Making the MARK - Origin of a Hymn

Since I wrote the rough draft of Mark of a Man several years ago, natrually, I did plenty of research then. As I reread the manuscript, I find it necessary to double check many of my facts throughout the novel, just to be on the safe side.  To that end, I list all my questions in a file I cleverly call MM Questions. I've got five pages or so thus far. Again I say, time consuming,  but very necessary.

Question:
I want Miss Ella, matriarch to the Dunnigan family, to play Eternal Father, Strong to Save on the family's pump organ. (Sorry, can't tell you why.) Was this hymn written by 1898 when the story takes place?

I found the answer here :  Naval History and Heritage Command http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq53-1.htm  Thank you to them!


"Eternal Father, Strong to Save": The Navy Hymn
The song known to United States Navy men and women as the "Navy Hymn," is a musical benediction that long has had a special appeal to seafaring men, particularly in the American Navy and the Royal Navies of the British Commonwealth and which, in more recent years, has become a part of French naval tradition.

The original words were written as a hymn by a schoolmaster and clergyman of the Church of England, the Rev. William Whiting. Rev. Whiting (1825-1878) resided on the English coast near the sea and had once survived a furious storm in the Mediterranean. His experiences inspired him to pen the ode, "Eternal Father, Strong to Save." In the following year, 1861, the words were adapted to music by another English clergyman, the Rev. John B. Dykes (1823-1876) , who had originally written the music as "Melita" (ancient name for the Mediterranean island of Malta). Rev. Dykes' name may be recognized as that of the composer given credit for the music to many other well-known hymns, including "Holy, Holy, Holy," "Lead, Kindly Light," "Jesus, Lover of My Soul," and "Nearer, My God to Thee."

The hymn, entitled "Eternal Father, Strong to Save," is found in most Protestant Hymnals. It can be more easily located in these hymnals by consulting the "Index to First Lines" under "Eternal Father, Strong to Save." The words have been changed several times since the original hymn by Rev. Whiting was first published in 1860-61.  Lyrics below:

Eternal Father, Strong to save,

Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,

Who bid'st the mighty Ocean deep

Its own appointed limits keep;

O hear us when we cry to thee,

for those in peril on the sea.


*Making the Mark - Mark of a Man is saga #3 of Jane Marie Malcolm's historic series, The Goodbye Lie, set in the 1880s on Amelia Island, Florida. This blog will periodically chronicle the evolution from rough manuscript to finished novel.