On the 22nd December 1853, a large sailing ship, the SS San Francisco, left New
York harbour, carrying hundreds of passengers. Two days later, on Christmas Eve,
it encountered a wild winter storm, and was wrecked off the Scottish Coast, somewhere
near where the Bell Rock lighthouse now stands. That night, the Three Bells from
Glasgow, came to the rescue.
Because it was so dark and dangerous, the Captain could only sail backwards and
forwards past them through the night, shouting ‘Never fear!’ ‘Hold on!’ ‘We’ll lay
by!’.
Several years later, in 1872, a God-fearing poet by the name of John Greenleaf Whittier
wrote a poem about the Three Bells. The story and poem were reported in the Atlantic
Monthly of that year, 1872, recording that while many lives were lost, hundreds
were saved.
The rescue by the ‘Three Bells’ is an illustration of the real life experiences
of those who find salvation in the body of Christ. Just as the passengers of the
sinking ship were saved because of the faithfulness of the crew of the Three Bells,
we too can be saved from our doomed state because of the faithfulness of God and
His messengers to us.