This truly benevolent and highly respectable Society is one of the oldest in the United States, and its benefits have been largely enjoyed by the widows and orphans of the deceased mariner. It was incorporated as early as the year, seventeen hundred and seventy, and its objects will more fully appear by the following Preamble, in the original Charter: -

"Whereas our loving subjects, Leonard Lispenard, and James Jauncey, of our City of New York, Esquires; Jacob Le Roy, William Walton, John Harris Cruger, Samuel Verplanck, Lawrence Kortwright, and Theophilact Bache, of our City, Gentlemen; Linus King, Thomas Randall, Daniel Stiles, Augustine Lawrence, Anthony Rutgers, Robert Dale, and Robert Benson, or our said City, Mariners; in and by their humble Petition, presented to our trusty and well-beloved Cadwallader Colden, Esq. our Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of our Province of New York, and the territories depending thereon, in America, on the seventh day of March, in this the tenth year of our reign, and read the same day in our Council for our said Province, having set forth in substance: That the Petitioners, agreeable to the example of several places on the continent of North America, had, with at least fifty other persons, most of them either principal inhabitants of our said City of New York, or masters of vessels sailing out of our port of New York, formed themselves into a Marine Society, for the purpose of improving maritime knowledge, and for relieving indigent and distressed (and the wives and orphan children of deceased) masters of vessels: That such a Society; from the nature and design thereof, must be particularly advantageous to our said City: That several sums of money, to the amount of two hundred pounds, had already been subscribed to the said Society, and from the expediency thereof, the Petitioners not only expected more and very considerable donations, but also an increase in the number of members: And that the Petitioners humbly conceived, that the useful and benevolent purposes for which they had associated themselves, might be more effectually answered if they were incorporated, and did therefore, in and by their said Petition, most humbly pray for letters patent for incorporating them."

The Charter was granted at New York, on the twelfth day of April, seventeen hundred and seventy, signed by Cadwallader Colden, Lieutenant-Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Province.

The Gentlemen first named as Officers were -

From the first Institution of the Society until the year seventeen hundred and eighty-six, it was by no means prosperous, but since that period it has continued to flourish in a high degree. Twenty-one hundred and eight Members and Honorary Members have been enrolled on its books, and the money collected for admission and yearly dues has amounted to one hundred and thirty thousand four hundred dollars, which has been disposed of in donations, expences, and the permanent fund, which is now considerable.

The annual amount distributed by the Society is twenty-four hundred dollars, and the average number of widows seventy-four annually, besides orphans. The whole donations of the Society, since its commencement, amount to eighty-eight thousand one hundred.

The Officers for the present year are -

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/21/99.