Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849Gilly, William O. S.
History
Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy; between 1793 and 1849
Gilly, William O. S.
Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 18th century; Great Britain. Royal Navy -- History -- 19th century; Shipwrecks
I have another suggestion to make, which is meant not for those only,
who are officially interested in the condition of the navy, but for
all who love and value it. The merchant service, the fisheries, and
the coasting trade are the nurseries of the navy. Every shipmate and
every boatman on the sea and on the river ought, therefore, to come in
for a share of our sympathy, because he belongs to a class to which
the Queen's ships must look for a supply of men. But none are exposed
to more trials than they, and especially in the larger ports. Many of
them come home from a voyage of danger and deprivation, full of
excitement, and become victims of plunder and temptation; and the man
who last week was impressed, by the perils of the tempest, with the
terrors of the Lord, and was inclined to fear God and to serve him, is
waylaid by unfeeling wretches, who first entice him into scenes of
profligacy and blasphemy, and then cast him off, robbed of his money,
seared in his conscience, and in a miserable condition of soul and
body. Many benevolent efforts have been made to protect and fortify
some of those who are thus beset, and to reclaim such as are not
utterly lost; and associations have been formed for the purpose of
affording temporary relief and instruction to seamen, who might
otherwise become outcasts, and perish in want and ignorance. I allude
to such institutions as the 'Sailor's Home,' or 'Destitute Sailor's
Asylum,' in London, for the reception of seamen who have squandered or
have been despoiled of their earnings after their return from a
foreign voyage, or who are disabled for employment by illness, age, or
accident. There is also. 'The Floating Chapel,' opened to invite and
enable mariners to avail themselves of the opportunity of attending
Divine service, (under the Thames Church Missionary Society,) which
moves from one thickly populated sailors' locality to another. The
establishment of a district church and minister in a large sea-port
parish, like that of St. Mary's, Devonport, to relieve the necessities
of a district crowded with mariners, and rife with all the snares and
temptations which entrap a sailor, and endanger his bodily and
spiritual safety, is another undertaking worthy of notice.
Institutions like these must depend principally on public and
voluntary support. There is much need for them in all our principal
sea-ports; for who require them more than the men who are perpetually
exposed to the double shipwreck of body and soul? The members of these
and similar institutions are instrumental in preserving some from
ruin--in restoring others to character and employment, to usefulness,
to self-estimation, and to religious feeling; and in making both our
merchant and naval service an example to the world of subordination
and patient endurance.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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