Peter Lamare, Sr.

Peter Lamare, Sr., one of the oldest engineers on the Great Lakes or their connecting waters, has now for many years been engaged on a side-wheel steamer on the Ottawa River. Mr. Lamare has been a marine engineer since 1844 and dates his life as a sailor from 1840, when he was fourteen years of age. He was born in 1826, in Montreal, Canada, the son of Peter Lamare, who was a farmer, and his first experience in his chosen calling was on the St. Lawrence River. He has always been connected with side-wheel steamers.

After he once commenced sailing he continued to follow it steadily and in four years he was a chief engineer. He has been uniformly successful in his work and exceptionately fortunate, having never been wrecked. Among other vessels upon which he has been engineer we have mention of the British Empire, Brittish Queen,[sic] Hercules, Atlas, Prescott, International, Gleaner and Scotland.

Mr. Lamare was married in 1852 to Miss Julia Sylvester, of Montreal, and of the children born to their union, Robert is now deceased; Peter is a successful marine engineer on the lakes; the others are Julia, Stephen, Frederick, John, Louis, Josephine and Rosa.

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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.