It may be one of the city’s best-kept secrets, although not by design. For more than 170 years, chaplains of the Savannah Port Society have quietly followed their calling to visit ships docked in Savannah and minister to the needs of mariners.
Last year alone, they assisted seamen on 3,297 ships, conducting 4,995 trips and transporting 8,275 passengers some 34,514 miles for everything from shopping trips to wiring money home to visiting the society’s International Seamen’s House on Houston Street to contacting loved ones by phone or computer.
“This is one of the least recognized organizations in Savannah,” said local businessman and community volunteer Joe Marchese, who serves as board president of the nonprofit society. “And, while our chaplains aren’t looking for any kind of personal acknowledgement, we sure could use more volunteers.”
Marchese became involved five years ago when a truck sideswiped the society’s small annex on Garden City Terminal.
“I had never heard of the Savannah Port Society, but a friend who was on the board knew my company had done work at the ports and called to ask if I could take a look at the damage,” Marchese said.
He repaired the damage, then — at his friend’s behest — came to the society’s quarterly board meeting to explain what he had done.
“One thing led to another and, the next thing I know, I’m on the board,” Marchese said, laughing. “I was basically Shanghaied.”
It proved to be a smart move on the society’s part, as the busy contractor not only helped build a new, spacious and more functional annex, he’s become a vocal spokesman for the group’s mission to provide comfort, aid and the word of God to the thousands of seafarers who come into Savannah’s port every year.
“We are not denomination-driven,” he said. “The needs of the seafarers come first. As long as they are being taken care of in a consistent, compassionate way, that’s what matters.
A floating ministry
At the society’s on-terminal annex, the Rev. Bill Maxey of Independent Presbyterian Church spends his mornings visiting the ships that have come in overnight, boarding the vessels and talking to seamen while distributing literature on services available.
“I’m usually back and forth between ships several times a day,” Maxey said. “Those mariners who have just a narrow window of free time usually want to come to the annex, where they can stretch their legs, sit on the porch with a cup of coffee and take advantage of our phone cards and Internet to get in touch with loved ones halfway around the world.
“Those with a little more time enjoy shopping, going out to eat or just relaxing at the house downtown.”
At the house downtown, better known as the International Seamen’s House, Evelyn Singleton continues the work begun by her late husband, the Rev. Curtis Singleton, when the couple moved to Savannah in 1992 to accept the ministry at the house.
In a 1993 report, Singleton wrote:
“Evelyn and I have had many opportunities to share the gospel with seafarers in the Port of Savannah. So far this year, we have visited 479 ships, ministering to people from 58 different nations. We have given away many, many New Testaments and Bibles.”
The Singletons lived upstairs at the house, keeping the first floor and chapel open for visiting seamen. Evelyn Singleton continues the tradition today, welcoming her international visitors, picking them up from ships, driving them to the house and around town for shopping and errands.
She has done everything from helping a young man buy the wedding dress his bride-to-be had picked out online and had shipped to a bridal shop in Savannah — “I can promise you, I had more fun than he did!” she recalled, laughing — to helping Filipino sailors try to contact loved ones after Super Typhoon Haiyan sliced through their island nation.
She has helped a ship’s captain find special shoes for a foot injury and visited a young woman in the hospital.
“There are women who go to sea, although it’s still rare,” she said. “This particular young girl was Russian. She had fallen through a hole onboard the ship, hurt her leg pretty badly and had to be hospitalized.
“The ship had to continue on, so I and the other chaplains visited her because she didn’t know a soul here.”
Volunteers welcomed
But mostly, Singleton, Maxey, the Rev. Everett Tumblin from the Savannah Baptist Center and the Rev. Richard Young of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, minister to the mariners’ spiritual needs, spreading the gospel and making sure those who have chosen this relatively solitary profession know they are not alone.
“We have Bibles in 27 different languages as well as gospel tracts — small booklets — in most of the languages we come across,” Marchese said.
And while the organization is appreciative of the ongoing help from different organizations — The Propeller Club, the International Longshoremen’s Association, the Savannah Pilots and others — the need for volunteers is always there.
“We couldn’t do what we do without the help we get,” he said. “From the monetary donations to the church groups that bake cookies and knit watchman’s caps, it’s all critical to our mission.”
For more information or to learn how to help, go to www.seamenshouse.org or call 912-234-2438.