Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Síða 210

204
LE NORD
divine services or meetings. Speed and service are now the slogans
in all trades and in all ports. But the Mission’s work can still be
done if it is only adapted to the same laws of speed under which
they live with whom contact has to be established.
It is of the greatest importance that the chaplain or his as-
sistant should pay a visit onboard as soon as a ship has arrived,
and wish the officers and crew welcome to the port. Often he
brings letters or a bundle of newspapers to some whom he knows
from former visits. Others have come to the port for the first time
and are interested in all kinds of information. During the round
on board there will be occasion for many a conversation. The third
mate may just have become engaged, the boatswain may have
received a letter informing him of a happy event in the family.
The chief must show photos of his wife and children whom he
has not seen for years. He speaks about his eldest boy who is his
pride. He can speak freely about all that is in his mind and that
he is living for. When we remember the isolated life of seamen,
how they are absent from their dear ones at home for long periods
and cannot give vent to their pent-up feelings and thoughts for
which others find a natural outlet in their homes and among their
friends, we shall begin to understand the relief and the rest it is,
quite simply to have an opportunity to talk to any one who
understands, or at least has the will to understand. The visits
onboard the ships therefore are as many chances of forming ties
of friendship between the mission workers and the seamen.
The results are seen in the great number of seamen who find
their way to the church and the reading-room. “One of our
modern liners, which had been at sea for thirty days, was for-
tunate enough to get three evenings in port. On the first night,”
says the chaplain, “we had a prayer meeting which all the crew
attended. The next evening most of the men spent in the reading-
room reading papers and writing letters home. The third day
was terminated by a pleasant social gathering with 28 of the
crew of 32 men attending. The others were obliged to remain
onboard.”
It is of course needless to add that this spirit and attitude can
not be expected on all ships. There are some crews who have no
use for the “Mission”, though they, too, may find their way to
it when unemployment and distress force them to go to a place
where, naturally enough, they expect to find sympathy and help.
And through the help thus offered in emergencies, the Norwegian