IN THIS ISSUE – October 2023

• 2023 Mountain Challenge Raises $525,000 in Support of Mariners and Seafarers
• Advocating for Seafarers' Rights to Gain Facilities Access
• Blazer Patch Returns to SCI from Space Mission
• Family Ties — Pastoral Activity Report by Chaplain Michelle McWilliams
• SCI Team Visits Philly Shipyard and Training Ship Construction

Chaplain Michelle McWilliams meets with seafarers aboard the MSC Barcelona. Photo by Evan Brown.

Thank You To Our Corporate Sponsors

Thank you to all who joined and supported the SCI Mountain Challenge 2023 at Mount Snow, Vermont. The two-day challenge featured a full first day of soaking rain, 6 miles of canoeing, and over 20 miles of vigorous mountain hiking with a variety of challenges faced by competitors at intervals along the course. All our teams stepped up to the challenge admirably, had a lot of fun, and together we achieved remarkable results, raising over $525,000 for SCI's mission-driven initiatives in support of mariners and seafarers. 

We are immensely grateful to our SCI Mountain Challenge co-chairs, Rich du Moulin of Intrepid Shipping and Jan-Willem van den Dijssel of Cargill, for their unwavering commitment. Thank you to our incredible committee members who played a pivotal role in ensuring the event's success. We are also especially grateful to our generous sponsors, including Cargill as our Lead Sponsor, McAllister Towing as our Peak Sponsor, and UBS as our Fueling Station and Breakfast Sponsor.

If you'd like to relive the excitement of the SCI Mountain Challenge, you can check out event photos at seamenschurch.org/2023scimc. Additionally, we invite you to watch event videos at vimeo.com/seamenschurch/2023mc (also below) and vimeo.com/seamenschurch/team18.

See you all again for the next SCI Mountain Challenge in 2025!

Click the logo to watch the video

ADVOCATING FOR SEAFARERS' RIGHTS TO GAIN FACILITIES ACCESS

The Director of SCI's Center for Mariner Advocacy, Phil Schifflin, Esq., has recently responded to several instances where seafarers were refused access to waterfront facilities, effectively preventing them from taking shore leave. In some of these cases, the facilities would allow seafarers to exit using transportation provided by the vessel's agent or a seafarer welfare organization like SCI. However, if such transportation was not available, the facility simply denied access to the seafarers.

These practices constitute a breach of U.S. Coast Guard regulations, which mandate that facilities must enable seafarers to transit their premises at no cost and within a reasonable time frame upon request. Phil took action, informing these facilities about the Coast Guard regulations, prompting them to adjust their policies to ensure compliance and, in turn, facilitate seafarers in taking their well-deserved shore leave.

REGISTER FOR RIVER BELL

The Seamen’s Church Institute's 23rd Annual River Bell Awards Luncheon will be held on Thursday, December 7, 2023, at the Paducah-McCracken County Convention & Expo Center from 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.

We hope that you will be able to join us as we celebrate the maritime industry.

Click below to register online. For more information or questions, please get in touch with [email protected] or 202.719.8057.

BLAZER PATCH RETURNS TO SCI FROM SPACE MISSION

Photo: Astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren (left) with Center for Maritime Education Director, Capt. Stephen Polk (right).

While training for a mission in 2020 and 2021, veteran Astronaut Dr. Kjell Lindgren reached out to the Director of SCI's Center for Maritime Education, Capt. Stephen Polk, and offered to take a small SCI item into space on his next mission. In his words, Capt. Polk "jumped at the chance" and gave Dr. Lindgren an SCI blazer patch to carry into space.

Just recently, Dr. Lindgren returned from space and met up with Capt. Polk to return the patch (pictured above). As the certificate of authenticity notes, SCI's patch flew with the crew of the International Space Station "for 170 days, orbiting the Earth 2,720 times at an altitude of 250 statute miles traveling more than 72,168,835 miles at a speed of 17,500 mph."

SCI's patch is featured top-center on the certificate (below), which also provides additional mission details. Dr. Lindgren, part of the Space-X Dragon Freedom crew, was part of ISS Expedition 67 and 68 that ran from March to September 2022 and encompassed diverse scientific research centered around biology, Earth science, human physiology, physical sciences, and technology development.

"Kjell and I have known each other for six years through our involvement with Boy Scouts," said Capt. Polk, "and now the SCI patch stands as a reminder that our astronaut crews are up there performing important missions, similar to mariners everywhere. They are not always visible, but they are doing important work that our lives depend upon." 

This was such a unique and special honor for SCI. The whole experience was out of this world! Thank you, NASA and Dr. Lindgren.

FAMILY TIES

Pastoral Activity Report – October 2023

by Chaplain Michelle McWilliams

Upon boarding an MSC vessel in the Port Newark Container Terminal, I was greeted by two ABs at the gangway. The vessel had some routine inspections taking place on board, so I waited near the tally office, where crew members could stop whenever they were available. During the intervals between meeting crew members, I was able to speak with the two ABs extensively, who happened to be father and son. This was a first for me. I had met a couple of fathers sailing the same vessel with their sons-in-law, but never a father and son. 

The father, Feno, and son, Julien, didn’t share this information right away. After answering all their questions about going ashore, SAS, and sim cards, we got into discussing home—which was Madagascar for both crew members. They were so excited to talk about their home, their faces lighting up with each piece of information they shared. It was Julien’s first contract, and he felt very blessed to be sailing with his father. His father, in turn, was happy to share his sailing experience with his son. For both of them, it felt like they still had a little piece of home with them on the ship. 



Approximately two months later, the same vessel returned, and Julien’s smiling face greeted me again. He asked, “Do you remember me?” I often remember faces and conversations, and I certainly remembered his. He told me his father had hurt his knee and was now recovering at home. I inquired about how he was handling not having his father around, and he responded that it was lonelier, but he was being brave to make his father proud. Julien supports his wife and daughter back home, and now his father as well. He shared how, as a child, there were many aspects of his father’s career that he never understood. His father supported the family but was not around that much. 

Over the last two months, Julien had developed a deeper understanding of that responsibility. He had come to seafaring much later than his dad, choosing jobs that kept him closer to home because he wanted a different dynamic with his daughter than the one he had with his father growing up. It was losing his job that made him consider entering a career he once did not see as feasible. We discussed how hard it is to balance providing financial and emotional support for a child. Providing sometimes means not always being present. 

We also reflected on how being present now is quite different compared to when Julien was a child. Contracts are shorter, and communication is also much more advanced. He appreciated my perspective and thanked me for sharing how his experience could have differed from what his daughter might be experiencing. Even having such thoughts in mind would make for a different dynamic. I was careful not to minimize the feeling and pain of being away from your loved ones and what they feel while Julien is on the ship. As a Chaplain, I offered support and concern for his childhood experiences and for the father he is today. Being able to identify where some of the feelings and guilt stem from can help alleviate this particular burden of being a seafarer. As does acknowledging that, no matter how many miles apart they are, his love and care for his daughter are evident to all.

SCI HOSTS SAFETALK/SUICIDE PREVENTION CLINIC IN PADUCAH

The Seamen's Church Institute (SCI) is pleased to offer a SafeTALK Suicide Prevention Training course on the morning of Thursday, October 26, hosted by Chaplain David Shirk at the SCI building on 129 S. Water St., Paducah, KY. SafeTALK is a half-day training program (about 4 hours) designed to raise awareness and equip individuals with the necessary skills to identify and help people who may be having thoughts of suicide.

More information and registration can be found in the Waterways Journal or on our website.

SCI TEAM VISITS PHILLY SHIPYARD AND TRAINING SHIP CONSTRUCTION

Photo: L to R, Mark Nestlehutt, TOTE’s Sara Rivas, Phil Schifflin, and Stephen Polk.

The Philly Shipyard stands out as one of North America's most active shipyards, constructing four significant U.S. Jones Act vessels. Before last month's journey to SCI's 2023 Mountain Challenge event, a tour of the shipyard was arranged for Captain Stephen Polk (Director of SCI's Center for Maritime Education–Houston), Phil Schifflin (Capt., USCG (ret.) & Director of SCI's Center for Mariner Advocacy–New Orleans), and Mark Nestlehutt (SCI's President & Executive Director–New York). Their visit provided a firsthand look at the new, purpose-built MARAD ships for the nation's maritime academies and a new commercial offshore wind vessel.

TOTE, SCI's corporate sponsor, was awarded the contract to oversee the construction of these vessels. With the assistance of Jeff Dixon, President of TOTE Services, the SCI team was warmly received by Sara Rivas, National Security Multi-Mission Vessel (NSMV) Deputy Program Manager for TOTE. The tour extended over three hours, commencing with a look at the steel plates for NSMV4, Texas A&M Maritime's future Lone Star State. That was followed by a visit to the dry dock where NSMV3 Maine Maritime's State of Maine was taking shape. The team concluded their tour aboard NSMV2, the Patriot State, which was afloat and in the process of being outfitted, with an expected delivery to Mass Maritime in mid-2024. NSMV1, the Empire State, was previously delivered to SUNY Maritime earlier this year. Sara Rivas, a United States Merchant Marine Academy graduate, led the tour and provided a comprehensive overview of the shipyard and the NSMV program. Her deep pride in being part of these projects, along with that of TOTE, was clearly evident.

Following the construction of the Lone Star State, Philly Shipyard's next project is a highly anticipated Subsea Rock Installation (SRI) vessel for the Great Lakes Dredge and Dock Company, aimed at supporting the offshore wind installation industry. Subsequently, the shipyard will focus on NSMV5, Cal Maritime's Golden State. 

These vessels represent the first purpose-built ships for America's maritime academy fleet, designed to train future mariners and support humanitarian relief efforts in areas affected by natural disasters such as hurricanes. In 2021, at the invitation of SUNY Maritime's President, RADM Michael Alfultis, SCI chaplains began staffing SUNY Maritime's Summer Sea Term cruises, a role they continued in 2022 and 2023, most recently aboard Cal Maritime's training ship, the Golden Bear. At the annual Silver Bell Awards Dinner in 2022, SCI paid tribute to all seven of America's maritime colleges for the work they do in ensuring a well-trained and highly educated class of seafarers to crew our nation's vessels.

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 FROM THE SCI ARCHIVES 

On this day in 1943, Streptomycin, the first antibiotic for treating tuberculosis, was first isolated by Elizabeth Bugie, Albert Schatz, and Selman Abraham Waksman working in the latter's lab at Rutgers. Seafarers got plenty of fresh air on deck but cramped quarters in fo'c'sles and boarding houses exposed them to respiratory diseases like TB. In the 1920s, SCI developed a close relationship with this TB hospital for seafarers in Fort Stanton, NM. We assisted them with fundraising, donated equipment, and helped secure a chaplain to serve their community.

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