G. L. Allen

G.L. Allen is a young man whose life thus far has been mainly devoted to marine pursuits, and whose future in that line of work is one of promise. He was born August 14, 1869, at Cleveland, Ohio, where he has always resided, and attended the public schools of that place until he was sixteen years of age, when he began sailing. His first trip was made in the V. Swain as watchman, and after a year in that capacity he served on the Ira Owen, subsequently engaging a year each on the Manola, Progress, Saxon, and Norman as oiler; after which he became second engineer, holding that berth on the R.E. Schuck, Sitka, A.A. Parker and Griffin. At this time he went on the Joe Harris, of Cleveland, and remained one year as engineer, from her transferring to the Masoba as second engineer.

On May 31, 1895, Mr. Allen, while serving on the Norman, was shipwrecked on Lake Huron in a collision with the Canadian boat Jacks; he was on the Sitka when she collided with the tug Torrent on the St. Clair river; and was also on the Progress when she collided with the J. A. McBrier, in the Straits. In the face of these unfortunate experiences, however, he remains an ardent follower of the calling to which his father and other members of his family have devoted their lives.

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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.