The Beginning of Our Island Work by E. H. Gates

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 9, 1907

The Beginning of Our Island Work

By E. H. Gates

To-DAY as I was leaving Manila harbor, Philippine Islands, I saw a sight of considerable interest to me—the old “Pitcairn” (“Florence S.,” she is now called), on which I sailed more than sixteen years ago to begin work in the Polynesian mission field. I had heard that she was running among these islands, but as she was away from Manila, I had not been able to see her before. As I passed out of the harbor on the launch, to begin my trip to China, I saw her moored to a wharf on the opposite side of the river.

With the exception of having had her forecastle removed, she appeared just the same as when I last saw her in 1899. My thoughts went back to the many interesting incidents connected with the building, fitting out, and sailing of this ship. Though this enterprise was not so important a move as some others connected with the third angel's message, it was considered at the time as marking an important era in our work. Since the first voyage of this ship in 1899, the truth has been planted in many islands, and to-day there are Sabbath-keepers scattered all the way from Pitcairn in eastern Polynesia to the island of Sumatra, in the same longitude as Bangkok, the capital of Siam. The last two important moves are the location of missionaries in the Philippine Islands and in Java. As I write these words on shipboard in the China Sea, I am on my way to attend a council in Shanghai, China, where the matter of providing literature and helpers for the many thousands of China's sons in the Eastern Archipelago will be one of the subjects considered.

Since the first voyage of the “Pitcairn,” beginning Oct. 20, 1899, several of that missionary company have been laid to rest, and others are scattered as laborers in many lands. Of the first six missionaries, two are in their graves. Of the first crew, the captain (also his wife), two sailors, and the cook are at rest. One of the missionaries is now a doctor in America. The first mate is a successful ship missionary in Rotterdam, Holland. One of the sailors is a devoted laborer in one of the Scandinavian countries; while the remaining sailor is connected with the Loma Linda Sanitarium. The two missionary ladies still living are in America, the location

of one being uncertain to the writer, while the other is caring for aged parents in California.

May this good ship long survive the buffetings of winds and seas, because of what she has done in carrying God's last message to the isles that “wait for his law.” E. H. Gates.

On China Sea.