Joseph was born in Montville CT on July 13, 1802. His parents, James Fitch (1768-1820) and Abigail (Fox) Fitch (1773-1852), had seven children—John (born 1798), Anna (born 1800), Joseph, Samuel (born 1804), Sarah (born 1807), Rachel (born 1811), and William (born 1815). His youngest brother, William, also became a whaling master [See William Fitch (AM1916) in New London Whaling Masters]. In 1829 Joseph married Lydia Pendleton Barns (1810-1884) of Westerly RI. No record has been found of Joseph and Lydia having had any children.
Prior to becoming a captain, Joseph served on the crews of two of Connecticut’s earliest whaling vessels, the brig PIZARRO (AS2198) of Hartford (1821-1822 voyage), and the ship CONNECTICUT (AS1144) of Norwich (1822-1825 and 1825-1827 voyages). Colby (p. 6) notes that Joseph was one of eight men on the crew of the 1821 PIZARRO voyage, under the command of Elias Coit (AM1227), who eventually became whaling masters themselves.
AOWV records two voyages for Joseph as master of a New London-based vessel, both on the ship SUPERIOR:
SUPERIOR (AS2448): (ship, 406 tons, length 108 ft., built in Philadelphia PA in 1808, lost in Anadir Sea, July 11, 1852). The SUPERIOR, formerly a merchant ship that joined the New London fleet in 1827, departed under Joseph’s command on its second whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean in August of 1830 [Decker shows September], and returned after a successful hunt on July 26, 1833. The agent for the voyage was N.&W.W. Billings. AV13553.
Joseph sailed again to the Pacific Ocean as master of the 1833-1837 voyage of the SUPERIOR in October. He lost his life on board ship, together with the third mate, on January 23, 1835 due to the accidental explosion of gunpowder (Find a Grave; Starbuck). First mate Erastus Sanders (AM4244) [Find a Grave shows Saunders] replaced Joseph as master and completed the voyage successfully on April 25, 1837. N.&W.W. Billings was also the agent for this voyage. AV13554.
Joseph was issued Seamen’s Protection Certificate #6212 at age 20 on October 12, 1822 in New London.
Joseph’s death is memorialized at two different locations. One is a gravestone in the Cook-Fitch family plot at Raymond Hill Cemetery in Oakdale CT. The other is a monument in the James Stewart lot at New London’s Cedar Grove Cemetery that he shares with his mate and replacement master, Erastus Sanders (Saunders), of the SUPERIOR. One side reads, in part: “Erected in memory of Capt. Joseph Fitch, of Montville, who lost his life on board the whaleship Superior … “. The other side continues, in part: “Also in memory of Erastus Saunders of Lebanon, who was the mate of the ship Superior at the time of Capt. Fitch’s death … and who lost his life as mate of the ship Phoenix in the Pacific Ocean on the 1st day of August 1838 … “. Ironically, one of the other crew members on the PHOENIX (AS2188) at the time of Erastus’s death was Joseph’s brother William.
Maija M. Lutz
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
September 2025