Sailors, though a very useful and industrious class, rank among the most reckless and improvident of the world. Without them the commerce of the world could not be conducted; and while a few of them have always been noted for their intelligence, piety, and thrift, the vast majority have ever been literally afloat—creatures of accident, drifting hither and thither wherever caprice or fancy might carry them They rarely have many friends, except those who participate in their vices, and help to squander their hard earnings. Sailors are proverbially reckless of health, excessively given to dissipation and sensuality while on shore, exposed to the vicissitudes of changing climates while at sea; add to these, then, the danger of other casualties, and their life-long improvidence, and it will be clear that most of them must early become inmates of hospitals, and objects of charity. More than two hundred thousand sailors annually enter the New York harbor, many of whom are in need of medical or surgical aid. To provide for this want the Marine Hospital was established, and the Seaman's Retreat founded. Still a place of rest where the crippled or worn-out tar might in quietude spend the evening twilight of his career was greatly needed. It remained for a noble hearted bachelor-sailor (more careful and successful than most of his fellows), to establish for these cast-off wrecks of the sea a home, unrivalled in the world in the beauty of its location, and the abundance of its comforts.

Captain Robert Richard Randall, of New York City, by the provision of his will, dated June 1, 1801, bequeathed (certain specific legacies being satisfied) all the residue of his estate, real and personal, to the Chancellor of the State, the Mayor and Recorder of the city, the President of the Chamber of Commerce, the President of the Marine Society, the Senior Ministers of the Episcopal and of the Presbyterian Churches of New York, and to their successors in office respectively, to be received by them in trust, and applied to the erection of an Asylum or Marine Hospital, to be called "The Sailor's Snug Harbor," the same to be opened as soon as the income of the estate should, in the judgment of the trustees, be sufficient to support fifty seamen. Mr. Randall's real estate was situated in what is now the First and Fifteenth wards of the city of New York, and consisted of certain building lots in the former, and of twenty-one acres of land in the latter. The trustees were duly incorporated February 6, 1806. Protractive and expensive suits, brought by the relatives of the testator, prevented the trustees from carrying out his wishes for many years after his decease. The United States' Supreme Court finally decided in favor of the trust in March, 1830. The Asylum was to have been erected on his up-town property, situated south of what is now Union Square, and between Fourth and Sixth avenues, but the unexpected growth of the city, and the consequent increase in the value of real estate, induced the trustees to lease the city property and locate the Institution elsewhere. The estate at the decease of the testator was valued at about $30,000, but it is now estimated at about $2,000,000. It may be interesting to know that the colossal retail store of A. T. Stewart, Esq., corner Tenth street and Broadway, stands on a part of this property, and. that an annual ground-rent is paid by this gentleman of about $35,000. The income the of the estate is still steadily increasing. In May, 1831, trustees purchased a farm of 130 acres, to which twenty-one acres were subsequently added, situated on the northern shore of Staten Island, for the sum of $6,000.