Captain John Lowe

Captain John Lowe was born December 9, 1839, in Aberdeen, Scotland, and he came to the United States with his parents at the age of seven years, settling in Cleveland. He went on the lakes in 1852, as boy on the steamer John Hollister, on which he spent one year, and commenced learning the trade of ship carpenter. He was employed in various shipyards in Cleveland for a number of years, sailing at odd times. Among the vessels with which he was connected were the schooners William B. Castle, Corinthian, E.M. Peck, Kosciusko, Great West, the barks Massillon, Colorado, and the Ethan Allan, and the schooners Plover, Challenge and R.G. Winslow. He followed his shipbuilding pursuits until he was competent to draught and mould a schooner, and he has assisted in the construction of vessels in Cleveland, on the lake shore east of Cleveland, and in Lorain, being associated with Roderick Calkins, Ira La Frienier, Quayle & Martin, Luther Moses, Peck & Masters, Capt. William Treat, George Washington Jones and Stephenson & Presley.

For three years, commencing in August, 1862, he served in the Civil War, being two years in the army and one year in the navy. He was a member of the Nineteenth Ohio Battery under Capt. J.C. Shields, which, after being transferred to the Covington barracks joined Burnside on the march into Tennessee, having participated in the pursuit of John Morgan just previous to that time. He was with Sherman at Chattanooga, and in all the engagements until after the battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Then he was transferred to the United States Navy at Cairo, Ill., on receiving-ship Siren, and became carpenter's mate of the dispatch-steamer General Lyon. In 1865, at the close of the war, he returned to the lakes, resuming his work in the shipyards during the winter, and sailing during the summer season being connected with the schooner Idaho, Colonel Cook, and the schooner Fayette Brown, as mate, after which he was given command of a steamer on the Lake Superior mail route in 1871-72. In the seasons of 1873-74 and 1875 he sailed the schooner George W. Holt, after which he sailed the schooner Frank R. Perew, three years; the steamer D.M. Wilson, two years; the steamer Tacoma, one year; the steamer Wallula, four years; the steamer Spokane, one year; and the steamer Kaliyuga, nine years. He is connected with the Bessemer Steamship Company.

In 1871 he was married to Miss Kate Porter, who departed this life, leaving a son, John C. Lowe, who is now (1898) engaged in the study of medicine. In the year 1877, Captain Lowe married Miss Clara Jones, of Cleveland, Ohio. Their children are: Esther, Agnes and George.

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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.