Moored to the Mark Degree
Royal Ark Mariners
The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner, known as RAM, has been under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons since 1871 and is governed by the Grand Master’s Royal Ark Council.
The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner is a separate Masonic Order, membership of which is open to all Mark Master Masons. In the Mark Province of Northampton, Huntingdon and Bedford 18 Mark Lodges have a Royal Ark Mariner Lodge moored to them. Several of the Royal Ark Mariner Lodges meet on the same day as the Mark Master Masons’ Lodge to which they are ‘moored’ or attached.
a further step for mark master masons
The Mark connection
Royal Ark Mariner Lodges are said to be moored to Mark Lodges, taking their number on the Order’s Roll. They often meet on the same day as the Mark lodge to which they are moored - so membership of the Royal Ark Mariner is the natural next step in their Masonic journey for many Mark Master Masons. This is why over half of all Mark Master Masons are also members of their moored Royal Ark Mariner Lodge.
The ethos of the Degree contains events before, during and after the great deluge and is based on the story of Noah, his family and the Ark. It closely parallels the story of creation: a cycle of creation, desolation, and re-creation, in which the Ark plays a pivotal role.
The actual origin of the Royal Ark Mariner Degree is not entirely certain, although several references to the Noah story and the Ark exist in early manuscripts, for example Anderson’s Constitutions of 1723. The earliest authenticated record of a Royal Ark Mariner Degree being worked in England, in a form that we would recognise, is 1790.
Some statutes refer to a Grand Lodge being reconstituted in 1772 and several attempts appear to have been made at this time to establish a ‘Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners’. These efforts failed and the degree was worked within Freemasons’ Craft Lodges, Mark Master Masons’ Lodges and elsewhere until it came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons in 1871.
That is still the situation today and so the Provincial team is also responsible for the administration of The R.A.M. Degree and the 18 Royal Ark Mariner Lodges in the province
To find out more visit our Royal Ark Mariner site (opens in a new window).