At your advancement into Mark Masonry you were handed the Book of Constitutions and Regulations. On looking through it you will have noticed that the Book has a section containing the Regulations for the Government of the Degree of Royal Ark Mariner.
As this joint Book of Constitutions and Regulations indicates, the Royal Ark Mariners have long been closely associated with Mark Masonry.
The first authentic record of the degree appears in the minute of a meeting held in Bath in 1790, while numerous records exist throughout the country of 'elevations' since that date.
This degree however was to experience great difficulties and it was many years before a serious revival of Ark Masonry took place, but in 1816 a Bro. John F. Dorrington awakened a renewed interest in the degree when he became Grand Commander.
It was this revival that eventually stimulated the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons to take a decisive action by placing the degree under its protection.
A Grand Master's Royal Ark Council was formed to regulate the degree, and the first original working under the new constitution was effected in Mother Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners No. 1 in 1872. |
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Since then the fraternity has grown apace and lodges of this degree have spread throughout the world.
The Degree of Royal Ark Mariner is worked in Royal Ark Mariner Lodges, but such Lodges are, and must be, attached (“moored”) to a Mark Master Masons Lodge.
They usually meet less frequently than Mark Lodges, and therefore the subscription to them is generally less.
The degree worked in Royal Ark Mariner Lodges commemorates the providence and mercy of God, and relates to the legend of the Deluge: the subject matter being taken direct from the Volume of the Sacred Law is naturally both beautiful and instructive.
By joining the Royal Ark Mariners, which as a Mark Mason you are entitled to do, you thereby make an important advance in Masonic knowledge. It is a step which is strongly recommended by the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and the Provincial Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons. |
