Finding personal information about John P. Eldridge has proved to be a challenge, especially about his birth, parents, and early years, leaving many unanswered questions. The crew list for the 1856-1858 voyage of the ship JOHN AND ELIZABETH shows his birthplace to be St. Michaels, Western Islands, and place of residence as Barnstable ME (?) [probably MA, since there is no such town in Maine]. He was listed as 29 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall, with dark skin and dark hair. Unfortunately, “Western Islands” could refer to any number of island groups in the world, but most likely John was not born on U.S. soil. Some of the above facts are confirmed by John himself when interrogated in 1865 by James Waddell, commander of the Confederate raider SHENANDOAH [see HARVEST (AS0282), below]. When asked where he was born, he replied “At sea,” and when asked where he was brought up, his answer was “Massachusetts.”
AOWV shows that John served as master or replacement master on four ships with New London as home port:
JOHN AND ELIZABETH (AS1707): (ship, 296 tons, length 92 ft., built in Hanover MA in 1825, condemned and broken up at Honolulu in November 1858). After serving as a merchant ship for its first ten years, JOHN AND ELIZABETH completed eight whaling voyages from New London between 1836 and 1856. On July 24, 1856 it departed for the North Pacific Ocean with John as master on what was to be its final voyage, ending in Honolulu. For reasons unknown, John left the ship and was replaced in March 1858 by Jeremiah Lester (AM3094) as master. Williams & Haven were the agents for this voyage. AV07659.
AGATE (AS0795): (brig, 187/186 tons, place and date when built unknown, sold to Honolulu in 1859, broken up there in 1861). The AGATE sailed to the Arctic Ocean on April 16, 1856 and returned on March 26, 1859. John was the last of five replacement masters for this voyage, taking over from John M. Lawton (AM4855). The outgoing master for the voyage was Charles Edmund Allen (AM0057). The circumstances surrounding the frequent changes of command are not known. Agents for this voyage were Williams, C.A. & Co. AV00341.
GEORGE AND MARY (AS1450): (ship, 356 tons, length 108 ft., built in Rochester MA in 1831, lost in Ochotsk [Okhotsk], June 9, 1860). GEORGE AND MARY sailed from New London on October 1, 1857, bound for the Indian and Pacific Oceans, under the command of David Walker (AM5168). John replaced him as master sometime during the three-year voyage. Dennis Wood Abstracts, 3-548 shows that “Capt. Eldridge” sent a letter dated June 26, 1860 in which he reported that the ship was lost “by coming in contact with the ice.” He further stated that the officers and crew were all saved, but the ship and oil were a total loss. Agents for the voyage were Williams and Haven. AV05633.
NILE (AS0491): (bark/brig, 322/292 tons, built in New York NY in 1826). The NILE departed New London with George Destin (AM1579) as master in May of 1858, bound for North Pacific whaling. Throughout its almost twelve-year absence from home, it changed masters six times, stopped frequently in the Hawaiian Islands to take on crew and replenish supplies, and was captured on June 28, 1865 by the SHENANDOAH in the Bering Strait and bonded for $45,000. John was the third master on this voyage, which has been dubbed the longest in American whaling history (Colby and Starbuck). John replaced Asa W. Fish (AM1823) as master. Williams and Haven were the agents for this voyage. AV10491.
Following his service on New London-based ships, John’s life appears to have taken an especially interesting turn. On December 24, 1864 the ship HARVEST (AS0282) set sail under John’s command on what was to be its final voyage. The HARVEST, formerly a whaler out of New Bedford, had been sold at Honolulu in December of 1862 and was flying the Hawaiian flag. At the end of March, 1865, it arrived at the Micronesian island of Pohnpei [formerly Ascension Island] to resupply, together with three American vessels. All four ships were captured on April 1 by the Confederate raider SHENANDOAH, stripped of anything valuable, and burned over the next ten days. Because the HARVEST was not an American vessel, but was thought to be so by the captain of the SHENANDOAH, this incident at Pohnpei resulted in legal battles that continued for several decades.
When the Hawaiian government sent a vessel to bring back the crewmen stranded on Pohnpei, several decided to stay, including John, the master of the HARVEST, who remained on the island for the rest of his life. A page on the website “Micronesian Seminars” (https://micsem.org/pubs/articles/historical/bcomber/pohnpei.htm) gives a short summary of John’s life on Pohnpei. For less than a year he worked for the American “blackbirder” and trader Ben Pease as master of the MALOLO, and in 1871 signed on as mate of the ship LEONORA, commanded by the legendary adventurer, swindler, and “blackbirder” Bully Hayes. He married the daughter of the Nanmwarki [local chief] of the municipality of Madolenihmw. Two forum posts about John P. Eldridge on the website genealogy.com seek information about his parentage and life pre-Pohnpei. In one the writer states that he is the great-grandson of Lincoln, one of John’s two sons on Pohnpei, the other son being Fred. The other post mentions some possible leads to John’s pre-Pohnpei life, but substantiating them would be beyond the scope of this paper.
A report from the U.S. Secretary of State, relating to the Court of Commissioners of Alabama claims, published by the Government Printing Office in 1877, contains the following entry: “Mary Eldridge vs. The United States, No. 1254: This claim was brought by the mother and attorney in fact of John P. Eldridge, master of the bark Harvest, the latter being absent at sea. The Harvest, a whaling-vessel, was destroyed when sailing under Hawaiian colors. This petition and others, for loss sustained by seamen on this vessel, were dismissed” (p. 25). Evidently, at least one member of John’s Massachusetts family was seeking reparations on his behalf, even as he was building a new life on Pohnpei.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text. In addition, the following meticulously researched and highly documented online article was consulted for detailed information on the capture and sinking of the HARVEST and John’s involvement in this incident: Justin Vance, Anita Manning, and Jacob Otwell, “America’s Civil War in the Pacific: Effects of the CSS Shenandoah Incident at Pohnpei Island,” World History Connected, February 2018.<https://worldhistoryconnected.press.uillinois.edu/15.1/vance.html> (Accessed 19 Aug. 2025)
Maija M. Lutz
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
September 2025