Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society for Seamen In the City and Port of Ne"",- Y orl\ Fifty - Ninth Annual Report December Eighth, 1903 Furm of Bequest. I give and bequeath to "THE PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL CH1'RCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY FOR SEAMEN IN THF. CITY AND PORT OF NEW YORK," a corporation incorporated under the laws of the State of New York, the sum of . Do11ars, to be used by it for its corporate purposes. DOllations should be sent to J. H. MORRISON, Treasurer, 76 Yz Pille Street. Fifty-ninth Annual Report OF THE Board of Managers OF THE Protestant Episcopal Church Missionary Society For Seamen In the City and Port of New York PRESENTED AT T H E ANXUAL MEETI)1G OF T IlE SOC IETY A DVENT , T UES DAV, D ECE~IBE R 8, 1903. Officers of the Society. Chosen at the Annual Meeting, December 8, 1903. President. Right Rev. Henry C. Potter, D. D., 1.L. D. Clerical Vice-Presidents. Rev. Morgan Dix, D.D., S.T.D., D.C.L., Rev. William 1. Grosvenor, D.l l., Right Rev. D. H. Greer, D. D., LL. D., Rev. S De L. Townsend, D. D. Rev. D. Parker ~lorgan, D. D., Rev. Ernest M. Stires, D. D., Rev. Henry Lubeck, LL. D., D. C. L., Rev. Percy Stickney Grant, Re\·. W. R. Huntington, D. D., Rev. William Tufts Crocker. Lay Vice-Presidents. R. S. Holt, 1879. Henry Rogers, 1846. Benoni Lockwood, 1884. A. T. Mahan, Capt. U. S. ., Ret'd, 1867 . Henry Lewis forris, 1868. Corresponding Secretary. Geo. B. Bonney, 49 Wall Strel'.t, 1891. Recording Secretary. F. T. Warburton, 63 Wall Street, 1888. Financial Secretary. Robert T.l\lcGusty, 116 West ..pel Street, J90o. Treasurer. John H. Morrison, 76~ Pine Street, 1877. Lay Managers. II enry Dexter, James Pott, Robert T. ;'.kG u tr, II)'J() Wm. II. Butterworth, J. Augustus Jobnson, Edward B. Sexton. H)O I Edmund L. llaylies, Chas. F. Cummings. Stuart F. Randolph. H)O l David II. Decker, Anson R. Flower, Robert L IIarrison, 1901 B T. Van C\'ostrand. W. R. Bell. John 11. Cole. J 902 Chas. I r. Easton. Robert G. Hone, John Seeley Ward. J r., J90 2 John A. ~IcKim, I. W. ill iller. ,\ugustus N. IIand, 19 02 o Egerton Schmidt, Chas. F. Hoffman, I ferbert L. Satterlee, 19°2 Oscar E. lorton, James !lIay Duane. J. r.lidaugh Main. 1<>03 John V. Brower, .\!fred G. Vanderbilt, Honorary Members. (;co. H. Watts, William Waldorf Astor, 1 71 J. J . .\stor, Edward X. Tailer, John . teams, 1873 Clayton PlaIt, Thomas Whittaker, Lispenard Stewart, 18 3 Fred. S. Salisbury. 2 Committee? of the Board of Managers. Executive. Composed of the :-'lembers of the 'tanding Committees of the Board, together with the Officers of the Society, Ex-Officio. 0, Egerton Schmidt, Chairman, 12 West 8th Street. Committee of the Church of Our Saviour. Benoni Lockwood, Chairman, 53 'Yilliam Street, Geo, B. Bonney, James May Duane, Augustus N. Hand, Committee of the Church of the Holy Comforter. John V. Brower, Chairman, 12 West 18th Street. Wm, H , Butterworth, J, W. Miller, Robert G, Hone, Alfred G. Vanderbilt. Committee of the Coenties Slip Station. B. T, Van Nostrand, 'Chairman, 139 Clinton Avenue, Brooklyn, Chas, F. Cummings, W. R. Bell, Edmund L. Baylie!;, Committee of the Battery Station, No. I State Street. Robert T, McGusty, Chairman, 116 West 42d Street. 0, Egerton Schmidt, J, Augustus Johnson, Robert L. Harrison, Committee of the Sailors' Home. e. H , Easton, Chairman, II6 West 42d Street. John H. Cole, Robert L. Harrison. Committee on Boat and Harbor Service. Herbert L. Satterlee, Chairman, 120 Broad way. ] ohn A, McKim, John Seeley Ward, J r. Committee on Legislation. J. Augustus Johnson. Chairman, 43 Cedar Street. Wm, H . Butterworth, Edmund L. Baylies, Committee of Ways and Means. Robert T, McGusty, Chairman, J 16 West 42d Street. J. H. Morrison, Stuart F. Randolph, Augustus N. Hand, Edward B, Sexton, John H. Cole, J, Midaugh Main. Committee of Trust Funds. Henry Lewis :\Iorris, Chairman, 16 Exchange Place. Benoni Lockwood, John A, IcKim. Attorney for the Society, Edmund L. Baylies, 54 Wall Street. 3 Report of the Board of Managers. Tbe Society has kept up its high stanuard of efficiency and has made a substantial advance, the results of which more than eyer justify their cost in money, time and labor. Its executiye officers are liye men-all of them. As the field expands your Board sees the need of still greater acth-ity, and its mcmbers are eagcr anel enthusiastic to do their part. Reference is made to t he Summary at the end of this report. Reading :;Irore men have visited the Reading Rooms and sen'ices at the Room s. several stations. They write anel receh-e more letters. They attend more religious meetings and respond more freely to their increasing influence. The high water JUark of character bas been notably lifted. Legal \Ve have continued to co-operate with the Legal .\iJ. Society, Aid. which has received and acted on about three thousand complaints of seamen during the year. One of our :\Ianagers ha a seat on its Board of Directors and is Chairman of its Seamen's Branch COUlmittee. Moneys :\Iore money has been deposited for safe keeping; more Deposited and larger sums have he n transmitted by our officers to and dependent relatives, aggregating this year oyer 92,000,­ Transmitted. or morc than double the amount of last year, and six tilJles the sum of the previous year. \Vho can estimate the real value of these savings to homes, to mothers and children, and to seamen who save and are saved' The The :\Iission Boat "Sentinel," wbose flag is secn in the Harbor Mission on week days and Sundays, while on its errands of religion Boat. and humanity, stands prominent among our newly-adopted lines of work. For the establishment and maintenance of this experi­ mental Harbor service, this Society is largely indebted to the generous members of the Seamen's Benefit Society-through ,,,hose continued co-operation the ;'.Iission Boat will, we hope, be kept in commission. Friends of eamen and of New York are to be congratulated on its efficient and successful inauguration and rapidly increafling usefulness. Shipment \Yhile the greatly desired "Free Shipping Bureau" has of Seamen not been established upon a broad basis, the efforts of tbe Board to obtain employment for seamen, free from the exactions of "blood-money crimps" have been increasingly successful. More than fifteen hundred sealllen haye been shipped at our stations this year, free froIU cost to them, as against ten hundred and seventy­ seven shipped last year. 4 Home for The need for a permanent structure adequate for the consoli­ Seamen. dated work of the Society on the East side, and at the Battery, is more and more pressing. The present work cannot be So economically administered scattered as it now is in many localities, at a distance from each other, as it could be nnder one roof, at a central poillt 011 the water front. For tllis purpose aBuilding Fund of at least 500,000 is needed. The Sailors' Palace in London, the Seamen's Institute in 1\Iontreal and the Home for Naval Seamen in Brooklyn, illustrate how grandly merchants and citizens rally to make provision for seamen in response to the initiative of some benevolent organization. \Ylly should not this Society make the appeal and do the work, or promote the organization, if necessary, of a secular corporation to meet the needs of this and other societies for seamen? Such an effort should also eulist the sympathies of the commercial bodies and shipping interests of this commercial centre. Courtesies \Ve gratefully recognize the actnal and promised facilities Received. granted thc ~ociety 's officel-s by the British Consul General and the United States Shipping COll1missioner at this Port in their e:fTorts to promote the welfare of American and foreign seamen. Ice Water During the Spring "The Woman's ::\Iunicipal League of Fountain New York City" asked the privilege of placing and main­ on West tainiug an ice water fountain in front of the \\Test Street Street. side of the Chapel of the lIoly Comforter which \-vas gladly gi\'en by our Board, and the fountain was accordingly placed there. Deaths. \Ve have lost during the past year from the list of our Vice- Presidents, that warm-hearted and beloved worker for Christ, the H.e\'. Dr. H. \\-alp()le \-\Tarren, who died last fall while traveling abroad ; and from the ranks of our eIrtcient and 1Il0st active laborers in the field we shall greatly miss I\Ir. Daniel ::\Iontgolllery, who died on the 5th of October last, and whose many years of continuous service to the interests of the ?lIissioll entitle him to rem mbrance by the Board. Contributions \Vith two or three conspicuous exceptions, the churches from Churches. of this city have not given us that support which we had hoped for from them. At the dedication services for our l\Iissioll Boat our Bishop gave the following admirable advice to the friends of our work: " make your rector uncomfortable until he takes a collection for it e"cry year. Prod him gently at first, but keep at him persistently until he does it." Legacies. We do not wish our fl-iends to die, and we greatly prefer gifts from the living-but we do wish that in the preparation of their wills they would oftener bear us in mind, and now that the courts 5 have declared legacies to our Society not to be subject to the provisions of the Transfer Tax Act, we can get the fuIl benefit of the entire gift without deduction.