INTERVIEW
The man who led the team
who created the world’s
largest civilian hospital ship
Nautical engineer Jim Paterson has dedicated his life and career to developing and operating
hospital ships to provide life-changing health care to those who need it most all over the world.
30 Jim first joined Denholm Ship
Management in Glasgow, initially as
a cadet, and they organised for him to
come to study at Glasgow College of
Technology, one of GCU’s founding
colleges, leaving home to do so at the
tender age of 16. He studied during
term time then went to sea or did
vocational training at the Nautical
College in Glasgow during the summer,
graduating in 1976 as a qualified marine
engineer.
In his latter days at Denholm’s, there
was a big downturn in the industry and
they were looking for voluntary
redundancies, so he ended up leaving
and going to Bible College to become a
missionary. While there, he heard about
Mercy Ships. As a faith-based
organisation, he saw this as the perfect
opportunity to combine his practical
knowledge with his faith, and a chance
to help people. He joined Mercy Ships
initially as Chief Engineer in 1987,
leading the Marine Operations
Department for almost 25 years before
becoming Marine Executive Consultant.
There he and his team transformed
many ships including the Africa Mercy
and Anastasis into living working
hospitals, sailing all over the world,
bringing hope and healing to the
forgotten poor, and providing life-saving
medical treatment in countries where
countless people suffer and die from
‘diseases of poverty’ that can be easily
cured.
Jim tells us: “The one that really
resonates with me is from many years
ago, when we first joined Mexico after a
big earthquake there was a desperate
need for healthcare. The team there had
befriended a ‘Shoe Shine Guy’ who had
a cleft lip and palate. In Scotland, this is
the third most common birth defect and
babies have corrective surgery when
they are around six months old. This
guy was 45 and never had the
opportunity to have his fixed. The team
persuaded him to come to the ship to
have the operation, which is a big step
in a lot of these countries, particularly
as 17 million people die every year from
unsafe surgeries. He had the operation
and the surgeon who performed the
operation got a letter from this man five
years later thanking him, and saying he
had his first-ever kiss aged 50 as a
result of the surgery.
“Another one I always remember is
when we were in Jamaica and the
Salvation Army School for the Blind
brought 50 kids over to see the
Ophthalmologist, and he was able to
restore sight for 14 of them. They had all
been blind since birth and they could
see for the first time ever.
“It is almost like
waving goodbye
to family.
Jim waving goodbye.