Hello, That was a sad story just posted. I noticed it was the year 1887. I continue to be curious how my ancestor's older brother "drowned at sea" during 1887. That is all the "KIDDER book" states: John KIDDER "loved the sea and drowned at sea in 1887." John lived along the Maine / New Brunswick border for all of his life. The 1881 census had him and his 2nd wife and all his children living in New Brunswick that year. I can only assume they were still there in 1887. But, a few yrs. later, his oldest son migrated to the Hawaiian Islands, married in Honolulu, and had children there. If John "loved the sea," he could have been anywhere in the world. I've tried to search for "ship tragedies" during 1887 before, and I believe I read that many happened. This morning I did another search and am finding some web pages which some might find interesting. I don't know if they've already been mentioned on this List: The Shipwreck map that was painted on the ceiling of the Galleon Seafood Cafe, in Port Renfrew, British Columbia, Canada was a memorial to all the men and women who lost their lives and their ships to the "Juan de Fuca's Graveyard. During the days of sail, 1830 - 1925, 137 major shipping tragedies occured in the immediate vicinity of the entrance to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Internatonal recognition was given to this stretch of water off Port Renfrew. It became known as The Graveyard of The Pacific http://www.portrenfrew.com/wrecks.htm http://www3.gendisasters.com/massachusetts/17679/hurdock-ma-schoon-war-eagle-explosion-sept-1887 This web page mentions many tragedies in Australia, and one ship-tragedy is mentioned Shipwreck Cheviot Beach, Victoria 35 20 October 1887 SS Cheviot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_disasters_in_Australia_by_death_toll Here is a book which discusses "ship tragedies." http://books.google.com/books?id=vIZ7bFBjV0YC&pg=PA98&lpg=PA98&dq=%221887+ship+tragedy+loss%22&source=bl&ots=bMGsCrFXBN&sig=p2_7mftkV0cXf4OZcbViOgiI5Q8&hl=en&ei=2aqyTbLpL9Cftwf54LnpDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CEcQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=false I was searching "ship tragedies 1887 loss" but just changed it slightly to search for "ship tragedies 1887" (using quotation marks). And, I found this story mentioned about a "deck hand" who - tried to get away. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/351476/the_johannes_tragedy_of_1887.html Also, for a couple years I've been reminded how many ship-tragedies occurred on the "Great Lakes." http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/vernon1887.htm Betty (near Lowell, MA, USA) P.S. To get back to John KIDDER (1830-1887), we don't know the exact date of death, and we don't know what kinds of ships he sailed. We don't know his occupation. His widow and their 2 children moved to Hancock Co., Maine, and remained there. John had 5 children with his first wife who died young. The oldest, Charles, went to Hawaii, and had many children. I haven't been able to find another son; wonder if he also loved the sea. One teen-age daughter died in childbirth, and I can't find his youngest daughter as an adult. One son moved to NH and never married. His youngest son had many descendants.