More to come....Oct. 21, 2004
a Toulengeter with wide horizons.....
abt.1850-1922...A Twillingate to VANCOUVER's Island?? to New England,
"timeline" sorted by lghr
1922...A lengthy article in the Evening Telegram of the 4th inst.
gives
another bit of history of the late Capt. Solomon JACOBS.
This was copied from the ‘Sunday Leader’ and we give
some
interesting facts contained therein. They are as follows: “Capt.
JACOBS who died at his home in Gloucester,
Mass., on February 7th
last, was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland, his parents being
Simon and Mary Anna (ROBERTS)
JACOBS.
abt. 1867...He early showed a disposition to follow the sea and at
the
age of 17 went across to England as one of the crew of a ship.
abt. 1868??...At 18 he came to New York in the ship Gen Berry
of
Thomston, having shipped in England. He went back in the “Western
Hemisphere’ the biggest ship in the
country at the time. Soon he
was Second Mate of the ship "J. S. Winslow", which sailed out of
Portland.” “In
the schooner Sabine he stocked $18,000, in the
"Moses Adams" his average was $14,000.
1875...Capt. JACOBS was twice married, his first wife, whom he
married
on Feb. 25, 1875, being Miss Elizabeth L. McCABE of
Halifax, who lived but a short time,
1877....and Nov. 1, 1877, he married Miss Sarah M. McQUARRIE, who
survives
him.”
1878-1882...In the next vessel, the first he owned, the "Sarah M.
Jacobs",
which he commanded in 1878, he stocked $19,000. Her
successor was the schooner "Edward E. Webster", and for four
summers
he pursued the mackerel without a letup. The first summer
she was new, for about six months in the mackerel fishery he
stocked
$20,000, the next year, in 1882, $39,700, the $1005.00
each of 18 men.
1883...Other record breaking years followed in
succession, the
figures being $36,013.83,
1884...$29,000,
1885...$29,000, and
1886...$29,500.
abt. 1888...He however reached the Pacific, but the upshot of his
halibut and sealing venture proved a failure, and he lost his fortune of $60,000.
Ever Industrious (Part 2) Today hundreds of thousands
of pounds
of Pacific halibut are shipped to all parts of the East as the
result of this $60,000 experiment.
1891...Capt. JACOBS then returned to Gloucester and in 1891 began
at
the foot of the ladder.
1898...His old time luck had not forsaken him and in 1898 his
stock
in the mackerel fishery was $31,300, the crew’s share being
$703.30 each, the Cook making $1720. for his years work.
He was pursued and captured by the British in the Pacific, and his
vessel
and cargo of fur seals were confiscated and the Captain
thrown into prison.
He successfully evaded capture by the Canadian fisheries agents in
the
North Atlantic, and escaped by boldly putting to sea with
officers, landing them upon the French territory at St. Pierre,
innumerable
other ways he distinguished himself.
[lghr note: Apparently sailing under the AMERICAN Flag, this NL born
Captain was treated, by the Canadians/British, as if he was an American citizen.]
For cod,
halibut,
mackerel,
herring,
snappers and
all other
varieties of fish,
from Iceland to the beginning of the ice zone
in the Antarctic,
up to placid Pacific to its Northernmost waters,
catching
cod
and halibut
and fur seals in the Okhotsk sea and
Japanese grounds,
hardly a stretch of water had not been cleft by
the prow of his
adventurous craft.
1899...It is said in another article from the News that he sued
King
George for $236,000 for detention of his vessel on the Irish
Coast of 1899.
Capt. Edward WHITE of the Arm was two years fishing
with Capt.
JACOBS and was in the Fortune Bay affray, when engaged
in seining.
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Questions:
#1.What year was Captain JACOBS born and was his
birthplace the
North Island or Toulenget South?
#2..Is there a website with more information about the life span
of
Capt. Solomon JACOBS?
#3...I have read about 'the Harbour Grace AFFRAY'....Can someone
please tell me more about the
above mentioned 'Fortune Bay
AFFRAY'?
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