Francis Drake came from Devon. The oldest of 12 sons, he was born in Tavistock. Plymouth was his home port. It became its mayor. He was the first Englishman to circumnavigate planet earth and he is responsible for a prayer familiar to all English worshippers ‘…but it is not the beginning but the continuing of the same until it is thoroughly finished’. Originally part of a dispatch, the wording was taken over by worshippers and has been thoroughly at home in that context ever since.
Pearl Harbour is a dot in the Pacific. It is known world-wide for its part in WW2. Like Alaska, Hawaii is an unexpected part of the USA. It played an important part in James Cook’s days at sea. His early years were spent in Whitby, after a spell as farm labourer and shop-keeper, where he learned his maths, navigation and seamanship that later made his reputation. He came to be as much at home in the Pacific as at Whitby. Amongst other exploits in the Pacific he was the first outsider to land at what is now Hawaii. He called the archipelago the Sandwich Islands and the US state that the archipelago has become still features the UK Union flag as part of its own flag.
There has hardly ever been a better-known sailor than Joshua Slocum. He was the first person to sail single-handedly around the world and he did it in a sloop called Spray that he had rebuilt for the purpose. Born in Nova Scotia, he worked out of Liverpool as a seafarer and gained his seamanship qualifications from the British Board of Trade. He became an American citizen and in 1899 he published ‘Sailing Alone Around the World’. It was a best seller and is popular today. He was lost at sea in 1909.
Just as well known is the hymn ‘Eternal Father, strong to save’. It was written in 1860 by the Revd William Whiting and is said to have been inspired by Psalm 107, vv 23-30. The refrain ‘Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!’ comes after v30. It is not sung so often these days, though we remain aware of the perils faced by sailors. Like mining communities, sea-port residents have occasion to ponder gross disorders at land and sea more than most. The 1662 prayer book includes ‘Forms of prayer to be used at sea’.
GRACE DARLING
Louise Taylor-Kenyon has charge of parishes overlooking the Farne Islands. As Vicar of Bamburgh she looks after St Aidan’s church and also St Mary’s, Belford. This has the distinction of being accessible from a steep path in the market place and has a stair-lift to the gallery where there is a small kitchen etc.
It was in 1838 that a Farne Islands light-house keeper’s daughter Grace Darling became a national celebrity after taking part in the rescue of survivors of a shipwreck off the coast. There is a Grace Darling monument in St Aidan’s churchyard and a Grace Darling museum in Bamburgh.
THREE DAYS
The whole Bible was read in three days when renovation work was completed at St Magnus’s church, Lerwick, Shetland. The Shetlands comprise 100 islands, 15 of which are inhabited. The Shetland pony is said to be the strongest for its size of all horse breeds. Lerwick is more or less equidistant from Aberdeen, Bergen (Norway) and Torshavn (Faroes). Neil Alan Brice leads the ministry team at St Magnus’s, which is part of the Scottish Episcopal Church.
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