14 June 2025
The Venerable Mike Power, The Archdeacon of West Ham, is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Mission to Seafarers with particular responsibility for Latin America and the Caribbean.
About Mission to Seafarers
It is estimated that there are approximately 2 million seafarers across the world operating on 74,000 ships. These men and women of all nationalities, spend up to nine months at sea, far from families, friends and loved ones.
With a history dating back to 1856, The Mission to Seafarers supports the men and women working at sea when they need it most, as they experience loneliness and mental health issues, combined with limited contact with family members due to unreliable access to internet onboard ships.
In addition, seafarers often endure money problems with the average Filipino seafarer supporting up to 15 extended family members at any one time. Seafaring remains one of the world’s most dangerous occupations, with piracy, shipwrecks and abandonment all adding to the seafarer’s stress. Ship abandonment is defined in maritime law as an event when the ship owner has ceased communication with their ship for more than eight weeks and it is surprisingly common, occurring when unscrupulous ship owners abandon their ships due to financial problems or on account of legal disputes.
The Mission to Seafarers has a presence over 200 ports in 50 countries, operating day and night, 365 days a year. Seafarers often need both practical and emotional support from the mission because they are often working in dangerous conditions, with no one else to turn to.
Archdeacon Mike recently returned from a trip to Brazil, Argentina and Trinidad supporting the extraordinary work that Port Chaplains do in that part of the world.
Archdeacon Mike writes about his trip:
I was accompanied on my trip to South America and Trinidad by The Revd Ruth Campbell who is the Port Chaplain at Tilbury and London Gateway container port in our diocese. She kindly came to talk about and share learning from the chaplaincy conference we held in Chelmsford Diocese earlier this year.
We spent time in Buenos Aires, the port chaplain there is also the Dean of the Anglican Cathedral, and he invited me to join a team from the cathedral providing food for the homeless.
It was deeply moving to have a long conversation with a Filipino Crew member from a container ship in Buenos Aires who was worried about his very sick child back home, to pray for a member of port staff in Trinidad who’s mother was dying and to experience first-hand the extraordinary work that is done every day by the Mission to Seafarers port chaplains across the world.
More information
Find out more about Mission to Seafarers visit: www.missiontoseafarers.org
This article has been taken from the latest edition of WePray, our quarterly prayer diary which brings together our Cycle of Prayer and stories from across our Diocese.
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Archdeacon Mike with the Head of Security in the control room of the Port in Buenos Aires
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Archdeacon Mike helped providing food for the homeless in Buenos Aires.
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Archdeacon Mike with the Port Chaplain from Trinidad and three Indonesian crew members
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Archdeacon Mike meeting with Mission to Seafarers Mission to Seafarer Volunteers
