Did you know that NYC used to have a fleet of floating churches?
On February 20, 1849, the Episcopal Church launched the “Floating Church of Our Saviour.” It was built upon an old ferry boat.
The city’s identity as a major port city permeated spiritual thinking also. The fact of sea travel, its dangers, and its spiritual meanings evoked Jesus and his fishermen disciples on the Sea of Galilee. There were hymns, sermons, and ministries connecting the spiritual life with sailing life.
The seafaring life generated hymns like “Eternal Father, Strong to Save” and literature, allegories like Moby Dick and personal testimonies. Frank Thomas Pullen wrote about his spiritual progress while aboard English seafaring ships between 1869 and 1884 in his novel With Christ at Sea (which was published in 1900).
The remnant of this tradition still marks itself in church architecture, seamen’s ministries, and even attempts at docking a new church ship in the mid-1970s.
By 1866, the Floating Church of Our Saviour had deteriorated much and then caught fire and was unusable. The disaster, of course, reflected the hazards of wooden ships that seamen could well appreciate. The Episcopalian sailors started planning on launching a new ship.
In 1868, the seamen on the docks of the Hudson River were invited to join a new Episcopal floating congregation, The Chapel of the Holy Comforter, which was parked at the foot of Dey Street. And the next year the Episcopal seamen re-launched a new Floating Church of Our Saviour, docked at the foot of Pike Street on the East River with a mission house on 34 Pike Street. It was a huge success, attracting thousands of attenders, according to information from The Sailors Magazine and Seaman’s Friend. This new church was used for more than four decades before being retired to Staten Island as All Saints Episcopal Mission Chapel.
Click here to find out more about The Seamen’s Church Institute.
