There’s a truism I heard at seminary of the ol’ days — Victorian, Edwardian eras — when women weren’t widely ordained that they could do overseas what they couldn’t do at home. Lay ministry meant more if you were a missionary.
A bit closer to North American and European shores — but not too close — you found respected lay ministry in the form of shipboard worship. Presumably every cruiser and fishing boat couldn’t have its own chaplain aboard, so the skipper or someone delegated would take over the duty, an image carried over in shipboard Hollywood pics where the captain would bury or marry someone at sea. Lay ministry is also alive in the U.S. seagoing services today. (I’ve written about this before; one such posting.)
See then this 1903 resource from the Church of Scotland Prayers for sailors and fisher-folk available for download in different formats at Archive.org
