”
~5~ Home for good
The Promise stood for 30 years as each one faced their test;
No longer would he have to go to sea.
Their hands upon each other’s heart, through prayer they had been blessed.
Uncompromised, they stood there pure and free…
Because…
“Our Promise was our Promise…and our Promise we did keep.”
Seafaring is a part-time job.
You’ve put a lot of effort into getting where you are. Your parents spent lots of money. You’ve studied hard. Maybe you turned down a romance so you could start your career.
And here you are, sailing the world, seeing places, and making money you never dreamed of. Life is good.
Then you take your medical and the doctor says, “You’ve developed diabetes.” Or your dad says, “We’ve decided the family needs you at home.” Or the world changes and there are fewer jobs. Your ocean career is over. Now what?
Years ago, I met a Sri Lankan messman. He said, “Seafaring is a part-time job. I can’t depend on it as my sole income. I have five acres of tea plantation. Three more acres and it’s enough to support me. And I can always work in restaurants and hotels.”
“What would you do?”
I’ve asked many seamen what they would do for income if suddenly they couldn’t go back to sea. I’m amazed at how many have no good-paying options to turn to.
Most sailors go to sea for the money. They take on huge financial responsibilities. They must have a seafarer’s income. They can’t return to labor or low-level management. What now?
I recall two seafarers. A bosun got into financial planning. It took four vacations to get licensed and build a client base. He sailed one more contract and left the sea.
A deckman said, “I can do ornamental welding of railings, gates, and windows.”
I’ve met men who owned small businesses. They manage them via the Internet. Another gave trumpet lessons when he was home.
Seafaring must be considered a part-time job.
Build your sea career. But don’t get caught off guard if circumstances keep you from going back to sea. Be prepared so you can start making money right away.
Go to the ant, you lazy one, observe its ways and be wise,
[it] prepares its food in the summer and gathers its provision in the harvest.
Proverbs 6:6,8
“Every morning I look in the mirror and see a murderer,” said my friend Kenny. He was in prison for murder. “But I was reading my Bible and realized Moses was a murderer. If God could use Moses, He can use me.”
The Bible has lots of heroes. But unlike heroes in movies, the Bible doesn’t hide their faults. God wants us to realize that “if God could use Moses, He can use me.”
Abraham the liar. He went to Egypt to escape famine. His wife was hot. He thought Pharaoh might kill him and take her for his wife. He said she was his sister. Pharaoh married her but later found out the truth. (Genesis 12:10-20)
Isaac. Abraham’s son was a liar. He moved to the city of Gerar because of famine. His wife was beautiful. He told the same lie. But the king saw him “sporting” with her on their rooftop. He told Isaac, “You lied. She’s your wife!” (Genesis 26:1-17)
Jacob, “Like father, like son, like son.” Isaac had twin sons, Esau, and Jacob. Isaac was nearing death and prepared to give first-born Esau the family birthright. But Isaac was blind. Jacob dressed up in Esau’s clothes and pretended to be him. Isaac mistakenly blessed Jacob. Once given, it couldn’t be revoked. (Genesis 27:1-40)
Moses was a murderer. Moses was a Hebrew who was raised in the palace of Pharaoh. One day he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew man. Moses killed the Egyptian. Then Pharaoh tried to kill Moses. Moses fled Egypt. (Exodus 2:11-15)
King David was an adulterer and murderer. David saw his neighbor’s wife bathing on her roof top. He sent for her, seduced her and she became pregnant. David arranged for the murder of her husband, an army officer, by ordering him to the battle front, where he would die. Then he married the widow. (2 Samuel 11)
Jonah was a racist. Jonah was a mighty prophet. He was also a racist. God sent him to preach repentance to the Assyrians, Israel’s enemy. Jonah hated the Assyrians and didn’t want God to be merciful to them. He wanted God to punish them forever. He refused to go and sailed for Spain instead. (Jonah 1:1-3, 4:1-2)
These are the Bible’s great heroes. They made huge mistakes. Eventually they realized their sin and received forgiveness. God still used them for His glory.
We all have faults. Some of us have hurt others or shattered families. That doesn’t mean God is done with us. He still loves us. He’s always calling us back to Him. He’s ready to forgive. He needs us to be His follower, His witness, and His worker.
And as for Kenny? He spent 25 years in prison for murder. The last I heard, he was working a job and active in his church.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
The day before TITANIC sailed from Southampton, White Star Lines shuffled her officers. 2nd Officer David Blair was sent home.
After she sailed, he found a small key in his coat pocket. It was the key to the crow’s nest locker where the binoculars were kept. Some have speculated that if he had returned the key, the lookouts would have been able to use the binoculars and spotted the iceberg in time to save the ship.
When the US Senate inquiry asked the lookout if binoculars would have made a difference, he said, “We could have seen it a bit sooner...enough to get out of the way.”
But not so fast. The crow’s nest binocular key story is bunk. People have linked two unrelated events into one. Here’s the real story.
When TITANIC arrived in Southampton a week earlier, Blair was at his position in the crow’s nest with his binoculars. Once alongside, he gave them to his lookout with instructions to lock them in his cabin and return the key. Why? They were Blair’s personal property. Binoculars weren’t kept in the crow’s nest. (There were five pairs of binoculars on board: four personal pair and one on the bridge.)
“See something, Say something.” At that time, a lookout’s job was to ‘look out.’ They believed bare eyes were better at spotting things. If the lookout saw something they were to ring the bell and call the bridge. An officer would come with his binoculars to check it out. They didn’t want lookouts wasting precious time looking through binoculars trying to identify or figure out what they were seeing. That was the officer’s job, and he had the authority to make command-level decisions.
When the TITANIC’s lookouts saw the iceberg, they rang the bell three times – “Object dead ahead” – and called the bridge on the crow’s nest phone.
Here’s where the story goes wrong. There was no binocular locker. Blair’s key was for the crows nest’s telephone box. And obviously, it was unlocked.
As for Blair’s binoculars, he said he didn’t take them off the ship. The new second said he never saw them when he moved into Blair’s cabin. Either they mysteriously disappeared or someone’s lying.
So, how did Blair and his key become guilty villains? Blame an auctioneer.
The key went up for auction in 2007. The auctioneer wanted to make a good profit, so he hyped it up. He speculated that the binoculars were locked in the crow’s nest locker and suggested that the buyer might own the key that could have saved 1,517 lives! The media grabbed the story and turned it into “truth.”
It worked. He hoped to get £70,000. He got £90,000.
Back to the lookout’s answer about seeing the iceberg sooner if he had had binoculars. It’s a classic example of deflecting blame.
This photo is regarded as the iceberg the TITANIC struck. It was taken later that day by Captain W. Wood on the SS ETONIAN.
If you’ve stood watch on a moonless night, you know that the dark water and starry sky creates a “soft horizon.” Depth perception is impossible.
TITANIC’s lookouts were in the crow’s nest, 95 feet above the waterline. The iceberg was estimated to have been 75 feet high. Its silhouette was buried in the soft horizon. Light from stars is insufficient to reflect off anything.
These were trained lookouts. The TITANIC struck the berg 37 seconds after being spotted. Even with binoculars, they probably wouldn’t have seen it.
I know I should read my Bible every day. Some days I read a little. Other days I read a lot. Some days not at all. What I read in the morning often guides me later that day.
Here are seven reasons to man up and read our Bible every day.
1. Daily Bible reading starts our day with a healthy mind.
Unless we’re sailing on the M/V MONASTERY, our days are full of negativity, bad news, pressure, immoral talk, porn, worries, and temptations. The Bible shows us how to live. It reminds us of God’s love, forgiveness, and hope.
2. The Bible shows you how to live through other people’s life stories.
The Bible shows us how to live through the mini-biographies of people. Every difficulty we face has been faced by someone in the Bible. We read how they overcame sin, hardship, betrayal, and heartache. The Bible doesn’t gloss over its heroes. We see the consequences of living right or wrong.
3. The Bible reveals the true character of God.
Through His Word, we discover that He is holy, just, loving, good, gracious, and merciful. His character never changes. This is how He will treat us. This is how we should live and treat others.
4. The Bible helps the Jesus-follower live like Jesus.
The Bible tells us how to live like Jesus. We live according to the Ten Commandments. Jesus told us to “Love the lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and love our neighbor as ourselves.” (Luke 10:27). And the Bible gives lots of everyday counsel and guidance.
5. The Bible links us with thousands of years of fellow-strugglers.
As we read, we gain strength from the same words that have guided God’s people for centuries. The Bible has comforted peasants and kings, soldiers and prisoners.
6. The Bible is the only Book that changes people by being read.
Every other guidance book, spiritual or secular, must be read and pondered. Then the person must act with courage and self-determination to change themselves.
But the work of the Bible is the other way around. The Bible’s words are God’s words. When we read the Bible, God is speaking to us. Without debate, we begin to say, “This is good; this is right.” We begin to change and heal us immediately. His words bring forgiveness and peace. They calm worry and grief, and erase hurt and hate. They guide thoughts and protect minds.
7. The Bible explains God’s salvation through Jesus Christ.
The Bible is “Good News.” It tells us that He sent His precious Son, Jesus, to secure our salvation. We stand guilty before God for our sin. Jesus died on the cross to pay that guilt penalty for us.
The Bible shows us that forgiveness is by believing Christ died for our sin (He paid the penalty), and that He was raised from death, giving us the assurance of salvation and eternal life. (1 Corinthians 15:2-4).
Read your Bible every day. God wants us to follow Him, and give us forgiveness, peace, guidance, and hope. His Word gives us all that.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. (Psalm 119:105)
I have hidden Your word in my heart that I might not sin against You.
(Psalm 119:11)
If we could make any prayer request and know God would answer it immediately, He would become our Divine Vending Machine. We wouldn’t grow in faith. We wouldn’t learn to trust Him. Our prayers would become impulsive and self-centered.
Patient prayer develops character. It humbles us. “Long haul” prayers prove our long-haul sincerity, deep-hearted need, and brokenness.
Patience gives God time to lead and teach us and reshape our prayers toward His will. It also gives Him time to work in other people’s lives — we’re not the only flower in His garden. His delays help us become more like Jesus and we become part of His bigger plan.
Pray with confidence that God hears us. Then allow Him to answer in His perfect time, in His perfect plan, and for His glory.
And this is the confidence that we have before Him: If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.
(1 John 5:14)