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Themes: "Christ the Saviour, Sacrifice R.N. It was a calm, clear evening in the summer of 1827. The passenger steamer Clydesdale was on her way down the river bound to Ireland.
The man at the Clydesdale wheel was a tough and experienced man named Jim Maxwell. He had been piloting ships up and down the river for years. He knew every rock and current and sandbank, every twist and turn of the channel along the great rivers course.
The Clydesdale thumped along, and the land fell slowly behind. Up on the deck folks were enjoying the voyage too much to go below.
Maxwell suddenly sniffed the air. He could smell something. Something was burning. Perhaps the cook had scorched a pan, or burned the potatoes. Jim Maxwell was taking no chances. Fire at sea was a terrible thing. Calling for someone to relieve him at the wheel, he went off to find the captain.
It didn't take them long. As they came abreast of the engine-room, they were met by a blast of furnace-like heat. Suddenly the starboard side of the ship was alive with leaping darting tongues of flame.
The captain told Maxwell to get back to the wheel and he called the rest of the crew together and told them to form a bucket chain.
The men formed a chain and emptied one bucket after another,
but the amounts seemed pitifully inadequate.
Jim Maxwell once again at the wheel, turned the ship around and headed back the way they had come.
It was hot everywhere below, and almost all of the passengers were now on the deck, many in their night clothes. Panic was beginning to spread and some asked if the ship was going to sink.
By this time the crew had been forced to give up their fight against the fire, so the captain ordered the crew to join the passengers on the deck. He also ordered Maxwell to go too. However, Maxwell did not budge. "I am the pilot of this vessel and I'm going to pilot her till We've completed this voyage. If there is no one at the wheel, she'll just go around in circles and everyone will burn."
By now the flames were licking around the wheel. Maxwell shrugged up his collar and steered with on hand, while the other beat off the sparks that landed on his clothes.
Another bucket chain was formed. This time the water was thrown on Maxwell to prevent him form burning.
By this time the Clydesdale was spotted from shore. It looked like a huge, flaring bonfire. When the ship crashed on the shore the spectators dashed forward to help.
Jim Maxwell suffered more than anyone else. The rescuers found him slumped across the wheel. At first it was thought he was dead, but he wasn't. He was borne gently away, and as he was lifted from the wheel, his greatcoat fell to ashes around him.
Maxwell is thought to be a great hero. If it wasn't for him, many would have perished in the flames.
There is another who suffered more than anyone else so we wouldn't perish in the flames. His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, who shed His blood on the cross for our sins. There have been many heroic acts, but never one to compare to this. Can you imagine if no passenger thanked Maxwell for his greatest feat of pilotage? "How awful" you would say, "nobody could be that unthankful." Well, there is one who died in your stead so you would not have to go to hell. What have you done about it?
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