"Skipper" is the title sailors generally give the captain of their vessel. A Christian fisherman, Andrew Davidson, was so named by the crew of a fishing boat, "The Rose in June," of which he was the owner and captain.
When the herring season came, Andrew Davidson and his crew prepared to go to sea. He had but lately been married, and before leaving home he knelt down with his young wife and asked God to keep her safe while he was away. But she noticed— and her heart sank within her at the thought— that he said not a word about his own safety.
The night after "The Rose in June" sailed with a fleet of other vessels, a terrible storm raged all along the coast. Early the next morning a crowd of women and children, members of the families of the absent fishermen, gathered on the beach. Every eye was strained across the waters, to catch the first glimpse of the returning boats. One by one they straggled in, and shouts of joy and thankfulness arose from waiting loved ones as husband, brother, father, or son, sprang ashore.
"The Rose in June" did not come. Driven by the storm and dashed upon the rocks, she had become a total wreck. She had turned bottom upward, while her crew of six men clung to her sides desperately. No other boat could come near to help or save them; and all around the wild waves were rolling and roaring, threatening every moment to tear each man from his hold and dash him to pieces on the sharp rocks.
Andrew Davidson thought of his Savior in that hour of peril; and in the face of certain death, that thought did for him what nothing else in the world could have done— it made him happy. It may have been that he remembered how Paul and Silas glorified God in the prison of Philippi; for he shouted, "Now, boys, let's sing a hymn of praise to God!" and at once he began and sang this verse:
"My God, I am Thine:
What a comfort divine,
What a blessing to know
That Jesus is mine!"
These were his last words. He had just finished the verse when a huge wave dashed over him, and in an instant he was swept far away into the haven of eternal rest.
A stunned silence fell upon the men who had been trying to join in that song of praise. For a while no one spoke. At last, John Allan, the mate of the little vessel who was also a believer in the Lord Jesus, exclaimed, "Come, lads! Let us go on with the hymn that our skipper is now finishing in heaven."
Then those brave men, rocking on their wrecked boat, with the waves dashing against them and the wild winds wailing around them, sang on till they had finished the hymn. The last verse reads thus:
"And this I shall prove
Till with joy I remove
To the heaven of heavens,
In Jesus' own love."
Just as they were finishing these last words, another huge wave burst over the boat, and the young mate, John Allan, was carried away to join his friend and shipmate in that blessed world above:
"Where, anchored safe, his weary soul
Shall find eternal rest,
And not a wave of trouble roll
Across his peaceful breast."
The rest of the crew of that wrecked boat escaped with their lives. But they never forgot the scene they had shared during that terrible storm. No sermon ever preached about the preciousness of Jesus could make such an impression on their minds as was made by that memorable scene. They felt, deep down in their very souls, that the truth in Jesus is the best of all truth, because it satisfies our hearts and makes us happily ready for eternity.