YEARS AGO a famous French chef was giving some lectures on cooking. Among the many ladies present was a young fellow, Will Corcoran. So intent was he at copying down recipes in his notebook, that he did not notice the many quizzical looks and smiles directed at him. “He is surely in dead earnest,” whispered one lady to another. “Perhaps he intends going into the king’s kitchen.”
But no, Will was simply going to sea as soon as he could get a berth.
The lesson on coffee-making interested him most of all, for he had been told that the seamen drank lots of coffee, and that the way to their hearts was through the coffee pot.
When Will went to sea the sailors soon saw that he had a higher motive in his heart than a desire to please them, and the fact that he always kneeled down to pray before turning in to bed showed plainly what it was. But the one thing which led to his influencing the crew was the fact that he could make good coffee.
On one terribly wild night their good ship, the Ophir, rolled and pitched in the raging seas, and the storm threatened to send her to the bottom. “We’ll go down before morning,” remarked a mate to himself as he gazed into the awful darkness.
“I don’t think so, Sir,” came a voice from behind him. “God holds us in the hollow of His hand, and He is able to keep us. My mother often read to me about that. God is with us even here. Let’s ask Him to keep us safe.”
The mate was no coward, but he was drenched to the skin and thoroughly miserable. “Go on with you, boy,” he scowled. “Don’t give me any of your preaching.”
Will only smiled as he ran to the galley and returned with the steaming coffee pot in his hand. “This is my business anyhow,” he said cheerily. “Take a cup, Sir, and you’ll feel better.”
Will’s pleasant earnestness, the mate confessed, quite took the wind out of his sails. “I’m half inclined to think you’re right, boy,” he said. It was a great admission for the mate to make, and Will slipped away triumphantly to see what coffee would do with the others. Here and there along the slippery deck he went with the coffee pot in his hand, and during that night many a shivering man was warmed and into many a heart he infused fresh courage. When morning dawned the Ophir was still afloat, the storm had died down and many of the sailors had good reason to thank the young cook. Some of them joined him in his prayers that morning.
This went on day after day and, the Lord blessed Will’s testimony to the men during that voyage.
ML-08/28/1966