George F. Hendry

George F. Hendry is one of the oldest and probably one of the best known engineers on the Great Lakes. His experiences have been many and varied; but good fortune has generally attended him and he is still in active life. He was born April 26, 1829, in Woolwich, Kent, England, and soon after coming to America in 1842 began life as a sailor, shipping as second assistant engineer on the North America, a vessel running between Halifax and St. John. He was also engaged one season in the same capacity on the Unicorn; at the close of his service on that boat starting for Cuba. On his way to Sandusky, Ohio, whence he intended to proceed to Cincinnati, he fell a victim to the cholera plague and was obliged to remain in Cleveland. On his recovery he accepted second engineer's berth on the propeller Spaulding, and after running on that vessel for two years embarked in the same capacity on the Sultana and the Ohio. In 1854 he was made chief engineer on the Louisville, where he remained two seasons, and he was subsequently chief on the J. W. Brooks, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Edith, Milwaukee, Annie Laurie, Thompson, Delaware, and Dunbar. In 1896 he became connected with the Desmond. The only accident of a serious nature with which Mr. Hendry was met occurred during his service as engineer on the J. W. Brooks. While the boat was in Cleveland, in 1855, the side of the furnace came out, killing three men, and he sustained serious injuries, from which, however, he has fully recovered.

Mr. Hendry was married August 1, 1852 to Miss Ann Wallace, of Canada, who died in 1892, leaving two children - William, who has been a marine engineer for twenty-five years, and Francis, who is married and lives in Chicago. On October 20, 1893, Mr. Hendry was again married, his second union being with Miss Annie Lobdell, of Defiance, Ohio. They now live in Chicago.

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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.