Walter was born in Noank (Groton) CT on December 12, 1845. He was the son of Elisha (1819-1861) and Mary Ann Wilbur (1825-1896) Scott. He married Prudence Ann Spicer (1852-1933), daughter of Silas and Mary Morgan Spicer, on September 9, 1871. They had three children, Mary (1872- ), Katherine (1873-1948), and Elihu (1876- ). The 1880 census for Groton records the family consisting of Walter, age 34, “sealing captain”, his wife Prudence, age 31, Kitty, age 7, and Elihu, age 4. Katherine was a descendant of Samuel Edgecomb, Jr. (1760-1843) who served as a minuteman in the battle of Groton Heights. Walter died in January 1882 at age 36 in Noank. His gravestone, in Noank Valley Cemetery, records his dates and Prudence’s. Under his name appears the following: AND THERE SHALL BE NO MORE SEA.
Walter served as master of one sealing voyage on each of two ships with New London as their home port:
GOLDEN WEST (AS1483): (schooner, 99 tons, length 82’, built in Newburyport MA in 1853, condemned in Magellan Strait and sold on February 28, 1880). Sailed on a sealing voyage on June 28, 1878 (Decker says July 28) for the Atlantic, returned on February 28, 1880. Lawrence & Co. was the agent. Mystic Seaport Museum holds the logbook of this voyage. AV05885.
WANDERER (AS2577): (schooner, 151 tons, length 97’, built in Kennebunk ME in 1879, lost in Magellan Strait on October 17, 1881). Sailed on a sealing voyage on August 12, 1880. Decker does not record this voyage. The ship was lost, but no information was found about the fate of the crew. It is curious that his gravestone records only the month of his death (January 1882). Was his body found much later precluding determination of when he died? Does the poignant phrase engraved in the gravestone (see above) perhaps reflect the thoughts of his wife about a career at sea? F.P. Miner was the agent. AV15298.
Colby records that Walter served as master on sealing voyages on CHARLES SHEARER (AS1086) in 1874, 1875, and 1876, all with Stonington CT as home port. AOWV does not record the 1874 and 1875 voyages, shows another master for the 1876 voyage, and shows New London as home port for that voyage.
Starbuck’s reports do not continue beyond 1876, prior to the sailing of GOLDEN WEST and WANDERER, and his reports omit the voyages of CHARLES SHEARER.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute of Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
October 2024