"Whatever comes aboard these ships in religious form won't hurt any of us, and I personally have seen the men reading through your writings and material. Something might rub off some time and no one but God above might know it ... I am taking this on my own to write you. I do believe the prayers of a good Christian Science lady across the street from where I live helped save my daughter who was close to death with uremic poisoning a few years ago." This note was penned by the first mate on a ship which left the Port of Detroit with complimentary copies of Christian Science literature aboard. But it might have come from the passengers, officers, or crew of any of the thousands of ocean liners, freighters, cruise ships, Coast Guard and Navy vessels (not to mention the barges, tugboats and fireboats) that have been supplied within the past few years with Christian Science literature by joint literature distribution committees formed by Christian Science churches in major ports of the United States.
When the hospital ship S. S. Hope left New York for a nine-month cruise to foreign ports, thirty packages of Christian Science literature went with it. How many people were blessed? In the words of a seafaring man, "no one but God above might know it." The Christian Science periodicals sail the seven seas almost literally from pole to pole. A Sentinel placed on a freighter in New York ends up in the hands of a traveler from Africa or Latin America. Two Navy icebreakers leave the Port of Seattle bound for the north and south polar regions. A packet of literature goes too.
Ships entering San Diego Harbor have included vessels from Japan, Scandinavia, the Philippines and Germany. Whenever possible, literature in the language of the crew is distributed. "We have been delighted with the reception given our representative when he has offered to place Science and Health in the ships' libraries or crew rooms," reports the San Diego committee, which launched a program to place with each Science and Health a Bible in the language spoken by the crew.
