Saving Jack : the story of the Seamen's Mission of the Methodist Church The Queen Victoria Seamen's Rest /David Hurrell and Alexander Campbell.

"'Have you seen the old man, outside the Seamen's Mission?' Seamen's Missions may be enshrined in popular culture, but who nowadays really appreciates the seminal part these charitable institutions played in the civilising of 'Sailor Town'? The Queen Victoria Seamen's Rest (founded in 1843 as the Wesleyan Seamen's Missionary Society by the young and zealous Methodist Church) - situated in the very heart of London's Docklands - is the most famous mission of all. This pioneering social enterprise amongst the very poorest, disenfranchised, vulnerable and vilified inhabitants of the world's premier port, became the inspiration and catalyst for a new age of social reform centred around the mantra 'Soup, Soap and Salvation'. Here, for the first time, is told the graphic history of London's East End through the eyes of the 'Queen Vic' - the wharves and warehouses, the ships and sailors, the crimps and cut-throats, the hoi polloi and the horrific social depriviation. For one hundred and seventy five years the Seamen's Mission has striven to provide merchant seamen with a haven of hope in a sea of hopelessness. 'Saving Jack' commemorates this extraordinary enterprise, sown as a 'grain of mustard seed' by a group of visionary and faithful Christians back in 1843, who were responding - in the best way they knew how - to the physical needs and spiritaul hunger of the lowliest of outcasts."--Provided by the publisher.