Little information could be found that can be attributed to William, in part because many records show William Chappell with no middle initial, thus making difficult distinguishing him from numerous others with the same first and last name. A further complication is numerous spellings of his last name, one or two P’s and/or L’s. His age can be approximated from numerous crew lists that show his birth about 1818 in New London and a resident of New London. A likely identification of Capt. Chappell is based on the following information. New London Vital Records show William M. Chappell marrying Mary E. Carrell of New London on May 18, 1847. An 1860 census for Lebanon CT shows William Chappell (no middle initial), age 40, and “sea captain”, living with his wife Mary age 34 and two children, Mary E. age 5 and William F. age 1. No record could be found of his death.
William served as master for some or all of seven voyages on five ships with New London as home port:
BLACK WARRIOR (AS0987): (bark, 231 tons, length 94’, built in Duxbury MA in 1825, sold in Honolulu in December 1854, possibly went ashore in Baja in 1859). Sailed May 2, 1845 for the NW Coast and Indian Ocean, returned April 21, 1847. See Dennis Wood Abstract 2-075. Havens & Smith was the agent. AV01883.
JOHN AND ELIZABETH (AS1707): (ship, 296 tons, length 98’, built in Hanover MA in 1825, condemned in Hawaii in 1858 and broken up). Sailed on July 7, 1847 for the Indian Ocean, returned on May 7, 1850. AV07655. Sailed again on July 16, 1850 for the North Pacific, returned on June 2, 1855. William left the ship during the 1850 voyage, to be replaced by Thomas Long (AM3138) who in turn was replaced by —-Lyons (AM3232). AV07656. See Dennis Wood Abstract 2-370 for both voyages. Williams & Haven was the agent for both voyages.
CHARLES CARROLL (AS1078): (ship, 412 tons, length 121’, built in New York NY in 1825, registration surrendered in July 1863). Sailed in 1849, returned on March 23, 1854. The original master (identity unclear, see below) left the ship during the voyage, to be replaced by William as replacement master. See Dennis Wood Abstract 2-159. Perkins & Smith was the agent. AV02639.
NORTH AMERICA (AS2056): (bark, 388 tons, condemned and sold in Hobart in April 1861). Sailed on September 20, 1858 to the Indian Ocean, returned in 1861. William was replacement master for Ebenezer Morgan (AM3479) who left the ship. AV10598.
FRANKLIN (AS1406): (schooner). Sailed on July 15, 1859 for Desolation Island, returned on June 4, 1862. William was the replacement master for Edwin Church (AM0964), the initial master, who died at sea. AV05250. Sailed again on May 18, 1869 for Cumberland Inlet, returned on October 15, 1870. AV05255. Richard H. Chappell was agent for both voyages.
The departure and return dates for CHARLES CARROLL appear to conflict with the dates of JOHN AND ELIZABETH’s second voyage. One issue relates to confusion about the original master of CHARLES CARROLL. AOWV says Franklin F. Smith (AM4484) was the initial master and that William left that ship during the voyage, but both names are followed by a “?” meaning uncertainty. Starbuck records the sailing master as “Chapel”, Decker says “Chappell”. Whalemen’s Shipping List (WSL) does not report any master of the ship until its October 28, 1851 issue, nearly a year and a half after its departure, perhaps indicating missing or at least unconfirmed information. A second issue relates to dates of the early departures of the original masters of the two ships. William’s name last appears as JOHN AND ELIZABETH’s replacement master in the June 13, 1854 issue of WSL; his name first appears as CHARLES CARROLL’s replacement master in the October 28, 1851 issue of WSL. In both cases, many weeks would have transpired for news of the change of command to have reached New Bedford and WSL. Depending on the timing and William’s location, it might have been possible for him to have left JOHN AND ELIZABETH in time to join CHARLES CARROLL as replacement master.
Prior to becoming a master, William served on the crew for several voyages: CONNECTICUT (AS1144) for its 1834-1836 and 1841-1843 voyages, GEORGIA (AS1468) for its 1837-1838 voyage, CANDACE (AS1029) for its 1838-1849 voyage, PEMBROKE (AS2163) for its 1840-1841 voyage, and HALCYON (AS1510) for its 1843-1844 voyage.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute of Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
October 2024