R.W.H. Miller, currently a Catholic priest in the west of England, has been a long-time student of Maritime Social History and member of the Society for Nautical Research and the International Maritime Economic History Association. He has worked for both the Missions to Seamen and the Apostleship of the Sea. He is the author of Priest in Deep Water (2010) and One Firm Anchor (2013), also published by The Lutterworth Press.

• AcknowledgementsPrefaceForeword by Michael FoleyAbbreviationsIllustrationsChapter One Who was John Ashley?His ParentsHis Early YearsAfter SchoolIndefatigable CurateWith QualificationsChapter Two John Ashley Discovers a NeedA Pleasure Yacht for Dr AshleyChapter Three John Ashley and his CommitteeJohn Ashley States his CaseChapter Four The Bristol Channel Mission: Lame Duck or Phoenix?Chapter Five John Ashley and The Missions to SeamenNegotiations with the Bristol Channel MissionChapter Six Dr Ashley's later yearsJohn Ashley Leaving the Church of England?Chapter Seven Ashley in Context: Early Modern Seamen's MissionsThe Bible and Tract SocietiesG.C. SmithAnd what of Bristol?London Episcopal Floating Church SocietyLiverpool Mariners' Church SocietyConclusionWhat has been Achieved?Ashley's FaithThe ContradictionsAppendix One John Ashley: An InspirationAppendix Two Dr Ashley: An Indirect InspirationAppendix Three Dr Ashley's SiblingsAppendix Four Dr Ashley, his Wife and ChildrenBibliographyIndex

I have been familiar for many years with Dr Miller's work on the history of the Church and the merchant seafarer. Dr Ashley's Pleasure Yacht uncovers the life of a nineteenth-century clergyman, John Ashley, a man with private means deriving from family sugar estates in Jamaica, makes some surprising discoveries. As Ashley is often claimed as the founder of the Mission to Seafarers, the story of his work visiting wind-bound ships in the Bristol Channel has been told often. Less well known is a major disagreement with his committee and what followed.