James was born in Lyme CT on December 3, 1830 to James Carbury and Mehitable Wade Carbury. No birth or death dates for his parents have been found. Census data shows his father’s birthplace variously as Connecticut or Scotland, and the surname with a variety of spellings (Carbury, Carbery, Carberry). By the time of the 1860 U.S. Federal Census, James was residing in Waterford CT with Sarah, his inferred wife, and two-year-old Adie (Adelaide), born in 1858. Following Sarah’s death in 186l, he married Henrietta M. Perry (5/1/1835-7/20/1894) on May 6, 1863, with whom he had a daughter, Lucy, born June 10, 1866. Henrietta died on July 20, 1894, a year before their daughter, Lucy, and both mother and daughter are buried in Yantic Cemetery in Norwich CT. Date of death and place of burial for Adie are not known. The year that Henrietta died, James was married again to his third wife, Emma. The Find a Grave Index records James’ death as August 22, 1912, with burial in New London’s Cedar Grove Cemetery.
A thorough search of the Connecticut Ship Database shows that James served as master on a number of Connecticut-based vessels throughout his career at sea, but whaling voyages can be definitively ascribed to him on only two different ships with a home port of New London.
ATLANTIC (AS0924) (schooner, 130 tons, built in Smithtown NY in 1849). AOWV records two voyages of the ATLANTIC with James as master. The first departed New London on April 3, 1861, destination the Atlantic, presumably for the purpose of whaling. The return date of this voyage is not known. AV19301. It sailed again on August 13, 1861, headed for Atlantic Ocean whaling, and returned on September 18, 1861 with a cargo of sperm oil (Dennis Wood Abstracts, 3-599). AV01353. Richard H. Chappell was the agent for both of these voyages.
The schooner ATLANTIC had survived extensive damage from a hurricane in 1856 while sailing for Desolation Island under the command of William H. Brown (AM0688), as tender to the ship CORINTHIAN (AS1153). It was returned to port in January 1857 and repaired enough to make a few more voyages before its registration was surrendered on November 24, 1862 and it was sold to foreigners. The second of James’ voyages as master was probably its last. (See William H. Brown, New London Whaling Masters)
James may have sailed on the ATLANTIC on one or two previous occasions, but the circumstances are less clear. New London Crew Lists include an August 14, 1860 voyage of the ATLANTIC, with James as master, to the Azores Islands for the purpose of trading. However, AOWV makes no mention of this voyage, nor do Colby, Decker, or Starbuck. It also appears that James may have been a crew member on an even earlier voyage of the ATLANTIC (May to August 17, 1859) under the command of Nathan W. Rathbun (AM4001). AV01351. The list of crew members for Rathbun’s voyage in AOWV includes James, and has “master” next to both Rathbun and Carbury. The reason for this is not clear.
Mention should be made of a reference in the publication “Mystic Built” (Mystic Seaport Museum, 1989) to James as master of the ATLANTIC on an 1861 whaling voyage. There appears to be some mingling of information about two different schooners named ATLANTIC in a discussion of a single vessel. James’ name has thus been paired, most likely erroneously, with a schooner named ATLANTIC built in Old Mystic in 1833 and operating in the southern trade out of New Orleans.
CORNELIA (AS1157) (schooner/ship, 197/148 tons, built in Chatham, MA in 1841, withdrawn 1870). James served as master for a single voyage of the CORNELIA in 1865. None of the sources consulted produced any further information as to date, destination, or results of the voyage. Both Decker and Starbuck simply state “no report,” and Decker notes: “On November 9, purchased by Groton parties for $11,000 – Capt. Lorenzo Baker to command.” The agents for this voyage were Hobron & Sons. AV03398
The Connecticut Ship Database links a number of other ships with James Carbury as master. Either these vessels were not connected at all with whaling, since most do not appear in AOWV, or, as in the case of the schooner DELIA HODGKINS (AS1199), the vessel may have become a whaler after James presumably sailed on it. The following are the ships and dates when James is said to have served on them as master:
ELLEN (Sloop), 1853-1854. Built in New London in 1834 for the coasting trade.
LEADER (Schooner), no dates shown. Built in New London in 1861 for the cod fishery. LEADER appears in AOWV (AS2728) with a home port of New London. Williams & Haven was the agent in 1864-1866.
ALIDA (Schooner), 1855-1859. Built in 1848.
A.A. ROWE (Schooner), 1864-1865. Built in Mystic in 1859 for the halibut and mackerel fishery. James’ wife, Henrietta, is listed as an owner from 1864 to 1867.
GERTRUDE HOWES (Schooner), 1866-1869. Built in New London in 1866 for the mackerel fishery. James’ wife, Henrietta, is listed as an owner from 1866 to 1869.
DELIA HODGKINS (Schooner), 1872-1879. Built in Bath ME in 1870. DELIA HODGKINS appears in AOWV (AS1199) only beginning with an 1879 whaling voyage under the command of Sanford Stoddard Miner (AM3454). Its home port was New London. It capsized and was wrecked off Cape Cod in November of 1881. According to entries in Lloyd’s Register of American and Foreign Shipping, its home port during the prior years, the ones attributed to James, was Provincetown, MA and it was owned by the Union Wharf Company. None of the entries in Lloyd’s, however, makes mention of the fact that James may have been its master during any of these years.
SILVER DART (Schooner), 1875-1876. Built in Essex, MA in 1852.
James also served as captain of the bark MESSENGER (AS1936), with home port of Salem, MA, after it was sold to Boston in November of 1861 and became part of the Second Stone Fleet (Dennis Wood Abstracts, 3-499; Pilot (Boston), 12/21/1861; New York Times, 12/13/1861). Starbuck refers to MESSENGER as “Salem’s last whaler.”
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in the text.
Maija M. Lutz
American Institute for Maritime Studies (AIMS)
Mystic Seaport Museum
February 2025