Prince, E.W.

E.W. Prince, chief engineer of the steamer Iroquois, was born in Heuvelton, St. Lawrence Co., N. Y., in 1843, the son of John Prince, who combined the occupations of wheelwright, cabinetmaker, joiner and carpenter. The family removed to Cleveland when Edwin W. Prince was two years old, and there he attended school up to the age of sixteen, when he commenced learning the machinist's trade in the shop of Blish, Garlick & Co. After spending four years in this establishment he worked at various points, being employed for some time in the shops of the Cleveland & Pittsburg Railway Company at Wellsville, Ohio. On leaving their employ he commenced sailing as oiler on the propeller New York, of which vessel he became second engineer before the season was over. The next season he was second engineer of the propeller Eclipse, of the Western Transportation Company, and the season following he held the position of chief in the tug Stranger and later in the Winslow. Then he was employed successively in the propeller New York, the tug Quayle, the passenger steamer Northern Light, and again in the New York, becoming chief engineer of the last named boat in July, and continuing as such for three seasons. In 1875 and 1876 he was chief of the old propeller Mineral Rock; 1877, chief of the steambarge Chauncey Hurlburt; 1878-79-80, assistant engineer of the steamer S. E. Sheldon; 1881, chief of the steamer Swan; 1882, chief of the new steamer Robert Wallace; 1883, chief of the steamer Cumberland, and later in the lake tug Goodnow, between Cleveland and Lake Superior ports; 1884-85-86, chief of the steamer David W. Rust; 1887, chief of the steamer Simon Langell. In 1888 and 1889 Mr. Prince was employed in the shops of the Cleveland Ship Building Company, making one trip to Lake Superior in the steamer Superior. Then for six weeks he was chief of the steamer Roumania, and during the season of 1896 served in that capacity on the steamer Iroquois. Mr. Prince has had many exciting experiences during his career on the lakes. On May 11, 1895, while in the Roumania on Lake Superior, the vessel was caught in a gale, and while she was running for shelter the main steam pipe cracked so that it was in imminent danger of bursting. The pipe was chained at the fracture, but the steam pressure had to be so greatly reduced in order to prevent further accident that the vessel had great difficulty in reaching a place of safety. When land was finally sighted through the blinding snowstorm it was only a few rods away and the storm was driving the vessel rapidly into the breakers. There proved to be sufficient power in the boilers, however, to carry the ship off shore and a harbor was finally made.

In 1862 Mr. Prince married Miss Lottie Elliott, of Cleveland. Their children are Edwin E., William W. and Florence F. One daughter, Lottie M., died in infancy.

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.