Captain William S. Mack
Captain William S. Mack (deceased) was born in Kingston, Ont., in 1846, and at an early age commenced his seafaring life. On attaining his majority he was given charge of the Oswego schooner Norwegian, owned by M. M. Wheeler, of that port, in whose employ he remained for a period of thirteen years, sailing the schooner T. S. Mott in 1870 and 1871; the Madeira from 1872 until 1877, and the Helvetia from 1878 until 1880. He then entered the steamboat service, commanding the Fred Kelly in 1881, and the Republic from 1882 until 1885. The following season he was on the Raleigh, and after superintending the building of the steamer Aurora, he sailed her for one season, after which he invested in the steamer Ballentine and took command. The succeeding year he purchased the C.J. Kershaw, which he sailed for four seasons, and then became owner of the V.H. Ketcham, which he commanded for one season, thus rounding out a service of twenty-eight years as master of either sailing vessels or steamers. In 1890 Captain Mack organized the Lakewood Transportation Company, and six years later the Lake Erie Transportation and the Lakeland Transportation Companies, remaining on shore to manage their fleets until his death, which occurred September 14, 1896.
In 1872 Captain Mack married Miss Margaret A. Ryder, of Oswego, N.Y., by whom he had two children - William H., born in 1873, and Anna B., born in 1876, who is now finishing her musical education. Since the father's death the son has practically been the head of the Lakewood Transportation Company, owning the steamer V.H. Ketcham and the schooner Wadena; the Lake Erie Transportation Company, owning the steamer Pascal P. Pratt, and the schooner Annie M. Ash; the Lakeland Transportation Company, owning the steamer George W. Roby and the barge William D. Becker; his main office in the Perry-Payne building, in Cleveland. He is a young man of more than ordinary business ability.
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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.
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