Ch 4. - The Breaking of the BreadCh 4. - The Breaking of the Bread
Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks, The by Philip Ilott Roberts (1872 - 1938)
A gritty mission supper on Water Street sets the scene for Benjamin Franklin Alexander’s stark account of alcoholism, relapse, and eventual renewal through Christian faith. The chapter highlights how a simple meal, patient workers, and a message of surrender to Christ can coincide with dramatic personal change.
14:34•1 Apr 2026
Sandwiches, Salvation, and a Second Chance on Water Street
Episode Overview
- Thursday night suppers use simple food as a way to draw in starving, destitute people and then share the Christian message of salvation.
- Many who come for a meal profess conversion, and although some relapse, the mission values every genuine change as worth the effort.
- Benjamin Franklin Alexander describes how alcohol destroyed his family life and career despite a loving background and good opportunities.
- His lasting change begins when he accepts that he needs God continually, not just a one-time rescue from his addiction.
- Alexander credits the promise "Seek ye first the kingdom of God" with the restoration of his home, work, friendships, and inner peace.
“Then and there I took God at his word, asking no questions.”
How do people find strength in their journey to sobriety? This chapter from *Dry Dock of a Thousand Wrecks* drops you straight into the Water Street Mission on a raw November night, where coffee and beef sandwiches become a doorway to something far bigger. Rather than chatty banter, you get a vivid, almost cinematic description of Thursday supper night, funded first by John S. Heuler and later by Fred T. Hopkins.
The purpose is simple: feed "a crowd of starving outcasts" and then point them "to him who can break to perishing souls the bread of life." The focus is on men broken by drink, tramping the streets, scavenging from ash cans, some written off as "no-gooders" and "parasites"—yet still seen as souls worth saving.
At the heart of the chapter sits the story of Benjamin Franklin Alexander, a man whose life is crushed by alcohol despite a loving family and strong business skills. His honesty is brutal: "I just lived to drink. The devil had me beaten to an utter standstill." After years of relapses and brief conversions, he reaches the point where even a saloon owner kicks him out as a disgrace. That night’s free supper at Water Street becomes the turning point.
The narrative tracks his journey from ash-barrel clothes and mission benches to restored family life and steady work, all through his surrender to Christ.
The key shift for him is realising he needs God "to keep as well as to save" and taking seriously the text on the mission wall: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." Anyone interested in faith-based recovery, mission history, or raw, early-twentieth-century accounts of alcoholism and redemption will find this chapter a striking reminder that even the most wrecked story can be retold.
Could a simple meal and a few honest testimonies be the start of change for someone you know?
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