A SEAMAN'S mission has reported its busiest day since it opened.

A total of 124 seamen enjoyed hospitality at The Mission to Seafarers' Centre, Seal Sands Road, near Billingham, in a 12-hour period.

The mission chaplain, the Reverend Ken Cornforth, said that many who used the centre also used the phone and email links to contact their families across the world.

The unexpected rush came last month as a number of ships arrived in port on Teesside at the same time.

Mr Cornforth said: "They were constantly using all eight-telephone lines. I estimate there were around 90 hours of telephone calls by seafarers in the centre itself during that period.

"On top of that, our seven mission phones on the jetties were also well-used, and even the centre's two ISDN Internet lines were tied up, with more seafarers waiting to send and collect their emails."

In one day, the centre sold 104 of the mission's phone cards to seafarers. The chaplain and his assistant also had to take supplies of cards to ships in remote terminals so that crews could use the jetty phones. He had to visit the bank twice because the centre ran out of sterling.

The purpose-built centre was opened in 1996 and is the mission's fifth home on the north bank of the River Tees since the first was opened in Hartlepool in 1858.

The Mission to Seafarers, formerly The Missions to Seamen, is a missionary society of the Anglican Church. It has centres in 300 ports throughout the world, where it welcomes thousands of seafarers.