Information about James is sparse. He was born on June 25, 1817, location not known. He was the son of John Howard 2d and Polly Newberry Howard. No record could be found of any marriage or any children. He died on November 2 (his gravestone) or November 15 (other records) 1850 in California. An obelisk in Cedar Grove Cemetery in New London memorializes his death: “Capt. James M. Howard, Died in California Nov. 2. 1850. Aged 33 years”. He shares the obelisk with his sister Nancy who married Edward Hobron (AM2622).
James served as a member of the crew for four voyages on four ships, all with New London as home port: GEORGIA (AS1468) for its 1833-1835 voyage, STONINGTON (AS2437) for its 1837-1839 voyage, BOSTON (AS0999) for its 1841-1845 voyage, and MENTOR (AS1923) for its 1843-1845 voyage.
With this experience, James served as master for two voyages of one ship, home port New London:
FRIENDS (AS1418): (ship, 403 tons, length 109 ft., built in Portsmouth VA in 1811, surrendered on September 1, 1859 and broken up later that year). Shesailed on June 18, 1845 for the Pacific and NW coast and returned on May 2, 1847. She sailed again on July 2, 1847 for the Pacific and returned on May 7, 1850. Dennis Wood Abstract 2-238 (covering both voyages) shows that she off-loaded sperm oil in Fayal about August 29, 1847. The next entry reads: “[Edward] Hobron master sailed from Rio Nov. 4”. Mystic Seaport Museum holds the logbook for both voyages. Benjamin F. Brown was the agent for the 1845 voyage, and Benjamin F. Brown Sons was the agent for the 1847 voyage.AV05322 and AV05323.
The arrival of FRIENDS in Fayal Azores gave James an opportunity to turn the command over to Edward, his brother in law. What happened between then and his death in California three years later will remain a mystery absent further information.
Interestingly, Decker shows James Hobron, not James Howard, as the master for both voyages of FRIENDS. Was using brother in law’s last name a hurried mistake on Decker’s part or did he have information others did not have?
Sources used: see sidebar and sources cited in text.
George Shaw
American Institute for Maritime Studies
Mystic Seaport Museum
April 2026