Franklin Fowler

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Franklin Fowler
Frank Fowler.jpg
Captain Franklin Fowler, a Boston pilot.
BornJanuary 26, 1842
Charlestown, Massachusetts, US
DiedJanuary 25, 1902
Boston, Massachusetts, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationharbor pilot
Spouse(s)Beatrice B. Gurney
Children3

Franklin Fowler, (January 16, 1842 – January 25, 1902) was a 19th-century American Boston maritime pilot. He went with his father to California to become a pilot. He returned to Boston and became one of the oldest and best known pilots in the Boston service, serving for twenty-five years. He was captain of the pilot boat Florence. In 1888, he received an award from the Massachusetts Humane Society for rescuing the crew from the barque Hattie L. Curtis.

Early life[]

Captain Franklin "Frank" Fowler was born in Charlestown, Massachusetts, on January 16, 1842.[1] He is the son of Captain James Lawrence Fowler (1799 – 1885), of Main, and Louisa Jane Lincoln.[2] His uncle, William C. Fowler was a well known Boston pilot.[3] Fowler graduated from the John Eliot School in the North End. He was married to Beatrice B. Gurney and had three children. They divorced in October 1895 with a trial that attracted a lot of attention.[4][5][6]

In 1859, at age 17, Fowler went to San Francisco, California, on the pilot boat Dancing Feather, with his father during the gold rush fever. He went into the California pilot service at this time. He later proceeded to the coast of Mexico, where he searched for the three-masted steamship SS Yankee Blade that sank and was able to raise four boxes of treasure from the sunken vessel, which amounted to $70,000.[7][8][9]

Career[]

Pilot boat Florence, No 6.

In 1869, Fowler returned to Boston after his trip out west with his father and joined the Boston pilot service. He served twenty-five years on the pilot boats Hesper, Minvera, Florence, and Liberty.[7] The Florence, was built in 1867 from a model by Dennison J. Lawlor for William C. Fowler. The vessel had a reputation for being fast under sail and had a long career in the Boston service.[8]

The Massachusetts Humane Society awarded Fowler and George W. Lawler a bronze medal, while severing on the Hesper, for the rescue of four of the crew from the Barque Hattie L. Curtis on September 26, 1888. The Curtis sank in heavy weather and the crew had taken safety on a raft before being picked up by the Hesper.[10][7]

On July 17, 1895, friends of pilots Fowler and George W. Lawler were on the pilot boat Hesper, No. 5, when it went down the bay to Nantucket island for an annual excursion.[11]

On October 8, 1896, Fowler was the pilot on the Warren Line steamship Roman. the ship was grounded on Georges Island, trying to avoid a sow's tender. The board of pilot commissioners invested the matter and found him free from any blame for the accident.[12]

Death[]

Fowler died, at age 60, on January 25, 1902, in Boston, Massachusetts.[6] Rev. E. A. Horton officiated at the funeral services and wrote a poem called "Cast off the lines!"[7][3]

On April 29, 1902, Captain Franklin B. Wellock's son, Charles Henry Wellock, was delegated the duty of throwing the ashes of the late Captain Frank Fowler off the deck into Massachusetts Bay, from the Boston pilot-boat America, No. 1. Some of the notible pilots that attended the memorial were James H. Reid and Watson Shields Dolliver.[13] The flag at the pilot headquarters at Lewis Wharf was lowered to half-staff out of respect to one of the oldest and best known pilots in the Boston service.[14]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "1870 United States Federal Census:Year: 1870; Census Place: Charlestown Ward 3, Middlesex, Massachusetts; Roll: M593_625; Page: 338A; Image: 680; Family History Library Film: 552124". Ancestry. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  2. ^ "Massachusetts, U.S., Death Records, 1841-1915 [database on-line]". Ancestry. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
  3. ^ a b "Well-Known Pilot Dies. He Was Captain Franklin Fowler, at One Time on This Coast". The San Francisco Examiner. San Francisco, California. January 27, 1902. p. 3. Retrieved February 22, 2021.
  4. ^ "Fowler And Wife. She Sues For Property, He Sues for Divorce". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. October 29, 1895. p. 8. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  5. ^ Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1626-2001
  6. ^ a b "Fell To Floor Dead. Capt. Franklin Fowler, Well Known Pilot, Expired of Heart Disease in the Café at Parker's". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. January 26, 1902. p. 7. Retrieved September 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ a b c d Eastman, Ralph M. (1956). Pilots and Pilot Boats of Boston Harbor. Boston, Massachusetts: Second Bank-State Street Trust Company. pp. 34–44.
  8. ^ a b "The Hesper Cruise of a Prim Pilot Boat". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. June 30, 1889. p. 17. Retrieved September 28, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ "Interesting News From California". The Washington Sentinel. Washington, District of Columbia. December 28, 1854. p. 2. Retrieved December 18, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ "Rewards For Bravery". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. October 29, 1898. p. 8. Retrieved October 23, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.
  11. ^ "Along the Water Front". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. July 17, 1895. p. 5. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  12. ^ "Filot Not At Fault. Finding of Commission on the Roman's Grounding". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. October 8, 1896. p. 12. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
  13. ^ "Throwing The Ashes Of Capt. Frank Fowler's Remains Into The Water". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. April 29, 1902. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
  14. ^ "Water Front Items". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. January 27, 1902. Retrieved February 21, 2021.
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