Boaty McBoatface will set sail from Southampton for the Olympics this week to raise awareness of the sacrifices seafarers make and also the isolation that they face whilst at sea thanks to Sailors’ Society and vessel tracking website MarineTraffic.
The vessel will drop anchor to watch the start of the sailing events in Guanabara Bay before travelling to ports in Brazil where the charity has a chaplaincy presence.
Sailors’ Society’s nine Brazilian port chaplains provide spiritual, practical and emotional support and last year reached more than 35,000 seafarers.
Stuart Rivers, Sailors’ Society’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “Although there is a fun element to Boaty, the message behind it is a more serious one. Seafarers make huge sacrifices; seeing the distance Boaty travels from Southampton to Rio will highlight how they can face isolation.”
“Seafarers often spend nine months away from home and our chaplains help to connect them with loved ones. One of our chaplains in Rio recently gave a seafarer Wi-Fi access which enabled him to see his baby for the first time,” added Stuart.
Sailors’ Society is encouraging people to track Boaty’s progress on www.marinetraffic.com or via its Wellness at Sea app, which can be downloaded for free on the Google Play and Apple stores.
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