William England

William England is a representative marine engineer, and though he owns an interest in other tugs, he holds the position of engineer of the S.C. Schenck, which at one time was the finest and most powerful tug on the lakes. Mr. England was born at Amherstburg, Ontario, December 28, 1854, son of William and Sarah (Sprague) England, and acquired his education in the public schools of his native town. After leaving school he passed some months on the Detroit river, and in the spring of 1868, at the age of fourteen years, he shipped on the river tug Bob Anderson, owned by Mr. DeMas of Detroit. He was subsequently engaged on the John Martin, of the Livingston line, the Eclipse, and numerous other boats. In the spring of 1873 Mr. England shipped as engineer on the William Jennings, the dredge company using the tug in many localities around the lakes, and continued in this employ for four years. In 1877 he went to Toledo, Ohio, where he was appointed to the tug Syracuse, transferring to the A. Andrews and Baker the same season. The next season he engineered the tug George P. Isham, in 1879 the tug Farragut, and in 1880 the tug Thomas. In the spring of 1881 Mr. England purchased a third-interest in the tug Syracuse and had charge of her machinery the six years prior to 1887, when he sold his share and bought into the tug A. Andrews, Jr., which he also ran for six years. In 1893 he bought an interest in the tug Fannie L. Baker, which he still holds. In 1894 he was induced to leave his own boat to take charge of the machinery of the tug S.C. Schenck, then the most powerful tug on the lakes; she is a grand ice crusher and does the greater part of the outside work at Toledo harbor. Mr. England profited much by the experience he had during the ten winters he was in the employ of the Michigan Central railroad, as engineer of their carferries, and he can handle the Schenck in the ice to the best advantage. He has nineteen issues of marine engineer's license. He is a man well versed in his line, and is held in high esteem by all who come into business or friendly relations with him.

In 1883 Mr. England was united in marriage with Miss Cecilia Churchill, daughter of J. Churchill, of Detroit, and three children were born to this union: William Cecil, Jessie and Ethel. Mrs. England departed this life July 30, 1896, after a lingering illness of six years. The family residence is at No. 730 Stickney avenue, Toledo, Ohio.

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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.