Founded in 1834,

SCI is a voluntary,

ecumenical agency

affiliated with the

Episcopal Church that

provides pastoral care,

maritime education, and

legal advocacy services

for mariners.

The newsletter of the

Seamen’s Church Institute’s

Christmas at Sea Program

In this Issue

The Seamen’s Church Institute seamenschurch.org

Spring 2013 VOLUME 7/nUMBEr 1

The More Things Change… the more they stay the same and, indeed, some things have not changed since the founding of the Seamen’s Church Institute’s (SCI) volunteer knitting program, Christmas at Sea. Seafarers still need warmth. Handknit garments communicate “thought and care” better than just about anything else. Mariners work just as hard today, and SCI relies on the amazing kindness of knitters like you to help serve them.

However, a lot has changed in 115 years—and some things to the detriment of mariners. Mariners have declined from prominence in the public eye. Many see the merchant mariner as a profession of yesteryear, saying, “You mean, people still do that?” Folks have relinquished their connection to the human beings on whose labor the world depends.

People have relinquished a connection to the past, too. Comparatively speaking, the popularity of knitting in the West has declined. Even with resurgence in popularity of things “handmade,” loads of people still regard knitting as archaic. Most people purchase knitwear—not make it.

But just like 115 years ago, temperatures still dip below freezing on the waters and many, many mariners still work far from home during Christmas. Even though things have

shifted in our culture, the needs of mariners remain fixed.

To meet these needs in some measure, then we must hearken to our past a bit more. We should look more closely at how the world works and connect the dots between store shelves and the origin of consumer goods. Put positively, we have to reframe something many perceive as “old-fashioned” to relevant and necessary here and now.

For this reason, Christmas at Sea is not merely a volunteer knitting program. Rather, SCI sees Christmas at Sea as an integral part of its cutting-edge mission to sustain knitting and its association to life on the water. One could think, insularly, that Christmas at Sea’s main task centers around corralling knitters, but SCI thinks bigger. It asks, “How can we knit together more people on land with people on the water?” SCI tries to provide many ways to help.

Christmas at Sea sits uniquely at the intersection of volunteer knitting charities and maritime commerce, joining a growing number of people who want to use their knitting talents to help others. Mariners and the art of knitting both need the helpful force of an organization that educates, advocates and agitates for change.

Come visit the Christmas at Sea knitting room in SCI’s Port Newark International Seafarers’ Center. Email psato@seamenschurch.org to find out how.

Need help? Turn to your knitting friends for support. Check out Christmas at Sea’s Facebook page to meet new ones.

Super: You knit for Christmas at Sea. You do great work; you support mariners.

Fantastic: When you tell people about Christmas at Sea, you reach more people with a message about the maritime labor force.

Even more brilliant: if you can support Christmas at Sea with a financial contribution, then you go the extra mile toward making a difference in the life of a mariner. Shoring up Christmas at Sea, SCi’s out-in-front knitting charity, people just like you help connect mariners with those who depend on them. please consider a generous financial contribution this year to Christmas at Sea to help us blaze a trail for the future of this valuable partnership between knitters and mariners.

Looking Back at 2012 2

Cleaning Up after Sandy 2

The 1898 Hat Design Contest 3

TEAny Hats Update 3

Christmas at Sea Turns 115 4

Thanks from Mariners 5

Dear Friends 6

The Knit Before Christmas Spring 2013 • 2 seamenschurch.org

Looking for a PDF of this newsletter that you can read on your iPad or email a friend?

Mariners Say Thanks for Christmas on the River

Every year, SCI distributes thousands of gift packages to mariners working along the

inland rivers at Christmastime. Here, recipients of these heartfelt gifts describe what the gesture means to them. http://smschur.ch/rivertys12

Cleaning Up After Sandy with Help from the CSCL VancouverOn Monday, november 5, SCi-port newark resumed operations after a week’s closure due to Hurricane Sandy. With another storm on its way, SCi staff rushed to move Christmas at Sea gifts out of the flood-prone first floor and onto higher ground. They got help from crew members of the CSCL Vancouver, who gave up precious shore leave time to make sure others’ Christmas gifts stayed dry. (Don’t worry—they received their own holiday packages, too!) Watch their video at http://smschur.ch/csclvanc

Looking Back at 2012: Another banner year for Christmas at SeaJanuary–March

BenChmark: over 1,992 knits receivedIn January, Christmas at Sea found itself in Phoenix, AZ participating in the yarn industry trade show sponsored by The National NeedleArts Association (TNNA) to network with industry professionals from all over the United States. While there, local knitters offered fantastic hospitality. Living in a subtropical desert climate does not stop these folks from creating beautiful handknits.

april–June

BenChmark: 2,260 knits receivedChristmas at Sea launched the 1200 TEAny Hats project—a cause-related marketing effort done with support from twelve local (to Port Newark) Starbucks. Inspired by guerrilla yarn bombing projects, SCI and New Jersey Starbucks management planned to use knitted and crocheted hats to reframe the way people look at everyday items.

July–SepTeMber

BenChmark: 4,042 knits receivedA two-week visit to Indianapolis for the General Convention of the Episcopal Church yielded more knitters and more TEAny hats. Christmas at Sea teamed up with SCI’s Archivist and The Mount Vernon Hotel Museum to offer a 3-part event series on knitting and seafaring in old Manhattan.

OcTOber–DeceMber

BenChmark: 11,996 knits receivedIn the middle of our busiest part of the season, superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc in Port Newark, flooding our seafarers’ center and nearly destroying the handknits stored on the first floor. Not to fear, however, since thanks to some colossal laundering, we saved close to 5,000 handknit hats and scarves. Because of storm recovery, the mail slowed down to a trickle, but our efforts in Port Newark did not. Volunteers (over 15 groups) turned out in full force to pack and re-pack gifts. On America’s West Coast, two groups hosted two separate packing days, and along the inland river, twelve churches and our two maritime education centers hosted packing days. And at the end of December, TEAny Hats appeared on the shelves of New Jersey Starbucks.

BenChmark for 2013: 20,290 knits received

Need…

Patterns?

Yarn?

Ready to mail?

Christmas at Sea118 Export StreetPort Newark, NJ 07114Paige Sato, Program manager973-589-5828cas@seamenschurch.orghttp://cas.seamenschurch.org

Spring 2013Published by the Seamen’s Church Institute

seamenschurch.org

The rev. David m. riderexecutive Director

editor, oliver Brewerassistant editor, Susannah Skiver BartonDesign & Production by BlissDesignThis newsletter is printed on recycled paper.

The Knit Before Christmas Spring 2013 • 3 seamenschurch.org

The 1898 Hat Design ContestIn celebration of its 115th year, Christmas at Sea sponsors a competition for a knitted hat design to outfit a new generation of mariners working on the world’s waters.

Imagine the cargo vessel of 1898. Made of iron, it transported cargo like carriage parts, furs and spices.

It ran on steam. The seafarers on board wore oilskins, and on their heads, watch caps.

While seafarers still carry the responsibility for transporting the world’s commerce, much has changed since 1898. Today, shipbuilders fashion cargo ships from steel, and vessels transport things like iPads, blue jeans and automobiles. One of the biggest differences between shipping of yesteryear and today? Loading and unloading cargo happens in a matter of hours instead of days. One thing

has not changed, however. Under the contemporary seafarer’s hardhat, you are likely still to find … a watch cap.

For 115 years, Christmas at Sea has provided watch caps (and scarves, vests, socks and more) to seafarers as a symbol of our appreciation for their hard work, dedication and sacrifice. Over those 115 years, our mainstay traditional patterns (the seafarer’s scarf and the watch cap) have remained the same, too. They have stood the test of time, meeting seafarers’ needs over generations of sailings.

This past winter we received requests from seafarers for a different kind of hat—

one with ear-flaps. We knew for sure we needed to answer their queries when our intern gave up two ear-flapped hats from her own personal collection.

Therefore, to celebrate our 115th year, Christmas at Sea launches a pattern contest for a new hat incorporating ear-flaps. SCI invites knitters to submit a design for a new mariner’s hat called the 1898 Hat. The successful pattern, published by Christmas at Sea, should incorporate elements that creatively reflect knitting’s historic place in seafaring and synchronize with a mariner’s harsh work environment.

TEAny Hats UpdateRemember the TEAny Hats project, where SCI and Starbucks teamed up to top iced tea bottles with miniature seafarer watch caps? TEAny Hats are taking North Jersey by storm!

Although originally planned for a launch date in November, Hurricane Sandy had other ideas. SCI delayed the distribution of volunteer-made TEAny Hats to New Jersey Starbucks stores until December 15. But

now, a new kind of storm swirls. The miniature bottle toppers have made their long-awaited debut and are shining in the cases.

Every day, participating Starbucks dress four new bottles of TAZO iced tea in TEAny hats, stimulating a lot of product turnover. Starbucks employees continue to remark on customers’ enthralled reaction to the toppers.

Fascinatingly, the TEAny Hats seem to find second lives after purchase. A few weeks ago, at Christmas at Sea Program Manger Paige Sato’s hair salon (about a block away from one of the participating Starbucks), she noted several TEAny Hats atop bottles of shampoo, on the ends of hairbrushes and near the stylists’ mirrors. She said, “Seems as though some folks are intent on starting a collection.”

guidelines1. Entrants submit an original, unpublished

pattern.

2. The finished hat should include ear-flaps, a feature specifically requested by mariners this year, and the historic garter stitch.

3. For safety, mariners cannot wear garments with tassels, braids, loose string or pom-poms. Designs must exclude these elements.

4. The pattern should call for worsted weight wool or wool-blends, knit up at 4.5 st/in (approx.) and use any color or combination of colors (excepting

pastels), remembering mariners work in mucky environments.

5. The hat should knit up to fit an average-sized man’s head (18"–20"). An official entry consists of (1) the registration form (copies available on SCi’s website), (2) a new pattern for the 1898 Hat along with (3) a knitted sample.

DeadlineApril 30, 2013

(Winner announced may 21, 2013.)

PrizesThe winner receives tons of kudos, his or her byline on the pattern (“The 1898 Hat by a Very Good knitter”) and (because that’s not incentive enough?) an iPad mini!

For more information, and for a contest entry form, visit seamenschurch.org/cas or our Christmas at Sea Facebook page.

The Knit Before Christmas Spring 2013 • 4 seamenschurch.org

Happy Birthday! Christmas at Sea Turns 115

A Timeline of 115 Years of Christmas at Seaby Johnathan Thayer, archivist

1898Rev. Walter A. A. Gardner, Chaplain of SCI’s North [Hudson] River Station, at the suggestion of his wife Mrs. E. A. Gardner begins an effort to send “comfort bags” containing medical supplies, prayer books and sewing materials to seafarers during the Spanish-American War.

“As a consequence of the recent war between this country and Spain, a great field for the distribution of God’s Word, the sending of comfort bags, the coming in close touch with our own Navy, has given us the opportunity we have long desired, and we have taken advantage of it to the best of our abilities.”

1900The Seamen’s Benefit is formed at the suggestion of Mrs. Gardner, led by Augusta Morris de Peyster. Composed entirely of women, the Society dedicates itself to assisting seafarers in any way it can, from organizing musical and dramatic entertainment to sending flowers to seafarers in the hospital.

1914–1918 As war spreads quickly abroad, the Seamen’s Benefit Society organizes a volunteer system to collect and distribute knit items for seafarers caught up in the conflict. A World War I-era knitting pattern for an official “New Red Cross Sweater” calls for donated items “for the boys at the front” such as hair brushes, leather billfolds and writing instruments.

1921SCI forms the Women's Council with Mrs. Samuel Thorne, Jr. as its head, creating the new branch of the Institute to focus on fundraising and cultural events for seafarers at SCI’s headquarters at 25 South Street. The Council centralizes a network of women’s volunteer groups from churches all over the New York metropolitan area.

1939–1945SCI’s Women’s Council heads a massive national volunteer effort to distribute knit items and comfort bags to seafarers at war. In 1943 alone, 15,987 woolen garments are donated and distributed overseas, as well as 5,736 sets of linens for the 1,600 beds at 25 South Street. In 1945, SCI distributes 8,108 Christmas boxes to seafarers.

1951The Knitter’s Guild at SCI is formed, consisting of knitting groups from around the country working in

coordination with SCI’s central branch to knit and distribute items to seafarers.

1971SCI’s Christmas at Sea program continues the tradition of distributing Christmas

gifts to seafarers. A message from a recipient on the USNS rigel in 1971 typifies the letters SCI receives every year from grateful seafarers.

“Thank you very much for your kindness in sending me the Christmas Box. I am cargo yeoman on this ship and sometimes have to work 10 to 16 hours straight below decks in the cold storage lockers. It is 0 degrees down there so you can be sure I'll get plenty of usage for your hat and scarf. Hope to stop at your A+ establishment the next time I'm in New York."

1997SCI opens a new maritime training facility in Paducah, KY, focused on providing educational coursework for inland river mariners. Accordingly, SCI expands its program to include river mariners. In 1995, SCI distributes 7,552 knit items to river mariners.

2012The Christmas at Sea program perseveres through the damage caused by Superstorm Sandy to collect and distribute over 20,000 knit items.

The Knit Before Christmas Spring 2013 • 5 seamenschurch.org

Thanks from MarinersDear Rev. David M. Rider,

On behalf of the captain and ship’s crew, I would like to thank you and the Seamen’s Church Institute as well as all the volunteers who placed the beautiful packages under our tree aboard the ship mV President Jackson.

Although I have worked deep sea for three years (my career being on the water for 33 yrs), I have never received a prayer and selfless gift as nice as the one from Santa this year thanks to you and all your friends.

This ship is known to be on the “Suez Express” which sails from US east coast to Singapore. Although we are in the south Indian Ocean presently, when we reach the Atlantic I will wear my handmade scarf and cap with pride.

Once again thank you to all. Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

Yours truly,Brad Little Everett, Wa.

From: Matt Aldrin Pacaldo Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2013 6:17 AMSubject: TOO MUCH BLESSINGS :)

Hello Sir!

On behalf of m/V Polynesia crewmembers, I, Deck Cadet Matt Aldrin Pacaldo, would like to thank you for the gifts you’ve given to us. It’s such an honor to be part of your family. Although I’m far away from home and didn’t celebrate Christmas with my family in the Philippines, still I felt the true essence of Christmas which is “giving” and “loving” just because of you guys. SHARING IS LOVING, right sir? :) Once again, a millions of THANK YOUs from us. Until next time. :)

From: M/V TOM FRAZIERSent: Thursday, December 27, 2012 6:51 PMSubject: Christmas Gifts

We wanted to take the opportunity to say “Thank You” for the gift box we received while in Cairo, Il recently.

Everyone appreciates your efforts to make those away from home for the holidays feel a little better. And so we want you to know, it doesn’t go unnoticed. Thank you very much.

From: Vincent Pamalo-An Sent: Monday, December 24, 2012 11:34 PMSubject: thank very much!!!!!!

Ma’am and sir first of all…Merry Christmas to all of you!!!!!!!! I am from m/V PoLYneSIa. I/We received your gifts to us, I am very thankful for such a good heart that you share to us!!!!!!!! I’m not that very good in English to say so much, but I’m trying my very best…I think the most important thing is that again very very thank you for the gifts that you shared to us!!!!!! More power to your organization…MAY GOD BLESS YOUR FAMILY!!!!!!!!!!!

From: M/V TexianDate: Fri, 23 Dec 2011 13:03:42 -0600Subject: Thanks from Higman Marine

The crew of the m/V Texian want to say thank you for the wonderful presents you knitted and sent to us, we appreciate it very much. At these holiday times when work keeps us away from our loved ones, it's always a welcomed treat to receive these handmade gifts that all of you so thoughtfully sent us.

Merry Christmas and have a Happy New Year

Dear Rev. Rider,

We would like to thank you and all the volunteers who put together our wonderful Christmas packages. As you said in your letter, it is especially difficult to be away from home and family this time of year, and receiving these gifts has helped lift the spirits of the entire crew.

Please pass on to the volunteers our appreciation for all the time and effort that must have gone into producing so many handcrafted items—each one unique in its own way. Even though we are currently transiting from Puerto Rico to Florida, we are expecting to head north to New Jersey soon, and I’m sure we will be putting all the hats & scarves to good use. Thanks again!!!

Sincerely,The Captain & Crew of the horizon Trader

The Knit Before Christmas Spring 2013 • 6 seamenschurch.org

Dear Friends,I profess to be a history buff, but my memory does not always hold on to a lot of the “tidbits” of information. I enjoy picking a date and learning about the diverse things that happened at that point in time.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to explore the events happening in the world when SCI launched “The Seamen’s Benefit” (see the article in this newsletter by SCI’s Archivist Johnathan Thayer) and started what would become the Institute’s Christmas at Sea program.

In 1898 …• Brooklyn merged with the city of New York,• The Traveller’s Co. issued the first ever car insurance policy,• The US Post Office authorized the use of postcards,• The first amusement pier opened in Atlantic City,• William Kellogg invented corn flakes, and• The automobile set a speed record of 39 mph

The interesting thing about these “tidbits?” We feel their impact still today. no corn flakes at breakfast? Heaven forbid! not sending postcards from trips? How else do you make your friends jealous? Driving without insurance? Well, maybe at speeds of 39 mph, it is not such a big deal.

We do not merely regard these things as part of our storied history; these things have shaped the way we live our lives today. And, just as we count on corn flakes, car insurance, amusement parks on piers and Brooklyn being part of

New York, legions of people count on Christmas at Sea. The hats and scarves we carefully craft do not merely form part of history, they help shape it. I cannot begin to count the number of stories from former merchant mariners (or their family members) about hat and scarf collections—knitted garments dotting different points of a mariner’s life.

But can something as old-fashioned and traditional as a watch cap also signal the future? I think so. Shipping plays a huge role in our interconnected world, and mariners make it all possible. These same mariners’ heads and hearts always need warmth (physical and metaphorical).

Accordingly, Christmas at Sea (as it has done for the past 115 years) will continue to remember and thank the men and women of our waterways with knitted gifts of love. We do that with patterns that have served us well for the past 115 years, and this year with one that will start us off on our next 115. (See the article on our 1898 Hat contest.)

While I enjoy celebrating our past, I find myself so optimistic about our future and excited about the relevant role Christmas at Sea plays in the lives of mariners. It’s great to be 115, and I thank you—all our knitters and crocheters—for shepherding and growing this important program.

Your friend,

The night before Christmas: A poem from the Tasman Sea’Twas the night before Christmas and all the sailors on the shipWere counting the daysTill the end of the tripon the ship and not homeIt wasn’t quite fairCause, tomorrow was Christmasand they wouldn’t be thereQuiet around the galley tableeach with their own thoughtChristmas seemed distantBut such was their lot

The Captain came ina red bag in his handa bag from your ChurchWhich he passed to each manhe wished all a merry Christmasand he saw the crews spirits liftas he passed along your prayersand your wonderful giftsa note of thanks to youand to your volunteersWho provided these presents, but more than that

Provided a bag filled with cheerChristmas wishes to youand from all of us hereGod Bless to all peopleWho show others they care.

— Merry Christmas and thanks from the Captain and crew of the Tasman Sea