Ch. 3 - De Profundis

Ch. 3 - De Profundis

What remarkable journeys have people faced head-on against addiction? This chapter of *Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks* zooms in on one man’s descent into the Bowery’s worst saloon and his sudden, dramatic turnaround through faith in Christ. Told in vivid, old-school storytelling style, the chapter paints a grim picture of a backroom bar that’s described as “a vestibule of the pit, the ante-room of hell,” where destitute men drink, sleep, and die unnoticed.

Kneeling at the penitent’s bench, he prays, “God be merciful to me, a sinner,” and describes feeling “a great change steal over me.” From that moment, he says, “I have never had the remotest desire to take a drink of whiskey,” calling himself “a new creature in Jesus Christ.” The chapter tracks how his life is rebuilt: business restored, a Christian home, a wife and baby, and ongoing work reaching out to men in the very saloon that once held him captive.

Into this setting steps Charles Bayard Stewart, once a respected jeweller and family man from a Puritan town, who loses everything to alcohol and ends up living in that filthy saloon backroom for seven years. You’ll hear how Stewart, broken, on crutches and soaked in whiskey, grudgingly agrees to visit the Jerry McAuley Mission at 316 Water Street. There, surrounded by former drinking companions who are now sober and “respectable,” he listens to their testimonies and finally breaks.

The style is earnest, dramatic and unashamedly Christian, with strong language around sin, grace and redemption. Anyone interested in historical faith-based recovery stories, missions work, or vivid accounts of life on the Bowery will find this a gripping listen. It leaves a lingering question: how far can a life fall, and how far back can it be raised?