My ggg grandfather, Shubael Swain, was a ship master in NYC for about 40 years. He sailed all over the place from what I can figure out and he was very distinguished and looked like Robert Burns. I have a photo/portrait of him. He originally came from Nantucket, but I think he preferred to not go after whales. Sad and difficult business. In Nantucket boys were apprentised to ship captains at age 12. While his obit merely says that he was a distinguished ship captain in NYC, here is a description of him years later. "Valentine Swain's father, of Quaker stock. grandfather of the late Isabella Ruth Swain, was born on Nantucket island in 1777, and became one of the famous old sea captains who sailed their clipper ships around the world and gathered strange cargoes and many adventures. A picture of his ship The Experiment, painted in 1807) and his sea chests are carefully preserved among the family trreasures." I have a poster copy of that ship. Wish I had the original, but the Cleveland historical society has his framed certificate of entrance into the NY Ship Master's Society. Amazing what you can dig up! Also they have a portrait of him and one of his daughters, and I have some original photos. While he sailed out of NYC, as I said the other day, during the year without summer, he was working for a group of merchants and mostly in the West Indies. I have a whole stack of possible trips he made that I now need to analyze. I am more interested in where he actually went after reading this newspaper article. Sue