Captain James H. Green

Captain James H. Green, master of the steamer Scranton, and one of the most widely- known vessel masters of the lakes, was born May 19, 1856, in Buffalo, N. Y., at the public schools of which city he received his education. Our subject entered the lake service as cabin boy at the age of fourteen years, his first voyage being on the propeller Plymouth, of the Western Transportation line. On that boat he remained for three years, and in 1873 shipped as watchman on the propeller Badger State, on which vessel he served as watchman, mate and captain, consecutively, some thirteen yers, sailing her as master from 1881, being at the time the youngest lake captain in the service. The vessel belonged to the Western Transportation line, and plied between Buffalo, Chicago and Duluth. The season of 1886 he shipped as mate on the propeller Russia, of the Lackawanna Transportation line, and the next season (1887) he sailed that vessel as captain. In 1888 he was made master of the steamer Scranton, plying between Buffalo, Chicago, Duluth and Green Bay, and has remained as such ever since. In all his service, of over a quarter of a century, he has never lost a week from sickness or any other cause, and has never met with an accident. During the winter of 1897 and '98 he held the position of Inspector for the Inland Lloyds. Socially, he is a member of the Shipmasters Association No. 1, of Buffalo, being one of the charter members, and is a member of Harbor Tug Pilots Association No. 31. Fraternally, he is a member of Vine Lodge No. 161, F. & A. M., also of the A. O. U. W., Mount Vernon Lodge.

Captain Green was married, in 1888, to Miss Mary E. Greene, of Buffalo, and they have three children - two sons and one daughter - all of whom attended the public schools of Buffalo. The family resides at No. 711 West avenue, in that city. Captain Green has been very successful, and is one of the self made men.

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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.