Most of the fishermen would be Gaelic spoken. In the year 1566 Mr. John Carswell, afterwards Bishop of Argyll, composed the following prayer for their use, in Gaelic. It would appear from the ritual of steering and rowing the galleys sunwise, before it was recited, that he had done so to replace by its use some survival of a Celtic pagan custom of invoking the aid of a sun god.
The manner of blessing the ship when they put to sea, having steered and rowed her sunwise :
THE STEERSMAN SAYS,
Let us bless our ship.
THE ANSWER BY ALL THE CREW,
God the Father bless her.
STEERSMAN,
Let us bless our ship.
ANSWER,
Jesus Christ bless her.
STEERSMAN,
Let us bless our ship.
A Prayer before Setting Off!
In the very early days of the town as a fishing village there was three distinct seasons for fishing. Here in the prayer the old pagan and the newer customs where brought together.
ANSWER,
The Holy Ghost bless her.
STEERSMAN,
What do you fear, since God the Father is with you ?
ANSWER,
We do not fear anything.
STEERSMAN,
What do you fear, since God the Son is with you ?
ANSWER,
AM We do not fear anything.
STEERSMAN,
What are you afraid of, since God the Holy Ghost is with you?
ANSWER,
We do not fear anything.
STEERSMAN,
God The Father Almighty, for the love of Jesus Christ His Son, by the comfort of the Holy Ghost, the one God, who miraculously brought the children of Israel through the Red Sea, and brought Jonas to land out of the belly of the whale, and the apostle St.Paul and his ship, to safety, from the troubled raging sea, and from the violence of a tempestuous storm, deliver, sanctify, bless, and conduct us, peaceably, calmly, and comfortably, through
the sea to our harbour, according to His divine will, which we beg " Our Father which are in heaven," AMEN.'
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