HV 3034 
.A68 
Copy 1 




LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 331 732 6 



The cActs of the cApostles 
of the Sea 



AN EIGHTY YEARS' RECORD 

OF THE. WORK OF THE 

AMERICAN SEAMEN'S 
FRIEND SOCIETY 




44 



The Sea Our Parish 



tt 



CONTENTS 



Sea life in 1828. 



PAGE 
3 



The birth of the American Seamen's 
Friend Society 



The first chaplain. . 
Rev. David Abeel. 



The Pacific Islands 

The first seamen's church 

Father Damon, of Honolulu.... 
Valparaiso, Chile, Seamen's Mis- 
sion 



Saving the Norsemen 21 

Norway and Denmark 24 

List of Foreign Stations 28 



Saving the sailor at home 

List of Domestic Stations. 



Work in the United States Navy. 

Floating chaplains 

The price of fish 

The minor activities 



PAGE 

. 30 
, 33 

, 35 

, 39 

46 

48 



Seamen's Christian Brotherhood. . . . 

Adoption of flag and badge 

Constitution and by-laws of the 
Seamen's Christian Brother- 
hood 



Chronology of the American 
men's Friend Society 

Officers of the Society 



Sea- 



The American Seamen's Friend Society is supported 
entirely by voluntary contributions 

HOW TO "BEAR A HAND" 



f . Pray for us 

2* Remember us in your will 

3* Send a donation 

4* Get your church to take up 

a collection 
5* Become an annual subscriber 



6. Annual Membership, $5 
7* Life Membership, $30 
8* Life Directorships \ 00 
9* Send a Loan Library 
volumes) to sea, $20 



(43 



REMITTANCES 

All remittances for the American Seamen's Friend Society, in payment of 
subscriptions to the Sailors' Magazine or for other purposes, should be sent, for 
security, by check, draft on New York, or P. O. Money Order, — payable to the order 
- r '.'. .American Seamen's Friend Society, 76 Wall Street, New York, N. Y. Ac- 
knowledgment of their receipt will be forwarded to the sender by return mail, and 
if not duly received the Society should at once be notified. If impracticable to pro- 
cure checks, etc., the money may be forwarded, but always in a registered letter. 
All Postmasters are now obliged to register letters when asked to do so at a fee of 
ten cents each. 

FORM OF A BEQUEST 

"I give and bequeath to the American Seamen's Friend Society, incorporated 

by the Legislature of New York, in the year 1833, the sum of $ , to be applied 

to the charitable uses and purposes of the said Society." 

Three witnesses should certify at the end of the will, over their signatures, to 
the following formalities, which, in the formation of the will, should be strictly 
observed: 

1st. That the testator subscribed (or acknowledged the subscription of) the will 
in their presence. — 2d. That he, at the same time, declared to them that it was his 
last will and testament. — 3d. That they, the witnesses, then and there, in his presence 
and at his request, and in presence of each other, signed their names thereto, as 
witr. esses. 



HV 3034 
.068 
Copy 1 



The Acts of the Apostles 
of the Sea 



An Eighty Years' Record 
of the Work of the 

American Seamen's Friend Society 




"The Sea Our Parish" 






r I ^HIS modest booklet of the American Seamen's 
*- Friend Society's efforts makes no claims to be a 
full history of its eighty years' work ashore and afloat. 
It is only a brief resume and setting forth of some of 
the important things done at home and abroad. Nat- 
urally, many places, events, and personalities have not 
been mentioned. This omission is not due to igno- 
rance of them, but solely because space and the ner- 
vous haste of our day preclude the possibility of a 
lengthy report being read. The tale is not finished. 
Our chaplains are writing neAV chapters, the Acts of 
the Apostles of the Sea. These chapters will continue 
to be written until the sea shall be no more. 

George McPherson Hunter, 

Secretary. 



n 



SEA LIFE IN 1828 

When the American Seamen's Friend Society was founded, steam navi- 
gation, as we know the term, was not in existence. A few venturesome 
souls had crossed the Atlantic Ocean without the means that God had pro- 
vided, i: e., the winds, and adventurers in steamers were regarded in 
the way we now regard the Arctic explorers. Very much of the world was 
unknown, unvisited, and unopened to the traders. China, except a few 
treaty ports, was closed. Japan was sealed. Africa was unexplored and 
visited chiefly by slavers. Australia was in its infancy. Thousands of the 
beautiful islands on the broad Pacific Ocean were unknown and un- 
charted and those known were inhabited by cannibal tribes. To cross the 
Atlantic meant a voyage of between twenty and thirty days with thirty 
discomforts and dangers to be faced. The Pacific Seaboard with its 
marvelous California, and the great rich States of Oregon and Washing- 
ton, was more remote than the islands of New Zealand in our modern 
life. 

Long sea voyages to unknown countries, in small ships dependent on the 
'vagaries of winds, exposed to gales, tropic heat, and Arctic ice, was the 
lot of the sailor. Captains of vessels were navigators, pilots, traders, and 
men of diplomacy. Mates were men of executive ability, seamen, quick 
and expedient, able to handle sails and men. If he handled them both in 
the same fashion we must let bygones be bygones, for the life on ship- 
board went roughly then. Sailors were sailors able to "hand reef and 
steer," keen-eyed, strong-limbed, deep-chested men, albeit tatooted over- 
much — it was the way of the sailor-man. He was a poorly paid, highly 
skilled man. Life for him was hard at sea. For captains were captains 
and orders were obeyed or men were carried below broken, mangled, and 
bleeding. Might was right and there were no rights for sailor-men when 
steam was discovered. 

In the late twenties and early thirties, when some "respectable and pious 
citizens were organizing themselves into an American Seamen's Friend 
Society, Sailors' Boarding Houses were managed by men who feared not 
God, man, Board of Health, nor the laws of decency and hygiene. Aboard 
ship there was only one law, the will of the captain. Sailors were strung 
up and flogged if the captain thought it necessary and desirable. One- 
of the chaplains in the United States Navy expressed a stray wish for 
the men to be flogged somewhere else than at the gratings and some other 
time than the evening, for their cries disturbed his evening meditations ! 



4 . An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

It is true a special statute of the United States imposed a fine of $1,000 
or five years in prison for maltreating a sailor, but the testimony of a 
sailor was too often written on sand. Brutality was an accepted con- 
dition of sea life. Tradition, use, and want had stereotyped the ship's 
officers' views that another point of view than the traditional one was 
barely known. 

In the year of grace 1909, forecastle life is far from ideal. 

"Single men in forecastles 
Ain't no plaster saints." 

But in the days of Beginnings in 1829 sailors had neither tables, knives, 
forks, nor plates in the forecastle. The "kid," a wooden tub, was centered 
in the floor and the "hands" gathered around and helped themselves out 
of the common pot, and the helping was done by the sheath knife. On 
the other hand, in the days we write of, owners often knew their crews, 
sometimes helped in their selection, went on board to inspect the food, 
visited the forecastles to see if they had a lamp ! At least their presence 
at the beginning of the voyage and the end gave some sort of personal 
touch to the relation of owner and seamen. 

R. H. Dana, writing twelve years after the start of the American 
Seamen's Friend Society, said: 

"I did not hear a prayer made, a chapter read in public, nor 
see anything approaching to a religious service for two years 
and a quarter. There were, in the course of the voyage, many 
incidents which made, for the time, serious impression upon 
our minds, and which might have been turned to our good ; 
but there being no one to use the opportunity and no services, 
the regular return of which might have kept something of the 
feeling alive in us, the advantage of them was lost to some, 
perhaps forever." 

Yet the sailor's life was not a cheerless dirge in those days, romance 
is always on the ocean. Science and steam had not robbed it of its awful 
mystery and weird power. If the sailor had little religion, he held God 
and the unseen powers in wholesome awe. Superstitions were then rife 
on board of every ship. Few, if any, ships sailed on Friday. With a 
peculiar relish seamen decant on a certain ship begun on the 13th of the 
month, which happened to be a Friday. She was launched on a Friday, 
sailed on her maiden and last voyage, on a Friday. No man ever saw 
or heard of her after the pilot went over the side. Told and retold were 
the old stones of the sea. "The Flying Dutchman" was no myth to the 
seamen of eighty years ago. And the buried city off Ushant was told 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 5 

about in the uncanny dog watches of the tropics, or whisperingly alluded 
to under the mystic spell of the weird, pale splendor of a full moon in the 
southern seas. There were dog watches in the days of the sailor before 
the engineer came aboard and the fireman's shovel had driven the ''Chanty- 
man" over the side. The bards of the forecastle have gone with the 
square-rigger and the white-winged clippers of the sea. The sea ships and 
sea life have changed, but the men remain the same and will remain 
until seas shall be no more. 

Except in few rare cases the sailor's world was a world without God, 
and to be without God is to be without hope in the world. Just imagine 
sea life without chaplains, Bethels, or "Sea Missionaries," a world into 
which no books, tracts, or loan libraries were launched, where few of the 
men could read or write. The reading room for sailors was not yet born. 
The voice of the Sky Pilot had not yet gone forth nor the touch of that 
ministering angel now found in nearly every well-conducted Seamen's 
Institute in the world, the woman who purely, unostentatiously, in the 
spirit of Christ, ministers to the men of the sea. Conceive, if possible, 
sea life without the Gospel meetings, prayer, testimony meetings, into 
which the sound of the Gospel hymn had never been wafted. No agency 
to fight crimps or provide decent boarding houses had been started. Jack 
could stand on the waterfront of every seaport in the world, look out on 
the sea and up to the sky and say, "No man cared for my soul." A man 
without country, God, Saviour, or friend in the world! It was into such 
a world and to help such men that the American Seamen's Friend So- 
ciety was born eighty years ago. 




6 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

THE BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN SEAMEN'S 
FRIEND SOCIETY 

"A few can begin something that in the end may be great." 

In the summer of 1816 some members of the Brick Presbyterian 
Church started prayer meetings in the lower part of the city. Some of 
those meetings were held in Water Street, at that time the principal resort 
for sailors. The attendance of sailors was so large that it suggested the 
idea of special services for sailors. Specific services for sailors were then 
started. The success attending these meetings awakened considerable 
interest, and in December of the same year the idea was conceived of erect- 
ing a Mariners' Church. A committee was appointed, but the project did 
not come to fruition until the New York Port Society was formed in 1818. 

In an upper room in "Mr. Linden's Academy, in Cherry Street," the 
first regular preacher to seamen began the first regular services for sea- 
men in the port of New York. Encouraged by the success of the services, 
efforts were -made to build a church for seafaring men, culminating in the 
erection of the first Mariners' Church in Roosevelt Street, near the East 
River. The pastor of the Mariners' Church, Rev. John Trn'air, felt keenly 
the need of caring for the sailors abroad. His vision saw in the seamen 
and the organization of an American Seamen's Friend Society "a splendid 
machinery for extending the means of salvation to heathen tribes." He 
formulated his views in a stirring appeal which appeared in the Mariners' 
Magazine. In the same publication a petition appeared," signed by one 
hundred and fourteen masters and mates, expressing desire to promote 
religion and morality among sailors. 

"At a large and respectable meeting of the citizens of 
New York City, held at the City Hotel, October 25, 1825, for 
the purpose of taking into consideration the propriety of 
adopting measures preparatory to the formation of an Ameri- 
can Seamen's Friend Society, pursuant to public notice, the 
Hon. Smith Thompson was called to the chair and John R. 
Hurd appointed secretary. The object of the meeting having 
been stated,, and several letters from different persons in some 
of the seaports cordially approbating the design being read, the 
following resolutions were unanimously adopted : 

"On motion of Rev. Dr. Macauley of the Presbyterian 
Church, seconded by the Rev. C. G. Sommers of the Baptist 
Church, 

"Resolved, That this meeting would regard with peculiar 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 7 

interest the formation of a National Seamen's Friend Society, 
to have the seat of its operations in the city of New York; 
and that we pledge ourselves to do all in our power to promote 
the highest prosperity, and the most extensive usefulness of 
such an institution." 

The meeting adjourned until January 11, 1826. The day of the 
meeting was wet and stormy, the attendants lukewarm, and from the 
accounts the outlook was aught but encouraging. The Rev. Mr. Frost, 
of Whitesborongh, New York, said in his speech: 

"The smallness of the number present is of no conse- 
quence. All other good enterprises have begun with a few. 
Christianity itself began to be established by a meeting of a 
few individuals. So did the American Board. I was present 
when the first missionaries offered themselves. The association 
of ministers before whom they presented themselves were 
wise and good men, but they were not awake to the missionary 
cause, and they almost thought these boys were enthusiasts 
for setting such a project on foot. They committed the matter 
to the Board as an experiment. If they could have foreseen 
the issue, instead of the apathy which they manifested, they 
would have been praying with tears in their eyes for the 
glorious cause." 

A constitution was adopted and officers chosen, and an agent appointed. 
No one was enthusiastic but the agent, who published an animated "call 
from the ocean" and kept the fire burning until May 5, 1828, when a re- 
organization was made and, what was better — a determination reached 
to begin the work of the national society for seamen. Thus, through 
great exertions, much discouragement, many failures and a few false 
starts, was launched on its career the American Seamen's Friend 
Society. 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



THE FIRST CHAPLAIN 

The missionaries are the best friends of the sailor. As a class, their 
work is the salvation of men. Men cannot be men without God in 
civilized countries, and they often sink to the level of the heathen in 
heathen countries. 

Morrison, of China, whose centenary was celebrated in 1907, was 
really the pioneer of work for seamen in the Far East. He might be 
called the first seamen's chaplain in China. Uncommissioned, it is true, 
but no man need wait for a commission to preach Jesus Christ. He can 
begin where he is, as Morrison did, as shown by the following letter, which 
was published in the first volume of the Sailors' Magazine, issued in the 
year 1829: 



Canton, China, November 10, 1827. 

To the Committee of the Bethel Union. . 

Gentlemen: When I left England in May, 1825, you had 
the kindness to commit to my care a Bethel flag, to hoist on 
board ship for public worship in the river of Canton. 

This season, I have the pleasure of informing you, that 
the Bethel flag has been hoisted at Wampoa several Sundays, 
on board the American ship Liverpool Packet, and a congrega- 
tion of forty persons and upward collected from the United 
States' vessels in China. The captain of the ship, a fervent 
disciple of our Lord Jesus, was himself the chaplain. 

Say not the beginning is small. "Who hath despised the 
day of small things?" Not the Master. His kingdom here, 
where, in the worship of demons, among hundreds of millions 
satan is enthroned, may now be small as a mustard seed — but 
eventually we are sure it shall resemble a wide-spreading 
tree, affording home and shelter to myriads. 

A preacher is wanted at Wampoa. Some of the company's 
captain's read prayers on board their own ships on Sunday, 
and Captain Crocker has read a sermon from Doddridge under 
the Bethel flag — all of which cheers our hearts in these regions 
of idolatry and superstition. Still, a faithful and devoted 
minister for .the fleet is greatly to be desired. The churches 
of the United States enjoy facilities for supplying one; and I 
have, through a devoted Christian here, written to America, to 
induce some man mighty in the Scriptures, full of faith and of 
the Holy Ghost, to come among us for a season. Such at 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 9 

present is the condition of things in reference to sailors in 
China. 
I remain, very sincerely, A Seamen's Friend, 

Robert Morrison. 

The message came at an opportune time. It was the right word fitly 
spoken, for the chief desire of the newly formed society for seamen was 
to send "Sea Missionaries," as they were then termed. Events providen- 
tially opened the way. A New York merchant engaged in trade with 
China offered to send the proper "Sea Missionary." The Rev. David 
Abeel, a promising young minister of the Reformed Church (Dutch), was 
recommended for the new and somewhat venturesome task of preaching 
to the sailors and whalemen and ultimately to the heathen. He was ap- 
pointed and sailed in the good American ship Roman. His efforts were 
blessed of God. As soon as he was proficient in Chinese his services were 
transferred to the American Board of Foreign Missions. 




10 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



DAVID ABEEL 

David Abeel was born June 12th, 1804, at New Brunswick, 
N. J. His father was an officer in the United States Navy 




REV. DAVID ABEEL, CHINA 
First Chaplain to Seamen, 1829 



during the Revolution, and was honored by Congress for his 
valor in several hotly contested sea battles. 

The son inherited his father's military instinct, and when a 
youth of fifteen applied for admission to West Point. The ap- 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 11 

plications that year were so numerous that he saw no likeli- 
hood of his acceptance, and so withdrew his application. He 
gave himself to the study of medicine for a year. Meantime 
he had come to the great turning point of his life. He had 
become a Christian. 

His heart turned naturally to the Christian ministry. At 
the age of nineteen he entered New Brunswick Theological 
Seminary. There he heard the voice of God calling him to 
the regions beyond. He was at that time the only surviving 
son of his parents. They were advanced in years. He ac- 
cepted a call to Athens, N. Y. He stayed for two years and 
six months, when ill health compelled him to resign. His 
brief ministry was one of marked spirituality. The people 
never forgot it. When after twenty years of hard and mul- 
tiplied labors in eastern lands he came back to visit his first 
flock the people wept for joy to see his face once more. 

In September, 1829, he received a call from the American 
Seamen's Friend Society to undertake work on behalf of 
American seamen at Canton, China. The ship was to sail in 
a month. He had four weeks in which to decide and prepare. 
He accepted the call and was ready on the day of sailing. The 
ship Roman, in which Abeel sailed, was owned by D. W. C. 
Olyphant, of New York, a distinguished Christian merchant 
and friend of missions. He gave David Abeel free passage, 
and promised to provide him a home free from cost for a 
year after his arrival. After a year of service under the 
Seamen's Friend Society, Abeel joined the American Board. 
He was sent on an exploring tour to Malacca, Siam, Java and 
the larger islands of the East Indies. 

He visited Singapore, Bangkok and Batavia. He spent a 
year in Siam. For a short time he was chaplain to the for- 
eign residents at Singapore. On account of failing health he 
was compelled in May, 1833, to take ship for England. From 
London he went to Holland with a view to forming some 
connection between the churches of Holland and the United 
States as a basis for co-operation in foreign missions, but his 
hopes were not realized. 

While in London in 1834, David Abeel was instrumental in 
organizing the first Woman's Missionary Society, called "So- 
ciety for Female Education in China and the East." His ex- 
traordinary piety impressed people wherever he went. A 
lady in London said : ''There was nothing austere, narrow- 
minded or extravagant in his religion. There was beau- 
tiful symmetry, a holiness, refinement and tenderness about 
it which struck the most ungodly." 

In January, 1845, he sailed for New York, "doubtful," as 
he says, "which home I should reach first." The ship made 



12 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



one of the quickest passages on record. But Abeel was so 
enfeebled on his arrival that he spoke with the greatest dif- 
ficulty, and only once after his return was his voice heard at 
family prayers. He survived a little over a year, dying at 
Albany, September 4, 1846. His remains were interred in 
Greenwood Cemetery. 




of the American Seamen's Friend Society 13 

THE PACIFIC ISLANDS 



THE FIRST SEAMEN'S CHURCH 

To Captain James Cook, the intrepid English navigator, belongs the 
honor of first visiting the Sandwich Islands in the year 1779. And the first 
Christian service of any kind was the one held at the funeral of Captain 
Cook, on February 21, 1779. Captain King, his successor, records: 

"In the afternoon the bones (of Captain Cook) having 
been put into a coffin and the service read over them, they 
were committed to the deep with the usual military honors. 
What our feelings were on this occasion I leave the world to 
conceive ; those present know that it is not in my power to 
express them." 

In the year 1790 an American ship called the Fair American was 
wrecked. All of the crew were killed or eaten, two only being spared, 
John Young and Isaac Davis. Evidently they had been men of character, 
some degree of piety, combined with a New England shrewdness in trad- 
ing. The Journal of John Young still exists, showing a combination of 
trade accounts, prayers, and a religious poem beginning : 

"Life is the time to serve the Lord, 
Then I insure the great reward ; 
And (while) the lamp holds out to burn, 
The vilest sinner may return." 

John Young induced his heathen king to moderate his drinking habits, 
became the grandfather of Queen Emma, and the missionaries assert was 
a potent influence for good. Isaac Davis equally so, for his prayer book 
still exists in the hands of his descendants. 

Captain Vancouver, an English navigator — Vancouver Island is named 
after him — visited the Hawaiian Islands, and like nearly all the great 
navigators, his influence was for good. He spoke to King Kamekameba 
about the one true God, the ruler of all, and promised that he would 
ask the King of England to send teachers. Vancouver tried to impress 
the Chiefs of the Islands with the ideas of justice and humanity, and 
urged the folly of idolatry. Captain Vancouver's memory long remained 
a powerful influence for good." 

The whaling and trading to the Islands increased rapidly while traders 
multiplied in numbers. Same undoubtedly were good men, but the 
majority were conventional, easy-going men who "did as the Romans did" 



14 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



and dropped into the heathen vices of the "poor heathen," while the "poor 
heathen" lost respect for their clay gods as they acquired the white man's 
vices. Captain Wilkes, U. S. N., commanding the United States Exploring 
Expedition, had visited the Islands in 1840; and Richard Henry Dana, who 
wrote the immortal "Two Years Before the Mast," did much to draw 
attention to the work of seamen chaplains. In the closing chapter of that 
book; one of the few sea books sailors care to read, he says : 

"The exertions of' the general association, called the Ameri- 
can Seamen's Friend Society, and of the other smaller 
societies throughout the Union, have been a true blessing 
to the seaman; and bid fair, in course of time, to change the 
whole nature of the circumstances in which he is placed, 
and give him a new name, as well as a new character." 

He was speaking as an eye-witness, for by the time he reached the 




FIRST SEAMEN'S BETHEL, ERECTED 1833, HONOLULU, HAWAII 



Pacific coast the American Seamen's Friend Society had its first chaplain in 
the Hawaiian Islands. On the 16th of September, 1832, Rev. John Diell 
was ordained and commissioned to work at Oahu. A free passage was 
given him on the Mentor. On the same ship went the frames for the 
new chapel. The boards and the shingles were already on the way. In 
November Dr. Gardnier Spring of the Brick Presbyterian Church, in the 
Bleecker Street Church commended the Missionary and wife to God. 
A carpenter went with them as artisan missionary. Mr. Diell took out 
as part of his baggage a library of books valued at $500, given chiefly by 
Princeton students. 
The tale of the work for seamen by the Chaplains of the American 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 15 

Seamen's Friend Society in the South Sea Islands runs parallel with the 
glorious work of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 
Missions and the honorable names in its history. They were a noble band 
of men, these early missionaries, who loved the sailors as strongly as they 
loved the heathen around them. With the evangelization of the heathen 
should and does go the evangelization of the seamen in the ports. Such 
men as the Rev. Titus Coan, whose pentecostal work in the great revival 
of 1837-38 was the spiritual birth of the Hawaiian people. Dr. Damon, 
or by his better known title, Father Damon, was pre-eminently a friend 
to the seamen. For some reason the American Seamen's Friend Society's 
publications do not give an adequate account of the life and labors of 
Dr. Damon. He is known by the friends of the work for seamen simply 
as a friend of the seamen. By the kindness of his son we give the first 
account of his career, ever published in America. It is taken from the 
Friend, the paper he edited. Some fresh information has been supplied 
by his son. 

FATHER DAMON, OF HONOLULU 

"Samuel Chenry Damon was born in Holden, Mass., 
February 15, 1815. He graduated at Amherst College, 
Massachusetts, 1836, at the age of twenty-one years, and after 
a year spent in teaching, entered upon his theological course 
at Princeton Seminary, New Jersey, in 1838, and finished the 
course at Andover Seminary, Massachusetts, in 1841. He was 
married to Julia Sherman Mills, a niece of Samuel J. Mills, 
one of the founders of the American Board of Foreign Mis- 
sions, on October 6, 1841. He was ordained to the Gospel 
ministry and with his youthful companion sailed for Hono- 
lulu, March 10, 1842, arriving October 19th of the same year. 
He came out under appointment of the American Seamen's 
Friend Society as Seamen's Chaplain for Honolulu; the Rev. 
John Diell, his predecessor, having been obliged to leave 
from failure of health. 

"Arriving in the prime and vigor of his young manhood, 
he found society in a very primitive state. The foreign resi- 
dents were few in number, and his principal labor was among 
the seamen of the numerous ships which at that time and for 
many years after visited this port in their annual quest for 
whales in the North Pacific. 

"At that time the Bethel Chapel was the only edifice in the 
place for the public worship of English-speaking people, so 
that the Chaplain of the Bethel naturally became the preacher 
and acting pastor for the foreign community on shore as well 



16 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

as for the seamen. The chapel had been erected in 1833, and 
there Father Damon began his early ministry in 1842, and has 
continued it in the same place for forty-two years. In 1837 
the church had been organized under Rev. Mr. Diell as 
the "Bethel Church," and in 1850 it was reorganized under 
Mr. Damon as the Bethel Union Church, under which or- 
ganization it continues at the present day. From under Father 
Damon's ministrations in this church, a colony went forth in 
1852, which formed the present Fort St. Church, and in 1862 
another portion went forth at the establishment of the Ang- 
lican Church in this place. 

"In 1843, the year after his arrival upon these shores, 
Father Damon began the publication of a small newspaper, 
devoted to the welfare of seamen, which became widely 
known as The Friend. During these many years, Dr. Damon 
has been a voluminous writer, a progressive and earnest 
worker, and a prominent figure in all that pertains to the so- 
cial and moral history of Honolulu, and indeed of these 
islands. To speak of Honolulu abroad was to call up Father 
Damon's name: and the successive volumes of The Friend 
contain a succinct history of the Hawaiian nation from 1843 
to the present time. In 1867 Father Damon was honored by 
his Amherst College Alma Mater with the degree of D.D., 
a title well earned and worthily bestowed. 

"It was the privilege of Dr. Damon to travel much abroad 
during his long period of service. In 1849 he visited Oregon 
and California, just at the outbreak of the gold fever in the 
latter State. In 1861 he visited the missions in the groups 
of Micronesia, in the Morning Star, and that visit resulted 
in the publication, first in the Friend, and afterward in pam- 
phlet form, of the Morning Star Papers. In 1869-70, his 
health having become impaired, he made an extended visit 
to the United States, Europe, Palestine, and Egypt, returning 
with fresh vigor and enthusiasm to his labor of love in 
Honolulu. In 1876 he visited the United States again and 
was present at the grand centennial exhibition in Philadelphia. 
In 1880 he revisited England and the Continent, and early 
in 1884 he visited China, returning by way of Japan and San 
Francisco. In all these tours his powers of observation were 
on the alert to trace the progress of Gospel light and civili- 
zation among the nations, and his interest in the missionary 
work and its results was deepened and strengthened. 

"Besides the many volumes of the Friend, his printed dis- 
courses on various occasions of public interest, number forty- 
six. He always took a lively interest in educational matters, 
and from the period of his arrival here took a special in- 
terest in Oahu College, which owes much to his public-spirited 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 17 

efforts and to his own gifts and labors for its advance- 
ment. 

"During the latter years of his life he took a special interest 
in work for the benefit of the Chinese and Japanese. He had 
made arrangements by which his work as pastor of the Bethel 
Church and editor of the Friend was passed over to other 
and younger hands, and was anticipating with enthusiasm the 
devoting of his remaining years to work among the Chinese 
on these islands, and to the cause of education in connection 
with Oahu College. But it was not so to be. His life-work was 
finished — complete and weir rounded, and he was called away. 
His genial smile and noble presence will be missed from the 
streets and homes of Honolulu, but the seed sown by him in 
his many labors in this community will continue to bear 
fruit for many years to come. 

VALPARAISO, CHILE 

The Valparaiso Seamen's Mission was founded January 4, 1846, by the 
late Rev. David Trumbull, D.D., hoisting for the first time in these waters 
the Bethel Flag on Board the American ship Mississippi, on which he had 
come as a passenger from the United States. Dr. Trumbull had been 
commissioned by the American Christian and Foreign Union to labor 
as an Evangelist in Chile. 

He came to the Chilians, but the Chilians received him not, but the 
foreign sailor did receive him, gave him a warm welcome, a parish to 
labor in, a Bethel to preach from, and a flag to protect him. Here, whom- 
soever would, might come, from ship or shore, and enjoy the privileges 
so long denied them. Here his newly made friends and his fellow- 
countrymen gathered around him for many months, Sabbath after Sab- 
bath, until a private room could be occupied with safety on shore. Nor 
was it long they waited. Not many years passed before Dr. Trumbull 
could return the compliment and invite the sailor to sit in peace with 
him in a well-constructed church edifice on shore. The mission to seamen 
was an important factor in solving the question, How was the Gospel 
Messenger to win his first foothold in Chile. 

For a long series of years Dr. Trumbull was enabled, with the occasional 
assistance of private friends, to carry on the work in the Bay of Val- 
paraiso, and at the same time to keep abreast of the rapidly increasing 
demands of his work on shore. After much efforts and expense an old 
hulk, Egeria, was obtained and services held one Sabbath only, when a gale 
of wind wrecked her, the shipkeeper and his family going down with 
the ship. 



18 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

Meanwhile the Chaplain had been trying to devote all his time to the 
Union Church work, and the loss of the Egeria was a serious blow to 
him. Dr. Trumbull again resumed responsibility, which had scarcely been 
interrupted, and with the assistance of his former co-laborers continued 
to maintain the work. 

In 1882, Rev. O. B. Krauser was engaged to carry on the work, under 
the supervision of Dr. Trumbull, supported by the American Seamen's 
Friend Society of New York, and some individual members of Union 
Church. Mr. Krauser 's work, which lasted for about a year, was ap- 
preciated by the friends of the mission, but on account of illness in his 
family he was obliged to retire from the field. It was now fully recog- 
nized by the friends of the mission that a complete reorganization of the 
work was imperative and necessary for its future welfare and usefulness. 
During the recurrent changes of the preceding thirty-seven years Dr. Trum- 
bull was the constant and consistent friend of the Seamen's Mission, taking 
the work up when others laid it down, coming to the front when others 
retired. In these labors he was nobly assisted by a small band of faithful 
co-workers, conspicuous amongst whom for his untiring zeal, unflagging 
devotion and warm-hearted hospitality was the late James Blake. 

The friends of the Mission, and especially the Board of Directors of the 
newly formed Union Church Missionary Society, were now convinced that 
the presence of a thoroughly qualified man was necessary, who would 
devote his entire time and labor to its service as chaplain. 

Dr. Trumbull as President of the Board of Directors, and chairman of 
the executive committee of the Union Church Missionary Society, now 
made an urgent appeal to the American Seamen's Friend Society of New 
York to make this field a permanent branch of their work, procure a 
suitable clergyman as chaplain for the post, and also to make an annual 
appropriation of funds toward his support. 

The American Seamen's Friend Society had already been in the closest 
sympathy with Dr. Trumbull, and his work for seamen in Valparaiso, and 
had watched over it with the keenest interest, giving of its funds towards 
its support from time to time as its necessities required. 

The appeal found a most attentive and cordial reception from the late 
Rev. S. H. Hall, then Secretary of the Society, who immediately brought 
the subject to their special attention. 

Providentially, at this precise time, there came to New York on a busi- 
ness visit the late Alexander Balfour, of the house of Balfour, 
Williamson & Co. of Liverpool and Valparaiso. Mr. Balfour had been 
a resident of Valparaiso for a number of years, and one of Dr. Trumbull's 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



19 



most valued helpers. He was deeply interested in the welfare work for 
seamen, and had been a supporter of the mission in the Bay of Val- 
paraiso, and, therefore, well qualified to speak of its present wants and 
future prospects. He sought an interview with Secretary Hall and the 
Directors of the American Seamen's Friend Society and pleaded the needs 
so effectively that the Board decided to make the Valparaiso Seamen's 
Mission a branch of their work. The Union Church Missionary Society 




--Z — HOPCFUL 

BETHEL SHIP HOPEFUL (VALPARAISO) 



was thus brought into official connection with the American Seamen's 
Friend Society in 1883. 

Secretary Hall, with the full consent of his Board of Directors, at once 
began inquiries for a clergyman. After five months' deliberation, Rev. 
Frank Thompson accepted the post, was commissioned as chaplain on 
December 8, 1883, and sailed for his new field two days later, and arrived 
in Valparaiso January 8, 1884, where he has continued to labor up to the 
present day. 

In 1887 the British iron bark Hopeful came into port in a dismasted 
condition, and was offered for sale. The directors of the Union Church 
Missionary Society, encouraged by promised assistance from the American 
Seamen's Friend Society, felt themselves warranted to go forward and 
purchase her. The vessel came into their possession September 26, 1887, 
and was altered and fitted up as a church, with a fine reading room 



20 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



attached, and was dedicated to her present uses by a Public Service on 
June 10, 1888. 

On the 10th of July following the Hopeful was badly damaged in a 
northerly gale by another vessel driving down upon her and crushing in 
her bows. The British merchant houses and other friends who had for- 
merly contributed toward the purchase and equipment fund, again came 
forward and generously donated the means necessary to complete the 
repairs, since which time the Hopeful, true to her name, has met with no 
further damage, and has never been weighed with a debt. 

It is now sixty-three years since this mission was founded, and twenty- 
seven since the present chaplain entered upon his work. During all these 
years seafaring men have had the Gospel preached unto them, the sick 
in prisons and hospitals have been visited, the destitute and disabled have 
been assisted, and in some cases sent home to friends. 

In February, 1889, Dr. Trumbull died and was rewarded by a State 
funeral, the first ever given to a foreigner. By his labors he established a 
church and a school, founded the Valparaiso Bible Society, edited and 
published The Record, a periodical giving the results of his evangelical 
efforts in Chile. In character he was benevolent, warm, deeply pious, 
gifted, and a student of the Word of God. These qualities gave him 
immense influence with the Chilians and English-speaking residents in 
Valparaiso. 




of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



21 



"SAVING THE NORSEMEN" 

The Scandinavians are seamen by heritage, instinct and compulsion. 
From the days of the Vikings they have sailed the seven seas and have 
played a gallant part in every great event in modern history. Under every 
flag, in every port, in every sort of ship of every country, Scandinavian 




CAPT. FREDERICK O. NTELSON (SWEDEN) 



seamen are to be found. So it was quite natural in a society recognizing 
the stragetic missionary value of seamen to spend some effort on the 
salvation of the descendants of the Vikings. 

When the history of the religious life of Sweden is written the 
American Seamen's Friend Society will be given its rightful place as 
a pioneer in the Swedish evangelical revival. Before the full measure of 
Christian liberty could be meted out to Sweden, of necessity there must 
come, as has been the order in the advances in Christian history, first, 
the presence and demonstration of God's power, followed by persecution, 
trials, and testing of the faith and character of those God intends to use, 
followed by the full freedom to live, preach and teach the Gospel of 
Christ without hindrance. 

In the later thirties and early forties, between Boston and Russia a 
considerable shipping trade flourished, sufficient to justify Cronstadt being 
opened as a chaplaincy in 1839. What was a hard, unripe field led to a 
fairer field ready for harvesting. 

Two Swedish sailors, Frederick O. Nielson and Olof Petersen, with 
piety, gifts, fervent faith and zeal were , commissioned and dispatched to 



22 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



Sweden. From the first they were honored in seeing openly profane and 
irreligious men converted to God. 

Whole districts were moved by the simple power of the Gospel in the 
hands of these simple men. Drunkenness and licentiousness went out as 
the grace of the crucified Saviour was preached. The islands of the 
Baltic were isles of Patmos to hundreds of unlettered fishermen who saw 
the first and the last and the living One in His saving power. The record 
of the missionary journeys of these valiant pioneers remind one of the 
early missionary labors of the frontier preachers on American prairies 
and Mountains. Nielson was pre-eminently an evangelist and an itinerant. 
He visited the fishing stations, islands, traveled over mountains, through 




HARBOR OF GOTTENBURG 



snow drifts. In one trip he covered 533 English miles and left behind 
him whole families in union with Christ and in four places about two 
hundred converts. 

The exact dates of the outbreak and the manner of the persecution we 
are uncertain about. But the causes were a dead state church entrenched 
in privileges, the Gospel coming to hungry men through other than the 
"appointed channels." The fiercer the persecution, the more zealous be- 
came the missionaries, and six years after the work was started opposi- 
tion and persecution had evidently been accepted as the normal thing and 
the report of 1847 says with quaint, impressive brevity: "Stockholm, 
Gottenburg, Sweden, the missions to these ports were persecuted as here- 
tofore." But what is more important, the persecution of Nielson and 
Petersen was the beginning of religious liberty in Sweden. 

In the year 1850 the Government of Sweden had him arrested and 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



23 



imprisoned for preaching and distributing religious books. He was tried, 
condemned and banished from Sweden. On the eve of his departure he 
wrote, "I am happy that I have been allowed to labor in my humble way 
in Sweden for more than eleven years. Glory be to God ! Souls have 
been converted through such an unpolished shaft, and not a few of those 




REV. ANDREW WOLLESEN 
Chaplain at Copenhagen, Denmark 



are already in heaven. I shall commence at Copenhagen as soon as I am 
driven from Sweden. And it shall be my greatest joy to serve a society 
so eminently Christian and above party feeling as is the American Sea- 
men's Friend Society. I will, with the help of God, endeavor to give 
myself more fully to the work of Christ among seamen wherever I go." 

Banished from Sweden he went to Copenhagen and began with zeal and 
devotion to preach Christ until the year 1853, when he led a party of 



24 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

perescuted fellow-exiles — mostly his own converts— in a new exodus to 
the land of religious freedom, America. 

Nielson took his party to the Western States, where the small Swedish 
stream went to swell and enrich the great current of American western 
life. After seven years' labor as a Baptist missionary, he returned to 
Sweden under the patronage of some New York Baptist Churches. The 
Board of the American Seamen's Friend Society reappointed him to 
Gottenburg, and on petition the King revoked the edict against Nielson 
and gave him a privilege enjoyed by no other dissenting minister — in 
1863 — of preaching Christ as he pleased outside of Lutheran Church 
buildings. In revisiting Gottenburg he wrote Dr. Hall : 

"It was with peculiar feelings that I looked at that old 
prison-house and that iron-grated window, through which I 
used to preach the Gospel to the people outside. Times and 
laws have altered since. Thank God, we can now preach 
wherever the people will listen to us, without fear of police 
or prison." 

Yes, times and laws have changed since then, for in the year of this 
writing, the chaplain of the station where Nielson labored was received 
by the King of Sweden, who sent his greetings to the Society and his 
portrait to adorn its new Institute's walls. 



NORWAY AND DENMARK 

The Saviour's injunction to those unduly persecuted was to flee into 
another city. The flight into another city has been a prolific means of 
spreading the Gospel of Grace. Persecution in Jerusalem saved the 
Gospel and sent the apostolic messengers into Africa, Italy, and wherever 
the Roman eagles flew. Persecution and exile drove Captain Nielson from 
Sweden into Denmark and Norway and opened the way for a blessed and 
fruitful ministry to these important maritime nations. From the frag- 
mentary reports and articles published in the Sailors' Magazine since 
1852 it has been difficult to get a full, connected history of the work. In 
lieu of which we print the appended chronology: 

1851-2. 

Rev. Mr. Nielson retired to Copenhagen and commenced his work 
there with his usual zeal and devotion. 
1853-4. 

Mr. Ryding appointed to Ronne, Bornholm (an island in the Baltic). 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 25 

1857-8. 

Norway. Rev. F. L. Rymker was appointed in connection with his 
duties as an agent of the Baptist Publication Society, to labor for sea- 
men in Norway, and began his work at Toldner and Skien, with Brevig 
and Langerund, these places having shipping equal to the largest places 
in the kingdom, and numbers of seamen more than corresponding. His 
efforts were much blessed in the salvation of souls. 
1858-9. 

In Norway, with Porsgrund as the center of his operations, the Rev. 
F. L. Rymker was greatly blessed in seeing the conversion of seamen. 
1860-1. 

Rev. F. L. Rymker removed his residence from Porsgrund to Laurvig, 
Norway, and during the year made a first visit to Gottenburg, then a 
Swedish city of 30,000 inhabitants, with about 250 ships in the harbor. 
1861-2. 

Laurvig, Porsgrund, Fredericksvorn, Langernuth and other ports were 
occupied by Mr. Rymker in Norway. 
1862-3. 

Rev. Mr. Rymker moved his residence from Laurvig, in Norway, to 
Nyborg, in Denmark, but continued his labors in Norway, visiting many 
places upon the coast. Rev. Mr. Ryding was now the pastor of a Baptist 
Church on the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea, belonging to Den- 
mark, and discharged some pastoral duties in connection with two Baptist 
Churches in Copenhagen, Denmark. These two churches had been 
gathered from and were largely made up of seafaring people. Sabbath 
Schools were also established this year by him at Ronne and at Ankers, 
in Denmark. 
1863-4. 

Rev. F. L. Rymker wrought at Lansing, Skien, Porsgrund, Kragero, 
Christiania, Eichvald and Holmestrand, in Norway, while he fixed his 
residence at Odense, in Denmark. Great desire was manifested by the 
maritime people whom he visited to hear the Gospel. 
1865-6. 

A sailor missionary was appointed to labor at Skien, Norway, and in 
that vicinity. 
1866-7. 

Rev. F. L. Rymker was now centered at Odense, in Denmark, and 
thence, commencing with this year, labored among sailors in the Danish 
ports of Nyborg, Tommerup, Lundeborg, Swendborg and Budbjking. 



26 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

1868. 

The Scandinavian missionary force was as follows : 
Norway : 

At Christiansand, Rev. J. H. Hansen, Sailor Missionary. 

At Kragero, Mr. M. Steinsen, Sailor Missionary. 

At Porsgrund, Mr. H. L. Schultz, Sailor Missionary. 
Denmark : 

At Odense, Rev. F. L. Rymker, Sailor Missionary. 

At Copenhagen, Rev. P. E. Ryding, Sailor Missionary. 
Sweden: 

At Gottenburg, Rev. F. O. Nielson and Mr. Lars Carlsson, Sailor 
Missionaries. 

At Warberg and Wedige, Mr. Christian Carlsson, Sailor Missionary. 

At Wernersberg, Mr. Erik Eriksson, Sailor Missionary. 

At Stockholm, Mr. A. M. Ljungberg and Mr. J. A. Anderson, Sailor 
Missionaries. 
1868-9. 

Rev. J. H. Hansen occupied Fredricksband, in Norway, in place of 
Christiansand. 
1869-70. 

Rev. J. Hansen wrought at Sarpsberg, in Norway, with such success 
that he wrote February 22, 1870: "A great number have been awakened 
and many have come to a living faith in Him who justifies and saves the 
lost." Other towns were in his field of labor. 
1870-1. 

Rev. J. H. Hansen reported labor this year at Walloe and Tonsberg, 
in Norway. 
1871-2. 

Mr. H. Hansen was appointed as a sailor missionary at Copenhagen, 
in Denmark Mr. F. L. Rymker, missionary, occupied Odense, in the same 
country, and the labors of Rev. P. E. Ryding were now limited to the 
island of Bornholm, Denmark. At Ronne, on that island, a deep religious 
movement signalized the year. 

Rev. H. P. Bergh, a young Methodist preacher, began very spirited and 
successful labor for seamen at Christiania, in Norway, and its vicinity. 
1874-5. 

Rev. H. P. Bergh, with his headquarters at Christiania, in Norway, 
reported that he held the first seamen's service ever known in Fredericks- 
hold, in Norway. In Drammen, Norway, the beginnings of labor for 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 27 

seamen also took place. Rev. Mr. Bergh was succeeded at Christiania by 

Mr. H. J. Wahlstrom. 

1875-6. 

Rev. H. P. Bergh was transferred by his church authorities from 
Christiansand, Norway, to an inland station and so passed from our 
service. 
1876-7. 

In Denmark, at Copenhagen, Mr. Andrew Wollesen entered upon our 
service within the calendar year just closed, with Rev. P. E. Ryding, one 
of our oldest missionaries (he having begun his labors in 1855). At 
Odense, in the same kingdom, is Rev. F. L. Rymker, commissioned by our 
Society in 1857, whose work has often had the signal seal of God's favor. 
In Norway, at Christiansand, a missionary, Rev. S. Swenson, has been ap- 
pointed who will soon take the place vacated by Rev. H. P. Bergh, trans- 
ferred to an interior field. 
1877-8. 

Rev. S. Swenson began labor at Christiania, in Norway, July 1st. 
1879-82. 

Between the years 1879 and 1882 Chaplain Ljungberg had a great 
religious awakening on the island of Aland, between the Baltic Sea and 
the Gulf of Bothnia. Very many of the young men were converted. 
From this population a number of the great Scandinavian seamen are to 
be found. Captain Frederick Nielson, the pioneer missionary, died in the 
United States in 1881. 
1884. 

The Copenhagen Sailors' Home started. 

1896. 

Property bought for a new Home and Mission. 
1906. 

A new Sailors' Home and Institute opened. 

At the time of this writing, July, 1909, Chaplain Nielson labors at 
Gottenburg, Chaplain Hedstrom at Stockholm, and 'Chaplain Wollesen 
at Copenhagen. All of the Norwegian work is cared for by the Nor- 
wegians themselves and Inland Seamen's Mission of Denmark, the result 
of the American Seamen's Friend Society's labors in Denmark, and 
has Sailors' Homes and Institutes in the following places: Copenhagen, 
Nordorfoshavnsvy, Elsingore, Korsor, Nakskow, Svendborg, Esbjerg, 
Koldihg, Veile, Horsens, Aathus, Marstal, Aalborg, Frederickshaven, 
Skagen, Koge. 



2& An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

LIST OF FOREIGN STATIONS 

1828-1908 
The following complete list of foreign stations represent the wide area 
covered by the Society since its foundation. Naturally, there have been 
many changes in seaports during a period of time covering nearly a 
century and comprehending within that century the rise, growth, and de- 
velopment of iron and steam vessels and the passing of the sailing ship. 
Numbers of these stations ceased to be important and the work was 
abandoned. A policy of withdrawal from British possessions was com- 
menced in the late seventies. Norway prides herself in being able to 
care for her own seamen at home and feels grateful for the initial efforts 
of the American Seamen's Friend Society. 

North America. 
Canada — Labrador — Caribou Islands, Salmon Bay, Bonne Esperance 
Harbor, Esquimaux Bay. 
New Brunswick — St. John. 

West Indies. 

Cuba — Havana, St. Thomas, Antigue. 

South America. 
Panama — Colon (Aspinwall). 
Brazil — Rio de Janeiro. 
Chile — Valparaiso, Talcahuano. 
Peru — Callao, Chincha Islands. 
Argentine Republic — Buenos Aires, Rosario. 
Uruguay — Montevideo. 

Europe. 
Iceland — Ice ford. 
Norway — Toldner, Skien, Brevig, Langerund, Porsgrund, Laurvig, 

Fredericksvorn, Langernuth, Lansing, Kragero, Christiania, Eich- 

vald, Holmestrand, Christiansand, Fredericksband, Sarpsborg, 

Walloe, Tonsberg, Frederickshold, Drammen. 
Sweden — Gottenberg, Stockholm, Gothland, Warberg, Gefle, Tahlen, 

Christianstad, Falsterbo, Wernersberg, Wedige, Malmo, Helsing- 

borg, Sundsvall. 
Denmark — Copenhagen, Nyborg, Odense, Bornholm (in the Baltic), 

Tommerup, Lundeborg, Swendborg, Bubjking. 
Russia — Cronstadt. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 29 

France — Havre, Marseilles, Bordeaux. 

Belgium — Antwerp. 

Holland — Amsterdam, Rotterdam. 

Germany — Hamburg. 

Spain — Cadiz. 

Italy — Genoa, Spezzia, Naples. 

Turkey — Constantinople. 

Malta — Fiorina. 

Madeira — Funchal. 

Asia. 

China — Canton, Hongkong, Shanghai. 
Japan — Yokohama, Yeddo, Kobe, Nagasaki. 
Anatolia — Smyrna- 
India — Calcutta, Bombay, Karachi. 

Africa. 
Cape Colony — Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town. 
Ascension Island — Ronkiti. 

Islands of Pacific and Indian Oceans. 
Sandwich Islands — Honolulu, Lahaina, Hilo. 
East Indies — Batavia, Singapore. 
Australia — Sydney. 
Philippine Islands — Manila. 




30 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



SAVING THE SAILOR AT HOME 

The aim of the founders of the American Seamen's Friend Society- 
was to make a national society and seek to enlist the seamen of America 
and the world in the foreign mission enterprise. Naturally, its first "sea 
missionary" was sent to a foreign country — China. Immediately after 
the embarkation of David Abeel for China a domestic agent was appointed 
to investigate the ports of the United States, visit the Great Lakes, and 
the canal, interesting the friends of seamen in the new society. In other 
words, if the work of the American Seamen's Friend Society was to 
be a foreign missionary enterprise, of necessity it needed a domestic 
work. If the marine Judeas, Samarias, and the ends of the earth were 
to be reached, the marine Jerusalem had to be occupied. In this instance 
the marine Jerusalem was New York. 

New York. — The comparison between Jerusalem and New York is not 
inapt. For in 1828, as in 1908, to affect New York was to affect the world. 
In those days there were men who had never heard of America, but they 
saw and knew American ships and seamen. From the East River, stand- 
ing on Brooklyn Heights, one could look along the sinuous windings of 
the river and see a forest of masts. Where the bridges of Brooklyn and 
Manhattan terminate was New York "sailor town," attractive and 
odorous by day, noisy and vicious by night. From the Bowery down to 
the ship-lined water front abounded the dives, dance-halls, saloons, and 
the sailors' boarding houses, kept by "Shanghai Bills" and "Glasgow 
Mikes" and other equally well-known characters whose cognomens have 
passed into other ports and become part of the speech of "sailor town." 
The crimps and the boarding-house runners were the bosses of "sailor 
town." 

Sailors' Exchange. — In this whirlpool of iniquity the American Sea- 
men's Friend Society began to plant lighthouses to give light and to 
save life. Already there was a church for the sailor where Christ was 
preached. But Christly ministrations in the form of a Sailor's Exchange, 
Labor Bureau, Library were badly needed. A site was bought and in 
a few years this sailors' "clearing house" was opened. It continued 
operations for a number of years, fulfilled its mission, and went out of 
existence. 

Erie Canal. — From New York up the Hudson River by the Canal to 
the Great Lakes was a natural avenue along which the Society's agent 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



31 



went. This ministry to the boatmen was greatly blessed and in the year 
1875, forty years after, Chaplain Dickey reported: "I know of a large 
number of boatmen who are not only reformed, but have become subjects 
of renewing grace. Some who were once working on the canal are now 
farmers, some are mechanics, some hold responsible positions in civil 
life, and some are office bearers in the churches. Others remain on the 
Canal, and help in our work. / know twelve, now preaching the Gospel, 
who were once behind the whifHe-tree on the Erie Canal." 




SOUTH STREET, NEW YORK, WHEN SAILING SHIPS WERE IN THEIR 

PRIME 



Sailors' Home. — The crying need of New York between 1834 and 1842 
was a Sailors' Home. It seemed a waste of energy and an unwise — shall 
we say unchristian? — thing to care for a man's soul and let the man go 
back into the unholy atmosphere of the ordinary sailors' boarding house. 

In 1842 the old Sailors' Home was erected and opened. Its usefulness 
was passed seven years before it was closed. ' The Sailors' Home is a 
dead institution. It had its day and ceased to be with the sailing vessel. 
Like other good institutions, it was maligned, for it had faults and great 
defects. But it provided decent accommodations, a safe shelter, the sug- 
gestion of the home atmosphere. A pleasant point of departure and a 



32 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

welcome devoid of ulterior motives for thousands of sailors for the long 
period of sixty-five years. So great was the need and excellent the pro- 
vision for that need, within ten years after the opening of the first 
Sailors' Home the Society had three Homes in operation in the city of 
New York, one of them for colored seamen. 

Seamen's Bank. — Before leaving the Social, the Gospel in Action, the 
Practically Christian, the Purely Philanthropic, whatever name you wish 
to designate this phase of the Society's labors by, the American Sea- 
men's Friend Society has founded a bank ; agitated for and secured the 
creation in the State of New York of the State Board of Commissioners 
for Licensing of Sailors' Hotels and Boarding Houses. It was instru- 
mental in placing in the Statute Book "An Act for the better protection 
of seamen in the Port and Harbor of New York" and founded the New 
York Seamen's Exchange, embracing a Savings Bank, Reading Room, 
Museum, Hall for Lectures, etc. By actual computation, saved millions 
of dollars for seamen, their wives and families, and it has pioneered for 
eighty-two years in every advance movement looking to the social, mental, 
moral, and spiritual advancement of seamen in the Port of New York. 

Southern States. — Very early in the Society's life considerable prac- 
tical progress was made in the Southern States. A special Secretary was 
set apart to visit the seaports, organize Seamen's Societies, found Sailors' 
Homes. At Richmond, Va., where one thousand eight hundred vessels 
carried each year— according to the statistics of 1859 — a society was 
formed, a seamen's preacher appointed, who gave, in the language of an 
old report, one-half of his time to preaching and the other half to ship 
visiting. 

At Galveston, Tex., a Sailors' Home was started. At Mobile, Ala., 
A Ladies' Bethel Society was formed, and at Mobile Bay, thirty 
miles from the city of Mobile, a floating hospital and Seamen's Church 
was prepared. Rev. F. M. Law, M.D., began to act as chaplain and 
physician, ministering to the hundreds of seamen in the bay. At New 
Orleans lots were secured for the erection of a church. It is significant, 
showing the value and importance of New Orleans before the Civil War, 
that two chaplains and a missionary were constantly employed preaching 
and visiting the ships. (Is it not prophetic of the future when the West 
shall be better developed and the Panama Canal opened?) At Washington, 
D. C, Norfolk, Va., Houma, La., work for seamen was started, and at 
Wilmington, N. C. a Captain Potter built entirely at his own cost a 
church. Through the efforts of the Southern Secretary, funds were 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 33 

raised to build seamen's churches, amounting to: Richmond, Va., $4,000; 
Galveston, Tex., $6,000; New Orleans, La., $4,525.45. 

Pacific Coast. — The first record of anything of a Christian character 
being done for seamen on the coast of California is the simple an- 
nouncement in the records of the American Seamen's Friend Society 
that "Rev. Eli Corwin was sent to commence a station in this (San 
Francisco, Cal.) growing port of the Pacific." With the first rush to the 
gold fields, in the day of San Francisco's sudden rush into prominence and 
profligacy, went Chaplain Rowell. He organized the San Francisco Port 
Society, founded the old Mariners' Church, known to sailors the world 
over, for in the service of the Society we can point out and say this and 
that man was born there. 

As the North American Pacific Coast ports grew, chaplaincies were 
established in Portland, Ore., Astoria, at the mouth of the Columbia River, 
Tacoma, Seattle, and Port Townsend in Washington State. With the 
exception of Port Townsend, all of these agencies are still existent. In 
its thirty years' history, the Pacific Coast work has had its vicissitudes. 
Many lessons have been learned, chief among them the necessity of closer 
relationship between the auxiliary and the parent Society. 

Between the Northern Pacific Coast and the Northern Atlantic Coast 
lies the breadth of a continent, but there is not a hair's breadth difference 
between the needs of the seamen on either of these coasts. 

Caribou Islands. — Up in cold, bleak Labrador, where nature always 
shows her teeth, the Society sent missionaries to the fishing villages, where 
several churches were founded. A chaplain was appointed to St. John's, 
New Brunswick, and $20,000 was raised for a Sailors' Home, to which 
$60,000 was added by the Provincial Parliament. Within the year of this 
writing the old Home has been torn down to make room for the handsome, 
modern Institute, a continuation and culmination of the labor of good men 
in the years of 1857-8. 



LIST OF DOMESTIC STATIONS 

1828—1908 

This chapter makes no pretensions to detailed accounts of the work of 
the American ports, but the multiplicity of the Society's efforts for the 
seamen of the United States may be gathered from the following list of 
ports where the Society has been or is at work. What was said about 



34 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

the Foreign stations is equally true of the Home field, and some of the 
agencies are now self-supporting and independent of the parent Society. 

ATLANTIC COAST 
Maine— Portland. 
New Hampshire — Portsmouth. 
Massachusetts — Boston, Chelsea, Gloucester. 
Connecticut — New London, New Haven. 
Rhode Island — Providence. 

New York— Brooklyn (Navy Yard, William Street Bethel), Clifton, S. I., 
New York City, Troy. 

Canals — Chemung, Chenango, Erie. 

Lakes — Seneca, Cayuga, Ontario. 

Lake Ontario Cities — Oswego. 

Erie Canal Cities — Rochester, Syracuse, Buffalo. 
New Jersey — Jersey City (Floating Bethel), Delaware and Raritan Canal. 
Pennsylvania — Philadelphia. 
District of Columbia — Washington. 
Maryland — Baltimore. 

Virginia — Alexandria, Norfolk, Richmond, Newport New s. 
North Carolina — Wilmington. 
South Carolina — Charleston. 
Georgia — Savannah, Brunswick. 

GULF COAST 
Florida — Pensacola. 
Alabama — Mobile. 
Louisiana — New Orleans, Houma. 
Texas — Galveston. 

MISSISSIPPI RIVER 
Missouri — St. Louis. 
Tennessee — Memphis. 

GREAT LAKES 
Ohio — Cleveland. 
Illinois — Cairo, Chicago. 
Michigan — Detroit. 

PACIFIC COAST 
Oregon — Portland, Astoria. 
California — San Francisco. 
Washington — Seattle, Tacoma, Port Townsend. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 35 



WORK IN THE UNITED STATES NAVY 

The first issue of the Sailors' Magazine, dated September, 1828, had a 
cut on its front page, one of these quaint old wood-cuts, which is re- 
produced in this story of the American Seamen's Friend Society's work 
among Naval men. 

When the Society began its efforts the American Navy consisted of 
40 vessels, of which there were seven 74's, or ships of the line ; seven 
44's, or frigates of the first class ; four of the second class, including 
the Fulton steamship ; twelve sloops of war ; seven schooners and other 
vessels. The Constitution, United States, and Constellation, historic old 
frigates, launched in the year 1797, were the oldest vessels in the Navy 
and still in service. When the American Seamen's Friend Society was 
founded in 1828, the spiritual force of the Navy was as follows : 



CHAPLAINS IN THE NAVY, 1828, WITH 

THEIR STATIONS 

Rev. James Brooks Navy Yard, New York 

" James Everett Navy Yard, Boston 

" Addison Searle Leave of Absence 

" Cave Jones Naval School, New York 

" John W. Grier Delaware 74 

" Edward McLaughlin Navy Y T ard, Gosport, Va. 

" Hervey H. Hayes Frigate Java 

" Greenbury W. Ridgley. Navy Y^ard, Philadelphia 

" John P. Fenner Navy Y'ard, Washington 

At the celebration of its Eightieth Anniversary in 1908, the Navy has 
grown from a small fleet to 169. The enlisted men have increased tenfold, 
38,500; officers 2,550. While the actual, efficient and available force 
for sea service barely equals in number the staff as printed above. 

The chaplain of the Guerriere wrote with some illumination on Navy 
life ashore and afloat. On a voyage to the Pacific Coast he says the 
officers had good private collections of books and the ship a fair library. 
Regularly every Sunday divine worship was held and the Commander 
appointed daily prayers to be said at the hour of sunset. From the early 
stories of the Navy in those days we gather that the sins of the crew 
were just the same as in the year of larger light 1908. Ship discipline 



36 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



much about the same; only the dog watches were kept as times of jollity 
and abandoned to mirth more than at present. The difference between 
Naval life in 1828 and 1908 might be summarized thus. 

Ships went by sail. The voyages were longer; consequently the days at 
sea figured more in a cruise than they do now. When in port the men 




DEMOLOGOS (FULTON THE FIRST) 1813 
First steam war ship 

were in port for months at a time. Months at sea and weeks in port was 
the custom then. Weeks at sea and days in port is the custom now. 
With the added advantage of men schooled in the discipline of the long 
voyage when the sea, the clouds, and the heavens above spoke to the 



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BETHEL SERVICE ON DECK OF THE RECEIVING SHIP "FULTON THE 
FIRST," JULY 18. 1828 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



37 



sailor longer and more clearly than a hurried rush across the ocean by 
steam would permit. 

The stations and chaplaincies of the American Seamen's Friend So- 
ciety were often the only spiritual forces at work on the Navy. In 
the thirties, forties, fifties, and up to the year 1875 foreign missionaries 
were not numerous in the great seaports in the Far East. Union churches 
for the American and European residents sprang into existence because of 




> 






UNITED STATES BATTLESHIP VERMONT. 1908 



the dearth of the means of Grace. The regular ordained clergymen in 
a treaty port of China and the nearer East, the chaplain to seamen for 
many years, were the only really spiritual advisers the United States 
Naval men had for nearly forty years until missionaries increased in 
numbers and other Christian agencies went abroad. 

In the year 1876 the American Seamen's Friend Society appointed its 
first chaplain to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. His work was for enlisted 
men in the United States Navy. 

Mention should be made here of the placing of Loan Libraries on 
naval ships since the year 1877. 

Another and very potent, although short-lived, force for good in the 



38 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

Navy was the start in New York of the Naval Temperance Society. 
Thousands of men foreswore insidious liquor, which has wrought 
more harm and killed more men in the United States Navy than all the 
shot and shell of the enemies it has fought. 

It would be invidious to make distinctions among the men who have 
faithfully worked for the spiritual benefit of "Jack:." for the chaplains of 
the Society have earned "honorable mention" in this particular phase of 
Christian work. But any resume of work for seamen in the United States 
Navy would fall short if Jack Wood were not mentioned. He has gone to 
his reward after a fitful and adventurous life. His unregenerate years 
were stained with flagrant sin. He who was chief among sinners became 
chief among the apostles to naval men. The short career as chaplain in 
Brooklyn was rounded out by a glorious death in Christ. Hundreds of 
distinguished and undistinguished men in and out of the service mourned 
his death. But of his love and service it is not written on books, but on the 
souls of the men he redeemed by leading them to Him who is the Re- 
deemer of all men. Chaplain Fithian is the present incumbent at Cobb 
Dock Navy Yard. 

Within the last two years the Society's chaplains have been publicly 
thanked and commended by the admirals of the fleet for special services 
at Rio de Janeiro, Yokohama, and many other ports. For it is interesting 
and worth remembering that at ten of the seaports in the world where the 
United States Navy and other navies make calls more or less lengthy, the 
American Seamen's Friend Society has chaplains to befriend the en- 
listed men. 




JOHN WOOD, COBB DOCK NAVY YARD. BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



39 



FLOATING CHAPLAINS 



LOAN LIBRARIES 

Before the American Seamen's Friend Society was a year old, in 
November, 1833, its first library had gone to sea, destination Honolulu, 





LOAN LIBRARY 



Sandwich Islands. The Brig Hermon, carrying Chaplain Diell, the newly 
appointed chaplain, commissioned to labor among the American whale- 
men for Honolulu was the Pacific rendezvous for the New England whal- 
ers. The students of Princeton University supplied the new chaplain with 
$500 worth, of books, besides large quantities of pamphlets and papers 
for the seamen. From 1833 up to the present year, without cessation, 



40 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

literature has been sent on ships either loosely in bundles or cased in 
regular library boxes. In the early days of the Society, Loan Libraries 
were sent out by the Auxiliary Societies, from Boston, New Orleans, 
Philadelphia, and other seaports. As the salutary value of a library grew 
in the consciousness of shipmasters the demand increased until between 
the years 1837' and 1838 eighty Loan Libraries were sent to sea. Nothing 
further was done in an organized way until the year 1859, when the Loan 
Library System was organized and became a regular feature of the 
Society's operations. 



GROWTH 

1859 10 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

1860 94 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

1861 113 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

1862 117 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

1863 218 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

1864 421 Loan Libraries sent to sea. 

Since 1859 a grand total of 25,708, an average of 521 per year for fifty 
years. In the fiftieth year of the Loan Library work 3,000 libraries are 
in active use. 

Number of books : 

The Loan Libraries contained 
620,808 volumes of general matter. 
26,702 Bibles sent in the Loan Libraries. 
12,000 manuals of worship. 
25,938 (estimated) hymn books. 

Since the beginning of popular hymn 
books, hymn books have been placed 
as the sailors know and love the 
catchy melodies. 
445,044 seamen have had access to the books 
by actual record, although more than 
one million seamen must have been 
reached by the books. 

The number of books sent to sea by the Loan Library System since 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



41 



its start in 1859 would nearly equal the present combined libraries of 
Princeton and Columbia Universities. 



BOOKS TO INSTRUCT 



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The library now going to sea contains the following : 

Holy Bible American Bible Society 

Seamen's Manual of Worship, 4 copies. 
Gospel Hymns No. 5, 8 copies. 

The Marks of a Man Robert E. Speer 

The Christianity of Jesus Christ Mark Guy Fearse 

The Spiritual Athlete W. A. Bodell, A.B. 

The Simple Things of the Christian Life G. Campbell Morgan 

The Bible as Good Reading Albert J. Beveridge 

All of Grace C. H. Spurgeon 

The Holy War John Bunyan 



42 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

Bible Characters D. L. Moody 

Hand Book of Proverbs A. L. Burt Co. 

Jerry McAuley R. M. Offord 

The Sky Pilot Ralph Connor 

Temperance Tales Colportage Library 

Hand in Hand (German) W. O. v. Horn 

Verirrt und Heingefimden (German) Carl Tetzel 

Signe og Hermod (Norwegian) John Zie 

The Great Pilot (Swedish) Richard Newton 

What a Young Man Ought to Know S. S. Stall, D.D. 

Atlas . Harper & Bros. 

Dictionary of the Holy Bible (illustrated) W. W. Smith 

Dictionary (illustrated) ,Noah Webster 

Off the Rocks W. T. Grenfell 

Glimpses in Maori Land Annie E. Butler 

How It Is Done A. Williams 

Cruising Among the Garibbees Chas. A. Stoddard, D.D. 

Chinese Characteristics . : . . . .Arthur H. Smith, D.D. 

Tales from Shakespeare Chas. and Mary Lamb 

Bob Hampton of Placer Randell Parrish 

When Wilderness Was King Randell Parrish 

Graham of Claverhouse Ian MacLaren 

A Flame of Fire Joseph Hocking 

Hurricane Island H. B. Watson 

Nancy Stair E. MacC. Lane 

Vanity Fair Wm. M. Thackeray 

David Balfour Robert L. Stevenson 

One Hundred Stories (Swedish) L. L. 

Four Hundred Laughs A. L. Burt 

On the Way to Paris Jules Verne 

literature for seamen 

"The question of literature for seamen is of vital importance to the 
sailor. Books are a prime factor in moulding the character of their 
readers, therefore it is our religious duty to place in the hands of the 
sailor books that will instruct his mind, cheer his lonely hours at sea, 
comfort him in sorrow, uplift his morals and save his soul. 

"Sailors as a rule are fond of reading, but it is a mistake to think be- 
cause these men are shut out of the world, and lack sources of informa- 



the American Seamen's Friend Society 



43 



tion. they will read anything and everything. However, they will read 
books of adventure, biography and chivalry. The desire for reading and 
the taste for a particular kind is there, and it is our privilege to cultivate 
the desire and create a taste for good literature. 



ADVENTURE 

"A sailor will often go without sleep in order to follow the adventures 
of his favorite hero. These books ought to be full of action in even- 
chapter, and fully illustrated, and should be selected not only with a view 
to their interest as narratives, but still more to their value as books of 
instruction. 

biography 

"Books of biography are an inspiration to their readers. We should 
take advantage of the sailor's taste for this class of books by giving them 
the storv of the life of some hero, statesmen or ministers, full of grand 




READING ROOM, NEW" SEAMEN'S INSTITUTE, NEW YORK 



44 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

ideals and worthy to follow, and the sailor's life will be made much 
brighter and better by trying to reach up to their standard of living. 



CHIVALRY 

"Books of this kind appeal strongly to the sailor. His sympathy is 
with the under dog and he admires the man who champions the cause of 
the weak. Any story in which the hero undertakes to combat, whether 
in the cause of love or in the way of Christian duty, or in the pursuit of 
a worthy end, has a peculiar fascination for sailors, and many have been 
drawn towards Christianity by this view of it, as being the true theory for 
a life of steady endurance and noble doing. 



POETRY 

"Poetry appeals to that which is best, purest and highest in humanity, 
it is essential that we give to the sailor a book of poems which treat of 
country or home life. They should be epic or lyric poems. Under 
this head should be included copies of the Gospel Hymns, as the men in 
their watch below gather in the forecastle and sing these hymns from be- 
ginning to end regardless of tune (we should embrace this as an oppor- 
tunity to give them the Gospel in song). The Gospel is often given 
in song. 

RECREATION AND AMUSEMENT 

"One of the sailors' amusements is the spinning of yarns and cracking of 
jokes. These are often of a double meaning, coarse, vulgar, and obscene. 
In our efforts to help him live a better life we will find few books of more 
practical value than a book of humor, filled with bright short stories and 
clean jokes, which will stand repeating, thus robbing Satan of one of his 
strongest weapons which he uses in the destruction of the soul of the 
sailor. 

"Books of fiction, romance, humor, detective and love stories have a 
great attraction for the sailor. Of course, there is a wide range of choice 
in these books and great caution must of course be used in the selection; 
we should choose them deliberately and with keen discrimination, seek- 
ing only those that give promise of proving useful, refining and uplifting. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 45 

educational 

"History, geography, navigation, steam engineering, electricity, and 
books of reference come under this head; these should be clear in style, 
not at all technical, easily understood by the layman. Sailors are daily 
in contact with navigation, the science of steam engineering and elec- 
tricity, and it is no little thing to open to them a new world of thought 
and to help them to raise themselves in their position on board ships. 

MORAL AND UPLIFTINC 

"The besetting sins of sailors are intemperance and immorality. We 
owe it to these men to combat these evils by placing in their hands such 
books as will teach them that these sins are not only against God, but 
against their own bodies, and that if they would be strong, healthy, manly 
men, they must live clean, pure lives. 

RELIGIOUS AND DEVOTIONAL 

"The greatest attention, of course, must be given to the selection of 
this class. They should be strong, true to life, wholesome, presenting 
sound ideals of life and high standards of character, thoroughly evangel- 
ical in their teachings. Such a list should include books on meditation and 
prayer, books to awaken the sinner, call the unconverted to repentance 
and to incite the reading of the Holy Scripture. For while it is much 
to instruct, comfort and cheer, the chief aim should be to bring sailors 
in close touch with God their Maker, and Jesus Christ their Saviour." 



AWARDS FOR LOAN LIBRARIES 

Public recognition of the Loan Libraries has been generous and frequent 
in the daily press and monthly magazines. In 1900 the Paris Exposition 
Medal was granted the Society for its literary work, and at the Jamestown 
Exposition. 1907, a Diploma. and Bronze Medal was awarded for the 
exhibit of the Society, which included the Library Commodore Peary had 
with him in his second last Polar expedftion. 



46 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



"THE PRICE OF THE FISH" 

Since the days of the apostles, when our Lord chose for His immediate 
friends a group of fishermen, fishermen have been invested with a halo 
of interest. A never-ending charm draws the world's eyes to the 
fishermen of the world, and no society can be long at work among sea- 
faring men without recognizing the value of the fishermen, the hardy, 
daring men, whose daily lives are in peril in the attempt to reap the 
harvest that is never reaped. 

There are many fishing grounds in the Far East, on the Pacific coast, 
Europe and the Atlantic. But the great fishery of the world lies along 
the northeast coast of America. The grand banks of 
ATLANTIC Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and as far south 

COAST as Boston is the fishermen's greatest field. The Ameri- 

can Seamen's Friend Society has assiduously cared 
for these heroes of the deep for three-quarters of a century. 

At Gloucester, chief seat of the American fishing industry, the Society 
has helped to maintain a station. The yearly sacrifice yielded up 
by stress of storm, collision, winter chill and enveloping fog is sixty 
men and twelve vessels. 

On the Pacific coast, at Astoria, our representative labors faithfully 
among Finns, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Italians, Germans, Aus- 
trians, Chinese, Russians, Japanese, Americans and 
PACIFIC Canadians engaged in the salmon fishing, while in the 

COAST bays, islands and open seas of Sweden, Norway and 

Denmark for fifty years the Society's faithful Scandi- 
navian chaplains and missionaries have faced flood, storm and wreck in 
their preaching tours, helping the fishermen's families in all the little 
romances and great tragedies of a fisherman's life. The chief value of this 
work lies in its far-reaching reflex action. From the fishermen's huts of 
the Scandinavian countries brave sailor lads go out to sea, and sail on the 
ships of the world. 

"And some are drowned in deep water, 
And some in sight o' shore, 
And word goes back to the weary wife, 
And ever she sends some more." 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



47 




"ON THE GRAXD BANKS" 
'They be- dear fish tae me" 



48 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



THE MINOR ACTIVITIES 

The main activities of the American Seamen's Friend Society in general 
terms have been the founding of chaplaincies, building of Bethels, i. e., 
seamen's churches, and the maintaining of the means of grace for sea- 
men, the promotion of mental and moral culture among seamen afloat by 
the Loan Library System, and philanthropic work, such as promoting 
Sailors' Homes, Mariners' Houses, Institutes, Reading Rooms, Coffee 
Rooms, Shelters and other places of a helpful character. 

This work has not been confined to one continent, nationality, color, or 
creed. The simple working policy has been to minister in every way to 
every seaman in whatever way the means and local conditions would 
allow. In welfare work for seamen no arbitrary, hard and fast rules are 
possible. Local conditions determine the nature and scope of the work 
performed. Naturally there have been many outcroppings in the eighty 
years' history. 

Sea life with all its vicissitudes is the explanation of many of the 
minor activities in a well-conducted Seamen's church or institute. Who 
ever thinks that a seaman below the rank of an officer has no place or 
means of writing to wife and friends aboard of a ship. He must go 
ashore, repair to the Seamen's Reading Room, write and 
JACK'S receive his letters. Consequently many of the auxiliary 

'BANKER stations of the Society handle as much mail matter as 

a second-class post office; has money to be .sent home to 
dependents. The chaplain acts as* banker and postmaster combined. Last 
year the Society took care of 30,000 letters and about 40,000 packages and 
newspapers and over $50,000. 

Both a seafaring man's life and his work are precarious. It is no 
exaggeration.- but a simple statement of a fact easily verified that a steel 
plate or a strand of rope is all that stands between him and death and a 
month's wages between 'him and absolute destitution. At the end of every 
voyage the average sailor joins the ranks of the unemployed. Between 
being "paid off" from one ship and "signing" on another is often a 
grim, sordid, hungry chapter in his life's story. Not 
WHEN JACK that all sailors are profligate and spendthrift. Excep- 
IS DOWN tional men have saved money and retired to modest 

comfort. "Exceptional" in this instance is the correct 
term to use. But through dull shipping being "paid off" in a poor 
shipping port, and many other causes, few seamen remain long at sea 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



49 



without some time or other becoming positively penniless and in need of 
help. Exposure to bad weather, and hard work on deck or in the fireroom, 
sudden changes of climate, discharging and loading a cargo in unhealthy, 
malarious ports account for the large numbers of sick seamen, the Govern- 
ment Marine Hospitals, and Homes for Consumptives, pathetic com- 
mentaries on a seaman's workaday life. 

The moment a ship is lost a crew's wages stop. The same 'crew may 
escape, save their lives, but in nine cases out of ten Jack's baggage is lost 




MEASURING SHIPWRECKED CREW OF THE S.S. 
FOR CLOTHING 



'REPUBLIC 



also. It makes a thrilling story in the papers to read of the gallant 
rescues by the brave men of the life-boat service. We applaud the hero- 
ism of the rescuers and the rescued, forgetful of the fact that the rescued 
crew must begin life over again. Hence the interesting and helpful fact 
that every station of the American Seamen's Friend Society is a station 
for the relief of the shipwrecked and destitute crews in its immediate 
vicinity. 

In the eightieth year of the Society's history, which may be taken as an 
average year, 16,567 free meals were given to hungry seamen; 12,876 
homeless seamen (a small army) in all ports of the world were sheltered 
in their hour of distress. No record is kept of the stranded men cast on 



50 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

the docks that our chaplains have clothed and made presentable or sent 
to their homes. In the rigors of last January, when the White Star liner 
Republic was sunk, the brave crew was landed in New York clad in rags 
and borrowed clothes. To clothe the shipwrecked crew was no easy 
matter, but it was done, and 200 clad and grateful men left the port of 
New York for their homes, leaving behind them in the pages of the New 
York press tangible proof of their heartfelt gratitude. This particular in- 
stance of the helpfulness of the Society is not singled out because 
of any special feature worthy of attention. It was no spasm of 
philanthropy, but an illustration of what a Seamen's Mission has been 
doing with unobtrusive quietness for eighty years. 

Long before the age of cheap newspapers and cheaper magazines, 
the Sailors' Magazine and Seamen's Friend was pleading the cause of Jack 
ashore and afloat. Its eighty completed volumes are in themselves a record 

of the Society's doings — without a subscription list suf- 
"SAILORS' ficient at any time to meet the cost of its publication. 

MAGAZINE" Yet it has been the advocate of the Society and brought 

sympathy and substance that otherwise would never 
have been gained. Hundreds of the friends of the sailor know the sailor 
only through the pages of the magazine, which has kindled and kept alive 
an interest in their less favored brethren afloat, resulting in bequests large 
enough to pay the publication expenses of the magazine for several years. 
The Lifeboat, a children's paper, placed in Sunday Schools, has helped 
greatly in the Loan Library work. A Seamen's Hymn Book, published by 
the Society, helped to create a sea vision in the larger denominational hymn 
books and enriched the devotional life of the church. The 
WORSHIP rich symbolism of the sea has been used by writers of 
AT SEA hymns in a way that has in its reflex action aided Mis- 

sions to Seamen. A Seamen's Manual of Worship 
for the use of seamen afloat, is now in its twelfth edition. The 
testimony of sea captains and officers, extending over a number of years, 
is eloquent tribute to its usefulness, and will help to restore the ancient 
custom of the sea when, in the quaint language of articles of Captain 
Martyn Frobisher on his third voyage of discovery in 1578: 

Zo baniBbe swearinge, Dice, caries* plageinge, 
ano all ffltbie talk, ano to serve (3oo twice a 
oate witb tbe orDinaire Service usuall in tbe 
Cburcb. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 



51 



To hasten the day when praise shall ascend to God on sea as well as 
on' land a number of pious ladies founded the Annapolis Bible Fund in 
memory of one who greatly desired to promote the happiness and spiritual 
welfare of the young officers of the U. S. Navy on the clay of their gradua- 
tion at the U. S. Naval Academy. 




SAMPSON ROW, NAVAL ACADEMY, ANNAPOLIS, MD. 



52 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



SEAMEN'S CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 

There has been a feeling among the chaplains of the American 
Seamen's Friend Society that something should be done to unite 
Christian seamen of all nationalities and creeds. In such a union or 
brotherhood the danger is to make it too broad, that it would dissipate 
its energies and die, or become purely local and be used for purposes com- 
mendable enough in themselves, but lacking universality of plan and pur- 
pose. Any chaplain can form an organization to help his local work 
financially or socially, such things have been done with varying success. 
But a world-wide movement capable of embracing in its fold men of all 
nations must have three things : 

I. A great divine motive. 

II. Broad catholic plan. 

III. Be worthy of a man's living and dying for it. 

In very brief terms the Seamen's Christian Brotherhood is a union of 
Christian seamen for the purpose of making other seamen Christians. 
Therein lies the thought and the appeal of this movement for seamen. It 
challenges a man to heroism by calling him to die to self, live to righteous- 
ness and for the salvation of other seamen. 

After much deliberation and prayer at the first international conference 
it was ultimately agreed that : 

A union or brotherhood of seamen be founded. 

That it be known as "The Seamen's Christian Brotherhood." 

That all seamen, believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and striving to 
follow Him in life and service, be eligible for membership. 

That workers and helpers on shore, who are believers, may become 
associate members. 

Members and associates are requested to wear a badge. The design of 
which badge will be a fac-simile of the adopted flag. 

Card of membership will be given, and an efficient means of communica- 
tion between the chaplains (or missionaries) respecting the members will 
be made. 

The design of the badge, etc., will be left in the hands of the executive 
of the American Seamen's Friend Society and the British and Foreign 
Sailors' Society. 

Each member and associate will be provided with the Bible reading notes 
of the International Bible Reading Association. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 53 

the objects of the brotherhood 

a. To seek the salvation of all seamen. 

b. The systematic reading and study of God's Word. 

c. Sympathetic co-operation on behalf of seamen in prayer and effort. 

d. Honoring the Lord's Day. 

e. The promotion of temperance, also purity in word and conduct 

among the men of the sea. 

ADOPTION OF FLAG AND BADGE 

The Conference on the above subject proved to be one of the most 
important in the whole session. Although set for Monday morning, it 
was brought up at intervals during the week and was finally settled. At 
an early stage of the consideration of the matter, it was referred to a 
special committee composed of the following brethren : Chaplains Nirtchey, 
Rotterdam; Tuttle, Gloucester; Stuckenbrok, Brunswick; Sarner, Galves- 
ton. Later on the names of the Rev. George McPherson Hunter and Rev. 
E. W. Matthews were added. And it was unanimously agreed that respect- 
ing the question of flag and design thereon, William Elling, of the Loan 
Library Department, be consulted. 

FLAG 

Flag: The recommendation of the committee was that a uniform flag 
be adopted for the use of the various stations (or auxiliaries) of the 
American Seamen's Friend Society. In the event of some of these having 
a flag which may have in the course of time endeared itself by many 
hallowed and blessed associations, full sanction be given to use such a 
flag. Regarding stations abroad receiving support from the American Sea- 
men's Friend Society and the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, it is 
recommended that both flags be used. 

The flag suggested is as shown at the Conference with the addition of a 
white dove. 

The flag will be emblematic; oblong and of suitable dimensions; blue 
ground, white cross in the centre, a red five-pointed star in left upper 
corner and a white dove. 

The star emblematic of the 
Star of Bethlehem, - Incarnation of Jesus Christ. 

The Cross, - Atonement for sin. 

The Dove, - - - - - Holy Spirit. 



54 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

badge 
The badge suggested is a button in form of a life buoy with the initials 
S. C. B. in red, white and blue, and the emblem of the flag in the centre. 

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS OF THE SEAMEN'S 
CHRISTIAN BROTHERHOOD 

Article I. — Name. 
This Brotherhood shall be called the "Seamen's Christian Brotherhood." 

Article II— Headquarters. 
The American headquarters shall be the American Seamen's Friend 
Society, 76 Wall Street, New York City. The European headquarters 
shall be the British and Foreign Sailors' Society, 680 Commercial Road, 
London E., England. 

Article III. — Emblems. 

The Emblems of this Brotherhood shall be a marine blue flag, with a 

white cross in the centre, a red five-pointed star in left upper corner and 

a white dove ; and a button in the form of a life buoy with the initials 

S. C. B. in red, white and blue and the emblems of the flag in the centre. 

Article IV. — Object. 
The object of this Brotherhood shall be to unite all Christian seamen, 
chaplains, workers and friends of the sailor in a sympathetic endeavor 
to bring all seamen to acknowledge Jesus Christ as their Saviour, and to 
encourage them to witness for Him before their shipmates and natives of 
the countries they visit. 

Article V. — Membership. 
The membership of this Brotherhood shall be Christian seamen, chap- 
lains, workers of the above mentioned Societies and friends of the sailor 
in every port. 

Article VI. — Officers. 
The Officers of this Brotherhood shall be the chaplain of the local 
auxiliary of the American Seamen's Friend Society and the British and 
Foreign Sailors' Society, and whom he shall appoint to assist him in carry- 
ing out the objects of this Brotherhood in the most efficient manner. 

Article VII. — Meetings. 
Meetings shall be held weekly in the Institute or Bethel of the local 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 55 

auxiliary of the above mentioned Societies at such time as the chaplain 
shall designate. 

BY-LAWS. 
Duties of Chaplains. 

i. 

The chaplains of the local auxiliary of the American Seamen's Friend 
Society and the British and Foreign Sailors' Society shall conduct all 
meetings, appoint all officers and fill all vacancies caused by death or 
otherwise. 

ii. 

Chaplains of the local auxiliary of the above mentioned Societies shall 
issue cards of membership and forward the names of members every three 
months to headquarters at New York and London, also give to members 
cards of introduction to the chaplain of the local auxiliary of the port to 
which his vessel is bound. Chaplains shall welcome said members and 
endeavor to make their stay on shore as pleasant as possible. 

hi. 
It is recommended that chaplains observe the first Sunday in October 
of each year as Brotherhood Day. Shall preach a sermon suitable to the 
occasion, also shall endeavor to have the pastors of churches present the 
cause of seamen to their people on that day. 

IV. 

Chaplains shall procure a flag, the emblem of this Brotherhood and 
display it upon their buildings. 

V. 
Chaplains shall keep a supply of the buttons and shall earnestly request 
all members to purchase and wear the same. 

Duties of Members. 

i. 
Application for membership shall be made to the chaplain of the local 
auxiliary of the above mentioned Societies. 

ii. 

Members shall fill out the application blanks, subscribe to the rules, 
purchase and wear the emblem of this Brotherhood. 



56 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

CHRONOLOGY OF THE AMERICAN SEA- 
MEN'S FRIEND SOCIETY 

1825. — Rev. John Truair suggested formation of American Seamen's 
Friend Society. 
Meeting called on October 25th of same year to take action. 
1828-'29. — Board and Executive Committee appointed. 

Start of the Sailors' Magazine. 
1829-'30. — First agent appointed. 
1830-'3L— David Abeel sailed for China. 

Agent appointed to visit the lakes. 
Beginning of Sailors' Home in New York City. 
1831-'32. — Origin of the New Orleans work. 

1832-'33. — First chaplain sent to Sandwich Islands; also to Havre, France. 
1833-'34. — Society incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. 

Site purchased for a Society's House. 
1834-'35. — Rev. J. A. Copp sent to Havana. 
1835-'36.— Rev. A. Williams appointed to Mobile. 

Rev. O. M. Johnson ordained and dispatched to Rio de Janeiro, 
Brazil. 
1836-'37. — Arrangements made with missionaries resident in Calcutta, 
India, Batavia and Singapore, for them to labor on behalf of 
seamen. 
1837-'38. — The Rev. H. Loomis commissioned for New Orleans. 

Work in Cronstadt, Russia, began. 
1838-'39. — First church organization especially designed for seamen in 
foreign land was opened in Honolulu. 
Sailors' Home opened at 140 Cherry Street, New York. 
The first libraries sent on board ship. 
1839-'40. — Chaplain appointed to Calcutta. 

Sailors' Home opened at Singapore. Incidently, aid furnished 
to promote labors for seamen at Cape of Good Hope, Africa, 
Cadiz. Spain, and Inagua, W. I. Another boarding house 
opened in New York City. 
First co-operative work with the British and Foreign Sailors' 
Society in Cronstadt, Russia. 
1840-'41. — Rev. M. T. Adam appointed and sailed to begin work in Sydney, 
Australia. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 57 

1841-'42. — The third boarding house owned and managed by the American 
Seamen's Friend Society opened (first one for colored sea- 
men). 
1842- '43. — Emperor Nicholas of Russia granted permission to erect a place 
of worship for seamen in Cronstadt. 
Corner-stone laid for chapel at Havre. 
Gottenburg and Stockholm opened. 
Completion of New York Sailors' Home. 
1843-'44. — Work at Amsterdam, Holland, started. 
1844-'45. — Rev. H. Loomis appointed Associate Secretary of the American 

Seamen's Friend Society. 
1845-'46. — Three hundred and fifty-eight whaling vessels touched at Hono- 
lulu, having an aggregate of 10,000 seamen. 
1847-'48. — Work in Canton, China, resumed. 

Bethel opened at Hilo, Sandwich Islands. 
1848- '49.— Rev. D. Trumbull opened Bethel in Valparaiso, Chile. 

Rev. J. M. Pease visited principal ports in the West Indies 
with a view to openings. 
1850-'51. — Completion of the Floating Bethel, Canton, China. 
1851-'52. — Society's chaplain at Gottenburg imprisoned, tried, condemned 
and banished for preaching and distributing religious books. 
The Rev. J. Rowell appointed chaplain to Panama. 
1852-'53. — Work at San Francisco and Island of St. Helena opened. 
1853-'54. — Chaplain appointed to Callao, S. A. 

1854-'55. — The exiled Chaplain F. O. Nielson arrived in New York with 
over one hundred of his persecuted converts from his native 
country, and went with them to the Western States. 
.St. John's, New Brunswick, grant given to support a chaplain. 
1856-'57. — Rev. John Spaulding resigned his secretaryship. 

Rev. J. C. Beecher,, son of Lyman Beecher, appointed and sailed 
for China. 
•1857-'58. — Chaplain appointed to Norway. 

Work started at Hong Kong and Buenos Ayres. 

Rev. A. McGlasham appointed Secretary for the Southern 

States. 
Rev. J. Rowell appointed to San Francisco. 
Arrangements made to secure greater unity for Christian labor 
for seamen. 



58 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

1858-'59. — Rev. I. P. Warren, Secretary, resigned. 

Callao opened by the Rev. J. A. Swaney. 
Funchal, Maderia, opened. 
Loan libraries began as a systematic work. 
Revival of religion broke out in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. 
1859-'60. — Rev. S. B. S. Bissel appointed Associate Secretary of the Society. 
First appropriation made for work at Caribou Island on Labra- 
dor coast. 
1861-'62. — The Southern secretaryship filled by the Rev. Mr. Cheney. 
Four ports opened in Norway. 
Beginning of Antwerp, Belgium, station. 
1862-'63.— rDisruption of all relation with the Southern States in carrying 
on work for seamen. Nothing reported from the South until 
the close of the war in 1865. 
Rev. D. O. Bates appointed to the Navy Yard. 
1863-'64. — Owing to national disturbances all work in China suspended. 

L. P. Hubbard appointed Financial Agent of the Society. 
1864-'65. — F. O. Nielson returned to Sweden and appointed to Gottenburg. 

Beginning of work in Japan. 
1865-'66. — One thousand dollars appropriated by the Board for the pur- 
chase of a lot to erect Bethel in San Francisco. 
Dr. S. H. Hall elected Associate Corresponding Secretary. 
Reconstruction of the Society's work for seamen in the Southern 
States. 
1866-'67. — Securing of an act by the Board of Trustees for the better pro- 
tection of seamen in the port and harbor of New York. 
1867- ? 68. — Appointment of chaplain to Hilo, H. I. 

1868-'69. — Policy adopted for a more complete nationalization of the 
Society. 
Appointment of a chaplain to Shanghai, China. 
1869-70. — Society's total roll of workers was fifty-five. 
1870-'71. — The retirement of Rev. H. Loomis from the secretaryship of 
the Society. 
Death of Father Taylor in Boston. 
1872-73. — The passing of the U. S. Shipping Law and the renting by the 
Shipping Commissioner of a part of the new Seamen's 
Exchange. 
Retirement of W. A. Booth from the presidency of the Society 
and the appointment of R. P. Buck. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 59 

1873-74. — Bethel dedicated at Savannah. 

A permanent fund placed in the Society's hands for the annual 
distribution of books to midshipmen of the U. S. Naval 
Academy at Annapolis, Md. 
1874-75. — Appointment of Rev. W. T. Austen to Yokohoma. 

Appointment of Rev. A. Wollesen to work in the Society's 
Sailors' Home and the Seamen's Exchange. 

1875-76. — Report of mission work on Delaware and Raritan Canal and 
Erie Canal. 

1876-77. — Completion of the Mariners' Institute and Church at Antwerp. 

Great impetus given to the work among seamen by Moody and 

Sankey's visit to Brooklyn, Philadelphia and New York City. 

1877-78. — Readjustment of workers made in Scandinavian mission after a 

visit to that field by the Secretary. 
New mission commenced at Portland, Ore. First report from 

Puget Sound. 
Copenhagen, Denmark. Rev. Andreas Wollesen appointed. 

1878-79. — Hamburg, Germany. First grant made to British and American 

Sailors' Institute. 
Wilmington, N. C. Work begins. 
Tacoma, Washington. Bethel dedicated. 
Galveston, Texas. H. P. Young appointed chaplain. 
Honolulu, H. I. Ten members of the Bethel Church formed 

the First Church of Christ among the Chinese. 
1879-'S0. — New York City. — Sailors' Home reconstructed, refurnished and 

reopened. 
Jersey City, N. J. Work begun among the boatmen and their 

families. Bethel ship John Wesley bought. 
1880-'81.— Death of Dr. H. Loomis. 

Hamburg, Germany. British and American Sailors' Institute 

dedicated. 
Havre, France. Rev. Henry Rogers retires. Property and work 

transferred to the Societe Evangelique. 
Marseilles, France. Sailors' Home opened. 
New Orleans, La. Church of the Brotherhood of the Sea and 

Land formed in connection with the Bethel. 
1881 -'82.— Norfolk, Va. Rev. J. B. Merritt appointed to succeed the Rev. 

E. N. Crane, resigned. 



60 An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 

Bonne Esperance Harbor, Labrador coast, N. S. Mr. Gerne 

appointed. 
1882-'83. — Iceford, Iceland. Mr. Louis Johnson begins work. 
Death of Rev. Titus Coan, D.D., Hilo, Hawaii. 
Funchal, Maderia Islands. Sailors' Rest opened ; aid extended 

to Mr. W. G. Smart. 
Kobe, Japan. Mr. L. G. Lundqvist begins work. 
Wilmington, N. C. Capt. W. J. Potter succeeds Rev. J. W. 

Craig, resigned. 
Tacoma, Wash. Seamen's Friend Society organized. 
Seattle, Wash. Seamen's Friend Society organized. 
1883-'84. — Esquimaux Bay, Labrador. Rev. George Roger begins work. 
Valparaiso, Chile, S. A. Rev. Frank Thompson began work. 
Brooklyn, N. Y. Reopening of the work at the Brooklyn Navy 

Yard. 
Rev. F. M. Kip, D.D., commissioned to work at U. S. Marine 

Hospital. 
18S4-'85. — Christiania, Norway. Mr. O. M. Levorson commissioned to 

succeed the Rev. Henry Hans Johnson, deceased. 
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Work resumed and Mr. Herbert Soper 

appointed. 
Rearrangement of relations between the Boston Seamen's Friend 

Society. 
1885-'86.— Death of Mr. John Lindelius. 

1886-'87. — Galveston, Texas. Rev. O. Halvorsen commissioned to succeed 
the Rev. A. Patterson. 
New York City. Seamen's Manual of Worship published. 

1887-'88.— New York City. Rev. W. C. Stitt, D.D., elected Secretary, to 
succeed Rev. S. H. Hall, D.D., resigned. 
Port Townsend, Wash. Seamen's Bethel opened. 
Charleston, S. C. Sailors' Home rebuilt and reopened. 

1888-'89.— New York City. Sailors' Home, Capt. Wm. Dollar appointed 
missionary. 

1889-'90.— Kobe, Japan. Rev. J. P. Ludlow appointed. 

1890-'91. — South America. In conjunction with the British and Foreign 

Sailors' Society, work resumed in the following ports: 
Buenos Aires. Sailors' Home opened; Rev. James Walker 

appointed. 



of the American Seamen's Friend Society 61 

Rosario. Sailors' Home; Rev. George Spooner appointed. 
Rio de Janeiro. Rev. Edward E. Wesson begins work. 
Montevideo. Harbor Mission and Sailors' Home opened; 
Mr. D. A. Williams appointed. 

Sundsvall, Sweden. Rev. E. Eriksson stationed. 

Gloucester, Mass. Fisherman's Institute opened. 

Portland, Ore. Rev. M. Hayes appointed to succeed Rev. Rich- 
ard Gilpin, resigned. 

1891-'92. — Antwerp, Belgium. Rev. J. Adams appointed. 
Genoa, Italy. Sailors' Rest opened. 
Mr. John M. Wood appointed to Brooklyn Navy Yard. 

1892-'93. — Karachi, India. Sailors' Rest opened. 

1893-'94.— New York City. Library No. 10,000 sent to sea. 

Death of Mr. L. P. Hubbard, for thirty years Financial Agent 
of the Society. 

1895-'96. — Nagasaki, Japan. Seamen's Friend Society organized; Sailors' 
Home opened. 

1897-'98. — Helsingborg, Sweden. Mr. K. I. Berg appointed to succeed 

Rev. N. P. Wahlstedt, deceased. 
Savannah. Ga. Sailors' Home opened. 
Brooklyn Navy Yard. Rev. George B. Cutler appointed to 

succeed John M. Wood, deceased. 

1898-'99. — Washington, D. C. Bill for the Protection of American Sea- 
men passed. 
Election of Rev. C. A. Stoddard, D.D., to succeed Mr. James 
Elwell, deceased. 

1899-1900.— Brooklyn Navy Yard. Mr. H. G. Fithian appointed to suc- 
ceed Rev. G. B. Cutler, resigned. 

1900-'01,— Manila, P. I. Sailors' Home opened. 
1901-'02. — Rev. A. Wollesen completes twenty-five years' work. 
1902- '03. — Virginia. Mariners' Friend Society organized and the Newport 
News Sailors' Rest opened. 
Karachi, Japan. Work begun. 

1904-'05.— Death of Rev. W. C. Stitt, D.D., Secretary for fifteen years. 

Rev. George McPherson Hunter elected Secretary of the 

Society. 
Copenhagen, Denmark. New Sailors' Home opened. 



62 



An Eighty Years' Record of the W6rk 



1905-'06. — Rev. E. H. Roper transferred from Gloucester, Mass., to re- 
organize the work in Portland, Ore. 

1906-'07. — Laying of cornerstone of new Sailors' Home and Institute by 
Dr. C. A. Stoddard, President of the American Seamen's 
Friend Society. 

1907-'08. — Opening of the new Institute ; celebration of the Eightieth 
Anniversary of the Society, and first Conference of its chap- 
lains and missionaries. 




of the American Seamen's Friend Society 63 

OFFICERS OF THE SOCIETY 

FROM ITS ORGANIZATION 
PRESIDENTS 



Hon. Smith Thompson.. 


Elected 

1828 


Adrian van Sinderen.... 


1831 


David W. C. Olyphant. . 


"... 1840 


Anson G. Phelps 


1841 


Capt. Edward Richardson 


1841 


Pelatiah Perit 


1848 


William A. Booth 


* 1856 


Richard P. Buck 


1873 


Reuben W. Ropes 


1885 


Charles H. Trask 


1891 


James W. Elvvell 


1896 


Rev. Charles A. Stoddard, 


D.D , 1899 




SECRETARIES 




Corresponding 


Rev. C. P. M'Ilvaine. .. . 


Elected Elected 

. 1828 Rev. Israel P. Warren.... 1857 


Rev. Joseph Brown 


. 1833 Rev. S. B. S. Bissel 1860 


Rev. Jonathan Greenleaf 


.. 1834 Rev. Samuel H. Hall.' 1865 


Rev. John Spaulding 


. 1845 Rev. W. C. Stitt 1888 


Rev. Harmon Loomis 


. 1845 Rev. G. McPherson Hunter 1904 


, 


Recording 


Philip Flagler 


. 1828 Elisha D. Hurlbut 1836 


Jeremiah P. Tappan 


. 1834 Thomas Hale 1838 



Financial 
Rev. John Spaulding, 1841 

TREASURERS 

Elected Elected 

Capt. Silas Holmes ....... 1828 Richard P. Buck 1864 

Charles N. Talbot 1834 Rev. Samuel H. Hall 1867 

David Olyphant 1862 William C. Sturges 1881 

W. Hall Ropes, 1901 

Financial Agent 

Luther P. Hubbard, 1863-1894 

Treasurer 

Clarence C. Pinneo, 1905 



027 331 732 6 



64 



An Eighty Years' Record of the Work 



BOARD OF 

Elbert A. Brinckerhoff, 

Englewood, N. J. 
John B. Calvert, D.D., 

P. O. Box 2030, New York. 
Sylvester L. H. Ward, 

67 Wall Street, New York. 
Augustus T. Post, 

31 Nassau Street, New York. 
Edward M. Cutler, 

56 Pine Street, New York. 
Edgar L. Marston, 

24 Broad Street, New York. 
Frederick B. Dalzell, 

70 South Street, New York. 
Capt. Chas. B. Parsons, 

6 Coenties Slip, New York. 
Fritz v. Briesen, 

25 Broad Street, New York. 



TRUSTEES 

Theodore L. Peters, 

18 Wall Street, New York. 

Anton A. Raven, 

51 Wall Street New York. 

Chas. A. Stoddard, D.D., 

156 Fifth Avenue, New York. 

Wm. E. Stiger, 

155 Broadway, New York. 

Daniel Barnes, 

76 Wall Street, New York. 

A. Gifford Agnew, 

22 William Street, New York. 
John Bancroft Devins, D.D., 

156 Fifth Avenue, New York. 
Walter D. Despard, 

6 Hanover Street, New York. 



OFFICERS, 1909-1910 

President 

CHARLES A. STODDARD, D.D. 

Vice-President 

DANIEL BARNES 

Secretary 

george Mcpherson hunter 

Treasurer 

CLARENCE C. PINNEO 

Standing Committees 

Chaplaincies 

John B. Calvert, D.D., John B. Devins, D.D. Fritz v. Briesen 

Port and Sailors' Home 

Theodore L. Peters, Daniel Barnes, C. B. Parsons 

Publication and Library 

A. G. Agnew, Daniel Barnes, Theodore L. Peters 

Frederick B. Dalzell 

Finance 

Daniel Barnes, Walter D. Despard, E. M. Cutler 

Auditor E. M. CUTLER 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



027 331 732 6 ff