Religion in Multi-Ethnic Contexts: Qualitative Interviews with Chaplains, Charitable Organisations and Seafarers, 2017-2020

The research considered the ways that faith is experienced and negotiated by seafarers on board cargo ships as well as the provisions for faith/welfare made by charitable organisations based in ports ashore. In order to understand these areas, we used a combination of qualitative research methods, specifically, observation and interviews. Fifty-five shipboard semi-structured interviews with seafarers were carried out (representing all of those seafarers who were present while the researcher was on board). Interviews were conducted with reference to a flexible interview guide and they were digitally recorded and transcribed. Transcripts were analysed and thematically coded using Nvivo 12. Shipboard research was complemented by research in two seafarers’ centres ashore. These UK-based centres have been assigned the pseudonyms Riverside and Porton. Both centres supplied services to more than one port within their locality and were run by different faith-based charities. They were chosen with reference to the size and cargoes of the ports concerned and the organisations running them. An interview guide provided the framework for semi-structured interviews with chaplains and volunteers in these two ports. Five formal interviews were carried out with paid staff, and ten formal interviews were carried out with volunteers, at the two centres. We supplemented our research in the two ports with nine interviews with representatives from the main charitable bodies connected to seafarers’ welfare (3 in the UK and 6 based outside the UK) and with seven additional chaplains/volunteers providing welfare services for seafarers in both UK (1) and non-UK (6) ports. Chaplains were selected with reference to gender and nationality to ensure an appropriate mix. Interviews with non-Filipino seafarers and port-based centre staff and volunteers were undertaken in English. Interviews with Filipino participants were undertaken in Tagalog and were subsequently translated by the fieldworker. All seafarers on board the two ships where observational work was conducted were included in the research resulting in a full representation of all ranks on board. All seafarers on board were male which is common in the cargo shipping sector where less than 1% of the workforce is estimated to be female. Interviews were of between one and two hours duration.