Capt. P. Sullivan

Capt. P. Sullivan, now in command of the steamer Erin, of St. Catharines, was born in County Cork, Ireland, in 1846, and came to St. Catharines in 1850. He attended the Public Schools in that city until 1859, when he went into the employ of T. R. Merrit's mills in St. Catharines. Always having a desire for sailing, he eventually shipped with Capt. Reuben Wind on the schooner Teresa, of St. Catharines, on Good Friday, 1865. His second season he went as second mate with the same Captain on the bark Sarah Ann Marsh, and in 1867 he shipped as second mate on the bark Clyde. In September of the same year he was promoted to chief mate. The following season he went as mate of her, and in August of the same year went mate on the schooner St. Andrew, the only change ever made in one season. In 1869 he was master of the schooner Queen of the Lakes, owned by Mr. John Riley, of St. Catharines. He sailed her for two seasons. She was dismasted on Lake Erie, whilst loaded with iron ore in 1870. In 1871 he shipped as master of the Jane C. Woodruff for the late John Battle, of Thorold and sailed her for six years.

In the spring of 1877 he went on the Mary Battle for the same man and sailed her until the fall of 1881. Spring of 1882 saw him in the propeller Scotia also owned by Mr. Battle. In 1883 he sailed the schooner Jessie Scarth for Mr. John Conlon and himself. In the spring of 1884 he took charge of the steamer Erin for Messrs. J. & T. Conlon.

On the morning of November 30 of the same year the Erin went ashore on Gull Rock in Lake Superior in a snowstorm and with the weather twenty below zero. They were bound from Barago to Herring Bay with a cargo of bridge timber. She was released in the fall, and Capt. Sullivan has sailed her ever since. That and the dismasting of the Queen of the Lakes are the only mishaps he has met with during his 28 years as master.

In the fall of 1868, in November, Captain Sullivan left Oswego in company with the schooner Maggie Hunter, which was lost with all hands that night. Capt. Sullivan was washed overboard off his vessel, but he caught the main chains on the lea side and got back aboard. Sailors are alleged to be superstitious about shipping on Friday, but the first day Capt. Sullivan shipped was a Friday, and every change which he made, with the exception of one, happened to take place on a Friday. He started out on a Friday for six springs and three were about his most successful seasons.

In the year 1872 Capt. Sullivan was married in St. Catharines to Margaret, the only daughter of the late Dennis Duffy, of Niagara Falls, Ont.. He has has a family of eleven, four sons and seven daughters. Three are dead and eight are living, three boys and five daughters. The Captain's eldest son, John, is mate with his father on the Erin, and the Captain's trade for the last fourteen years past has been all over the lakes and the Georgian Bay.

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