John was born in Augusta in Western Australia on August 27, 1831. He was the son of Robert Heppingstone (1790-1835) and Ann (Bryan) Heppingstone (1795-1878). John married Adeline Coffin Morgan on December 30, 1861 in Honolulu. The marriage certificate refers to her as “of Nantucket”. She was born on June 15, 1835, presumably in Nantucket. They had two children, a son John born in 1861, died in 1869 and a daughter Adeline born in 1868, died in 1957. Adeline sailed with John aboard FLEETWING (see below) on one of his last voyages (1881-1882). A city directory for New Bedford in 1893 records John living in New Bedford. The census for Yarmouth MA in 1910 shows John living with his daughter Adeline (42), her husband Albert Matthews (47), and their son John (14). John died in Yarmouth MA on September 15, 1914. The death certificate records him as “master mariner” and cancer as the cause of his death. His wife Adeline died in Yarmouth on August 20, 1909. A gravestone in Pine Grove Cemetery in Yarmouth records dates for John, Adeline and their son John. Note: From a photograph of the gravestone in Find A Grave, it appears that the dates of death may be inaccurate. For example, it appears that John died in 1814, not 1914, and some of the dates look to have been altered.
John makes what can be described as a cameo appearance as a New London whaling master. He was the first of four replacement masters on one voyage of one ship with New London as home port:
CATHERINE (AS1054): (bark, 384 tons, built in Rochester MA in 1831). AOWV shows that CATHERINE sailed on October 19, 1858 but returned to New London two weeks later, on November 5 (AV02467). AOWV then shows, as a separate voyage, CATHERINE sailing again three weeks later, on November 24 (AV02468). Dennis Wood Abstract 3-535 explains: “Returned Nov 8 having lost everything above her three mastheads and split the heads of fore and mainmasts in a gale 10/24.” Starbuck describes the damage as “dismasted”. It is apparent that this was really one voyage, interrupted at the beginning for repairs caused by storm damage. Abstract 3-535 records “Returned to Honolulu 1/1/1862 Capt. sick.” Abstract 3-553 continues: “Heppingstone Master sailed from Honolulu April 11 for the Arctic”. Capt. Hempstead left the ship after this illness and was replaced by four replacement masters: John Heppingstone being the first. He was followed by (L. Lamb (AM3014), William H. Phillips (AM3844), John Howland (AM2733), and Lamb again.
John had a busy life as master following his brief period as master of CATHERINE. He sailed as master for seven voyages on five ships with New Bedford and San Francisco as home ports: EDMUND L. FROST (AS2183, home port San Francisco) for its 1859 – voyage; RICHMOND II (AS0573, home port New Bedford) for its 1862 – voyage; TRITON (AS0647, home port New Bedford) for its 1872-1875 voyage; and FLEETWING (AS0434) for its 1877-1879, 1879-1880, 1880-1881, and 1881-1882 voyages. New Bedford was the home port for FLEETWING’s 1877-1869 voyage while San Francisco was the home port for its other three voyages.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. See also, Joan Druett, She Was a Sister Sailor (p. 415).
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
February 2026