Captain Vere S. Stenton

Captain Vere S. Stenton will be remembered by the older sailors on the lakes as a prominent and skillful master during the 'forties. He was born in 1822 at Leamington, England, and came to the United Statess[sic] with his family in 1831, in 1833 locating at Royal Oak, Mich., where he continued to reside up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1862. Captain Stenton was apprenticed to a barber, but as that trade did not prove sufficiently attractive for one of his eager spirits he ran away, and at the age of fifteen shipped as wheelsman on the steamer St. Clair. He then served on other vessels in various capacities until the spring of 1844, when he was appointed mate of the square- rigged brig Robert Burns. The following year he shipped as master of the top-sail scow Rocky Mountain, trading between Saugatuck and Chicago with piles for the construction of docks. After serving in the capacity of mate and master some time longer he purchased the schooner Tom Doland and sailed her two seasons, selling her in Chicago and accepting the appointment of master of the old brig S.C. Walbridge, which he sailed one season, trans- ferring from her to the brig Andes. At the time of his death he was captain of the brig Ocean, laden with a cargo of hoop poles, which was going through the Welland canal; while passing along the bulwarks he slipped and fell between the vessel and the dead wall of the canal and was killed instantly.

Captain Stenton was united in marriage to Miss Esther Collins, of Detroit, Mich., in 1843, and six children were born to their union, namely: Capt. Francis M. (master of the steamer John Ericsson in 1896), George W., who died in the service of the North during the Rebellion), Henry H., Charles E., Richard A. and Emily

Return to Home Port

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.