Captain Joseph Gorman

Captain Joseph Gorman, son of James and Ellen (Linden) Gorman, was born at Grand Rapids, Mich., in 1846. After attending the public school until he reached the age of fourteen years, he commenced his lakefaring life on the schooner Magic, trading between Grand Haven and Chicago. On one passage the Magic capsized, and the same fall she went ashore at Grand Haven. In the spring of 1861 he shipped on the schooner Levant. Both of these vessels were owned by ex-Senator Ferry and his son.

On December 19, 1861, young Gorman enlisted in the 14th Mich. Vol. Inf., his regiment being assigned to the First Brigade, Second Division, Fourteenth Army Corps. It participated in the siege of Corinth, with General Pope, and the engagements of LaVergne, Stone River, Tullahoma, Chickamauga; and was with General Sherman on his ever memorable campaign at Atlanta, Savannah and Richmond, taking an honorable part in the contest at Missionary Ridge, Resaca, Lost Mountain, Kennesaw, Peach Tree Creek, and Jonesboro, where the regiment was hotly engaged with Grovan's Brigade, of Hardie's Corps. On the march from Savannah, north through the Carolinas, Captain Gorman's regiment crossed the Savannah River, at Sisters Ferry, and participated in the battle of Bentonville, N. C., - finally reaching Fayetteville, on the Cape Fear River. On March 13, 1865, the regiment was mustered out of service by reason of the close of the war, and marched in grand review at Washington returning home by way of Baltimore, Maryland.

In May, 1865, young Gorman again took up his career on the lakes, shipping before the mast on the schooner Sunshine, with Captain Knight, after which he sailed as mate of the bark Sunny Side, followed by a season on the bark Jane Bell, in the same capacity. In 1867 he sailed as mate of the William B. Hibbard, closing the season on the bark Invincible; 1868, on the E. C. Roberts, closing the season on the D. P. Dobbins, with Captain Kendricks; 1869, on the bark North West, as second mate; 1870, as mate of the E. C. Roberts, with Capt. Harvey Rumage, closing the season on the schooner Grandy, as mate, holding that berth the next season.

In the spring of 1872 Captain Gorman shipped as second mate on the bark Constitution, after which he turned his attention to steamboating, and was appointed mate of the steamer Manitowoc, of the Goodrich line, plying between Chicago, Ahnapee and other west shore ports. In 1873 he went to Cleveland and there entered the tugging business out of that port as master of the A. P. Door, and later of the Old Jack. In 1874 he sailed as mate of the steamer Annie Smith, with Captain March; 1875 mate of the steamer Egyptian, with Capt. J. Smith; 1876, mate of the steamer Raleigh, with Captain Wolvin; 1877-78, master of the General Payne, plying between Grand Haven, Muskegon and Chicago, in the lumber trade. In the spring of 1879 he again shipped as mate on the steamer Raleigh; 1880 he came out as second mate of the steamer Wocoken, but closed the season as mate of the Henry Chisholm, with Capt. George Stone; 1881, was mate of the steamer Cumberland, with Capt. John Coulter, closing the season as master of the schooner Russell; 1882, mate of the Robert A. Packer, of the Lehigh line, and the season following he came out as mate of the steamer H. D. Coffinberry. Before the close of the season, however, he went to Grand Haven, Mich., where he again entered the employ of the Michigan Lumber Company, as master of the tug Campbell.

In the spring of 1884 Captain Gorman again sailed as mate of the H. D. Coffinberry, at that time plying between Chicago, St. Ignace and Marquette; he then went as mate of the Havana, closing the season on the Vienna, of the same line. The next five years were passed as mate, in the order named, of the steamers J. H. Outhwaite, Cumberland, D. W. Rust, R. P. Fitzgerald and C. S. Parnell. In the spring of 1891 he came out as master of the Laura, a passenger boat on Lake Ontario, plying between Charlotte and Ogdensburg, and in 1892 he took the lighthouse boats built by the Globe Iron Works to the coast. The Lilac he took to Portland, Maine, and the Columbia to Tompkinsville Station. On his return to Cleveland he was made master of the steamyacht Comanche, then owned by Mr. Hanna, which he sailed until the close of the season of 1893. He then shipped as mate on the steamer Hesper, and in 1895 was appointed master of the excursion boat Duluth, which he brought down to Cleveland from Chicago. At the close of the excursion season he went as mate on the steamer Missoula, which was wrecked on Lake Superior between Caribou island and Michipicoten on the 7th day of November. It is said that she foundered and the crew took to the yawl boat. The vessel was left about eight p.m., and after pulling at the oars all the next day, they reached Point Broule, and after a wait of two days a steamer came along and took them to the Sault. In 1896 Captain Gorman came out as mate of the steamer George W. Ruby, and the following season he stopped ashore for a well-earned rest, although on the sailing of the cutter Andrew Johnson he took command of her on her duty voyage to Johnson's island to give the naval reserve cadets their first airing. He has twenty-four issues of master's and pilot's licenses.

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.