Captain Alex McRae
At the present time Capt. Alex McRae is acting in the capacity of harbor-master, and has proven himself to be a capable man in that position. He was born January 12, 1844, in Rosshire, Scotland, and in that county spent the first three years of his life. His parents, Farquhar and Isabella (McRae) McRae, came to Canada at this time, and with their family settled in Dunwich, Ontario.
Alex McRae left Dunwich when he was seventeen years of age, and began the marine work. He first acted as boy on the Pt. Stanley, after a short time shipped on the Gem of the Lakes, in the same position. After leaving this boat he came to Detroit and shipped on a tug, where he remained until the close of navigation, when he went to Dearborn, Mich., and spent the winter in school. The following spring he resumed work on the lakes, and continued until 1875, having been on the B. Parsons, White Cloud, Chas. Hinkley, Thos. Kingsford, Light-Guard, Jane Rawlston, Maj. Anderson, Naiad and Wm Sturgis. On May 31, 1875, he entered the police force in Detroit, and has there remained to the present time, having been commis sioned as harbor-master, April 6, 1894.
On October 14, 1875, Captain McRae was married to Miss Mary McNabb, also a native of Scotland, but who has spent the greater part of her life in America. Their only child, Jeanette May, is attending school in Detroit at the present time.
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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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