No information could be found about John as a person. None of the online genealogical search sites showed anyone by that name except one man born in 1881 in Holland. Online newspaper search sites likewise failed to provide any reliable connection to John. There is no record of John on New London Crew Lists or having received a Seaman’s Protection Certificate. Absent other information being discovered, John will remain a mystery.
John appears in AOWV only as a replacement master on one voyage on one ship. New London was its home port.
CATHARINE (AS1054): (ship, 384 tons, length 107’, built in Rochester MA in 1831, burned on June 26, 1865 by SHENANDOAH in the Bering Strait, the crew taken aboard GENERAL PIKE (AS0235)). It sailed on September 1, 1845 for the Indian and NW Coast, returned on April 29, 1848. Thomas Fitch II was the agent. AV02462.
CATHARINE sailed from New London with Richard S. Smith (AM4542) as master. Dennis Wood Abstract 2-149 describes the circumstances of John becoming replacement master. “At Hobart Town [Tasmania] January 26, 1846 clear Capt. on shore in the hospital sick would probably sail in a few days” and a few lines later “Sailed from [Honolulu] April 14, [1847] for the NW coast in charge of the master. Capt. Smith remained on shore sick.”
Mystic Seaport Museum holds a journal of the 1845-1848 voyage kept by one Byron Malcom, presumably a crew member. It records “Capin[sic] broke write [sic] leg between the boat and ship” (4/16/1846). The journal confirms Richard’s illness: “Lay in port yet the Captin [sic] has been to the hospital [sic] most of the time we have been here.” It adds a provocative sentence (2/13/1848, two months before the ship returned to New London): “Forward hands refused to cruse [sic] on the account of the provisions not being suitable and a writing from Captain Smith stating that the ship was bound directly for New London when the cruse [sic] was up in New Zealand.” The journal does not mention John’s presence on board as a relief master, and the absence of a date of the “writing from Captain Smith” raises a question whether and when John took over as replacement master. A possible conclusion, based on the abstract, is that Richard recovered enough from his illness (after effects of broken leg?) in Tasmania to continue the voyage until the visit to Honolulu 15 months later. At that time, he transferred command to John who presumably remained master until the ship returned to New London.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
February 2025