Mercy Ships- Sea Going Hospital and Relief Ships to the Nations

I first became aware of this sea going ministry to the developing nations of the world in 1987 as I walked along the waterfront in Seattle as a newly born-again Christian and came across the then flagship of the Mercy Ship fleet; a ship called the Anastasis. I was immediately drawn to the concept and idea behind this ministry because of my sea going background.

Ten years earlier I had worked on vessels in the Bering Sea off the coasts of Alaska as a fisherman on a commercial herring boat but it wasn't to be until ten more years went by in 1997, when another ship named the Caribbean Mercy found it's way to Buffalo, NY that I signed on as a deckhand once again. I sailed twice on the Caribbean Mercy and also served with a land based Mercy Team in Leon, Nicaragua for about six weeks in 1998.

My first mission with Mercy Ships was from Buffalo up through the Welland canal, out over Lake Ontario and then the St. Lawerence Seaway around New Foundland and down the Eastern Seaboard all the way to Jacksonville,Florida where I served for several weeks before heading over to Mercy Ships home office in Tyler, Texas where I was offered another assignment which I accepted and followed through with to Leon, Nicaragua where for about 6 weeks I served as a communications officer for a land based mission team called Operation Sea Legs. The mission of the team was to man a clinic that made prosthetic limbs for victims of land mine accidents.

My third mission with Mercy Ships was on the West Coast of the U.S.A. We sailed from Seattle to Portland, Oregon where we docked for several weeks during the Portland Rose Festival for a first world promotional tour designed to raise financial support for the third world missions of the Caribbean Mercy. Below, you can watch a video and learn a little more about ship board ministry.