These notes have been generally drawn from: The Royal Ark Mariner Degree : Its Origin and History, by R. M. Handfield-Jones, M.C., Grand Librarian of the G.L. of M.M.M. of England &c., London, 1968.
Masonic students, eager to learn more of the history and origins of the ritual of this Degree should avail themselves of the work of Rev. Neville Barker Cryer, P.Prov.G.M.(Surrey) : The Arch and the Rainbow (1), or its translation into French, by Prof. Georges Lamoine : L'Arche et l'Arc-en-Ciel, Edition SNES, Toulouse, 1999.

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The first known manuscript "Constitutions" or "Old Charges" , the Regius Poem of circa 1390 (being obviously a copy of an earlier text of about 1350), offers at line 537, the first reference to Noah and the Flood.

Twenty years later, the Cooke Manuscript develops further on Noah. Indeed he is named therein on six occasions and sixty five lines (257 to 320) are devolved, not only to Noah and the Ark, but also to the causes and circumstances of the Flood and to the two columns inscribed with all the sciences then known, one made of marble to withstand consummation by fire and one cast of brass to resist destruction by water.

By the middle of the 14 th century Noah’s story thus appears associated with Masonry.

In the first edition of Anderson’s Constitutions (3) in 1723, we are told (p. 3) :
« ... until at length Noah, the ninth from Seth, was commanded and directed by God to build the great Ark, which tho’ of Wood, was certainly fabricated by Geometry , and according to the Rules of Masonry », and further down « Noah, and his three Sons, Japhet, Shem, and Ham, all Masons true, brought with them over the Flood the Traditions and Arts of the Ante-deluvians, and amply communicated them to their growing Offspring. »

And, in 1726, the Graham Manuscript (4) adds still more about it, :
«... que Sem, Cham et Japhet eurent à se rendre sur la tombe de leur père Noé pour tenter d'y découvrir quelque chose [...] qui les guiderait jusqu'au puissant secret [...] . Ici, j'espère que chacun admettra que toutes les choses nécessaires au nouveau monde se trouvaient dans l'Arche avec Noé. »

The second edition of Anderson’s Constitutions (3) in 1738, ( p.4 )is even more precise in its legendary portion : «... when the World’s Destruction drew nigh, God commanded Noah to build the great Ark or floating Castle [...]. That Edifice though of Wood only, was fabricated by Geometry as nicely as any Stone Building [...] aboard which he and his 3 Sons passed, and having received the Cargo of Animals by God’s Direction, they were saved in the Ark, while the rest perish’d in the Flood ...» and further down reference is made to « Noachidæ, or Sons of Noah — The first Name of Masons, according to some old Traditions »,

and, several pages hence ( p.143 ), in the first quoted of the "Old Charges", it is said : «... A Mason is obliged by his Tenure to observe the Moral Law, as a true Noachida », and further on ( p.144 ), reference is made to «... the 3 great Articles of Noah...».

One can easily see that this “Noachidæ” legend was certainly to serve as a basis for the original Third Degree structure and is most probably the origin of the more recent legend of Hiram’s death.

The blossoming of a myriad of degrees and orders after 1740 is widely known. Several of these constitute nowadays the basis of our Ark Mariner Degree legend.

In 1871, in London, a Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners adopted Statutes incorporating a lengthy historical introduction. It purported that in 1772, a Grand Lodge had been “re-constituted”, thus confirming that the Degree had been worked in London many years before, and without interruption, until then. The whole demonstration was based on a 1793 Charter which is but a forgery. Nevertheless, only the document is fake. What it tells us, though inventing dates and proofs, is quite correct broadly speaking. This is what we shall now try to demonstrate.

The first authentically documented conferral of this Degree took place in Bath in 1790, when one William Boyce "took the Red Cross Degree together with the Royal Ark Mariner", though several coincidences would tend to prove that the Degree was known in Portsmouth as early as 1778 and even in London circa 1772.

An electoral scandal, told in an 1830 local history, shows that it was well known in Ipswich in June 1790, when " a person of the name of 'Noah' Sibl[e]y [...] established a club or society [...], purporting to be a particular branch of freemasonry, called the Good Samaritans or the Ark Masons: the oath of of introduction was binding upon every member to unite together in brotherly love and friendship and to assist each other as much as possible on every occasion: […] as Sir John D'OyIy (the candidate for election) was a brother Samaritan. […] their public exhibitions were attended with much ceremony in the various processions through the different streets of the town, when a model of Noah’s Ark and a variety of insignia and banners were displayed … ”.

Ebenezer Sibly, an astrologer, but later a surgeon, initiated in Lodge No.79 (Antients) in Portsmouth, in 1784, is apparently much involved in this Degree as can be seen in from manuscript ritual kept in the Library at Mark Masons’ Hall, London : “ The Royal Ark Lodge or II [ d Degree] of Ark Mason, laid open in the form of a LECTURE as handed down from Noah ... , by Ebenezer Sibly, D[eputy] G[rand] N[oah], 1790 ”, which contains, amongst other things, an 'Address to the Worthy Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners' and a ritual where the secrets and mysteries are those of ‘this Supreme Degree of Ancient Freemasonry denominated Nochidia or Ark Mariner’ with a penalty very similar to that administered today.

Thomas Dunckerley was at that time Provincial Grand Master for Essex, where this episode took place. If nothing warrants that he was then in possession of this Degree, we may venture that these two gentlemen had met, possibly of motives of Masonic discipline, and so being out "indefatigable founder" have certainly be quite interested.

Be that is it may, the "Freemasons' Magazine" for August 1794, reported at page 147 :
« 16 th AUGUST – The anniversary of His Royal Highness the Duke of York was celebrated in full Masonic pump by the Order of Knights Templar residing in London, which the Society of Antient Masons of the Antediluvian Order of Royal Ark and Mark had joined, gathered at the 'Surrey' Tavern, in the Strand, convened by Mr. Thomas Dunckerley, Grand Master and Grand Commander of these United Orders. »

It therefore appears as if Dunckerley had taken control of the Mariners’ Grand Lodge in 1793, thus becoming head of the united Orders. After his death in 1794, Lord Rancliffe was installed Grand Master of the United Orders of the Temple and Malta then, also, of the Orders of the Red Cross of Rome and Constantine, as well as Grand Commander of R.A.M. in 1796, with ‘Noah’ Sibly as Deputy Grand Noah and Robert Gill, as Assistant Grand Noah. By the end of the year Lord Rancliffe delegated authority to Robert Gill, Charles Sinclair, William Jones, William Cooper and Isaac Mosley to deliver warrants and dispensations to duly registered Ark Mariners. Three years later, the last named is found in America.

Fire having ravaged Robert Gill’s residence, nothing has survived of the large archives gathered along his rich Masonic career. In 1799, after "Noah" Sibly demise, the Grand Lodge of Mariners started to decline, and was soon to pass into oblivion.

In 1816 and, later in 1843, Bro. F. John F. Dorrington, Grand Commander Noah (most probably by virtue of his sole authority) attempted, without success, to resuscitate the Grand Lodge. But his tenacity and efforts were nevertheless to bear fruit twenty five years later. Members of the St. Mark’s Mark Lodge "assembled in a Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners", published in the "Freemason" :

« ROYAL ARK MARINERS – A vessel of the Most Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariners appeared off the George Hotel, Aldermanbury, about seven of the clock p.m., on Monday the 2 nd of May 1870 under the command of Father Noah, and having on board R.A Mariners – Marsh as Shem, Hubbard as Japhet and Vesper as P.N. The vessel being moored the Ark was opened in due form and the following brethren, after taking the A.OB. of this Honourable Fraternity, came on board as R.A. Mariners [ eight names follow]. The Ark was then opened in the Degree of Shem and Japhet and these chairs were occupied in rotation by R.A. Mariners Marsh, Cubitt, Church, Levander and M[orton] Edwards. After and interval and on the retirement of the rest of the R.A. Mariners Hubbard, Levander and Edwards were passed into the Chair of First Principal. The "Gill" Warrant of the Fraternity was on the Scribe’s table during these. The Ark was properly closed, the vessel unmoored, the Ark Mariners adjourned and, after an evening spent very agreeably, separated. »

Morton Edwards, then a renown sculptor, was at the time a Grand Officer in the Mark. On 13 th May at his house in London, John Dorrington appointed and investing him as Deputy Grand Noah and Grand Scribe of the Order, at the very moment that a committee was being constituted by the Mark Grand Lodge to « study the rituals of the Ark, Link and Wrestle et Most Excellent Master Degrees. » On 14 June, Canon George Portal, Grand Master of the Mark, was elevated a Royal Ark Mariner and installed into Noah’s Chair in the Old Kent Lodge, together with a number of his Mark Grand Officers.

In August, the committee reported : that the Degree seemed to have been practised at least since 1790, either within autonomous bodies or Time Immemorial Mark Lodges ; that it contained nothing contrary to Ancient Freemasonry ; that there was nothing whatsoever to prevent it being worked under the authority of the Mark Grand Lodge ; and concluded with a recommendation that Mark Lodges desirous to work it be so authorised by Grand Secretary, by means of a special Warrant, on such conditions as shall be determined.

The Grand Lodge, thus revived in July 1870, by Dorrington’s patent, now had Edwards as Grand Commander Noah, as well as a complete set of Grand Officers and, at least on paper, Grand Inspectors in numerous countries.

In June 1871, Mark Grand Lodge disavowed Morton Edwards, one of its Grand Officers, and formally declared taking the Mariner Degree under its aegis. Edwards remained deaf until finally convinced to surrender in 1884. A ritual of the Degree, published in 1884, still in circulation, contains in the Obligation some words of allegiance to the "Grand Commander Noah".

The Degree has been worked in England, after 1871, under the aegis of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, under which it has developed dynamically. Since 1994, it shows signs of a willingness to acquire some sort of autonomy, as if moving towards the status of an aggregated Grand Lodge, somehow similar to that it has in France since the constitution of a fully fledged Grand Lodge on 31 st May 1997.

In Scotland it is administered (under the aegis of a totally integrated pro forma Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners), by the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter and worked within “Lodges and Councils”, attached to Royal Arch Chapters, conjointly with that of Red Cross Knight, Red Cross of Daniel or “Babylonish Pass”.

In the United States, the Degree, originally received from Scotland in 1931, has been attached since 1932 to the series of Degrees controlled by the Grand Council of the Allied Masonic Degrees, where it is still worked autonomously by a few Lodges, mainly located in New England.