Sold to Mark Grand lodge
Protected by the Mark since 1871
The precise origins of the Royal Ark Mariner are unknown. The earliest confirmed record of such a degree being specifically worked is 1790, in Bath, although the existence of Noachite traditions within the body of English Freemasonry is suggested as early as 1726.
There are claims that a Grand Lodge of Ark Mariners was formed in 1772 and presided over by HRH The Duke of Clarence, before falling into disuse and being revived in 1871, but the known facts contradict this. 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.
In 1870 Brother The Reverend Canon Portal, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, announced 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.
Meanwhile, Brother Morton Edwards organised a meeting that was held on 13 May 1870 in the Bow Road, London, house of a Brother Dorrington. It was agreed there to 'reconstitute a Grand Lodge' and, although this never really got going, it did confuse matters.
In 1884 Mark Grand Lodge purchased from Bro. Edwards whatever rights he had to the Degree of Royal Ark Mariner for the sum of £25, in order to formally resolve the issue of ownership of the Degree. The receipt for which is shown here and is still in the possession of Mark Grand Lodge.
Receipt from Bro Morton Edwards
Rev. Canon George Portal
simple and beautiful
Moored to the Mark Degree
The Reverend Canon Portal, Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, established the Grand Master's Royal Ark Council in 1871. The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners, more commonly known as R.A.M or Mariners, has been under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons ever since.
Mark Grand Lodge’s rule over the ‘Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners’ is simply a quirk of fate - the Degree, although worked under the aegis of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons and requiring every candidate to be a Mark Master Mason, has no historical connection whatsoever with that Degree.
Today R.A.M. Lodges are moored to Mark Lodges and assume the same number, although the name may be different. In chronological terms the story behind the ritual precedes the Mark by hundreds of years, because it relates to the building and voyage of Noah’s Ark and the Great Flood. It's characters are unique in Freemasonry.
Those who are ‘Elevated’ as Royal Ark Mariners, and who take even the slightest interest in Masonry, soon realise that it is simple and beautiful. The great point about the Royal Ark Mariner Degree, as many have said, is that it further develops the idea that is the keynote of initiation: the making of a new beginning or the adoption of a new outlook on life.
It is a truly beautiful Degree.
today
Grand Master's Royal Ark Council
The governing body of the R.A.M. Degree is the Grand Masters Royal Ark Council, which comes under The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of England and Wales and its Districts and Lodges Overseas. It shares many of the same officers and is based at Mark Masons Hall in London.
The present Grand Master is His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent. He is the Duke of Kent’s brother, who is the current Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, which governs Craft Freemasonry.
