Collective Worship
Title: The shipwreck
Theme: We must beware the fair winds of temptation
School: Secondary
Term: Autumn Term
Summary:
The story of the wrecking of the Royal Charter and Paul being shipwrecked in the book of Acts. If the Captain had not allowed the light winds of Fair Haven to affect him he would have avoided the shipwreck. Our lives are full of the fair winds of temptation
Teachers’ Notes
The pictures should be shown in PowerPoint as the story is told. The ( ) shows when the slide should be changed. To attract pupils’ attention, we recommend the first slide is already on display as they enter.
The Main Text
(Picture 1)
The Royal Charter was a steam sailing ship which was first launched in 1857. She was used on the journey between Liverpool and Australia and was considered a very fast ship claiming she could make the journey to Australia in less than 60 days.
(Picture 2)
On the 26th of October 1859 the Royal Charter was on her way home to Liverpool from Melbourne with nearly four hundred passengers on board. We can’t be sure exactly how many, because the passenger register was lost.
(Picture 3)
As the ship neared Anglesey, a storm was brewing and she went into difficulty only 50 yards from dry land. Later it was suggested that the Captain had refused advice to turn towards the shelter of Holyhead harbour and insisted on sailing on for Liverpool, but this hasn’t been confirmed.
(Picture 4)
The ship was completely wrecked near Moelfre village and the majority of passengers lost their lives. At the time it was the greatest seafaring tragedy off the British coast.
The shipwreck received a lot of attention with the famous author Charles Dickens even visiting the area to record the incident.
The story of another shipwreck is told in the book of Acts in the Bible. This ship was on the way to Rome and the apostle Paul was on board.
(Picture 5)
The journey was very long, and strong winds forced the ship to turn south towards the island of Crete. It eventually reached a place called Fair Haven. Further down the coast was a place called Phoenix, and the sailors were very keen to reach there.
(Picture 6)
Paul advised the Captain not to sail further for now and to wait until it was safer. But, after the winds subsided slightly the Captain ignored the advice and sailed on. The story goes: “When a light wind began blowing from the south, the sailors thought they could make it.” (Acts 27:13). Because of this fair wind the ship sailed on, but they had only just passed the Fair Havens when a mighty storm rose against them. The ship fought against the storm for a fortnight. Day after day, night after night the ship rolled back and forth on the open sea. Everyone on board was sure they were going to die.
(Picture 7)
Then, around midnight on the fourteenth night the sailors suddenly thought they had sighted land. So they wouldn’t be wrecked on the rocks, four anchors were thrown overboard from the stern (the back) of the boat. As dawn broke, the sailors saw a small cove – the land was Malta as it happens. They decided to run the ship ashore by breaking anchor.
(Picture 8)
It seemed at first as if the ship would reach land safely but a few yards from the shore she hit rocks and started breaking apart. Everyone had to jump for their lives and swim for shore. The book of Acts says: “So everyone escaped safely to shore.” (Acts 27:44).
(Picture 9)
What happened to the ship in this story is a parable of what can happen to people. Someone once said:
“Fel mae’r llong ar gefn y lli
Felly mae ein bywyd ni.”
“As the ship is on the sea
So also is our life.”
If the Captain had listened to Paul’s advice, sheltered in the Safe Havens and hadn’t sailed on they would have avoided the storm and not been shipwrecked. But the light wind from the south tempted the Captain to go on, and that’s what he did. He was tricked and found himself in the middle of a storm.
All of us are tempted. Temptations trick us because so often theyseem to offer us adventure. l But, when we give in to temptation, we so often find ourselves in trouble, as happened in the story of Paul’s shipwreck.
PRAYER: When temptation’s fair winds come to meet us give us the strength, O Lord, to be strong enough to overcome them so that we don’t find ourselves in stormy weather. Amen.