Captain James B. Hayes

Captain James B. Hayes, of Detroit, Mich. was born in that city in the year 1863, and was raised in Amherstburg, Ontario. His father was a vesselman, and died in the marine hospital at Detroit several years ago. Captain Hayes first went on the lakes in the season of 1878 as deckhand on the Crusader; after three weeks he was watching and wheeling, and he remained on the Crusader four seasons in these capacities, next shipping as wheelsman on the steambarge Annie Smith for one season. He then entered the employ of Parker, Miller & Co., for whom he was wheeling one season on the steambarge Minneapolis, and his next berth was on the Osceola, of Ward's Lake Superior line. After wheeling for one trip, he became second mate, remaining in that position four years, and subsequently served as second mate of the Samuel F. Hodge, and sailed for one season on the William H. Stevens as first mate. He was also first mate for one season on the steambarge Annie Smith, which was lost that fall on Lake Huron off Forty Mile Point. The following season he was first mate on the steambarge Business, of Cleveland, and he then obtained employment with the Detroit, Belle Isle & Windsor Ferry Co., for whom he served two years as mate of the ferry Sappho, and for the same length of time as captain of the ferry Ariel, plying between Detroit and Walkerville. In the spring of 1895 Captain Hayes left the Ariel and went on the steamer Nipigon as second mate, after a short time becoming first mate, which position he still holds.

Captain Hayes was married, in 1886, to Miss Carrie Pascadden, of Kingsville, Ontario, and they have four children: Joseph W., James F., Ariel W. and Mary C. He has lived in Detroit for more than twenty years.

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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.