Whaling master active 1856–1871; later merchant mariner.
Ports of command: New London, Connecticut; New Bedford, Massachusetts.
Charles Edmund Allen was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, about 1828 or 1829. The 1870 and 1880 federal census records indicate his birth in Lebanon based on the ages reported in those returns. He was the son of Griswold Allen of Lebanon and Betsy Chappell of Gales Ferry. His older brother, William H. Allen, also served as a whaling master. Allen grew up on a farm and by about the age of nineteen had shipped on a whaling vessel as a mate.
Groton town records indicate that Allen married Sarah Jefrey (spelling uncertain) on 16 February 1858 in Groton, Connecticut. She was born about 1830; her parentage is not known. The couple had five children, all born in Groton: William E. (born 23 September 1860; died 15 June 1887); Nellie (born 1 September 1862; married Aborn F. Smith on 16 September 1882); Jessie (born about 1865; married Edward Everett Knapp on 13 January 1887 in Groton); Mabel (born about 1869); and Jenna (born about 1873).
The 1870 federal census records Allen in Groton as a shipmaster, age forty-one, living with his wife Sarah and their children William, Nellie, Jessie, and Mabel, together with a domestic servant, Richard Lydia, age thirteen. The 1880 federal census records him as a seaman, and the household includes an additional child, Jenna.
Whaling Command
AGATE (AS0795) — brig, 187 tons
New London → Arctic Ocean
16 April 1856 – 26 March 1859
Agents: C. A. Williams & Co.
The American Offshore Whaling Voyages database records Allen as the outgoing master of this voyage. Command of the vessel changed multiple times during the expedition, ultimately involving six masters: Charles Edmund Allen, Isaac Allen, B. F. Homan, Allen Comstock, John M. Lawton, and John P. Eldridge. Changes of command during long Arctic whaling voyages were not uncommon, although the specific circumstances in this case are not known.
J.D. THOMPSON (AS0345) — bark, 433 tons, built in New Bedford in 1855
New London → North Pacific
1869 – 14 September 1871
Agents: Williams & Barnes
Voyage records indicate that the vessel became trapped in ice off the northern coast of Alaska and was abandoned.
Other Whaling Command
Allen also served as master on several voyages from New Bedford.
BLACK EAGLE (AS0078)
1860–1861
1862–1863
MORNING STAR (AS0478)
1864–1865
1866–1867
Later Career
After leaving the whaling trade, Allen and a partner acquired a franchise for the Groton–New London ferry. He later entered the merchant marine. In 1876 he built a 105-ton schooner, SARAH E. ALLEN, at the W. Brainard shipyard in New London and served as her master. The vessel was named for his wife.
In March 1883 the schooner was lost at sea with all hands during a gale while on a voyage from Philadelphia to Baracoa, Cuba. Contemporary accounts reported that Allen had intended to retire following that voyage.
Residence
Allen owned a house at 342 Thames Street in Groton, near Fort Griswold. He later lived on Latham Street in Groton, at the corner of Latham and Beckwith Place.
Recollections
Family recollections preserved by descendants record that Allen once encountered a polar bear while hunting on pack ice during a voyage. According to this account, he killed the animal after it attempted to overturn his boat and later brought the skin home, where it remained in the family residence for many years.
Sources
- American Offshore Whaling Voyages Database (AOWV): AM0057, AS0795, AS0345, AS0078, AS0478
- Federal census records, 1870 and 1880
- Genealogical databases including Ancestry and FamilySearch
- Newspaper accounts reporting the loss of the schooner SARAH E. ALLEN (1883)
- Barnard Colby, For Oil and Buggy Whips: Whaling in New London, pp. 136–138
- Alexander Starbuck, History of the American Whale Fishery (photograph reproduced before p. 134)
George Shaw, 2019