Capt. Robert C. Clapp

Capt. Robert C. Clapp, master of the steamer Chicora, was born in 1854 at Milford, in Prince Edward County, and there he received his education. His father owned a schooner, and by the time Robert was fifteen years of age he had done some sailing, but he did not really start into active lake-faring life until he was past seventeen years old, when in 1872, he shipped in the schooner S. & J. Collier, a vessel trading on Lake Ontario. During the season of 1873 he was in the schooner Union Jack.

Gradually he rose, sailing in different schooners, until he became chief mate on the steamer Picton and remained in her until she was cast away about eleven years ago in Lake Erie. She went ashore of Rond Eau, becoming a complete wreck. For a time that season he was mate in the schooner St. Louis, under Capt. E. H. Van Dusen. In 1883 he went into the schooner M. J. Collins. In 1884 he was chief mate under Capt. Donaldson on the steamer Rupert and was in different vessels sailing on the upper lakes until 1889, when he went wheeling for the Ogdensburg Transportation Company in the big steamer Haskell. The position of wheelsman in the steamer Empress of India was his in 1890, on the Port Dalhousie - Toronto run.

For a while Capt. Clapp sailed as mate in the steamer Merritt, on the Lorne Park trip, out of Toronto. In 1893 he went into the steamer Chicora as second mate. For two seasons he remained thus. Then he was advanced to the position of chief officer on the Chicora, and held that post for four years. In the spring of 1897 he was promoted by the Niagara Navigation Company to be Captain on the steamer Chicora, in succession to the late Capt. James Harbottle.

Capt. Clapp married Miss Gertrude Ruttan of Picton in the year 1895, and two children have been born to them, one daughter, Miss Nellie A. Clapp, and one son, Master Harry Clapp.Capt. Clapp has always been a Conservative and has done some good work for that party, especially at the time when his uncle, Mr. Robert Clapp, ran in Prince Edward County, and was defeated by Dr. Platt, the Liberal candidate. Among the Captain's other reminiscences he recalls the great Esplanade fire of Toronto in the year 1885, when the vessel he was mate in at that time, the Mazeppa, was burned to the water's edge. He, with the other members of the crew, worked to save the vessel, but their efforts were of no avail.

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