GRAND LODGE OF MARK MASTER MASONS

OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA AND NORTHERN TERRITORY

Introduction

Although Royal Ark Mariner Lodges operate under the aegis of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of South Australia and Northern Territory, the degree of Royal Ark Mariner has no historical connection with the Mark Degree.  Mark Grand Lodge's rule over the 'Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners' is simply a quirk of history. The degree of Royal Ark Mariner stands entirely alone and totally unrelated to any other degree in Freemasonry.  Every candidate for elevation to membership as a Royal Ark Mariner is required to be a Mark Master Mason,

History

The legend of Noah, his sons, the Ark and the Deluge were enacted in the Mystery Plays of mediaeval times and continued as catechisms in many of the early Masonic rituals. By the 1750s there was a Degree of Noachites or Prussian Knights. However, the first authentic record of the degree appears in the minutes of a meeting held in Bath in 1790. Numerous records exist throughout England of the ceremony of Elevation being performed since that date.

Whilst the degree seems to have been practised in a variety of ways and in a host of different Lodges, there was almost certainly no Grand Lodge presiding over the degree. We are, of course, reminded of the widespread practice of the degree every time we enter a Craft Lodge and observe the use of the dove bearing an olive branch by the Deacons rather than Mercury, the messenger of the Gods, which we see in Mark Lodges.

Thomas Dunkerley, so important in the fortunes of many degrees in Freemasonry, described himself in 1793 as Grand Commander of the Society of Ancient Masons of the Diluvian Order of Royal Ark Mariners. Dunkerley appointed Ebenezer Sibley, another man of considerable ability in several fields, as his Deputy. Shortly before Dunkerley's death it was Sibley who welcomed Lord Rancliffe as the next Grand Commander. Rancliffe held the office until 1799 after which time the Grand Lodge gradually withered and died. The degree, however, survived and clung on tenaciously in a number of places. In 1843 an attempt was made by John F Dorrington to revive the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners. His Grand Lodge was even less successful than the 1793 body.

Morton Edwards, having been Passed to the Chair of Noah, seems to have been fired with the ambition of reviving the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners. Accordingly a meeting was held on 13 May 1870 in the house of Brother Dorrington and it was agreed to reconstitute a Grand Lodge.

Since a number of Mark Lodges had also begun to work the degree there was some conflict with the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, which had been formed in in London in 1856. This came to a head when the Reverend Canon Portal, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons announced, also in 1870, that since the degree of Ark Mariner had been worked in Mark Lodges since 1790, the Mark would protect the Royal Ark Mariner degree under a new Grand Master's Royal Ark Council. This explains Mark Grand Lodge's current control of the Royal Ark Mariners.

The conflict and dissension continued well after 1870 until the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons simply purchased the Degree from Morton Edwards for the sum of £25! The receipt for this transaction still hangs in the library of Mark Mason's Hall in St. James's Street, London.

Since that time the Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons is automatically Grand Commander of the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners. The degree of Royal Ark Mariner may only be conferred on Mark Master Masons and the government of the two degrees is linked, with the Mariners under a Royal Ark Council.

Royal Ark Mariners in South Australia and Northern Territory

At the inauguration of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of South Australia in  May 1906 there were no Royal Ark Mariner Lodges in South Australia. 

Adelaide Royal Ark Mariners Lodge No.1 was consecrated on 26 November 1906.  Little is known of the early history of this Lodge as the first Minute book covering meetings until 1922 is missing.

The Degree of Royal Ark Mariner

Elevation into the Royal Ark Mariner Degree commemorates the providence and mercy of God and relates to the legend of the deluge. The subject matter being taken directly from The Bible is naturally both beautiful and instructive. When the candidate enters the Lodge room his attention is directed to three pillars and at one stage the Ark is memontarily symbolised in terms similar to the Ark of Salvation. The candidate is finally instructed to advance in the spirit of the Cardinal Virtues.

The teaching of the Degree emphasises the importance of the family strengths and the need for each member of scoiety to play his part for the benefit of all. We are taught that out of chaos and catastrophe mankind can survive and that we should face adversity together, helping to look after those less fortunate than ourselves.

During the ceremony analogies are drawn between the dangers of the flood and the dangers of life. We are reminded of how we should strive to reach the Ark, the haven of rest, just as did Noah's family and the other occupants of the Ark in the Biblical tales of the deluge.

Internet links and further reading

Royal Ark Mariners of Victoria
United Supreme Grand Chapter of New South Wales and ACT
Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Western Australia
Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Queensland
Tasmania
Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Queensland

Based in part on an article by V W Bro Brian A Vickers, RAMGR (Past DPGM (London))