-----Original Message----- From: hwabz <hwabz@aol.com> To: suemaxwell <suemaxwell@comcast.net> Sent: Thu, Aug 4, 2011 1:37 pm Subject: Re: [MAR] dangers of the NY harbor Hi Sue ~ I would suggest that the ship's captain was 100% responsible when the ship was in the open ocean. When the ship entered a harbor or a river en route to a port of call, however, a local pilot who knew the "lay of the water" would typically come on board to bring the ship to its final berth. The captain I'm tracking had his ship run aground on Para Rock when leaving Galle harbor (then Ceylon, now Sri Lanka) in 1882. He was completely exonerated, indeed subsequently rewarded for his actions following the grounding. The harbor pilot was busted to the lowest rank. This was Captain John Kelly of the American Steamship Company steamer British King ~ in case anyone else on the List has an interest in this man or ship. Maybe others on the List can further enlighten us on the roles and responsibilities of the ship's captain and the local pilot when they were together on a ship. Harold -----Original Message----- From: suemaxwell <suemaxwell@comcast.net> To: MARINERS <MARINERS@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thu, Aug 4, 2011 10:51 am Subject: [MAR] dangers of the NY harbor I have an unsolved ship mystery in my background. My ggg grandfather, hubael Swain, was a NYC ship captain who came from Nantucket. By 1803, t least, he was working there as a ship captain. Several old records ndicate that he and his brother "died at sea in NY on Jan 10,1808" The esearch that I did led me to believe this was incorrect, and that he ad not died. What I found out from his father's 1812 will was that he id not die but his brother did. He ended up naming his first son after is brother. I have someone in NYC how is supposed to be looking for a ossible old article about it, but this person isn't doing it. I do have a theory- I have a 1807 poster copy of a painting of his lipper ship, The Experiment of NY, of which he was the ship master. I ecently learned that his son who moved to Cleveland, and family, ventually had the original of the painting which looks like a water color. Anyway, my theory is that since he was a ship master, and one brother ad already moved to NYC as a mariner, that he took this ship up to antucket to pick up the remaining brother and bring him back to NYC to o into the shipping business. The had a brother who was lost at sea ome unknown date. I think that something drastic- what I do not know- happened as they ntered the NY harbor. I just found the following article that I think ay be of interest to people on the list as it talks about the harbor at hat time and why and how it was dangerous. Very interesting article. http://www.yuhsg.org/webpages/hurst/files/Shipwreck%20Lesson.pdf Can someone tell me who actually sailed a ship? Was it the master, or omeone else or both? Sue ------------------------------ o unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MARINERS-request@rootsweb.com ith the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of he message