Captain M. Folan

Captain M. Folan, who for the past eleven years has been in the employ of the Western Transportation line, sailed on almost every other body of water previous to coming on the Great Lakes, and is a sailor in every sense which that word implies. He is the son of Miles and Margaret (Mulhearn) Folan, and was born at Dunbar, Scotland, on October 16, 1851.

At the age of fourteen, after attending school in his native town, the Captain began his long and eventful sailing career as boy on the First Borwin, around the north of England, and after two seasons on her shipped as ordinary seaman aboard the clipper North Fleet to Hong Kong, London, Waupa and Liverpool, the voyage covering a period of about eleven months. He next went on the City of Benares, as ordinary seaman, March 2, 1868, to November 3, 1868, and was then before the mast on the City of Glasgow, to Calcutta, November 24, 1868, to March 3, 1870. For the balance of the year 1870 and until December 27, 1872, he was before the mast on the clipper City of Bombay and County of Elgin. During the early part of 1873 he was on the steamship Victoria, of the Anchor line, also the Cortez, after which he began to navigate the lakes, where he has since been engaged, with both credit and honor to himself. In 1873 he was before the mast on the W. S. Crosthwaite, Kate Richmond, Bridgewater and Favorite; in 1874 shipped as second mate on the Queen City and W. S. Crosthwaite, and for the next twelve seasons was either mate or second mate on a number of boats, among them the Meers, Porter, D. A. Valkenburg, Moonlight, George M. Davis, Palmyra, Brooklyn, Nicholson, Queen City, Jamaica, Hartford, Martha, Saveland, G.I. Case, Pathfinder, Red, White & Blue, Erastus Corning and John M. Hutchinson. In 1886 he went as mate on the Montana, and the succeeding seasons of 1887-88-89-90-91 was mate on the Boston, and also master of the Hudson for several trips, during the illness of her captain. From 1892 to 1897, inclusive, he held captain's berth on the Milwaukee. Captain Folan has been wrecked several times, but never while he was in command of a boat has there been any damage done her. He was on the W. S. Crosthwaite in 1873 when she was wrecked at Bull Beach; also at Point Abino in 1874, when he was for twenty-one days laid up on her; on the Sunnyside, wrecked off North Point; and the Queen City, at Wagochance, Lake Michigan.

On April 14, 1884, Captain Folan wedded Miss Catherine Wright, and three children have blessed their union, two of whom, Thomas Stedman and Francis John, are now living. The family residence is at No. 134 Vandalia street, Buffalo, N. Y. Socially Captain Folan is a member of the American Association of Masters & Pilots, and also of the Royal Arcanum and Red 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.