The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1893-04-12
"SNUG HARB0R."
ROME FOR DISABLED SEAMEN
FOUNDED BY AN OLD SALT.
The Unique Charitable Institution on
, Staten lsland-Queer Characters
OF the Harbor-SafIors of AL
Nations Are There.

~ = Dor is such an ex.
pressive term, sayd
~ a New York cor
Il respondent of the
N~ Chicago Times, that
IA WA it has become one
1AGY of the stock meta
YsaEA phors Of the Ian.
>12zMSS gusge. The unique
4, ,A&TN institution " b c h
fEE7kEZIH bears the name is
hyXZM worthy of 1t. The
kSf& metaphorical sig
R n ni6cance of the term
E: ! I: e: :" ! !" !: !: J: !
M&E'A has gained nothing
i % in picturesqueness
i #E n overits literal mean
AAyH ing. The Sailors
IN II Snug Harbor, as 1t
F1 III I actually exists on
( / ~ Staten Island, fully
] TX fits its name.
Old C apt a n
Robert Richard Randall concentrated the
very essence of the saltiness and breezi-
ness of q sailors life in the name ne
chose for the charity he founded. The
name, however, has been no more sue.
cessful than the institution. More than
1000 old tars have found shelter in it. and
safe anchorage after the storms of life.
Of Captain Randall, the founder of
the Sailors Snug Hsrbor, singularly
meager information has been preserved.
Even his right to the title OF captain
rests on an argumentative foundation.
It is known that he was member OF
the Marine Society and that none but
masters of vessels were admitted to men,
bership in it. Hence it is concluded that
he must have been captain. It Is also
known that he was a bachelor, and to
this circumstance is credited the fact
that while making such generous pro-
vision for sailors he made none at all for
sailors wives, widows or orphans.
Certain it is that June 1st, 1901, he
nude will, drawn by Alexander Ham
Ilton, wherein, after making several
small specific bequests, he provided that
the residue of his estate should be held
by trustees for the foundation of home
''for aged, decrepit and WORKOUT
sailors"
The trustees he appointed were the
Chancellor of the State of New York,
the Mayor and Recorder of the city of
New York, the President of the Cham
Der of Commerce, the President and
Vice. President of the Marine Society,
and the senior Presbyterian and Epis.
copal ministers of this city and their sue
cessors in these Offices forever. The
Office OF Chancellor of the State was
abolished in 1S46, and since then there
have been but seven trustees. From
this provision of the will it happens that
the present trustees are Mayor Gilroy,
Recorder Frederick Smyth, President
Charles 8. Smith of the Chamber OF
Commerce. Captain Francis A. Martin
and Captain Albert Spencer OF the Ma
rine Society, the Rev. Dr.. Morgan Dix,
of Trinity Church, and the Rev. DR..
Howard Duffield, of the First Presby-
terian Church. The will provided that
the home was to be established when
the estate would support fifty inmates.
A charter of incorporation was granted
by the Legislature in 1906. But con-
testants to the will arose, among them
the Bishop of Nova Scotia, and the liti-
CATION lasted until 1880, when by de-
cision of the United States Supreme
Court the will was sustained.
The property which Captain Randall
left to the Harbor consisted of land be-.
tween Broadway and the Bovery and
Seventh and Tenth streets, known as the
"Miuto farm" about twenty-five acres
in all. It was on part of this property
that A. T. Stewart afterward built his
retail store. By the time the litigation
concerning the will was settled this
property had so increased in value that
it was not thought wise to follow the
testator's request that the Harbor should
be built upon it. A site was selected on
Staten Island facing the Kill.von-Kull,
aud about 200 acres were purchased.
The corner stone of the first building
was laid October 81, 1881, and August
1, 1888, the institution was formally
opened and thirty seamen were installed
as inmates.
This number, in spite of narrow con-
struction of the will relating to the quail
fcations required of applicants for ad.
mission, has grown to $50. Instead OF