Captain Syd. Scott

Captain Syd. Scott has been in active service on the lakes for over thirty years in different branches of maritime industry. He was born June 21, 1844, in Detroit, the son of George Scott, a farmer, who came from England in 1837 and after living in Canada for a time located in that city. He died in 1878, at Mt. Clemens, Mich. Captain Scott is one of six brothers, of whom William, a salt water sailor, was lost at sea; Frank, a lake sailor for twenty years, lives at Muskegon, Mich.; Thomas G., who was a lake sailor, died in 1892 at Detroit; George Scott, the author of Soctt's New Coast Pilot, died in Detroit in 1893; A.B., who lives at Houghton, Mich., was also a sailor for a short time.

Syd. Scott was twelve years of age when the family removed to Mt. Clemens. He received a common-school education, and in 1860 commenced the fishing business on the west shore of Lakes Erie and Huron, continuing in this employment until 1872, at which time he began the more active life of a sailor. His first service was as wheelsman on the steamer Warrington, a boat owned by the government, which was working about Spectacle Reef on Lake Huron when the large lighthouse was being built. She was commanded by his brother, George, who was in the employ of the government for thirty-five years as master of the lighthouse supply vessel. From this boat he transferred to the John Miner, which he purchased soon after and sailed during the seasons of 1873-74. In 1875 he was in command of the Louisa; 1876, of the T. W. Snook; 1878, of the steamer Henry Howard; 1880-81-82-83, of the Toledo; 1884-85-86, of the St. Paul; 1887-88-89, of the George L. Caldwell; 1890, of the steamer Samuel Marshall; 1891, of the Norwalk; and in 1892 he went on the J. C. Ford, upon which he has remained ever since. In all his years of sailing Captain Scott has been only four years upon boats in which he has no interest, and he is half owner of the J. C. Ford, of which he is master at present. His career has been a most fortunate one, and he is well-known and deservedly respected among lakefaring men.

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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.