sailors rest

In September 1928, when Custos of Kingston Altamont E DaCosta visited the Rest and was welcomed by a party that included Mr E.B.  Hopkins, Chairman and Ms A. L Chapman, Manager. A newspaper report of the visit termed the Rest “a quiet and orderly place,” open 365 days each year, with a library, good food at reasonable prices and sleeping accommodation for 60 men at a rate of 1/- (one shilling) per night – though  as many as 100 had been accommodated when necessary. Most of the visitors were transient, such as British and Foreign naval men at a loose end in the city, who visited for a day and perhaps a night. The report stated that the matron and her assistants were assisted by “many willing ladies who give gratuitous service waiting on, and entertaining the sailors and soldiers.”

In August 1936, the Sailors’ Rest was amalgamated with the Kingston Sailors’ Home (estblished 1864), which had operated on Hanover Street and then Church Street, and which served sailors in need – especially merchant seamen who had been left behind at the port for one reason or other. Their care had been underwritten by the British Board of Trade, the shipping companies in Kingston, or the Consuls of their countries.

The larger joint facility, known as the Sailors’ Home and Rest, operated under the auspices of the British Sailors’ Society. The trustees of the Sailors’ Home provided funds to erect a small street of bedrooms each accommodating 1 – 3 men with kitchens and bathrooms, at the back of the existing Sailors’ Rest building; expanding its capacity. Governor Edward Denham, officially opened the renovated and amalgamated facility in November 1936, stating that Jamaica had a responsibility to visiting seamen whose labours meant so much to the island and who might find themselves stranded in the port. The facility’s Chairman, Mr W.J. Palmer, said that from August to November, some 58 men had already been accommodated at the new facility, while some 1500 had been entertained in some fashion.

In 1937, visitors at the Sailor’s Rest and Home included 17 survivors of the wreck of British freighter Nollington Court which sank off the uninhabited Tortuga Island. The men were rescued by the wrecking steamer Kellerig and brought to Kingston.

In 1945, when it was renovated, the Duke Street Sailors’ Rest or Duke Street Hostel had shrunk to a capacity of 12 guests, though it could take up to 40 sailors at need. It was still charging the non-profit rate of one shilling per night with commensurate charges for meals. There was also quarters for a Port Missionary.

In 1952 there were plans to modernize and update the British Sailors’ Rest at the corner of Duke and Tower streets. It appears to have remained in existence in the 1960s but there were complaints about harassment of guests by touts and a general displeasure with the experience of coming ashore in Kingston.