Why not become a Volunteer Ship Visitor

   I have been lucky to have been a Volunteer ship Visitor for Stella Maris for the last sixteen years visiting ships in Portland Port. Stella Maris is an agency of the Catholic Church giving assistance to seafarers  through-out the world. During this time I have had many interesting experiences whilst being supported by a Deacon from Southampton.

   I can remember when visiting a cargo ship in Portland that I was just about to leave when I received a note from a Guyanese seaman saying “This money is really small and under paying. We need help. Someone needs to do something.” Luckily in this case with the help of the International Transport Federation we were able to help.

   During my years of visiting Portland Port we have had four ships coming in to the port and the crew have taken out a maritime lien on the ship owners as they have not been paid. In these cases the ship is placed under arrest by the Admiralty Marshall. The crew are provided with food and water but no pay until the ship is sold. In three of the four cases this went fairly smoothly but sadly this was not the case with the WESTWIND II. The ship had been detained in Portland Port by the Maritime Coastguard because of its poor condition and whilst at anchor in the harbour it dragged its anchor and drifted on to the detached breakwater. Two harbour tugs from Portland Port came to the rescue brought the ship alongside on Q Pier. When I visited the ship with two other volunteers we found that the crew had not been paid for two months. The German Captain and owner of the ship after two weeks packed his bags and left never to return. In this case it took eight months before the ship was sold and all the crew were paid. During this time we gave as much support to the crew as possible and I often took the two most junior members of the crew out in to the country for a walk with my dog.

   Two unusual cases where when the Coastguard asked if we could assist a ship wrecked yachtsmen who had been rescued by Weymouth Lifeboat. The first Yachtsman was wrecked on Chesil beach and we gave him a bed for the night and money to get home. The second case was a trimaran wrecked on Portland Breakwater and we looked after the two crew for the night. They were out of luck as my wife was out that evening so they had to put up with my cooking!

   In the early years there was a Search and Rescue helicopter based at Portland and we had quite a few cases of seamen being taken off ships in mid channel and flown to Dorchester hospital. One seaman was Turkish with a heart attack and he was given a heart bi-pass in Dorchester. He did not speak any English so we managed to find some Turkish speakers from Weymouth to visit him in hospital.

   But by far the most ship visits have been made to the resident cable vessel currently CS SOVEREIGN. This ship is always on standby in the port ready to sail out into the Atlantic to repair any cables. The ship has British officers and Filipino crew who are always cheerful and give us a warm welcome. I was delighted to be able to give all the crew Easter eggs this Easter, the eggs having been kindly donated by the Weymouth parish also named Stella Maris.

   Well I hope some of my experiences might make you feel that you could become a Volunteer Ship Visitor. You will be given short but valuable training and somebody to go with you on your early visits.

Mark Kemmis Betty                                 

1st May 2026