Capt. Frederick Graves

Capt. Frederick Graves, sailing master of the Richelieu & Ontario Navigation Company's steamer Hamilton, is a mariner whose ability is unquestioned. He was born in the City of Kingston, Ontario, in the year 1842. His father, Col. John Graves, was an old British soldier, and was in Montreal at the time of the famed Father Gavazzi riots, which he was instrumental in quelling. Another incident which the old soldier used to relate was of the great fire in Montreal in the year 1850, which he assisted to fight.

Capt. Frederick Graves, whose portrait appears here, was educated in the Public Schools at Kingston, Ontario, where he took a high place in his classes, along with his only brother, Thomas Graves, now in Chicago, who is two years older than the captain.

It is not difficult to remember the year in which the captain began sailing, for that was the year when the Prince of Wales visited Canada - 1860. Jennie Lind, the celebrated cantatrice, being then in evidence, it was appropriate that the first boat in which the captain sailed, as mess room boy. should have been called the Jennie Lind. This vessel was a river steamer. From the Jennie Lind, Capt. Graves went as waiter in the large double-engined sidewheeler Mayflower, afterwards lost off the Ducks. Then he sailed in the propeller Whitby. Going out of the Whitby, young Graves went aboard the steamer Little Ottawa, shipping as sailor. The Little Ottawa was a good-sized steamboat, plying between Ogdensburg and Montreal in the passenger and freight business.

At the time of the American war, Capt. Graves went into the steamer Corinthian, sailing her for three seasons, from the time she was built until 1865. After the Corinthian, Capt. Graves went into the steamer Norseman, now called the North King, and sailed from Port Hope to Rochester, N.Y. Having thus acquired considerable experience in steam vessels, Capt. Graves resolved to try sails for a period, and went into the brig Robert Gaskin with Capt. Lewis, an old salt water navigator. Subsequently he was in the brig Board of Trade one season, an American craft sailing between Buffalo and Chicago. From her Capt. Graves went to New York and sailed on salt water for two years.

Coming back to Canada, Capt. Graves took charge of the Norseman, a steamer which he had previously sailed, and commanded her for three seasons on the run between Port Hope and Charlotte, N.Y., in the passenger business. Afterwards he went into the employ of the Rathbun Company of Deseronto, and was on the large side-wheel steamer Quinte, running on the Bay of Quinte from Trenton to Whitby, and in the season of 1889 from Toronto to Lorne Park. Then Capt. Graves sailed one year out of Buffalo on the steamer Gordon Campbell,Duluth being the other terminus of his run. For the following two seasons he was in the steamer Greyhound of Toronto, one year sailing to Grimsby and the next to Lorne Park from Toronto. In the year 1892 he went on the steamer Hamilton as sailing master, and has handled her on the Montreal - Toronto run ever since.

Capt. Graves took unto himself a wife in the year 1872, Mrs. Graves' maiden name being Miss Isabella Cook, daughter of Mr. John Cook, of Kingston. They live in a handsome residence at 10 Wilton crescent, Toronto. Politically, Capt. Graves is an independent man, holding allegiance to no party. He always votes for the candidate whom he considers the best man, irrespective of political color. In religion he is a member of the Church of England, and Mrs. Graves is prominent among the lady workers in that body.

Return to Home Port

The entire file of the Globe and Mail and its predecessors is now online via subscription at Micromedia ProQuest