James was born in Sag Harbor NY in 1795. His parents were Joseph (1767 – ?) and Prudence (Stuart) (1766-1857). James married Emma Harris in Sag Harbor in April 1820. She was born about 1802. Find A Grave lists several children (nformation not otherwise verified): Lucretia (1823-9/9/1825), Harriet (died in 1832 at age 5), James (died on October 9, 1828 at age six months), Mary (died on November 9, 1839 at age one year), Anna (9/1840-11/15/1909), and Sarah (? – died in 1840). Anna and possibly Sarah were the only children to survive into adulthood. The census reports for Southampton NY (1850) and Sag Harbor (1860, 1870, and 1880) record the occupation of James as “stevedore”, “shipmaster”, “laborer”, and “father” respectively. The only child recorded in any of the census reports is Anna, age 9 in 1850 and age 20 in 1860, apparently confirming the earlier deaths of the other children.
Emma died on September 29, 1856 at age 54. James died on September 18, 1884 at age 89. They have adjacent gravestones in Oakland Cemetery in Sag Harbor, each stone listing the date of death and age. James’s stone shows him as “Veteran 1812”. Sag Harbor’s The Correcter (9/20/1884) reports “Capt. James Fordham, the oldest male resident of Sag Harbor….was always a resident of Sag Harbor, and in his early days made several whaling voyages. He was at one time master of a New London ship. He was a pensioner of the war of 1812”. Other obituaries (both on 9/27/1884) add information about his life as a whaler: “for many years a well-known commander of the New Bedford whaling fleet” (The New York Times) and “He spent much of his earlier life in whaling” (New York Herald).
James was issued Citizenship Affidavit of U.S.-born Seaman #299 on July 29, no year given. He was then age 21, so it was probably issued in approximately 1816.
James served as master on three voyages on two ships with New London as home port:
MANCHESTER PACKET (AS1834): (ship, 237 tons, length 87 ft., built in New York NY in 1806, wrecked and condemned in Gambia in 1834). PACKET sailed in June or July 1829 for the So. Atlantic and returned on June 13,1830. It sailed again in July 1830 for the So. Seas and returned on June 12,1831. AV08808 and AV08809 respectively.
James also served as master of FRANKLIN (AS1409, home port Sag Harbor) for its 1831 voyage. AOWV shows two 1831 voyages, one with James as master, the other with Nathaniel Fordham (AM1994) as master. Starbuck does not show any 1831 voyage of FRANKLIN.
New London Crew Lists shows James on the crew list for an 1828 voyage of MANCHESTER PACKET. However, AOWV does not show a voyage of PACKET prior to its 1829-1830 voyage, the first one James commanded.
As noted above, The New York Times obituary referred to James sailing with ships of the New Bedford fleet. AOWV does not show James sailing on any ship with a New Bedford connection.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
October 2025