Captain R. J. Lyons

Captain R.J. Lyons, of Lorain, Ohio, master of the Queen City, stands very prominent among the captains of the present day and is well known to the lakefaring class in general. He has brought out several boats whose size would have seemed almost an impossibility to the past generation, and in the discharge of his marine duties has won for himself the greatest laurels and the utmost confidence of his employers. He is still a young man, having been born August 4, 1861, in Lorain, Ohio, and he has a bright outlook for his future in the vast field of maritime industry. Captain Lyons' life has been closely connected with the lakes since 1877, when he went on the schooner King Fisher as boy and seaman, later serving in that capacity on the Exile and D. K. Clint, and thence going to the H. B. Tuttle as second officer. His next berth was that of second mate on the D. W. Rust and after a season he was given the position of mate which he retained two seasons. During part of the next season he was on the J. H. Devereux, as second mate and mate, and he then changed to the J. H. Outhwaite, where he remained three years as mate. In the fall of that last season he was given command of the Chenango and the next year sailed the Australasia, follow- ing which he was engaged two years in command of the Bulgaria and the same length of time on the Caledonia. At the close of his service on the latter boat he proceeded to go to Chicago to look after the building of the Zenith City, which he brought out new, and he remained upon this vessel until transferred to the Queen City, which he brought out new in 1896.

Captain Lyons was married, December 13, 1883, to Miss Jeanette Vorwerk, of Lorain, and they have three children: Mary E., born in 1884; Carrie J., born in 1887; and Ralph Scott, born in 1892. Socially the Captain belongs to the Knights of the Maccabees and the Ship Masters Association.

Winfield Scott Lyons, father of Captain Lyons, was a native of Lorain. Ohio, where he was engaged in shipbuilding, and he was an owner many years of his life. He died February 28, 1867. His son, Winfield Scott Lyons, Jr., was on the lakes for several years as master, but in 1873 he abandoned the water and has since been engaged in business in Kansas City, Mo. Another son, Frank D., who died in 1882, was a sailor for many years on the lakes.

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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.