The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-29 00:00:00

Oct. 20, 1814.

SAILORS' HOME, REGISTRY, AND SAVINGS'

BANK.

A public meeting, for the purpose of promoting the
establishment, in this port, of a Sailors' Home, Registry,
and Savings' Bank for seamen, was held in the Sessions-
-house, at one o'clock on Friday. There was a very nu-
merous attendance, among wilt= were a considerable
body of the leading merchants and shipowners. The
Meeting was convened by the Mayor, upon a requisition.
The MAYOR, in opening the proceedings, expressed the
Treat pleasure he felt in having assembled the meeting,
and his conviction that, if the objects in view were carried
°IA, they would be materially advantageous to the class
Whose interests they all desired to promote. He had that
morning received a note from Sir Howard Douglas, highly
aPProving of the purpose for which the meeting was being
held ; and he was sure that if Lord Sandon had been aware
,of what was taking place, he also would have expressed
approbation of the subject. His Lordship had, in-
deed, already done so upon a previous occasion, as was
well known to the members of the provisionial committee.
• Mr. ADAM HODGSON moved the first resolution, which,
..With
. the others, will be found in our advertising columns.
The meeting related to the social and moral condition of
aclass of the community whose claims to earnest con-
sideration and deep sympathy no man would dare to deny,
lind no man be inciined to dispute. To their valour and
Intrepidity, to their energy and enterprise, we owed much ;
but what had been the. return made to them ? What was
their social and moral condition in this extensive country,
and in this our native town ? They had a home, to be
as2re, but it was " upon the deep ;" and how few of them
were there who knew anything of the comfort, the cordi-
ality,the security, or the sanctity of a home on shore.
Cheers.) They returned from time to time from foreign
nds into the bosom of their own country, but they re-
turned to be pillaged, and plundered, and ensnared, and
entrapped by harpies who were ever watching to get them
into their power, and then they were robbed of all they
hadto laboriously earned. Besides this, they were exposed
Moral temptations, to which, from their peculiar cir-
rut/stances, they were most likely to be a prey ; and he
• long ask what was the reason these evils had been so
iPermitted to exist in this town 3e It was because the
and lea had not been sufficiently alive to their magnitude,
them use of the shipowners not daring to encounter
or:thout the support of the public. They must not
conceal from themselves that the public had a right to
share •
In the respocsibility of the neglect with which the
sailors had been treated ; for they were our fellow-men,
Idlet
they Were our fellow-countrymen, although they had
~ to do with any of our national privileges. Some-
trong, however had been done with regard to making pro-
Vision for their religious worship; for between 25 and 30
Years ago a floating chapel was established by the Dis-
Sewers. The Mariner's Church had since been opened
for those of a different communion, and he rejoiced to
think that inestimable blessings had flowed from those
institutions to the sailors of the port. To make these
benefits still more useful, there wanted a home for seamen
When they returned from a voyage ; and, after supporting
the claims of such an institution by a variety of considera-
tions, Mr. Hodgson concluded by moving the resolution.
Mr. RUSHTON seconded the proposition, and congratu-
lated the merchants of Liverpool that the day bad at
length arrived when this important subject was about to
Meet due consideration. Mr. Hodgson had alluded to
the Painful details of the routine duty which daily en-
gaged his (Mr. Rushton's) attention, in which the claims
of the rights and wrongs of sailors formed a very large
Proportion. A sailor, as had been truly observed, had
few of the endearments of borne, and when he arrived
from sea in a port like Liverpool, the dock quays were
crowded with boarding-house keepers, and slopsellers,
Waiting for his landing. The moment he put his foot
ashore he was in their arms. Being destitute of ready
salary the money. a loan was procured from the tailor on the secu-
rityof the boarding-house keeper, who mortgaged his
lary
first quarter of an hour after he went to his
habitation. He was charged extravagantly for his food,
rier9 tempttin that cold be found was placed within
res RrasP, and, u
, when theperiod had arrived ate t
he
eceieedpe
rived wages, all was gone. The boarding-house
WeeePer went with him to the counting. house to receive his
th-a•es, which were shared with the slopseller, and thus
e Poor sailor was deprived of all. And this was not all :
.a further advance was made to the sailor; he was again
encouraged to go on in his reckless and dissipated career,
end, in the course of a week or ten days, he found he had
Po alternative presented to him by the boarding master
out that of turning out in the street without his clothes,
Which were held as security fur the new debt. He was
then turned naked into the street to get on board any
leaselkoing to SCA—any ve,sel where the largest advance
could be obtained, and two month's labour was thus
mortgagedi to be given to these people again. (Heir.
Then he property of sailors was frequently lost to their) families by false and fraudulent wills being produced.
i3-'l9 all these grounds he stronelv recommended the este.
'shoe nt of an irstitution like 'the one proposed, where
• the sailor would be provided for and have his interests
properly watched over.—The resolution was carried.
• taiMr. Amite proposed the next resolution, entering, in
course of a long address, into a great number of de-
s connected with the intended institution, and ex-
Pcssing, in a powerful manner, the frightful treatment
'4' which a seaman, unknown and without friends, was ne-
Fessarily liable in a port like Liverpool, where no public
Institution existed. He congratulated the meeting upon
dt:h,e immediate prospect of its operation. The Corpora-
Zl°ll had given the land, and before he entered the meet-
ing he found that twenty gentlemen had put down their
lenarnes for £lOO each, se‘eral for £5O, one of whom signed
"C, and others for smaller amounts. He had no doubt
at all that, having the approbation of the Corporation and
the Dock Committee, and the support of the pieblie,- this
undertaking would rise rapidly, and be a toosewaseilesable
addition to our public institutions.
Mr. WILLIAM POTTER, in seconding the resolution,
mentioned that the most painful circumstance that ever
occurred to him in the conduct of mercantile affairs, was
when the pay
-day came of a ship returning from a distant
voyage, which ought to be a day of joy and gratification.
The knowledge that as the men received their money, the
o_placewas surrounded by people lurking about for the sake
Pfluma!,eiristering to their extravagance—if not for actual
oeosuted, hA_nd after his receipts had been completely ex-
Means ae e,':,WOs obliged to pledge his clothes, for the
straeces an"Sermg upon a new voyage. Whatever rernon-
to the men eceounsel he (Mr. P.) had occasionally given
ability to silo rY had always fallen short for the want of
this institution em a remedy and a better example, but
other. Until it
rieht to give up had hoped, would prove both one and the
Mr. Potter thenbeen tried he was sure they had ho
into parliament last case as a hopeless one. (Hear, hear.
ma-
rine funds at the different directed attention to a bill introduced
session, which proposed that the ma-
This measure, h
Society, which now
ports should be consolidated.
So • e said, would be unjust to the Liverpool
parish an
kept about 1500 people from the
ous
, d had a fund of £50,000. Other ports in vari•
parts of England,
with a proportionate number of
!eamen, had not a twentieth
part of that amount, there-
fore it would be a
manifest injustice to throw the funds
altogether. The resolution was carried.
The Rev Huou M'lsleree., on rising, was received
With tremendous applause. After a few opening remarks
io Which he paid a deserved compliment to Mr. James
•`1 iliin, the rev. gentleman read a long list of particulars,
from which it appeared that the first and homed ate ob-
eieects of the Institution would be to provide for seamen
oetard, lodging, and medical attendance, at a modera'e
charge. He then continued as follows :—lt will not be
expected—it would, indeed, not be tolerated, and I ant
happy to think it is not at all necessary that I should en-
large upon all these points, I will confine myself to some
general observations on particular and important points.
We are, of course, unwilling to excite any needless hos-
tility in any class, and therefore I think it desirable, in
thefirst instance, to call attention to the matter of board
° lodging, which form a specific part of our plan.
However capacious the intended plan may be, and I hope
to see it contain several hundreds, yet still the number of
seamen who can be received as inmates, compared with
the number frequenting the port, must, at the largest, be
very sraall proportion ; and we hve no wi to with-
turaw from respectable and properly-a kept lod ish
ug-houses
420 seamen who have already made acquaintance with
...%eh•5C (Hear, hear.) It is no part of the plan that the
advantages to be derived from the savings' bank and re-
ttii,ster of character should be confined to the inmates of
e house. This will be open to all ; and, therefore, I
ink sir, we have good reason to expect that really re-
ZOeetable lodging-house keepers—men who wish to corn-
'no the true benefit of the seaman with their own fair
and legitimate profits—will hail us as allies—(hear, hear,)
;:-and co-operate with us, instead of harbouring suspi-
"s• and endeavouring to thwart our benevolent designs.
Will be their interest so to do. There is, indeed, a class
tle°,,ee',Whom we must calculate upon hostility, because, sir,
o Point of fact, it is impossible to take any efficient step
toetowards the improvement of the character or condition of
seamen without placing ourselves in direct antagonism
'Abl, "le evil and mischief of the men I now allude to. I
ode to those designing men, aided by abandoned women,
hi t° lie in wait to ensnare the returning seaman, to entice
thf by the cravings of his animal passions to plunge into
ee` Paroxysms of licentiousness and the brutalities of
`truunkenness, until be is either robbed of his wages, or in-
se feted to spend it in amanner akin to robbery ; and, when he
t eeeed, and his clothes and watch have found their way
1-1° iithZ Pawnbroker for the satisFaction of the lodging-
te°e-d'e"cleer, then to cast him out upon the streets to the
e,„ er mercies of some shipping master, who exacts on
hie Mortgage of Jack's next voyage before he will pass
and cheers.) a shipper and get him once more afloat. (Hear,
that Word, I said abandoned women; and when I used
thei "°rd, I meant the expression as descriptive rather of
eee_r deplorable condition than as reproachful of their
rifled of
Poor, unhappy creatures! they too have been
tee_ f a treasure more precious than gold or silver, and
du u abandoned by their heartless, mean, detestable se-
teeeers• (Loud cheers.) Sir, it is the seducer. especially
ca;l gentleman—falsely so called—(hear, hear)—he who
thetienesnd does ay high for his loathsoe indulgece, and
vi `urns away in neglect and distrust from hisn helpless
bear'r ---he it is who is the manufacturer of harlots—(hear,
Irr 0 ;"-he it is who degrades to the condition of a harpy
heeou streets the creature who, but for him, might have
rein an ornament and blessing to society as the head of a
e:_Pectable family--(great applause)—he it is who thus
;'_erPaares pit-falls, " deep ditches," says the Scriptures,
ei°fleres than rocks and reefs, for the shipwreck of our me-
• Yes and when the gallant tar, who has success-
fully braved the dangers of the deep, the toils of pro-
tracted
ling
storms, and the vicissitudes of Antipodean climes,
l';strreettujoroneodf,ohnee
of exhibitsthe mostin instructive
shistory a melancholy.
tient history. passages of an-
ell the Hanibal, with his sable host, were safe in
ruggedness of their Alpine passage. Hardships
etv_eree wholesome to them. Precipices to be plunged
these
aurnitiovuantetadintshetior beenesrea.led—ravines to be crossed—
senysu, Capue was theirg But te s
ruina n
then e r vseo f t
syren d them for vic-
them a indulgence relaxed their 'discipline, and made
lap of
(Hear. n easy prey to their watching, calculating foes.—
hear.) Sir, we indeed desire earnestly to pro-