William was born on December 5, 1812, probably in or near New London. No information could be found about his parents. On March 14, 1832 he married Eliza Ann Green, born on June 7, 1815. They had eight children: William Henry (1834-1865), James (1835-1862), Helen (1838-1853), Alfred (1841-1883), Mary (1844-1930), Chester (1845-1850), Walter (1850, died in infancy), and Alice (1854-1928). The family, with children arriving and departing, is shown living in New London in the decennial census reports for New London between 1850 and 1880. The 1850 report show William as “machinist”; those for 1870 and 1880 show him as “Ret. Ship Master” or “Ret. Ship Capt.”
New London Crew Lists show that, starting at age 15, he began serving on the crew of several ships with New London or Groton as home port: FRIENDS (AS1418, from 1827-1830), NEPTUNE (AS2032, from 1830-1831), and JONES (AS1723, from 1831-1832 and 1832-1833).
AOWV reports that William served master on three voyages of three ships with New London as home port:
ALEXANDER (AS0837): (ship, 398 tons, built Portsmouth NH in 1830). No departure date show, returned in 1852. Colby confirms return date, Decker shows neither departure nor return date, Starbuck shows a ship by this name not with New London as home port not with dates consistent with 1852 return. AV00470.
ELECTRA (AS1261): ( ship, 348 tons, built Kensington PA in 1811, lost at Nunavik Island in July 1863). Sailed on June 16, 1859 for the North Pacific and returned on March 26, 1862. Theophilus Brown (AM0679), the initial master, left the ship. William, not shown as an original crew member, succeeded him as master. Dennis Wood Abstract 3-542 offers no explanation for the change of command. Starbuck says ELECTRA was part of Stone Fleet #2. A scanned log book is available for this voyage. Williams & Barnes was the agent. AV04119.
PEARL (AS2158): (bark, 195 tons, built Medford MA in 1838, burnt by SHENANDOAH on August 3, 1865 off Ascension Island, crew sent ashore). Sailed on November 1, 1862 for the Pacific. William was the original master(shown in Colby as William H). When he left the ship, he was succeeded by J.T Hill (AM2773) who in turn left the ship, to be succeeded by Edwin P. Thompson (AM5010). Dennis Wood Abstract 4-316 offers this account: “Burnt by the English Rebel Pirate Shenandoah on her passage from Honolulu to the Arctic Ocean in June 1865.”
New London Crew Lists shows several other voyages on which William served on the crew or as master. There are others named Bush with a different or no middle initial that could be William. The only date shown is the date on the crew list. He served on ALEXANDER for dates 10/30/1849 (possibly the one returning 1852?), 3/7/1854, 4/15/56, and 5/05/1858. The New London Daily Chronicle date November 3, 1849 reports that the ship ALEXANDER, under Capt. Long with William as mate, sailed for San Francisco with a full cargo. William also sailed on ACTIVE and KILAUEA. It may be that these other trips were carrying cargo rather than whaling, hence their absence from AOWV and other whaling sources.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw (Mystic Seaport Museum) August 2024