Capt. Frank Jackman of the Tug McCrae

Capt. Frank Jackman is the owner and master of the powerful tug which tows in and out of Toronto harbor. Jackman is a name which has been prominent in Toronto marine circles for over half a century, but gradually the number of manners called Jackman has decreased until now the only representative of the house in Toronto sailing the inland waters is Capt. Frank Jackman, owner of the tug McCrae, to be renamed Jubilee, and the schooner E. A. Fulton. He is a sailor worthy of his well-known father, who was one of the pioneer navigators on the north shore of Lake Ontario. Capt. Frank is a native of Toronto, having been born here in 1857. He received his education in the Public Schools of Toronto, being a very apt pupil, so that when he shipped as apprentice in his father's schooner the Paragon in 1872, he was a well-informed lad. Next year, 1873, his father exchanged vessels, and Frank became his chief officer in the schooner Eureka, trading between the lower lake ports.

In 1874 Frank, having received his certificate, bought the tug Young Lion, and commanded her successfully all through the season. Preparatory to putting the tug into winter quarters at Toronto, Capt. Jackman took her over to Port Dalhousie to be dry-docked and calked. On November 28th, whilst returning across Lake Ontario., the Young Lion caught fire and was burnt in mid-lake. There was a backhead door in the boiler, and it is surmised that the flames worked out there and set fire to the bulkhead. Capt. Frank and his crew of four were compelled to take to a small boat, which accidentally but fortunately, they had on board, and they rowed to Toronto in half a gale of wind. They were almost perished by cold and exhaustion. At that late season of the year the tug could carry no insurance, so that Capt. Jackman's loss was total.

Undaunted, he went to work immediately to accumulate the money for a new outfit, and with that end in view he shipped as mate in the steamer Watertown, plying between Toronto and the Humber River. After that he sailed in the steamer Golden City, then he bought the tug Clark, with which he towed in and around Toronto harbor until 1882, when he built the tug Frank Jackman. This tug he ran until 1897. In the beginning of the season of 1897 he sold the Jackman to a party in Cornwall, and acquired the tug McCrae. Beside this tug, he owns a controlling interest in the schooner E. A. Fulton, in the timber trade between Georgian Bay and Collins Inlet under command of Capt. John Phillips.

He married Miss Fulton, daughter of Civic Contractor Fulton of Toronto, in 1878, and they have a family of fine boys and girls.

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