The Sailors’ Home, Well Street and Dock Street

 The Sailors’ Home has its origins in the collapse of the Brunswick Theatre in Well Street, now Ensign Street, on February 28th 1828.  The Rev. George Smith, the minister at the Methodist Mariners Church in Wellclose Square, heard the crash and ran to the scene of the disaster.  Once there he started to organise the rescue of the injured and the recovery of the bodies of the nine killed.  It was while he was amongst the rubble that he was seized by a vision: the Theatre collapse was an act of God and a sign that he should build a sailors’ home on the site.  A sailors’ home, he argued, would save the seafarer from the crimping system: a method used by local gangs to rob sailors of their pay while ashore.  His sailors’ home would offer seamen protection from the crimping system by providing him with secure accommodation, good food, a chapel, a bank to deposit his money, a place to find a new ship and a haven against alcohol.  

In 1830 the Sailors’ Home was founded and opened in 1835, with accommodation for 100 seafarers expanding later to 500.  The internal design of the Sailors’ Home was similar to a prison.  Sailors had individual metal cages arranged round a central open square. This was the very first modern home for sailors and became the model and name for similar establishments around the world.  In the late 1870s an extension was built that fronted Dock Street, becoming its main entrance.  In 1893 the London School of Nautical Cookery opened at the Sailors’ Home and trained 104,00 ship’s cooks.  Joseph Conrad, the famous Polish seaman author, stayed there off on for 16 years and found it “very friendly".  

In 1955, the building fronting Dock Street was demolished and a new building built with better facilities for seamen.  To reflect these changing times and improved conditions at the Sailors’ Home, it was given a new modern name, the “Red Ensign Club”.  The 1960s saw the demise of the British Merchant Fleet.  There were fewer ships and less need for seamen.  This led to the closure of the Red Ensign Club on New Years’ Eve 1974.  The two buildings remain and are now used as a hostel.