The anniversary festival in connection with the Merchant Seamen's Orphan Asylum was held on Thursday week. Applicants are admitted from any portion of the globe where the British flag is flying. At present 276 children are resident in the institution. There is accommodation for 300, but that number cannot be received until the society, which has no endowment, receives additional support from the public. The subscriptions amounted to £679. Since the establishment of the institution upwards of 1588 orphans have received the benefits conferred by the charity.
Source: The Illustrated London News, No.2257—Vol. LXXXI, Saturday, August 5, 1882, p.140