Captain William Jagenow

Captain William Jagenow, one of the younger lake masters, is gaining a foothold in the marine world which seems to point to a future of success for him in that line of work. He was born April 25, 1865, at Detroit, where he has always made his residence, the son of William and Caroline (Sink) Jagenow, natives of Germany, who are living at Detroit at the present time.

At the early age of fifteen years, Captain Jagenow sailed out of Detroit on the Iron Age, as deckhand, but after a short time was promoted to the position of watchman, which he held throughout the year. The following; year he acted as watchman and wheelsman in the same boat and kept ship in the winter, afterward going on the Iron Duke where he kept ship two winters and acted as wheelsman during the summer season. The next year he went in the Glasgow, owned by D. C. Whitney, running between Duluth and Ogdensburg, on which he acted as second mate. In 1884 he entered the employ of Alger, Smith & Co., as second mate on the Schoolcraft, remaining in that boat for two years and receiving promotion to the position of mate the last season. This boat was then sold and he went, as mate, on the Gettysburg for three months while the Volunteer was being built, shipping on her when she came out; he has since remained with her as mate. On January 11, 1893, the Captain was married to Miss Josephine Sieger, of Detroit, and they have one child, who bears the name of his father and grandfather, William. Captain Jagenow is a member of the A. O. U. W., in Detroit.

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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.