Captain George Collins
Captain George Collins, son of Captain Thomas Collins, was born in Sacket's Harbor, N.Y., in 1838. He was seventeen years of age when he commenced sailing with his father, and he followed the water until his death. Among the vessels sailed by him were the Walter Oades, three seasons; the Adventurer, three seasons; and the Wyandotte, one season. He entered the United States army shortly after the breaking out of the Civil war, and after a year was transferred to the navy, where he served three years. He was carpenter on the frigate Iroquois, while she was following the Confederate cruiser Alabama, and at the time peace was declared was in Chinese waters, so that he did not receive his discharge until the war had been over six months.
In 1865 he married Miss Dora Kelsey, of Clayton, N.Y. They have one daughter, Clara, who is now married and lives in Detroit.
Captain Collins suffered a tragic death. He was sailing an ice-boat on the St. Lawrence river, and while moving at a speed greater than a mile a minute, his boat became unmanageable and ran into a dock. Perceiving that a collision was unavoidable, Captain Collins slipped off the yacht to the ice, but this move did not perceptibly check his speed, and he struck the ice bound dock with terrific force, being thrown full twenty feet into the air. His widow did not long survive his death.
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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.
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