page_title: Sailors' Society
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Sailors' Society / History
caption_attribution_description: Lovely shot of Christmas festivities at Waterford's Sailors' Rest. Particularly like the British Sailors' Society banner adorned by a dove with a twig in its mouth (as in the Noah's Ark story). And wondering if the Christmas cracker|Christmas crackers (noisemakers) on the tables were Tom Smith's brand... We still don't have a location for this Sailors' Rest that we first featured back on 17 July, but we do know this photo was ordered by a Mr Craig. Date: 29 December 1931 NLI Ref.: P_WP_3883
context_page_description: Sailors’ Society is an international Christian charity working in ports across the world. The organisation has chaplains and ship visitors in 91 global ports, who help seafarers and their families, from all faiths and none, with welfare and practical support.
  The charity has projects and services covering 30 countries.
context_section_description: In 1817, George Charles ‘Bosun’ Smith called a meeting at the City of London Tavern in Bishopsgate. The meeting led to the charity's formation on 18 March 1818, as the Port of London Society.
  An estimated 45,000 seafarers were visiting the port of London annually and the Society moored a former sloop of war on the River Thames, the Mars, renaming it the Ark, and repurposing it as a floating chapel where seafarers could congregate and pray.
  Social reformer Elizabeth Fry asked the charity to send books for her to pass on to men posted at coastguard stations and the First Lord of the Treasury Robert Peel made a grant of £500 to help the organisation's cause.
  In 1834 Sailors' Society appointed its first full-time chaplain Benjamin Prynn, as its Thames missionary, followed by a full-time missionary in Cape Town. In his first year alone, Prynn spoke to 50,000 seafarers.
  In 1871, with the support of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the charity set up a Sailors' Rest and Institute in Genoa.
  The organisation launched its magazine, Chart & Compass, in 1879.
  At this time, Sailors' Society's received patronage from not only the British Royal Family but also Czar Alexander III of Russia and King Umberto I of Italy.
  In 1902, the charity founded the King Edward VII Nautical School for 'hardy and heroic sons of the sea'.
  The Lords of the Admiralty donated copper and wood from HMS Victory to Sailors' Society, which the charity made into coins, plaques and busts to fundraise with.
  The only junior officer to die when Titanic sank in 1912, sixth officer James Paul Moody, had trained at the Society's King Edward VII Nautical School in 1910.
  During World War I the charity supported thousands of seafarers from torpedoed vessels. These included survivors of the SS Belgian Prince, HMHS Rewa and HMAT Warilda. In the final months of World War I, Sailors’ Society supported more than 14,000 people from torpedoed ships.
  In 1918, Sailors’ Society marked its centenary with services and meetings at Mansion House, London, the People's Palace and a Jutland Day celebration at the Royal Albert Hall on 31 May.
  Among those who sent messages of congratulations on the charity's centenary were King George V, Prime Minister David Lloyd George and the 28th President of the United States, Woodrow Wilson.
  In 1918 the Society opened new rests for seamen in Poole, Southampton, Dartmouth, Limehouse, Aberdour, Preston, Ardrossan, Rosyth, Buncrana, Bristol and Gosport.
  The Prince of Wales launched a special appeal to raise money for the charity's cause in 1923 and the following year, the organisation built the Empire Memorial Hostel at Limehouse, which was opened by one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters, Princess Marie Louise, so that seafarers could have a 'clean and airy' place to stay.
  Princess Marie Louise's involvement continued a long tradition of royal endorsement and support. King George V – the ‘Sailor King’ – had been patron since 1892 and made regular donations. When he died in 1936, King Edward VIII and, on his abdication, King George VI, continued the Royal Family's connection and annual subscription to the Society.
  The liner SS Athenia was the first British ship torpedoed during World War II on 3 September 1939 and resulted in the loss of nearly 120 people. A further 981 were rescued, with many taken to Galway where they were tended to by, among others, Sailors' Society's chaplain.
  In 1939, crews from 41 ships hit by German action were cared for at the Society's stations and at the height of the conflict, the charity funded a sea ambulance to help injured seafarers.
  Survivors from the sinking of HMS Ark Royal were cared for at one of the charity's Sailors' Rests.
  British Sailors' Society (Scotland) ran a children's home, known as Lagarie Children's Home, which was located on the banks of the Gareloch on the outskirts of the village of Rhu, by Helensburgh. The Society ran the home from October 1949 until it closed in 1982. Lagarie House was built in 1901 by renowned architect Alexander Nisbet Paterson, and had a large dining room, three reception areas, offices and staf
caption: Christmas festivities at Waterford's Sailors' Rest, 1931. Waterford, Ireland
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