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Children and ships
A few readers will remember being on the dockside at Tilbury on 29th November 1962 when ‘John Williams VII’ was consecrated and launched by the late Princess Margaret for its work in the Pacific Islands. The ship then visited other ports so that the children of the churches could go on board and see ‘their ship’. This was the seventh in a line of ships named after the martyr, ship-builder, and missionary, John Williams. From the beginning it was children in churches who helped finance and maintain these vessels, seven in total, through collecting ship halfpennies and donations.
The first ‘John Williams’, a sailing ship, was launched at Harwich in 1844, just over four years after John Williams was murdered on the island of Erromanga, in the New Hebrides. Children of churches raised £4000 for this vessel. Basil Matthews, in his book Ships of Peace, describes children ‘selling toys, a favourite doll, a boy working down the mines, a nine year old giving his only shining half crown’ to raise the necessary funds. This excerpt from the Annual report of the Victorian Auxiliary of the London Missionary Society in Australia dated May 1895, gives an indication of the interest in the ships:
‘The principal event of the year was the visit to our port of the new steamer ‘John Williams’ (IV) and the series of enthusiastic gatherings extending from August 23-29 … Special provision was made in the way of excursion trains and cheap fares to enable Sunday School scholars and others, not only from the suburbs of Melbourne but also from leading provincial centres to visit the children’s ship. Nothing could exceed the courtesy and kindness of Captain Turpie… The amount raised in Victoria last year amounted to £248.9s 6d. The ‘John Williams’ is now more a household word than ever.’
The ships provided a focus for children in the churches right up to the 1960’s. Many readers of Reform will remember ‘News from Afar’ and they will have memories and momentos of raising money for the ships (see picture of certificate overleaf from William Atkinson, Morecambe.)
From Jean Holtham of Leeds (now over 90 years old)
My experiences are only second hand as I was born after my parents served in the South Sea Islands for five years where my brothers and sister were born…
They set sail from Tilbury Docks in the John Williams in 1908 bound for the island of Niue. This was following their honeymoon and my mother was always a bad sailor. It was a somewhat hazardous journey round South Africa and when they finally reached Niue there was no landing stage and a boat picked them up and rowed them to the island. Following this experience they were very dependent on the John Williams for their only contact with home. It only docked for a couple of days when letters and various items from the family were delivered, including foodstuff collected from other islands, some of which had to be ditched as it had gone rancid. You can imagine the excitement when news arrived from family members at home. The next time they sailed on the John Williams was after five years when the ship took them to New Zealand as my father had contracted TB.
Letter to Glyn Jenkins October 4, 2004
John Williams
In the first years of the nineteenth century, John was one of those people who was impressed by stories of the early boats and the exciting unknown places they visited. The London Missionary Society (originally known as The Missionary Society) came into being because of a desire to take the gospel to such places, many uncharted and unexplored.
The first Missionary ship, The Duff, sailed in 1796. Its story used to be known by children and adults in each local church. What was not always in the public awareness was the tragedy and foolhardiness of the early explorers. The complement of The Duff was mostly made up of artisans, just four were ordained ministers. This Abrahamic journey had high dreams but floundered as the newcomers struggled to survive, especially those in Tonga who endured two and half years of indescribable horror without a single visit from a European ship. Three of the nine on Tonga were murdered, the rest hid in caves until the mission was abandoned. One man in particular, Henry Nott – (celebrated in Bromsgrove URC) – remained and was still there when reinforcements arrived. John and Mary Williams were among the group of new recruits. They were young, barely in their 20’s, with no language skills – but had a deep sense of call and an earnest faith. John worked with other missionaries in the Society Islands (modern French Polynesia), but his sights were on other islands, dotted about in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. He called for a boat to be provided but the LMS were reluctant to encourage such initiatives. John eventually hired a boat and helped to take the gospel to the Hervey Islands (modern Cook Islands), putting Rarotonga on the map for the first time (Captain Cook missed it!). It was on this island that John built his own ship, ‘The Messenger of Peace’.
From the Revd Bernard Thorogood, former General Secretary of the United Reformed Church.
A personal memory …..
I once reckoned I had sailed 13,000 miles on the John Williams ships and most of it in a state of nausea! I have memories of the John Williams VI as a young minister on my first tour of the Cook Islands. I can well remember the number of locals that claimed a place as deck passengers. ‘My mama is sick in Penrhyn and she needs me’ My sister is getting married on Mangaia and I have to go’ ‘My wife and I are getting old and we have to get back to Manahiki to die’.
Every possible reason was given and in the end the hatch and deck were crowded with people and all their bundles of luggage….. I have memories of seeing the John Williams VII being built in Lowestoft. It had to have a shallow draft to get into the lagoons – that meant more rolling at sea and my tummy did not like that. I like to think of a little ship plodding through the long Pacific swell, probably dolphins playing round the bow, the captain looking on indulgently and the Polynesian chants rising to heaven, all passion and harmony…
Adapted from a letter to Glyn Jenkins September 29, 2004
Unsung heroes
Much has been written about John, but hardly anything about his wife Mary. Mary Williams was born September 29, 1795, the youngest child of Thomas and Mary Chawner of Denson Hill, Cheadle. She attended the Whitefield Tabernacle in London where she met John. Their son Samuel, in a memoir at the Union Chapel, Islington, described his parents in this way:
‘John was ardent, impulsive, enthusiastic and determined – enterprise and action were the elements which he loved. Mrs Williams was gentle, soothing and had a holy, quiet spirit and was a woman of prayer and great patience. She had to bear his frequent long absences...’
She wrote in her diary in December 1832 (Sabbath): ‘very heavy rain, with high wind and tremendous seas rolling up the garden fence and tremendous destruction to the house. The thought of my dear John being out in this hurricane is distressing beyond expression. I have thought it impossible for them to bear against it; yet I seem to hear the promise ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord’ – I desire to place all my trust in Him.’
She lost seven children in or near childbirth, and nearly died herself. A moving letter from John to his father and family brings out Mary’s deep resources:
Raiatea November 9, 1822
It has pleased God in his all wise dispensations to exercise us again very severely. We have lost another lovely babe – a fine beautiful girl – my dear Mary was confined and the child was well and hearty previous to its birth but we suppose stifled as the labour was protracted. You can conceive our grief at such a loss – it was the most beautiful little babe we ever saw… my dear Mary was wonderfully supportive and manifested true resignation – it was her work to administer comfort to me instead of me to her….
Research brings out the far reaching part that she played in teaching, caring for the sick, developing local skills, helping in women’s groups and children’s nurture.
Ground Force
Mary was on the receiving end of much kindness too. John, with the help of local people had built a boat, the Messenger of Peace, this had turned most of the land around the house where they lived into a DIY shipyard. John writes about how the local people, mainly women, tidied it all up while they were giving the boat its maiden voyage:
‘On entering the harbour we were struck with the appearance of our house; for as the ship had been built just in front of it, much rubbish had been collected, the fence surrounding the front garden was broken down, and the bananas and shrubs destroyed. This was the state of things when we had left the island (to go to Aitutaki) but now not only was the fence repaired, and the garden well cultivated, but the dark red mountain plantain, and the golden banana, fully ripe were smiling a welcome to us through the splendid leaves which surrounded the trunks that bore them. It appears that Mary had told the women who attended her for instruction, that it would afford her pleasure to have the pathway and garden put in order by the time of my arrival. They were delighted with the suggestion. The following morning they commenced making the pathways.... By their request their husbands undertook to repair the fence round the house, while they ornamented the enclosure with banana and plantain trees, bearing fruit which would be ripe about the time of our expected return; and the kind people appeared amply rewarded by observing the pleasure which their work afforded us. (p.41 Missionary Enterprises – John Williams 1839)
Local leadership
‘Island teachers’ were a crucial part of the mission strategy adopted by John Williams. His initial work in the Society Islands (now French Polynesia) made him realise that there were many more islands and places where the Gospel needed to be taken. By training local leaders he found a resource that could be transplanted onto other islands. ‘So great are the advantages on the side of a native teacher at the commencement of a Mission over a European,’ wrote Williams, ‘one colour, almost one language, and a oneness of habit gives them these superior advantages’ (Williams and Barff Journal 1830 LMS). There is no reference to ordination, but before ‘native teachers’, sometimes called deacons, were taken to other islands, they were ‘set apart’ at a special service. As there was considerable risk in this kind of work and travel was precarious, there was no guarantee that teachers would see their native island again. The distances were so great that it was not unusual for people to be stranded on an island for years, having been blown off course in a gale.
The evangelisation of Rarotonga and the Hervey Islands could not have been achieved without the dedication of trained teachers from Raiatea in the Society Islands. Typical of such a leader was a man called Papeiha whose family still works at the church at Arorangi in Rarotonga. Such teachers were used to make the initial inroads into high risk areas. They braved the attacks of local tribes, who were often at war with one another. The part played by the ‘island’ missionaries throughout the growth of the LMS work in the Pacific region is significant. Local researchers have tried to piece together some of the amazing stories:
Marjorie Tuainekore Crocombe has published a book entitled ‘If I live’ (published by Lotu Pasifica Productions, PO Box 208, Suva, Fiji) on the life of Ta’unga, one of the few island missionaries who wrote down what he did. He was one of the first inhabitants of Rarotonga to read and write of the daily happenings he lived through as an LMS missionary in the New Hebrides, Niué, Rotuma, the Loyalty Islands and Samoa between 1842-1878. Thanks to her translation of virtually lost manuscripts, the present generation can begin to understand the risks and sacrifice of people like Ta’unga. These accounts put right the balance that has always swayed towards the northern hemisphere missionaries.
Local people also had a large part to play in helping to translate the scriptures. The missionaries laboured with the language and received much help from the island teachers. Some languages had never been written down, others had great difficulty in accommodating the strange vocabulary of the Bible.
The history of mission work in the Pacific Islands shows how local leadership inspires and innovates, challenges and celebrates the church.
A Thank you
Pilots was born out of the need to share with children a vision of a world wide church and a Christ for all nations. In 1936 the London Missionary Society decided to launch an organisation that could be run in churches locally for the children. The main reasons for this were to say thank you to the children for their constant work and commitment, to provide information through projects and activities so that they could understand where their money was being spent and to keep the children enthusiastic about their contribution to the Missionary work.
Over the 70 years that Pilots has existed many things have changed, but many things have stayed the same. The core ethos of the organisation has always been about respecting and valuing the children and young people involved in the organisation and in return, children and young people have always been passionate about their involvement in Pilots; this was never more obvious when over 70% responded to a questionnaire about Pilots and what their hopes and dreams were for the organisation. Pilots has always been a mission tool and its work in the mission of the local church is as strong today as it ever has been. This is seen in the stories of new Pilots companies who frequently say the same things:
Ecumenically Pilots goes from strength to strength. Back in the 1940’s and 1950’s, Pilots could be found mainly in congregational churches but also in one or two other denominations as well as in other countries, it was recorded that at that time there were four thousand Pilots in Australia and even more in New Zealand. Today Pilots can be found in six denominations in Great Britain, and some of those denominations are strengthening their commitment as they move towards sponsorship.
Locally Pilots are doing what they always have; they meet together as part of the church family, they worship, play games, do activities and discover the world in a different way, all in a safe environment of Christian love. They learn to value themselves and others, are encouraged to be children and young people and they are introduced to a faith which is both complex and simple.
As we celebrate 70 years of being Pilots, we celebrate our history too, remembering John and Mary Williams, other missionaries, the local teachers and all the peoples whose lives were changed. Pilots everywhere are standing tall and claiming this history as their own, their passion for Pilots and all that means in their local situation is inspiring, humbling and awesome.
Glyn
Jenkins is the Pilots Archivist and
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