Introduction Audio What's New? Movie Clips Downloads Making Waves Interaction Writings Film Info Websites Historical Info Experiences Image Gallery Merchandise Artwork B2T Games Music Guestbook

Today in Titanic History - with Searching
Today in
Titanic History

Thursday, October 17, 2024
1937 - 1st class survivor Mr Joseph Bruce Ismay died of cerebral thrombosis (stroke) in Westminster, London, England, UK at the age of 74.

1876 - 1st class survivor Mr Spencer Victor Silverthorne was born to Daniel K. Silverthorne and Elizabeth Johnson Silverthorne in Greenville, Michigan, USA.

1951 - 3rd class survivor Mr Ernst Ulrik Persson died of heart failure / disease in Hammond, Indiana at the age of 65.

1918 - 3rd class survivor Mrs Johanna "Hannah" O'Brien died.

1917 - Able Seaman and survivor Mr Ernest Edward Archer died of tuberculosis.

search other dates

Help B2T stay afloat!

Shop at Cafepress
Buy this on a t-shirt!
Buy this on a t-shirt!
Buy this on a t-shirt!
more Titanic designs




Lyrics: Eternal Father, Strong to Save


Words: William Whiting, 1860
He wrote the lyrics as a poem for a student about to sail for America.

Music: "Melita," John Bacchus Dykes, 1860
Dykes fittingly named the tune after a locale associated with a Biblical shipwreck. Melita was the island the Apostle Paul reached after his ship went down (Acts 28:1); today we know it as the isle of Malta.

In America, "Eternal Father" is often called the "Navy Hymn," because it is sung at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It is also sung on ships of the British Royal Navy and has been translated into French. It was the favorite hymn of U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and was sung at his funeral in Hyde Park, New York, in April 1945. The Navy Band played it in 1963 as U.S. President John Kennedy's body was carried up the steps of the U.S. Capitol to lie in state. Roosevelt served as Secretary of the Navy and Kennedy was a PT boat commander in World War II.

It was reported (and disputed) that this hymn was sung as the Titanic sank.

Eternal Father, strong to save,
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddest the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Christ! Whose voice the waters heard
And hushed their raging at Thy Word,
Who walked on the foaming deep,
And calm amidst its rage didst sleep;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

Most Holy Spirit! Who didst brood
Upon the chaos dark and rude,
And bid its angry tumult cease,
And give, for wild confusion, peace;
Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee,
For those in peril on the sea!

O Trinity of love and power!
Our family shield in danger's hour;
From rock and tempest, fire and foe,
Protect us wheresoever we go;
Thus evermore shall rise to Thee
Glad hymns of praise from land and sea.

Alternate verses:

Mary C. D. Hamilton (1915):

Lord, guard and guide the men who fly
Through the great spaces in the sky.
Be with them always in the air,
In darkening storms or sunlight fair;
Oh, hear us when we lift our prayer,
For those in peril in the air!

Aloft in solitudes of space,
Uphold them with Thy saving grace.
Thou Who supports with tender might
The balanced birds in all their flight.
Lord, if the tempered winds be near,
That, having Thee, they know no fear.

Hugh Taylor (date unknown):

O Father, King of earth and sea,
We dedicate this ship to Thee.
In faith we send her on her way;
In faith to Thee we humbly pray:
O hear from heaven our sailor's cry
And watch and guard her from on high!

Authors unknown:

Eternal Father, Lord of hosts,
Watch over the men who guard our coasts.
Protect them from the raging seas
And give them light and life and peace.
Grant them from Thy great throne above
The shield and shelter of Thy love.

God, Who dost still the restless foam,
Protect the ones we love at home.
Provide that they should always be
By Thine own grace both safe and free.
O Father, hear us when we pray
For those we love so far away.

And when at length her course is run,
Her work for home and country done,
Of all the souls that in her sailed
Let not one life in Thee have failed;
But hear from heaven our sailor's cry,
And grant eternal life on high!

Source: The Cyber Hymnal





about back-to-titanic.com | contact us