LONDON SAILORS' HOME.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3112, 25 June 1892, Page 2 (Supplement)

LONDON SAILORS' HOME.

Oxk of the sights of London is the arrival of a ship in dock or port after slip has ploughed the stormy main, escaped perils of all kinds, and linds herseif once more at rest. As she is warped slowly in th'Tt; is a small crowd oil the wharf ready to receive the crew. They hail frun what >s known Rateliffe-h gliway; they are the proprietors of beerhouses, daneing rooms and >tpartments Tlvv are raging lions, seeking whom they may devour, and Jack on shore, and in searoh of what he calls a spree, after the confinement of a long and perhaps dreary voyage, speedily becomes their prey. He is surrounded with thieves in the shape of bad men and wor.se women. They ply him with drink, they excite his passion. As long as his money la-ts they are his most obsequious servants and slaves, and when his money is gone he is sent off to sen in a half-drunken state to find himself hplpless and homeless, far away on the ocean wave once more. Wherever Jack is to be found the crimp is not fur off, making his wretched harvest while the sun shines — that is, sticking to his victim as long as his money lasts. Happily, iu London and in some o f our large .ports, friends have come to the rescue. There is a Sailors' Home in Dock-street. It haa been established now some fifty-seven years. As soon as a ship arrives in the dock the carts or vans of the home are in attendance, for the purpose of bringing seamen and their baggage to the Home free of charge, Sailors wishing to proceed to the Home are cautioned to deliver their baggage to the carmen wearing the Sailors' Home uniform. There is great weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth ou the part of the crimp on such occasions. He exerts all his eloquence to rescue Jack, in order that he may plunder him himself. He follows the carman with hi-j living load all the way from the dock to the Sailors' Home, trusting to luck to secure his victims after all. Happily, at the Home tlie officials are as wide awake as the crimp. There are two entrances to the Home — one with a handsome frontage in Dockstreet, another, not quite so imposing, in Well-street, It is there that the carman drives. It is entered by a lofty gateway. No sooner his the carman got inside than the great gate is shut, and the crimps left outside. The battle is over, the right has conquered for once, and Jack is free —free from the extortions to which men of his calling are exposed— free to enjoy his liberty and to spend his money in the most sensible manner. It is difficult to imagine a more useful institution to the class for whom it was intended than the Sailors' Home in Dockstreet. London Docks. Originally it was established by a few sailors' friends as an experiment at their own risk, but now it pays its oivn way and is, commercially, a success. Last year, as many as 5.623 boarders were received, and it is most satisfactory -to find, by the number of boarders who return to the Home again and again, that its popularity is vvell maintained, and its many benefits in creasingly appreciated. Since the institution was opened, as many as 425.555 seamen have been boarded and lodged, in addition to those received at the smaller establishment; in Gravesend, while the money passed through the deposit bank has amounted to the large, total of £2,255.901. The boarders are of every nation under heaven, Englishmen of course preponderating, and Scotchmen coming next. Sweden and Norway take tlie third place, and Ireland and = Wales follow. Even China and Japan send their representatives, though not, as was expected, in any overpowering numbers. For his food and lodging each sailor pays 16s a week. For that he has four good meals a day, with beef for dinner and supper. He has the use of a library well supplied with books. He has a cabin to himself to sleep in. There is a shipping clerk to find him a berth when he wants one. Hot and cold baths are always ready, and provision is made for shaving, hair cutting, etc. There is a laundry, in which clothes are washed at moderate chai'ges, and in a few hours when necessary. If he is unwell a surgeon attends daily, and advice is given and medicine supplied gratuitously. One part of the fine building is devoted to a clothing shop, where Jack may acquire a new rig of the best quality and on the most reasonable terms. In additiou there are reading and smoking rooms, with chess, draughts, billiards, bagatelle, etc. Sailors are fond of lounging, and these is a hall devoted to this innocent and popular form of recreation. Iu other ways the Home seeks to be useful to the sailor. In connection witli it there is a Navigation School, where the theory and practice of navigation and nautical astronomy are efficiently taught, and officers (for the Home is open to officers, who pay a little more and have apartments to themselves) and seamen prepared for the examination required by the Mercantile Marine Act. Again, lei me mention that there is a resident missionary, and daily morning and evening prayers for those who wisjh to attend. There are also religious meetings in the hall, and services in the church which is in connection with the building. Seamen, when abroad, may have their letters addressed to them, to wait their arrival at the Home, and any boarder wishing to visit his friends may deposit his chest in the store room of the Home for safe custody during his absence, without charge. The success of such an institution depends very materially on the manager. The old manager, Mr Balding, has been compelled to retire from the situatiou, iu which he laboured many years, and his vacated place has been filled by Mr Frederick W. Barclay, who is specially qualified for his work — and it is no sinecure. He is at it early and late. He, or his assistant, is always in attendance to redress any well-founded complaint, or to assist any boarder who may need his advice. Mr Barclay occasionally conducts religious services in the hall, but religion is not forced down anyone's throat. Boarders are free to attend or not, as they please. One would think that now and then the boarders might have a chance of a temperance address. To sailors, with their drinking habits, the subject is of immense importance. As I left the stately pile, I could not but feel that in the Sailors' Home we had a model which may be copied in many quarters and by many bodies. Why could there not be such an institution for our young clorks. who soon get sink of private lodgings? The Home for Sailors is in realitv a club on an effectual scale for those whose business is on the mighty waters. Why cannot the clerks and their friends get up a similar establishment for themselves? It would be suro to pay, and, besides, give them advantages and luxuries they could no! look for in their cheap apartments in some suburban horns. Clerks' nlubs hitherto have failed, but a residential one on a fitting scale is surely a very different affair. Meanwhile, let us rejoice that Ijondon haa such a noble building' as the Sailors' Home, and that it pays, and that what ie dono in London is ]->eing c»pi°d elsewhere ; further, that in England there are twenty one sailors' liotnes, in Ireland five, in Scotland fivo, and in the Colonies and foreign parts there are as many as twenty-one.—From the Christian World.