who set up the first grand lodge of royal ark mariners in 1793

Thomas Dunckerley organized the degree of Royal Ark Mariner in 1793, as the Allied Masonic Degrees District of Devon and Cornwall notes. During that year, he described himself as Grand Commander of the Society of Ancient Masons of the Diluvian Order of Royal Ark Mariners and appointed Ebenezer Sibley as his Deputy, according to an article on the Hertfordshire Mark Master Masons website.

In the Knights Templar, Thomas Dunckerley was requested by the Bristol Knights Templar in 1791 to serve as their Grand Master 1. He established the Grand Conclave in London, which acted as the forerunner of the Great Priory 1.

In the Royal Arch, Dunckerley served as Grand Superintendent over several English counties, including Essex, Hampshire, Kent, Wiltshire, Dorset, Devon, Somerset, Gloucestershire, Suffolk, Sussex, and Durham 1. He acted as the founder and First Principal of numerous chapters 2. While the Grand Chapter objected in 1780 to his granting a warrant to New Sarum and a provisional charter to the First Dragoons, it routinely acquiesced in his actions by placing the chapters he established on the roll 2.

In the Craft, Dunckerley held office as Provincial Grand Master for Hampshire starting in 1767, for Essex beginning in 1776, and at various dates took charge of the provinces of Bristol, Dorsetshire, Gloucestershire, Somersetshire, and Herefordshire 1. By 1786 he was Provincial Grand Master for eight provinces, and an article published in 1793 identified him as Provincial Grand Master of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, as recorded in an article on the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Freemasons website. He also founded a lodge at Hampton Court in 1785 1.

He was also active in Mark Masonry 1.

Ebenezer Sibley, whom Thomas Dunckerley had appointed as his Deputy, welcomed Lord Rancliffe (Thomas Boothby Parkyns) as the next Grand Commander, who presided over the body from 1796 until 1799 31, as an article on the District Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands website notes. During Lord Rancliffe's tenure, the body assembled as the Royal Ark Vessel at the Surry Tavern in London 1.

The degree subsequently fell into dormancy and almost disappeared during the nineteenth century, as Mark Masons Hall records. It was later revived under a self-styled Grand Lodge of Royal Ark Mariners formed in 1870, whose rights were purchased on 10 June 1884 for £25 by the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons, according to Mark Masons Hall.

In modern practice, the Ancient and Honourable Fraternity of Royal Ark Mariner is governed under the jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Mark Master Masons by the Grand Master's Royal Ark Council, with each Royal Ark Mariner lodge attached or moored to a Mark Lodge 3, as Mark Masons Hall states. Under English jurisdiction, candidates must be Mark Master Masons to be eligible for the Royal Ark Mariner degree 1. In Scottish practice, the degree is conferred under the control of the Supreme Grand Royal Arch Chapter of Scotland 1.