Sailor's Floating Church. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 27 May 1843.
<p>Sailor's Floating Church. Resulting from a  meeting held at the <i>London Tavern</i>, Bishopsgate in July 1825 presided over by the Lord Mayor, it was deemed the best way to promote the spiritual welfare of the seamen and their families was by a floating chapel. The <i>London Episcopal Floating Church Society</i> was thereby founded, and a chaplain appointed, to be assisted by two sailors, their remit to visit seafarers afloat between London Bridge and the Pool, and their families on shore. A suitable boat was provided, and two seamen engaged. The Admiralty provided the ship <i>Brazen</i>, a 26-gun ex sloop-of-war, lately used as a convict ship, to be now employed as a 'floating church', The ship was adapted  from May to September 1827 to accommodate 500 <i>hearers</i>, she was renamed <i>Bethel</i>.<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1">[1]</a></sup> On 10 February 1828 she was delivered to the Committee of the Floating Church at Deptford, and moored by Rotherhithe parish church. The first service was held on Good Friday, 24 March 1829.The ship capsized in 1832 (with no loss of life) and after repairs was moved in 1834 to a new location on the north side of the Thames, in the Admiralty Tier off the Tower of London.
</p><p>Publisher: The Illustrated London News  in 1843 January- June<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2">[2]</a></sup></p>
Source of Imageː NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM, LONDON
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Unknown author<span style="display: none;">Unknown author</span></div>
27 May 1843<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1843-05-27T00:00:00Z/11</div>
<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.stgitehistory.org.uk/floatingchurch.html">St George-in-the East Church</a>