The Seamen's Bethel

After months at sea, many whaling men in this port city were vulnerable to liquor, licentiousness, dishonest merchants, and other temptations. In 1832, the New Bedford Port Society for the Moral Improvement of Seamen opened this mariners' chapel to protect seamen's rights and interests and to furnish them with moral, intellectual, and religious instruction. By supplying Bibles and nondenominational services, the Bethel hoped to counter the influences to which the port's mariners often fell prey. A survey in 1852 found 37 liquor shops and 21 houses of ill repute in this ward alone.

Fairhaven, Massachusetts · United States