Captain Joseph Anderson

Captain Joseph Anderson, who has had a varied experience on both fresh and salt water, was born in 1832, in the city of Rio de Janeiro, where his mother was also born and raised. His father, A. Joseph Anderson, was a native of Scotland. Captain Anderson attended school in that city until he was thirteen years of age, when he commenced sailing as boy in the side-wheel steamer Sarah, in which he remained for two years, and then he went into the bark Anna Richardson, as boy. After she left it was reported that she was a slaver, and the brig Perry was sent after her and captured her, she and her crew being held for thirty-one days. The vessel was taken into custody by the United States frigate Columbia, which was lying in the harbor of Rio de Janeiro at the time the Richardson was there. After the men were released, nothing being proved against the vessel, young Anderson made three or four voyages in her and then embarked in the ship Flora, of Boston, which carried a cargo of grain from New York to the famine sufferers in Ireland. The Flora touched at Newport, Wales, to get a cargo for New York, and there the crew deserted her on account of her leaky condition. Anderson joining the Bremen ship Ocean, in which he remained thirty-two months. Then he shipped on the brig Pilot, which was taking a load of soldiers from Schlewsig-Holstein to Vera Cruz, leaving her at New York to become an American citizen. He sailed three years on a New York pilot boat, but gave up that life after having three narrow escapes, and joined the bark Elizabeth Livard, for a voyage to the Mediterranean. After returning to the United States he spent nineteen months in the coasting trade between New York, Philadelphia, and other ports, in the brig Swan, of Boston, and the Mayflower, from New Haven, Conn., and then became second mate of the ship Speedwell, of Boston, in which he remained over four years. After this he worked for some time in rigging and sail lofts in Boston, and then removed to Milan, Ohio, where he had his home for a long period of time.

Some time previous, in 1857, Mr. Anderson was married to Miss Mary Holland, of Bantry Bay, Ireland. Their children, all of whom were born in Milan, are Mary, who is now Mrs. Andre Seaman; Maggie, Mrs. John Walton; Gertrude, Mrs. Benjamin Turner; Annie, Mrs. Charles Evans; Joseph, and Charles William.

After removing to Ohio Mr. Anderson began sailing on the lakes, serving successively on the schooner Palmetto and Racine, the brig Montezuma and the schooners Fashion, Narragansett and Hyphen, after which he was master of the schooners Atmosphere for seven years, M. Stocker for seven years, and the J.E. Gilmore for one year. The year following he was mate and pilot of the steamer Everett, and he has since served as captain of the tug Joe Harris for three years, mate of the steamers Onoko, Smith Moore, Philip Minch, the schooners Tartar, of Milan, the Rainbow, of Detroit, and master of the Queen of the West, Andrew Johnson, Business and Westmore. For one season he was mate and pilot of the steamer George T. Hope.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.