Captain Patrick H. O'Neill

Captain Patrick H. O'Neill will be remembered by all of the older captains and sailors, for he was well known from one end of the lakes to the other, and was popular with all who knew him. He was an older brother of Capt. William H. O'Neill, ex-harbormaster of Detroit. Captain O'Neill was born in Ireland in 1833, and came to this country in 1849. He began sailing in 1856, and for four years served as man before the mast, afterward rising to the position of master, in which capacity he sailed the schooner Ralph Campbell and several others. His last command was the bark Michigan, on which he was sailing when he died, some years ago, his death being caused by salt damp. His decease was sincerely mourned by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

Captain O'Neill was married and had a family in Detroit. His eldest son, William M., is a printer, and is the only one of the family not living in Detroit; George M. is a plumber; there are two other sons, Henry and Walter, and two daughters, Mrs. Julia Bradford and Miss Marie O'Neill, who has for several years been with Park, Davis & Co.

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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.