Harry P. Trimm

Harry P. Trimm, engineer of the tug Leo Lennox, of the White Star line, is one of the nine children of John W. and Matilda (Taylor) Trimm, two of the former - John W. and Reuben (both now deceased) - having also been tug engineers.

The subject of this sketch was born at Buffalo, December 4, 1867, where he attended Public School No. 2. When about fourteen years of age he began work as an office boy, and was so occupied for about a year and a half; then took to tugging, and for a period of six or seven years was decking and firing on various tugs about Buffalo harbor, among them being the Leo Lennox, T. H. Fulton, C. T. Dennis, H. L. Fairfield and Arthur Woods. After becoming thoroughly familiar with all the methods of tug- propelling, he in 1891 received his first issue of papers, and during that and succeeding season sailed the tugs Leo Lennox, T. H. Fulton and others of the White Star line, and also spent a season in the Delos Graves and old Post Boy.

In 1895 he ran the passenger yacht Sprudel, and while on her with a pleasure party from the West Shore R. R. car shops, he rescued one of the party from drowning, who had fallen overboard into Niagara's swift current, for which act he received as a slight reward a small-sized purse from the members of the party. For the season of 1896 he was engineer of the Francis A. Bird from April 14 to December 25, without losing a day. The season of 1897 finds him again on the Leo Lennox.

Mr. Trimm was married in April, 1889, to Maggie McNierney, and has had two children, one of whom, Irene L., is now living. He is a member of the Harbor Tug Pilots Association, and has nine issues of license. He resides at No. 55 Franklin street, Buffalo, New York.

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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.