when did the Mark Grand Lodge take over the Royal Ark Mariner degree

The Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner came under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons in 1871, governed by the Grand Master's Royal Ark Council, as the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons states. The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons took full possession of the rights to the degree on 10 June 1884.

Before coming under the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, the Royal Ark Mariner degree was administered by its own independent governing body, referred to as the Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners, which references trace back to a reconstitution in 1772, as the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons notes.

In the late eighteenth century, this governing authority and its primary lodge assembly operated under the name of the Grand and Royal Ark Vessel 1. In 1798, the presiding officer of the degree held the title of Grand Noah, a position then filled by Thomas Boothby Parkyns, Lord Rancliffe 1. Subordinate assemblies were constituted as Royal Ark Vessels, paying a central registry fee for each candidate directly to the Grand and Royal Ark Vessel 1. During this period, the principal meeting place of the Grand Vessel in London was the Surry Tavern in the Strand 1.

Regarding its early character, Lomas notes that the degree originally emerged among operative Masons in the eighteenth century as a practical fraternity for mutual aid and self-help, serving to distinguish operative workmen from speculative gentlemen who had entered the Craft lodges 2.

Authority over the Royal Ark Mariner degree was not unified immediately following the events of 1871. Although the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons announced its protection of the degree that year, a separate Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners—reconstituted in 1870 by Morton Edwards—remained active and independent. The Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons did not establish complete authority over the degree until 10 June 1884, when it purchased all rights to the degree from Morton Edwards for £25, as the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons notes.