Captain Frank H. Brown

Captain Frank H. Brown spent forty-four years of active sailing on the Great Lakes before he retired to the comforts of life on shore. He was born at Conneaut, Ohio, February 22, 1834, and after receiving such education as the schools of that section afforded at the time, he went on the lakes at the age of seventeen. The schooner Pilgrim knew him for one season, and the schooner North Star for an equal period. Then he spent two seasons on the schooner J. W. Brown, and another on the propeller Charter. He was with the propeller Milwaukee four years, and for three years following he served on various vessels of the American Transportation Company, which was the first organized company of lake propellers. He was mate of the propeller New York, with Captain John Kirby, and became master of the propeller Owego in 1862, this being his first vessel. Later he commanded the Elmira, Olean, Jay Gould, Dean Richmond, and the steamer Vienna, the last of which he sailed for eight years for M. A. Hanna & Co. Then he quit sailing long enough to build the steamer Robert Wallace, which he owned in company with vessel men of Lorain, and after sailing for two years, built the schooner David Wallace to run as consort. Eight years later he built the steam propeller Vulcan, and after sailing her four years built the steel steamer Vega, closing his lake career by sailing the last named vessel four years.

Captain Brown was fortunate in meeting with but one disaster of any consequence during his entire experience on the Great Lakes. In the early morning of November 17, 1886, he was driven ashore at Marquette with the Robert and David Wallace in a heavy northeaster and snowstorm. Owing to his careful management no one was lost or injured, and both vessels were pulled off without harm.

Captain Brown took up his residence in Cleveland about the year 1860. On December 28, 1863, he was married to Miss Frances Seward, of that city, and they have four children: One married daughter, Mrs. Jessie Kinney; their two daughters, Edna and Fannie, and a son, Frank, who still live under the parental roof. During the fall of 1896, Captain Brown built a beautiful home on Franklin avenue, in the west end of Cleveland.

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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.