Captain John D. Mullen
Captain John D. Mullen, master of the George Presley, was born December 17, 1842, in Rome, N. Y., but since the age of fifteen years has made his home in Cleveland. The Mullen family is of Irish origin, and was early founded in New York State, where the Captain's father, Daniel Mullen, spent the greater part of his life as a dry-goods merchant. The grandfather, James Mullen, was master of a salt-water vessel, and had two sons who also followed the sea.
After locating in Cleveland, the subject of this sketch turned his attention to marine pursuits. His first trip on the lakes was as boy on the Leo, in which capacity he served for two years, and then spent one season on the Prince of Peace as able seaman. He was next employed one year on the W. H. Willard and the Mary and Lucy as seaman, and in 1862 was given command of the Seabird, where he remained for two seasons. For the same length of time he was then on the Buckingham, and after two years on the Butcher Boy, he spent ten seasons on the Emma C. Hutchinson and five on the Magnetic. He commanded the Republic two years and the Calumet one season, and then purchased an interest in the H. B. Tuttle, which he sailed for four years. Afterward he purchased an interest in the Nahant, which he still retains, and sailed her for two years. The following season he was on the Quito, and in 1896 was given command of the George Presley, with which he is still connected.
On December 29, 1861, Captain Mullen was married to Miss Annie Riley, at Cleveland, who died January 26, 1893, leaving two daughters, Nellie and Emma, who are still with their father. He has been very fortunate in his life upon the lakes, having never met with any very serious accidents or shipwrecks, and not only has the confidence and respect of his employers, but also the high regard of all with whom he comes in contact.
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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.
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