274 THE SEA. 



institution, that at the second anniversary, at which the late Sir Robert Peel consented to 

 preside, the sum of 1,100 was collected. The Committee next set about to obtain the 

 services of gentlemen to act as honorary agents, of whom there are now upwards of 1,000; 

 and whose duties are to board, lodge, clothe, and forward to their homes all shipwrecked 

 persons. The Committee meet every Friday in London to relieve the widows and orphans 

 of the lost, not only at the time of their death, but by small annual payments. There were 

 thus 9,601 persons relieved in 1879." * 



Sooth to say, and in strict justice, we must not forget how much has been done for the 

 seaman on the banks of old Father Thames, both by Government and private liberality. An 

 excellent home, the " Royal Alfred Aged Merchant Seamen's Institution " exists at Belvedere, 

 in Kent, started under the auspices of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society. This institution 

 was inaugurated, with room for the reception of 400 persons of all grades of the mercantile 

 marine, although nothing like that number has been as yet accommodated at any one time. 

 The Society also grants out-pensions to those who have homes or friends. 



The most singular and characteristic and yet appropriate features of the building are a 

 number of little cabins comfortably fitted, and so much like the real thing, that it requires 

 only a very slight stretch of the imagination for Jack ashore to indulge in the fond 

 delusion that he is at sea again. The large rooms are divided into wards, one for masters 

 and mates, containing ten cabins, each six feet by seven feet, and perfect ventilation is 

 secured by the partitions being open at the top. Each man, by this excellent arrangement, 

 has his little cabin to himself, and all the sweetness of retirement should he be that 

 way inclined. What a contrast is this to the ungainly, unhomely, and barren shelters of 

 our Unions ! 



It speaks well for the profession that most of the inmates have seen over forty or fifty years 

 of service, which, judging from what we know of service in the maritime navy, might 

 decidedly be called active. On being interrogated by a visitor, some of these veterans proved 

 having most successfully braved the dangers of the deep. 



"How often have you been wrecked ?" inquired the interviewer of . our "ancient 

 mariner." 



11 Why, let me see, sir " then, counting half audibly " one, two, three, four, five times, 

 I think, sir." 



The second, on being questioned, answered, simply, " Once in 1825, sir going to 

 Hamburg that was; and once in 1828, on the coast of Norway; and again on the coast of 

 Java in '42." This man had also done some memorable deeds on shore, which fully made 

 up for his being short by "two" wrecks of the other. 



Greenwich Hospital next demands our attention, as once the great home and asylum for the 

 seamen of the navy, although now a hospital only. It was founded in the year 1694, in memory 

 of Queen Mary, who had long designed the foundation of such an institution. It was also 

 built as a monument of the great victory of La Hogue. Sir Christopher Wren furnished 

 the designs and plans for the edifice gratuitously a noble gift from a professional architect, 

 and valuable to boot. The object of the foundation was "to encourage the seamen of this 



* Extract from address of H.K.H. the Duke of Edinburgh at annual meeting. 



