Captain John Corrigan

Captain John Corrigan, a prominent business man and vessel owner, residing in Cleveland, has attained his present financial standing by virtue of strict integrity, industry and enterprise. He was associated with his brother, Capt. James Corrigan, in the oil-refining business in Cleveland for many years, and has became[sic] an expert for locating the presence of oil. His first refining operations consisted in the manufacture of lubricating oils, and it was his product that was first used successfully on railroad cars.

In 1881 he joined his brother in business enterprise in Austria and Hungary, where they purchased large tracts of oil-producing territory, and operated on a large scale, marketing their product in the larger cities of those countries. They established two refineries, one in Grabow, in Austria-Poland, on the Carpathian Mountains a [t?] Krakau (Cracow), and one near Kolomea, in Galicia, the last refining operations being at the last named locality. Capt. John Corrigan also purchased the estate of Prince Sterbey, whom he associated with him in the producing business. They remained in Austria about three years, after which they sold out their business and returned to America. Capt. John Corrigan is yet engaged in wholesale oil business, refining the product of his wells at Bradford and Warren, Penn. His refineries are provided with all modern appliances, and produce the highest grades of lubricating oils for machinery, engine and cylinder, so extensively used on lake steamers, and oils for illuminating purposes.

For many years Captain Corrigan has been an extensive vessel owner, his possessions from time to time including the steamer Raleigh, schooners Lucerne, Niagara, James Couch, J.I. Case, David Dows, George W. Adams, steamer Aurora (believed to be the stanchest vessel on the lakes, but destroyed by fire near Detroit, in December, 1898), and the large steel schooner Aurania, which has a capacity of 5,200 tons of ore.

Socially Captain Corrigan is an active and prominent Mason, having attained the thirty-second degree, being a member of Bigelow Lodge, Thatcher Chapter, Holyrood Commandery, Lake Erie Consistory, and is a noble of Al Koran of the Mystic Shrine. His office is located at No. 720 Perry Payne building, Cleveland, Ohio.

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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.