AOWV treats E.H. Edwards (AM1697), replacement master on the COLUMBUS of New London CT, and Eli H. Edwards (AM1698), master of the BLACK EAGLE of Sag Harbor NY, as two different masters. However, after a thorough search of a number of sources, including the Eliza T. Edwards Papers held at the Mystic Seaport Museum (Coll. 248), this writer can state with some conviction that E.H. Edwards and Eli H. Edwards are one and the same person.
Eli was born in Amagansett NY on June 22, 1822. He was the third youngest of nine children born to Thomas Edwards (1783-1859), a farmer, and Lydia (Sanford) Edwards (1788-1870). The 1850 Federal Census shows Eli as a “seaman” residing in East Hampton NY with his father, mother, and two younger brothers, Edwin and Nathaniel. In 1851 he married Eliza T. Wheeler (1830-1903), daughter of Thomas Wheeler and Eliza Rebecca (Bunce) Wheeler of Sag Harbor NY. No record has been found of Eli and Eliza having had any children.
AOWV records a single voyage for E.H. Edwards, that being as replacement master on the 1856-1858 voyage of the New London-based COLUMBUS:
COLUMBUS (AS1125): (ship, 345/344 tons, length 106 ft., built in Kingston MA in 1821, lost in Shanta [Shantar] Bay, Ochotsk [Okhotsk] Sea, August 1858). The COLUMBUS departed from New London on July 10, 1856 for a two-year whaling voyage to the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. According to AOWV, the initial master, John L. Ward (AM5172) was replaced sometime during the voyage by E.H. Edwards. In a letter dated April 30, 1858, written to her mother, brother, and sister from Honolulu, a frequent stopping off point for whaling vessels, Eli’s wife Eliza notes that he shipped on the COLUMBUS of New London on the same date as her last letter [April 2, 1858]. She further writes that he has the same mate as he had on the bark BLACK EAGLE of Sag Harbor. Thus, it is Eliza’s letter that seals the connection between the two vessels and confirms the two different masters in AOWV as being one and the same.
COLUMBUS was wrecked beyond repair in the Arctic by crashing ice and heavy gales, presumably with Eli at the helm (Dennis Wood Abstracts, 3-538). The officers and crew were saved. Starbuck lists “Ward” as master of the voyage, whereas Decker shows “Edwards.” George Huntley was the agent for the voyage. AV03107.
The 1854-1858 voyage of BLACK EAGLE (AS0078) is the only voyage attributed to Eli H. Edwards in AOWV. Further scrutiny of all of Eliza’s letters in the Museum’s collection, beyond the scope of this paper, may well shed more light on Eli’s short tenure as replacement master of COLUMBUS and the circumstances of his departure from the BLACK EAGLE.
Joan Druett, in her book on seafaring women from New York, includes a brief account of Eliza’s time in the Hawaiian Islands while her husband was whaling, as well as provides a clue to Eli’s life at sea after his ordeal with COLUMBUS. She writes that on August 20, 1857 Eliza sailed from New York to Honolulu to meet up with Eli, master of the BLACK EAGLE, and spent the next two years with her “sister sailors” traveling on local schooners and sampling life in the Hawaiian Islands. She further states that “because her husband was unlucky with his ships, Eliza did not return home to Sag Harbor until 1860, when Eli was the first mate of the SPLENDID (AS2419) of Cold Spring Harbor. Captain Samuel Pierson (AM3866), commander of the SPLENDID, was so pleased to have her on board that he gave her the captain’s accommodations, refurbished for her comfort” (Druett, The Sailing Circle, 1995, p. 40).
After concluding his whaling career, Eli evidently entered the world of business. An IRS tax assessment list dated May 1, 1863 records his occupation as “retail dealer.” His Civil War draft registration, dated July 1, 1863, shows his occupation as “milliner.” The town of Southampton, including Sag Harbor, recognized Eli as one who “engaged in military and naval service of the United States in the Civil War” (James Truslow Adams, History of the Town of Southampton, 1918).
A death notice for E.H. Edwards sent to Eliza from Hospital #19 in Nashville TN states that the cause of Eli’s death on August 9, 1864 was a lightning strike. Since Hospital #19 was one of numerous field hospitals set up in Nashville to house Union soldiers, it can be presumed that Eli died while serving in the U.S. Navy (The Nashville Daily Union, December 30, 1863, p. 4). Both Eli and Eliza are buried in Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor NY. Their gravestone reads “Eli H. Edwards – Killed by Lightning – August 9, 1864 @ 42 Yrs. – Eliza T. – Wife of Eli H. Edwards – Died Feb. 2nd 1903 @ 73 Yrs.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
Maija M. Lutz
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
August 2025