E. Dyble

E. Dyble was born May 5, 1866, at Gravesend, England, and at the age of five years was brought to Canada by his parents, who settled in Sarnia. There he received his education and at the age of fourteen left school and began working with his father at the shipbuilding trade, continuing thus for four years. He then served as lookout two seasons on the United Empire with Captain Robinson, later shipping as wheelsman on the Ontario for a season and transferring in the same capacity to the Dean Richmond, on which he became second mate late in the fall and ran all winter on Lake Michigan. During this time he experienced many hardships, the boat being frozen in the ice at different times, but they always managed to get free with little or no damage. The following year he spent as second mate on the Osceola, on which boat he passed the Straits of Mackinaw January 3, and made the first trip to Duluth April 15, 1889. His next berth was that of second mate on the Susan E. Peck with Captain Young, and the season following he was employed in the same capacity and with the same captain on the Fred Pabst, becoming mate at the close of the year. During the season of 1894 he served on the Choctaw as second mate and in 1895 and 1896 acted as mate on that vessel.

Mr. Dyble was married May 29, 1890, to Miss Isabella McLeod, of Bruce Mines, Canada, and they have two children, Henry E. and George. Mr. Dyble is a member of the Masters & Pilots Association, of Cleveland.

John Dyble, the father of Edward Dyble, was a native of England, and a shipbuilder by trade, devoting the greater part of his life to that vocation. He was employed in the yards on the Thames river for several years and was engaged in the construction of the Great Eastern. He was married in England to Miss Mary Hudd, and they had eleven children, all of whom are living except two sons. When Mr. Dyble came to America he settled in Canada and soon after formed a partnership in Sarnia in the shipbuilding business with John Perry. They built the tug Wales, and the passenger steamer United Empire, and then dissolved, Mr. Dyble continuing the business alone; he built the Monarch and several tugs, many of which are still in existence. One of his sons, Harry, is a sailor, and in 1896 served as lookout on the Wawatam. John and William are ship carpenters and follow their trade in Sarnia.

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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.