rage and Bravery . . . so a
Master of a ship has a very great Charge, and
ought to be a sober Man, as well as a skilful
Mariner: All Helps of Art, Care, and
Circumspection are to be used by him, that the
Lives of Mariners (the most useful of their
Majesties' Subjects at this juncture) and the
Fortunes of honest Merchants under his Care may be
preserved."

[Illustration: AT GRAVESEND: PILOTS AWAITING AN INWARD-BOUND CONVOY]

For over three hundred years, our Alma Mater flourished as the spring of
our seafaring--a noble and venerable Corporation, concerned solely and
alone with the sea and the ships and the seamen. The Brethren saw only
one aim for their endeavours--the supremacy of the sea-trade, the
business by which the nation stood or fell. Nor was theirs an inactive
part in all the long sea-wars and crises that reacted on our commerce.
Before a navy existed, the stout old master-seamen of Deptford Strond
were charged with the sea-defences of the capital. The new naval forces
came under their control at a later date, and we have the record of an
efficiency in administration that showed prevision and thought well in
advance of that of their landward contemporaries. Piracy, privateering,
the restraints of rulers and princes, were dealt with in their day. At
critical turns in the courses of our naval conduct, it was to the
steersmen of Trinity that the Ministers of the State relied for
prompt and seamanlike action. The 'sea to the seamen' was the rule.
Adapting their resources to the needs of the day, the Brethren were held
fast by no conventional restraint. They assisted peaceful developments
in trade in the quieter years, but could as readily mobilize for war
service under threat of invasion, or turn their skilled activities to
removal of the sea-marks to prevent the sailing of a mutinous fleet. In
the long and stormy history of Trinity House there were many precedents
to guide the action of the Brethren on the outbreak of war. As guardians
of the sea-channels and the approaches to our coasts, they manned these
misty sea-trenches on the outbreak of war in 1914. Weaponless, by
exercise of a skill in pilotage and a resolution worthy of great
traditions, the Trinity men have held that menaced line intact. That
little has been said about their great work is perhaps a tradition of
their service.

We are parted now. The Merchants' Service is