Jeremiah Chadwick (AM0871)

Jeremiah was born in Red Bank NJ on January 1, 1822. He was the son of Rev. Taber (3/7/1773-10/7/1843) and Deborah (Longstreet) (1787-1833) Chadwick. He was one of seven children. No record was found that Jeremiah married or had any children. He died on July 21, 1869 and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Little Silver NJ. No other information about him could be found.

​​Jeremiah served as master of one voyage each on two ships with New London as home port:

PERUVIAN (AS2174): (ship, 388 tons, length 109’, built in Baltimore MD in 1824, broken up in 1859). Sailed in June 1856 for the So. Atlantic and Indian Oceans, returned in June 1857. E.V. Stoddard was the agent. AV11469.

RIPPLE (AS2295): (bark, 234 tons, length 100’, built in New London in 1854). Sailed in September 1857 to the Indian and Pacific Oceans, returned in 1863. Jeremiah left the ship for unexplained reasons, to be replaced by Ebenezer Morgan (AM3479). From Dennis Wood Abstract 3-577 for this voyage of RIPPLE: “A letter from Capt. Ebenezer Morgan dated [illegible place name] Sept. 16, 1861 says he has joined the ship and should proceed to Talcahuano[Chile] and refit and take the season in Chile and home.” The Whalemen’s Shipping List weekly report of February 21, 1860 lists Jeremiah as master; the next issue (February 28) list Ebenezer as master. A search of WSL for the three weeks prior to the change reveals no communication concerning the change of command. Boston Daily Chronicle (5/16/1860) reports that Ebenezer was already master of RIPPLE. The 1861 date quoted in the letter quoted in Wood must have been written long after Jeremiah ceased being master or the date was wrong.E.V. Stoddard was the agent for this voyage as well. AV12348.

Prior to joining PERUVIAN as master, Jeremiah served on the crew of for three voyages on three ships: PERUVIAN (see above) on its 1848-1850 voyage to Desolation Island; JOHN E. SMITH (AS1711) for its 1851-1854 voyage; and JULIUS CAESAR (AS1737) for it 1853-1856 voyage.

No information was found concerning Jeremiah after he left RIPPLE.

Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.

George Shaw (Mystic Seaport Museum) September 2024