Sailors’ Society chaplain visits 1000 ships
A Sailors’ Society chaplain reached an important milestone in his career on 8 February.
REVEREND Paul Richardson, a Sailors’ Society chaplain reached an important milestone in his career when, on 8 February, he boarded his 1000th ship, the MAERSK Kampala during the course of his chaplaincy duties.
Rev Richardson is a former Baptist pastor now working in the Inner City of Durban as a missionary. He joined the Sailors Society SA in Durban in 2011 and has been serving as a chaplain in the Port of Durban ever since.
He is a ship visitor, visiting ships once and sometimes twice a week at the Durban container terminal. He also takes monthly Sunday services at the Seafarers’ Mission and visits seafarers in hospital. Each year Paul participates in the Share your Christmas with a Seafarer project and assists with the distribution of Christmas gifts to seafarers on vessels in port and at outer anchorage before Christmas day and on Christmas day.
He has also visited ships in port to comfort crew who have suffered the loss of a crew member.
When asked if he had ever calculated how many steps he had climbed, Paul said: “I didn’t count! But out of interest, today I boarded MSC Benedetta and climbed 106 steps, 76 steps to board the ship and then another 30 to enter the crew mess room!”
