Captain Thomas Thorkildsen

Captain Thomas Thorkildsen, master of the schooner James C. King, is a native of Norway, having been born in 1841, son of Grador and Christina Thorkildsen. The parents were also born in Norway, and the father followed the trade of boiler maker. Thomas Thorkildsen received his education in his native land, and before commencing his seafaring life was employed in machine shops. He sailed on salt water for nine years, in English and Dutch vessels, and after coming to the United States commenced sailing on the lakes. For nine years he was on the steamer Benton, and for the past two years he has been captain of the schooner James C. King.

In 1887 at Saginaw, Mich., Captain Thorkildsen was married to Miss Maggie Gonnico, of that city, and they have two children: Diana C., born November 25, 1893 and Norman Frederick, born November 17, 1895. They reside in Bay City, Michigan.

In his career both as a salt-water and fresh-water sailor the Captain has been very fortunate, never having met with any disaster or accident worthy of mention.

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.