SEA CAPTAINS OF WHIDBY ISLAND -- ISLAND COUNTY HISTORY The US GenWeb Archives provide genealogical and historical data to the general public without fee or charge of any kind. It is intended that this material not be used in a commercial manner. Text of the book "Sea Captains of Whidby Island". Submitted by Gail Bender February 14, 1998. Both above notices must remain when copied or downloaded. bender@kozi.com ______________________________________________________________________ SEA CAPTAINS OF WHIDBY ISLAND By Alice Kellogg Cahail Published 1901 Whidby Island became the permanent home of many famous sea captains. "Master Mariners" they were called. Captain Thomas Coupe, Captain Howard Bently Lovejoy, Captain Robert C. Fay, and probably others were pilots. Captain Howard Bently Lovejoy was the first pilot on Puget Sound. A ship would come down the straits to Port Townsend and cast anchor. This was the only port of entry on Puget Sound. There she waited for a pilot who was rowed out from shore to ship. This master mariner was familiar with all local waters. He was in command of the ship’s navigation until she berthed at her destination. The pilots were captains of extensive experience, particularly familiar with the inland waters of Puget Sound where navigation was almost impossible to the best of ocean masters, as it was necessary to know the local tide and wind conditions of each cove and inlet, no two being similar. In summer the west wind prevails in Penn’s Cove every afternoon. In the morning the east wind blows. Thus ships departed in the morning and arrived in the evening if possible. Occasionally the tide would make a difference. After the advent of the United States Geodetic Survey, the tide tables were published in book form. The first "Pacific Coast Pilot", including California, Oregon and Washington coast waters, was published in 1858. The first "Alaska Coast Pilot" (Dixon Entrance to Yakutat Bay) was published in 1869. Later "Alaska Pilots" covering other sections of the coast were published in 1879, 1883, 1891, and 1901. The first Pacific Coast tide table was issued in 1867 by the Coast and Geodetic Survey. This was a great benefit to Island boatmen as it was then possible to time all arrivals, departures and hazardous passage to the most expeditious stage of the tide. At Olympia, the tide is nearly two hours later than at Port Townsend. With the aid of the tide tables, calculations previously impossible could be made. "You must know that there is nothing higher and stronger and more wholesome and good for life than some good memory, especially a memory of childhood. People talk to you a great deal about your education, but some good, sacred memory, preserved from childhood, is perhaps the best education. If a man carries many such memories with him into life, he is safe to the end of his days, and if one has only one good memory left in one’s heart, even that may be the means of saving us." ** ** ** ***** ** ** ** Captain Simeon B. Kinney, master mariner, who sailed from Boston to London, was in the China and East Indies trade in command of a clipper passenger ship. He brought his ship around Cape Horn to San Francisco in 1849. Captain Kinney was the grandfather of Mrs. Julia Kinney Hancock and Mrs. Nell Lovejoy Watson. He was captain of the ship which brought Mr. Greenen and Mr. Thomas Cranney and other settlers to Whidby Island; and supplies with which to stock a Hudson Bay Trading Post store for Captain B. P. Barstow in 1854. The store was in a log cabin on "Barstow’s Point" where "Whid-Isle Inn" now stands. Mr. Thomas Cranney had the first store in Penn’s Cove. Captain Kinney took his daughter, Marie, with him on a trip around the world. Her diary relating her experiences is still preserved. She was entertained on many British and American warships. In China she met the missionary brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. He was holding meetings in a houseboat. A picture of Mrs. Stowe was conspicious on the wall. Miss Kinney sang and took part in the church services. After Captain Simeon B. Kinney gave up making voyages to foreign ports, he sailed between San Francisco and Puget Sound ports for many years. After that he was harbor master of San Francisco until his death. Captain Thomas Kinney was the father of Mrs. Julia Kinney Hancock, and brother of Mrs. Calista Lovejoy Leach. At the age of seven young Thomas was taken to sea on his father’s ship because it was thought that the lad would be better off with him than with his mother in Boston. At nineteen Thomas became mate for his father. When he became a master mariner he ran a ship between Boston and London. Later he was in the China trade. When he came to Puget Sound in 1853 he loaded spars at Snakelum Point for San Francisco. The docks there were built of spars from Puget Sound. After that voyage he sailed to Nova Scotia and became owner of a ship out of the Bay of Fundy, making many ocean voyages. He finally brought his family to Whidby Island to make their permanent home. Practically all of his life was spent on the ocean except when he lived on Whidby. Like other captains who settled on the Island, he was for many years actively engaged in the local freighting business with his sloop. Captain Howard Bently Lovejoy came to Whidby Island in 1853 with Captain Thomas Kinney as his mate. They loaded spars in Penn’s Cove for the first docks to be built in San Francisco. They also carried spars from Long Point and Snakelum Point on later voyages. The logging was done by the Indians and a few white men. On one voyage Captain Lovejoy took two Indian boys, sons of two Chiefs, to China to show them the Orient. One of the boys was ever afterwards called "China Johnnie." Later our Indian boys were given a trip to California by Captain Lovejoy. Chief Tom Squi Squi’s son was one of them. Chief Shelton still speaks of the Captains and their influence for good over the Indians. They were kind to them, always friends. Mrs. Lovejoy, especially, was held always in high esteem by the Indians. They constantly showed their devotion in many different ways and probably never understood her fear of them. During the "Potlatch" celebrations which lasted several days while the Indians made the welkin ring with their hideous, weird noises and loud beating of drums, Mrs. Lovejoy would gather up her ax and saw and other tools in the door yard and take them into the house, draw down the blinds, lock the doors and remain in terrified seclusion until the "Pow-Wow" was over. That those timid pioneer women were pledged to a life of effort and growth was shown by their presence on the Island. The promise of the future was with them! During the Indian War Mrs. Lovejoy took here children to the Alexander Blockhouse and slept with them there on the floor, going home in the morning. The Indians on Whidby were often excited but they were never violent. They never hurt anyone. In 1854 Captain Lovejoy and Captain Simeon B. Kinney were loading their vessels again for San Francisco. Calista Kinney, aged sixteen, had sailed with her father. They anchored at Skagit Head and allowed the Indians to go aboard. Miss Calista was evidenty the first white woman they had ever seen. They examined her minutely and discussed her eagerly among themselves. They gave her the Indian name "Kollis Tolla", meaning "good woman". To this day the Indians remember her. They still like to interview her daughter, Mrs. Nell Watson. While the ships were anchored at Long Point, Miss Calista visited in the Coupe home. She made the first short clothes for the baby, later Mrs. James Gillespie. While there she met Captain Howard Bently Lovejoy and he fell in love with her. When she returned to her father’s ship, Captain Lovejoy accompanied her. She wore a heavy silk doman and a drawn silk bonnet trimmed in roses underneath the brim. It was raining and the Captain placed his oil skin coat over her shoulders, and his seaman’s bandanna over her bonnet. That fall in San Francisco Captain Kinney told his daughters, who were living aboard his ship, that Captain Howard Lovejoy had sought his permission to pay his addresses to one of his daughters, that he had given his consent, but would not tell which one. They soon found out! Captain Kinney sailed away to China. Later Captain Lovejoy and Miss Calista Kinney were married on board the ship Calcedonia, January 5, 1855 and sailed for Sitka, Alaska. The ship’s cargo consisted of wheat, hides and tallow. The wheat was ground at Sitka and part of it taken back to San Francisco, along with furs, ice and salmon. Except for the German doctor at the fort, all were Russian. While Captain Lovejoy dined with the officers at the fort, his wife entertained herself with being paddled about the harbor by an Indian woman. They made a successful trip back to San Francisco with no charts to speak of and no light houses. The early captains faced the unknown--they came not knowing. That fall, when Captain Lovejoy returned to Sitka, the officers of the fort sent his first baby, Emma Lovejoy, an ermine cape and muff. The muff is still owned by her daughter, Mrs. Ethel McMillan. Later Captain Lovejoy settled his family on Whidby Island at Lovejoy’s Point. U.S. Grant signed deeds for homesteads and donation claims for Captain Lovejoy, John Alexander and Captain Thomas Coupe. The Coupe family were wonderfully good friends of young Mrs. Lovejoy. When she was afraid of the Indians, she would go to the Coupe home. Mrs. Coupe always reassured her by saying that the Indians would not harm her. Captain Lovejoy was with the Hudson Bay Company on Whidby Island. Offered a position as captain of a ferry boat between San Francisco and Oakland, Captain Lovejoy refused saying that was too tame a life for him. Through the years when he was away from home on long voyages, the eighteen-year-old son of Chief Squi Squi was among the ‘friendly Indians’ who looked after the welfare of Mrs. Lovejoy. He slept on the floor inside the kitchen door. When marauding Indians prowled about the premises he would tell them that they must go away because this was the daughter of Captain Kinney. Often after dark the Indians would insist that the baby (Howard) be brought to the window that they might see a white baby. Mrs. Lovejoy was always fearful of the Indians but was never molested by them. At that time a thousand Indians lived where Coupeville now stands. They were constantly passing the door. Captain Lovejoy died at Coupeville in 1872 in his early forties leaving his young wife with six small children in their pioneer home. His achievements make one grieve over the untimely death of a man who had still so much to give. At this time Captain Coupe was like a father to Mrs. Lovejoy. The well known Dr. D. I. Minor of Seattle paid great tribute to the memory of Captain Lovejoy. When Dr. Minor came as a youth to Port Townsend in the early days, he was befriended by Captain Lovejoy who took great care to see that the young doctor met the right people and was warned against the pitfalls of life in those days. Dr. Minor was associated with Dr. George Calhoun in the Marine Hospital at Port Townsend for many years. Long after the death of Captain Lovejoy, Dr. Minor learned that his daughter, Nell, was suffering with typhoid fever in her home at Coupeville. He immediately crossed the Sound in a small skiff and cared for Nell until she was out of danger. Most of the captains of this narrative hailed from New England, home of ships and deep-water captains, but Captain Thomas Coupe was born on the Isle of Man in 1818. He married Marie White at Boston in 1840. In 1849, he came West via the Straits of Magellan. He settled with his family on Whidby Island in 1853, telling his wife that if she would remain he would give up the sea. In 1854 he built the second frame house on the Island. The boards were planed by hand and had been brought from San Francisco. It is now the home of Edward Bruce and his family. Mr. Bruce is the grandson of Mr. and Mrs. John Gould. Captain Coupe sailed lumber schooners between San Francisco and Puget Sound for a number of years. He was pilot of the Revenue Cutter Jeff Davis, later owned by Thomas Cranney. Captain Coupe operated a ferry route between Whidby Island and Port Townsend. He build three sloops, the "Mary Ellen", the "Keturah", named for his daughter, Mrs. Trudie Gillespie, and the "Marie". He never permitted any other than Captain Howard B. Lovejoy to pilot them. Captain Coupe is remembered as the only captain who ever sailed a full rigged ship through Deception Pass. The town of Coupeville was named for Captain Coupe. He made two trips to France in the years 1855 and 1856, carrying spars for the French government. His claim filed, November 20, 1852 became the present site of Coupeville. John Alexander had died December 9, 1857. A casket was hollowed out of a cedar log by his son and some Indian friends. Captain Coupe presented his black broadcloth cape as a cover for the casket. Can you feel the spirit enshrining it all! Burial was made at the foot of a large cross erected by Father Blanchette in 1840. In 1873 Captain Coupe donated an acre of land in Coupeville and a church was built there. The following is a newspaper clipping from an early day story about the Coupes, Captain Thomas Coupe and his son Captain George W. Coupe: "Coupeville is one of the quaint and historic settlements on Whidby Island. It was named in honor of Capt. Thomas Coupe, the pioneer master mariner; father of Capt. George M. Coupe, who has been a steamboat man on Puget Sound and Pacific waters for more than fifty years. "Capt. Thomas Coupe was born in Sydney, a seaport town on Cape Breton Island, Canada. He came to the United States when he was twelve years of age. He was married to Maria White, a native of Bath, Me. The captain sailed deep sea craft from New York and in 1852, he sailed the schooner Rochester through the Strait of Magellan and on to San Francisco. There he bought an interest in the bark Success and continued her traffic to Puget Sound for piles with which the wharves of San Francisco were being built. He took the first square rigger through the dangerous Deception Pass. It was his bark Success. At Penn’s Cove he not only got a cargo of piles but he also took up a claim of 320 acres, on the northwest corner of which grew the town which still bears his name. When he had taken up his claim he sent East for his family. His wife and four children: Sarah E., William T., Maria J., and George M. Coupe, came around Cape Horn in 1853 in the clipper ship Thomas Church, Capt. Martin. Capt.Coupe met his family at San Francisco and took them to the new home, on Whidby Island. In 1854, he gave up command of the bark Success and accepted command of the top-sail schooner Jefferson Davis, the first United States revenue ‘cruiser’ on Puget Sound. "George M. Coupe was born in New York City on May 30, 1849. His recollections of Puget Sound, therefore, date back to the tender age of four. That boyhood on the Whidby Island farm had one big memorable excitement on August 11, 1857, when Col. I. N. Ebey was murdered by the Northern Indians who cut off his head and carried it away as a trophy. It was revenge for the loss of a tyee, or chief, in a battle the previous year. George, a lad of eight, attended the funeral with his father. The two homes were less than three miles apart. "One other boyhood memory of Indians had a curious sequel. When his mother was cooking breakfast the Indians gathered around the stove so thick that she asked Major Van Brockelen (then working on the farm), to drive them out. The Indians were indignant and, when outside, one of them pointed a gun at the door. Instantly Van Brockelen grabbed him by his abundant hair and hurled him over a fifteen-foot bank. The Indian died about twenty years later and his relatives claimed that death was the result of the "fall" over the bank. "In 1868, Capt. Thomas Coupe launched the little steamer Success, and his son, George, became a deckhand on her, this beginning his long career as a steamboat man. His memories of the last half century would fill a good sized volume. The Success first plied between Port Townsend and Ebey’s Landing on Whidby Island. The fare was $1 each way. Fares were all high on Puget Sound; $20 being the rate from Victoria to Olympia. "At nineteen, he went to work in the machine shop of the Utsaladdy mill, and later shipped on the tug Favorite. This boat took Puget Sound’s first foghorn equipment to Tatoosh. The bricks and cement were landed in canoes. The boiler for the foghorn was easiest of all to land. They just plugged up the tubes, threw the boiler overboard and towed it ashore. "The first United States mail between Seattle and Bellingham bay was carried in a rowboat. Capt. Jack Cosgrove was master of the oars and he made the trip once a week. Later he commanded the sidewheeler Mary Woodruff, the first steamer to make the inside passage run from Seattle to Bellingham bay. He was kind to the Coupe boy and never charged him for fares or meals, and the meals were great, too. "Coupe worked on many boats around the Sound, and when the Alaska gold rush was on, he was in that run also. He was purser of the steamship Oregon, and remembers that she earned $94,000 on her first voyage to Nome. The fares ranged from $75 to $125. Freight was $40 a ton, $5 each for dogs, $10 a head for sheep and $30 and $40 a head for horses and cattle. "Capt. Coupe’s last work was on the steamer Tourist. He saw Seattle grow from a village to its present size. "On August 18, 1887, he was married to Mary S. Moore, the daughter of pioneer parents "E. B. and J. C. Moore." Captain Robert C. Fay, pilot, was born in Cuttingsville, Vermont, in 1820. In 1845 he sailed as Mate on the ship "Harvest" with Captain Coffin, master. They sailed out of Tarpaulin Cove, February 18, 1845, bound on a whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean for a full cargo of sperm oil. This proved to be a voyage of three and one-half years. (The original log books as kept by Captain Fay are still preserved.) January 1st, 1846, found them still in quest of whale in the neightborhood of the French Rock. They registered at Pitcairn Island. In April 1848, they were homeward bound. On Wednesday, July 5th, 1848, at 11 a.m. they came to anchor back in Nantucket Bay. The next record says that Captain Fay was in San Francisco in 1849, and sailed from there with Captain Isaiah Folger as Master on the schooner "Exact" which landed the first settlers at Alki Point, November 13, 1851. From that time on Captain Fay remained on Puget Sound taking an active interest in the arrival of all newcomers. We find his name mentioned many times in old records where he helped different families in building their homes and did much to avert serious trouble among the Indians during the uprising of various tribes in 1855-1856. There are papers preserved recording his experiences with the Indians. He issued them rations daily. He was successful in combating the problem of those few white men who dealt in the liquor traffic, fatal to the keeping of peace among the Redmen and the Whites. He was appointed Government Indian Agent for the Puget Sound Country. Colonel Simmons, in charge of Treaty Affairs, designated Captain Fay as agent to assemble the chiefs of the tribes to hold a conference. (The original records of these meetings with reports made by Captain Fay and speeches made by the Chiefs are still preserved). On September 12, 1860, Captain Fay married the widow of John Alexander and spent the remainder of his life in Coupeville. He died February 25, 1872. Letters written to Captain Fay by his sister at the beginning of war talk between the North and South are still preserved in the possession of Ida Alexander Sill. "Robert, we do wish you would come home. We can forsee much trouble and need your gracious presence. It is so hard for us all to understand why a man of your education, ability and family pride should insist on still remaining out in a country inhabited only by savages and those people who are content to give up everything they had here to reside in huts, without schools, churches, or the social life a member of the Fay family should enjoy. "Have you no explanation to offer? Your conduct in this matter is indeed a problem which we do not discuss other that between muself and our brother Winslow." This verifies the general idea that people in the East had of our great western country and of the pioneers who came and remained to make it famous. Captain Fay was County Superintendent of Schools in 1862. Captain Henry Swift was born in 1816 and died in May 1892. At fourteen, he left his home in Fairhaven, Mass., to go to sea as cabin boy. He served on whaling ships until at twenty-one, he became master of sailing vessels out of New Bedford, Mass. During the years he was captain of the following vessels: the "George", the "Formosa" and the bark "Anadir" sailing to the Artic ocean. In 1855-1857, he made two voyages to France with the Anadir. Captain Swift sailed for the firm of Swift and Perry of New Berford, Mass. This was the first cargo of spars to be shipped to a foreign port from Puget Sound. The spars were loaded at Utsalady on Camano Island. They were consigned to the French government. Captain Swift sailed December 1st, 1855 for Falmouth, England, thence to Brest, France. In 1857 he made a second voyage. Captain Swift chose Whidby Island for his permanent home when he retired in 1863. He was part owner of all the ships he had commanded. He had purchased the farm on Penn’s Cove in 1857, paying $3,000 in gold for it. A log house had been built there in 1852 by a Mr. Smith who had originally taken the claim. In 1870, Captain Swift was in command of the bark "Aia" which took a cargo of lumber to the Sandwich Islands. From 1878 to 1880 he was Pilot Commissioner for Washington Territory. He was elected to the Territorial Legislature in 1869. Captain Jonathon P. Adams was born in Boothbay, Maine, April 26, 1830. His father, Captain John Adams, was master of a sailing ship bound for England, France and Spain. The son always sailed with his father during summer vacations while attending the Academy. When gold was discovered in California, Jonathon was offered a berth as mate of a sailing ship. He left school and sailing arond Cape Horn, arrived in California in 1849. He spent two years there in the mines. In 1852, he came north attracted by the Fraser River gold strike. This did not prove very profitable. After spending some time at Steilacoom, he settled in Olympia, going into the hotel business there. Later he sold out and purchased a freight vessel called the "Liteschi". He next purchased the "Mary Parker", a schooner, and carried freight including iron ore, cattle, hay and grain to all ports on Puget Sound and Vancouver Island. With the coming of the steam freight carriers, Captain Adams sold his schooner and retired to his home in Port Townsend. He passed away July 29, 1902 at Oak Harbor. The freight or Sound packet displaced the schooners which were owned and operated locally. With the coming of the ocean steam schooners, the sea-going sailing ships gradually disappeared. The steam schooners had great capacity and were more regular in their schedules and the big shippers preferred their service. They proved more satisfactory than the sailing vessels which were of necessity more uncertain as to their schedules. Thus in a very few years sailing vessels disappeared almost entirely from world commerce. The last sailing ships built on Puget Sound came from Hall’s Shipyard at Port Blakely in about 1900. A story of Captain Adams and others as related by Mrs. Nell Lovejoy Watson: In the early days Charles F.Dyer was a keeper at the Smith’s Island Light House. His wife, Emma Lovejoy Dyer and two daughters, Gertie and Ethel, with Mrs. Calista Lovejoy Leach and her three young children, Nell Ed and Ben, had gone to Smith’s Island to spend the day. When the time came for them to start homeward, they set sail with Mr. Dyer for the Whidby Island shore. A strong wind was blowing. It soon roughened the Straits to such an extent that the Lighthouse lifeboat in which they were riding was nearly swamped. Captain Jonathan Adams from his sailing vessel sighted the small boat in distress, made a tack to approach them, while Mr. Dyer pulled with all his might. Once alongside the vessel all were taken on board, their wet clothing removed, warm blankets furnished to wrap them in, and hot drinks were given to all the party. Then they were put to bed. Captain Adams made his way into Port Townsend. For a time it was feared that Mrs. Dyer would not survive the shock, but able assistance had arrived in time and the Lovejoy and Dyer families were eternally grateful to Captain Adams. Captain Edward Barrington was born in England in 1830. He died in 1883. His childhood was spent in Nova Scotia. He went to sea when fifteen years old. In 1848 he joined the gold rush to California. He ran a water boat between Sausalito and San Francisco. He came to Puget Sound in 1852. With Charles Phillips, Captain Barrington carried the mail between Bellingham Bay and Olympia in an Indian canoe. In 1854 the two men purchased the schooner "Eclipse" and carried on a freighting business between Olympia, Victoria and Puget Sound Ports. At the same time they owned a store at Oak Harbor. In 1858 they built the famous schooner, the "Growler" which replaced the "Eclipse". The "Growler" proved very profitable long after steam boats began to appear. When Mary Nesbit and Mr. Bruce were married, Alice and Albert Kellogg rode horseback from Smith’s Prairie to Crescent Harbor, a distance of twenty miles, to attend the wedding at the Nesbit home. Everyone in the neighborhood attended. After the marriage service was performed, Captain "Eddie" Barrington rushed up and was the first to kiss the bride, much to the amusement of the young people. That evening a lavish dinner was served at the home of Mr. Bruce. A dance followed. The guests who had some distance to go in returning home, stayed the second night at the Nesbit home, and then rode away the next morning. Captain J. W. Clapp is remembered as our oldest living pioneer sea captain. He now resides at Coupeville with his wife, Mollie Cranney Clapp. In the words of the late Professor Edmond S. Meany, regarding living pioneers: "Fortunately we have a number of the old pioneers still living among us. How much more wholesome it is that we extend to them the flowers of our appreciation while the handclasp of friendship is still possible." Writing of the efforts made to preserve pioneer history, Professor Meany said: "This work is important enough to merit the approval and the help of everyone who can contribute a photograph or fact." Captain Clapp was born in Scituate, Mass., in 1843. He made various voyages around the world. The ships he commanded were: "Charmer", "Atalana", "Jabey Howes", "General Buster". On one voyage while sailing in the south Pacific ocean, Captain Clapp picked up a cask of brandy adrift at sea. It was covered with barnacles. In hoisting it aboard it struck the side of the ship and sprung a leak. On his arrival at Melbourne, he sold the remaining contents at a very fancy price, owing to its wonderful aging. This cask had probably drifted for years and the rocking action of the cask had had an extremely refining effect upon the brandy. Captain George W. Morse--When the Deception Pass bridge was completed, a dream cherished by Captain Morse for fifty years, was realized. In the early days, as he drifted through the Pass in his sailing vessel, he would tell his children that the tiny island therein had been placed there to be used as a pier for the bridge which would surely be built. No one gave much thought to the dreams of the far-sighted sea captain who had called at every great port in the world. In 1839 he sailed with his father to Wales and brought back rails for the first railroad built in the state of Maine. In 1851 Captain Morse was in command of a ship that brought the first rails to Canada. They were used in the construction of the Atlantic and St. Lawrence Railway. While State Representative in 1907, Captain Morse introduced the first bill calling for the erection of the Deception Pass Bridge. The following year he obtained an appropriation of $20,000 for its approaches. A miniature of the proposed bridge was on display at the Alaska-Yukon Exposition in 1909. A nephew of Captain Morse, Joseph M. Snow, State Highway Commissioner, assisted in making the survey and blue prints. Some of the old field notes were used in the present survey. In spite of the interest shown in the project, the bill was defeated, the money used for other purposes and the plan abandoned, to the bitter disappointment of Captain Morse. Not until recent years was his dream of a Deception Pass Bridge revived. How proud he would have been to have lived to celebrate the realization of that dream, at the dedication of the bridge. This bridge and the Lake Union Canal are the two outstanding engineering achievements on Puget Sound. The following account of the life of Captain Morse was published some years ago by Professor Edmond S. Meany, beloved historian of the Northwest, while Captain Morse was still living: "Capt. George W. Morse was a rugged figure among the pioneers of Whidby Island. He had a varied and widely extended experience. Always and everywhere he has been esteemed as a man of serious purpose and of absolute integrity of character. "He was born at Brunswick, Me., on April 22, 1830, the son of Anthony and Hannah (Montfort) Morse. The family was of old New England stock, the grandfather serving in the revolutionary army. The father was a shipbuilder and in his yard the son learned his trade. At 20 years of age, he shipped as a carpenter on a voyage around Cape Horn to San Francisco, arriving there in August, 1850. The voyage was continued to Australia, to London and back home in Maine. "Of all he had seen on the voyage around the world, California appealed to him most, and in October, 1851, he passed once more through the Golden Gate, having come from Maine by way of Nicaragua. He at once went to Eldorado county and dug enough out of the mines to acquire a good-sized pack train. With this he freighted into the mining camps until 1858, when he started for the fresher mines in the Fraser river region. Returning to winter on the Nooksack river in Washington territory, he accepted an opportunity to sell his pack train to the boundary commission, then at work tracing the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude. "He then slipped back to his old trade by helping to build the schooner General Harney at Bellingham and also the schooner Growler at Oak Harbor on Whidby Island. In 1861 he was appointed sub Indian agent under Samuel D. Howe, stationed first at La Conner and later at Tulalip. At the last place he built the school buildings under the supervision of the late E. C. Ferguson. The school there was conducted by Father Chirouse. "For several years he was owner and master of the schooner Granger, freighting to Puget Sound and British Columbia ports and making an occasional voyage to Alaska. In the meantime he had taken up a farm near Oak Harbor and that became his permanent home. He was county commissioner when the territory became a state and at the same time he was elected to the first state legislature. He was re-elected in 1890, and again in 1896 and in 1908. Four terms the captain had served in that important office. "He was married in 1866 to Mrs. Mary O’ Leary, who had three children by a former marriage. To the home of Capt. Morse there came five children, all of whom are living. For the last half dozen years the captain remained at his home except for journeys to his Masonic lodge at Coupeville or to visit his daughters at Mount Vernon and Vancouver, B. C." Captain Eli Hathaway--The narrative of Samuel Hancock, on page 200, contains an account of Captain Eli Hathaway, Sheriff of Island County for many years. Mr. Hancock in 1860 had a trading post at Neah Bay. He and a Mr. Powell, with whom he was associated in business, were taken prisoners by hostile Indians north of Neah Bay. The Indians took them to Clyoquot Bay where they saw the American schooner "Damis Cove" in command of Captain Eli Hathaway, who was on a trading expedition with the natives. Besides being well-acquainted with the Indians there, Captain Hathaway had on board a young chief among the Cape Flattery Indians. As soon as Captain Hathaway learned that Samuel Hancock was a prisoner, he raised a party of five Clyoquot chiefs to go with him to his rescue. Next morning the prisoners were sent for with their four Indian guards to appear before the chief. They thought they were about to receive sentence of death. They were escorted to the presence of the chief by the guards as if they were two criminals on their way to the scaffold. To the surprise of Mr. Hancock he recognized the party that had left Clyoquot Bay for their relief. He shook hands with all of them. The meeting with the young chief who had lived with him was like the meeting of brothers. They said that they had come for Mr. Hancock and proposed to start at once. After they had launched their canoe for starting, old Aheosite, the chief whose prisoners they were, ordered his men to rally with their knives and recapture Mr. Hancock and Mr. Powell. The canoe was some distance from shore when about three hundred and fifty Indians on the beach began a hideous yelling and began to brandish their knives. Some of them ran out into the water and caught hold of the canoe and pulled it on shore again. They made no resistance but depended upon the help of their Clyoquot friends. As soon as the canoe touched the shore, both men were led back toward the house where they had been held prisoners. Mr. Hancock commenced to sing an Indian song, interspersed with words that those Indians understood to the purport "that he was just going away to visit his friends and was coming back again." They seemed pleased with the song and halted to let him continue his singing which he found had a tendency to produce a little better feeling towards them. They were shown into the place they were to occupy and were given roots and dried salmon for their supper, and each a blanket to sleep on. Mr. Hancock talked with the guards and led them to believe that he and Mr. Powell were pleased with their situation. Finally all the Indians who had been looking on left and the guard fell asleep. Escape could have been possible but fearing those outside they did not attempt it, and were soon both asleep. In the night, Mr. Hancock was aroused by hearing an Indian whispering, telling him not to be alarmed for he was his old friend, the Cape Flattery chief who had come to rescue him. He said that he and the chiefs who had come with him were going to return to their people and would be back in three days with warriors to rescue them. That when they commenced their attack Mr. Hancock and Mr. Powell were to run to the chief for protection. He stole away without being observed. To make a long story short, they persuaded the old chief Aheosite to take them as far as Clyoquot Bay where they headed for the schooner in a canoe large enough to carry one hundred people. They were surrounded by the whole tribe to witness their departure, but the canoe was finally pulled back to shore. After many unsusccessful attempts to reach the schooner, they finally found themselves on board the "Damis Cove", where the rest of their party were being hospitably entertained by Captain Hathaway who took them all back to Neah Bay. Captain Richard Blackburn (see footnote) Holbrook--Captain Gideon Holbrook, father of Richard, was a sea captain. He lost a ship in the war of 1812. He inherited from an uncle the old house built in 1690, six miles from Plymouth in Manomet. It is still owned by his descendants. Captain Richard Holbrook was born there August 7, 1821. He died at Coupeville in 1893. At the age of thirteen he went to the Grand Banks with a fishing fleet. He made two voyages of five years each on a whaling ship, sailing practically around the world. He rounded the Cape of Good Hope and Cape Horn. He visited China before foreigners were welcome there. He spoke in high praise of the Chinese. On one occasion Captain Holbrook’s ship was not allowed to land in Japan to get a supply of water. Finally the water and the gift of a sack of rice were passed to them in the ship’s boat. Off the coast of Kamchatka Peninsula, Captain Holbrook and his crew were reduced to starvation. Four of the crew died. When the ship made Honolulu, first officer Richard Holbrook was the only man aboard able to stand at the wheel. Their distress signal brought twenty ships to their aid. They were helped ashore in a deplorable condition. The officers were entertained by King Kamaamah and Queen Emma. Captain Holbrook always spoke highly of Queen Emma. As first mate on a voyage to the South Seas Captain Holbrook had an adventure with cannibals. In the very light breeze which was blowing that day, while sailing slowly in the vicinity of a cannibal island with Captain Holbrook at the wheel, a fleet of hostile cannibals was seen approaching. Immediately the crew was ordered below to secure arms. In their absence the savages boarded the vessel and ordered Captain Holbrook to run the ship ashore. As he turned the vessel shoreward, he felt that his time had surely come, but when the armed crew appeared, the natives fled in wild disorder over the rail of the vessel to their boats. In 1849, Captain Holbrook gave up the ship which had been fitted out for him in New Bedord, Massachusetts and followed the crowd of California gold seekers to San Francisco. He had saved $1,000 but did not care to invest it in land where the city of San Francisco now stands. He purchased a sloop and sailed down the coast as far south as Monterey and took produce to help feed the hungry hordes crowding into San Francisco and the mines. On the Farralone Islands off the coast of San Francisco, Captain Holbrook gathered great quantities of gulls’ eggs for which he found a ready market. In 1851 Captain Holbrook sailed from San Francisco to the forests where Portland now stands. He returned with spars for the construction of docks. In February of that year he sailed from San Francisco to Port Townsend. There he and Captain Eli Hathaway bought a ship’s boat and sailed around Whidby Island into Penn’s Cove. They landed on the northwest bank where the home of Judge Still is now situated, on March 17, 1852. Captain Holbrook homesteaded 160 acres on part of which San de Fuca now stands. Later Captain Holbrook and Captain Hathaway opened a trading post on the mainland across from the southern point of Lummi Island. After investing $1,300 apiece, they each had $200 in cash. There is an interesting list of the goods carried. One item was a broadcloth dress suit! Early one morning they saw great canoe loads of Northern Indians landing. The two men fled into the forest without hats or coats. Captain Holbrook had his $200 in his pockets, but Captain Hathaway had to leave his behind. They became separated and Captain Holbrook made his way to Bellingham Bay to the home of Captain Roeder who in later years told Horace Holbrook of his father’s sad plight with his clothes torn to shreds, weary and hungry. A posse found Captain Hathaway in an equally sad condition. Their trading post was in smouldering ashes. After this Captain Holbrook worked in the woods getting out spars with a gang of Indians. He set up and handled rigging and tackle, learned in his seafaring days. Later Captain Holbrook proved up on his claim and farmed. He served two terms in the Territorial Legislature, and was instrumental in establishing a mail route between Olympia and Bellingham Bay. In the 70’s, he refused to accept the office of Treasurer of the Territory. In earlier days when Treasurer of Island County, he had kept the county funds in a sugar bowl in the dish cupboard of his log cabin house. His wife said it had worried him so much that he was unwilling to take another similar responsibility. Captain Holbrook was always a kind neighbor, even as his son Horace is loved and respected today, by his friends and neighbors, for as they say: "He has been so good to all of us and we love him." Captain Holbrook was especially thoughtful of those who were widowed and left with young children in those first years. When a new family arrived on the Island, Captain Holbrook would saddle his pinto pony and ride off to see them and offer any needed assistance. Captain Holbrook married Harriet Low in Olympia in 1860. Footnote: This name is Blackmer, according to the Holbrook family.