The information about Alexander is scant at best and the sources limited. New London Crew Lists show on the crew list for each voyage the crew member’s age and place of birth as of the date of the list, typically a few days before sailing. Extrapolating from that information, Alexander was born between 1817 and 1819 and in St. Bartholomew (Saint Barthélemy?) or the West Indies, which term could include Saint Barthélemy. A fourth quarter of 1848 Key West FL arriving passenger list records “Hart, Alexander, Capt.” (age 28, ‘mariner’) and Margaret Hart (age 21) (his wife?) arriving from the Bahamas. The Connecticut Hale Collection of Newspaper Notices (11/30/1850) records “Hart, Alexander Capt. Of New London, on the Mercede River” dying on September 27, 1850 at age 30. The last two entries expand the range of his date of birth to 1820. No other sources about him could be found.
Alexander served as master on two voyages on one ship, home port New London:
SUPERIOR (AS2448): (ship, 406 tons, length 108 ft., built in Philadelphia PA in 1808, lost on July 11, 1852 in the Anadir [Anadyr] Sea (coast of Russia near Bering St.). SUPERIOR sailed on September 28, 1842 to the Pacific and returned on June 21, 1844. After less than three months in port, it sailed again (September 10) for the Indian and NW oceans, returning on November 12, 1847. Dennis Wood Abstract 1-475 and 2-617 respectively, N. & W.W. Billings was the agent for both voyages. AV13558 and AV13559.
Alexander served the member of the crew on four voyages on four ships, three before becoming a master and one thereafter: FRIEND (AS1418) for its 1830-1834 voyage (crew list showing Alexander as age 13), PHOENIX (AS2188) for its 1834-1837 voyage, JULIUS CAESAR (AS1737) for its abbreviated 1837 voyage, and BROOKLINE (AS1011) for its 1848-1851 voyage (the crew list shows him as “naturalized”).
According to the Hale Collection report, Alexander died on November 27, 1850 at a time BROOKLINE was at sea in the Pacific. Did he die on board? Wood Abstract 2-051 makes no mention the death of a crew member. The Collection report refers to him being “of New London” and “on the Mercede River”. Was Mercede River a ship? No record could be found of a ship by that name, nor could a river of that name be found.
The arriving passenger list shows him arriving in Key West from the Bahamas in the fourth quarter of 1848 (before September). BROOKLINE sailed from New London in July 1848. The dates don’t square.
The dates above show Alexander mostly at sea after his first voyage starting in 1830 at age 13 with exception of an unexplained gap of about five years between CAESAR’s return and BROOKLINE’s departure.
The available sources leave many unanswered questions and mysteries about Alexander.
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
January 2026