Thomas Cooper (pilot)

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Thomas Cooper
Captain Thomas Cooper.jpg
Captain Thomas Cooper
Born(1833-01-15)January 15, 1833
Stanstead, Quebec
DiedApril 5, 1906(1906-04-05) (aged 73)
Chelsea, Massachusetts, US
NationalityAmerican
Occupationharbor pilot
Spouse(s)Catharine McGowan
Children2

Captain Thomas Cooper (January 15, 1833 – April 5, 1906) was a 19th-century Boston maritime pilot. He was a well-known Boston pilot that took more battleships on their trial trips than any pilot on the coast. He was a leader among the branch pilots of Boston for 50 years. He had ownership in the Boston pilot boats Friend, Varuna, and Columbia.

Early life[]

The Pines, North Marshfield, Massachusetts; circa 1898; Top left: Charles Irving Lampee; Bottom left Charles Walter Lampee; Top right: Agnes Cooper Lampee wife of Charles W. Lampee; Bottom right Capt. Thomas Cooper and Thomas Cooper Lampee.

Cooper was born on January 15, 1833 in Stanstead, Quebec. His parents were John Cooper and Agnes Miller. He married Catharine McGowan on May 29, 1855, in Boston, Massachusetts. They had two children, Charles Thomas Cooper and Agnus Isabelle Cooper.[1][2] His daughter, Agnes Isabelle Cooper, would later marry William Robinson Lampee's son Charles Walter Lampee. Charles W. Lampee and Agnes I. Cooper had two boys, Charles Irving Lampee and Thomas Cooper Lampee. Charles I. Lampee wrote about his boyhood experiences on pilot boats sixty years later in a article called Memories of Cruises on Boston Pilot Boats of Long Ago. Since both of his grandfathers were Boston pilots, he was able to listen to their conversations of pilot boats and life of the sea.[3][4]: p158 [5]: p504 

Career[]

Cooper started his career on a pilot boat that went around the Cape Horn to San Francisco. He returned to Boston in the summer of 1852. He became an apprentice boat-keeper on the Boston pilot-boat Daniel Webster, which was built in 1851 at Chelsea, Massachusetts. Captain William Robinson Lampee was also a pilot on the Webster. Cooper continued on the Webster until 1857.[6]

He joined the Boston police force in May 1857 and served for over eighteen years. He was also a member of the Boston Marine Society.[7][1] He was a leader among the branch pilots of Boston for 50 years.[8]

Cooper took more battleships on their trial trips than any pilot on the coast. On October 16, 1895, Captain Cooper was in charge of the United States Navy battleship USS Indiana on her trial trip.[9] On September 8, 1898, pilot Cooper piloted the big battleship Massachusetts safely through the Boston narrows as far as the Boston Light, where he left the battleship for a station boat. The Massachusetts was on her way to dry dock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.[10]

Captain Cooper served as first boat-keeper of the new pilot boat Edwin Booth, No. 2, of which he had become a part owner, for fifteen months, and was granted a warrant commission as pilot of the port of Boston on May 8, 1868.[6][11] In July 1882, after many successful years of service, the Edwin Booth was sold to Pensacola, Florida parties for $5,000 and a new larger boat, the Eben D. Jordan was built by Cooper to take her place.[12]

Eben D. Jordan[]

Pilot Boat Eben D. Jordan.

Captain Cooper was owner and ship master of the 65-ton pilot boat Eben D. Jordan, No. 2, built in 1883 by Ambrose A. Martin in East Boston. The boat's name was in honor of Eben Dyer Jordan, the founder of the Jordan Marsh department stores. At the launch, Mr. Jordan gave Cooper a set of signal flags for use on his pilot-boat.[6]

The Eben D. Jordan, was registered as a pilot Schooner with the Record of American and Foreign Shipping, from 1884 to 1900. Her hailing port was the Port of Boston. The Jordan was sold in 1892 when Cooper became captain of the pilot boat Friend.[13]

Friend[]

Pilot Boat Friend.

The Boston pilot-boat Friend, No. 7, was owned by Captain Cooper, Lampee and a consortium of pilots.[4]: p159  She was built at the Dennison J. Lawlor's shipyard in East Boston in early 1887.[14]

After Captain William Lampee died in 1892, Thomas Cooper became Captain and used the Friend on cruises from 1892 through 1893.[3]: p50  On October 21, 1893, Captain Cooper sold the Friend, to the New York Pilots. Cooper wanted a more up-to-date vessel to challenge the Hesper, Varuna, and other boats in the Boston fleet.[15] In 1894, Cooper replaced the Friend, with the pilot-boat Columbia.[4]: p159 

Columbia[]

Pilot Boat Columbia.

The Boston pilot-boat Columbia, No. 8, was built for Captain Cooper and his colleagues. Cooper was the managing owner of the Columbia.[8] She was launched from the Ambrose A. Martin shipyard in East Boston Massachusetts shipyard on May 17, 1894. The Columbia, was built to replace the pilot-boat Friend, No. 7, that was sold.[16][4]

Boat-keeper Charles Benthram, of the pilot boat Liberty, No. 3, received his training by his uncle, Thomas Cooper on the pilot boat Columbia, No. 2.[17]

On November 26, 1898, Captain Cooper went to see the wreck Columbia, when she was driven ashore at the Sand Hills beach in Scituate in the great Portland Gale. After seeing the wreck, and realizing she could not be salvaged, he sold her to a marine junk dealer.[5] Cooper had his share of the boat insured, but the other owners were not covered.[18]

Varuna[]

Pilot Boat Varuna.

After the Columbia wreck in 1898, Captain Cooper was transferred to the Boston pilot boat Varuna, No. 6, as he had ownership in the Varuna.[4]: p166  The Varuna, was a 90-ton schooner, built in 1890 by Howard & Montgomery at Chelsea, Massachusetts and designed by Edward Burgess.[4]

On 12 November 1900, Captain Cooper was on the pilot boat Varuna, No. 6, when he encountered bad weather 70 miles east of the Boston Light. A huge wave came onboard, which carried away boat-keeper Sidney Campbell and caused considerable damage to the boat. Once the weather was calmer, Cooper return the boat to port.[19]

Death[]

Cooper died, at age 73, on April 5, 1906 in Chelsea, Massachusetts.[1] Funeral services were held in Chelsea, officiated by Rev. R. Perry Bush, pastor of the First Universalist Church. Members of the Boston Pilots' Association and others were in attendance. His burial was at the Woodlawn Cemetery.[20]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c "Retired Pilot Dead". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 6 Apr 1906. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  2. ^ "Massachusetts, Birth Records, 1840-1915; 1870 Census: Boston Ward 2, Suffolk, Massachusetts; Roll: M593_641; Page: 511A; Family History Library Film: 552140". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  3. ^ a b Lampee, Charles I. (1959). "Memories of Cruises on Boston Pilot Boats of Long Ago". Nautical Research Journal. pp. 44–58.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Cunliffe, Tom (2001). Pilots, The World Of Pilotage Under Sail and Oar. Brooklin, Maine: Wooden Boat Publications. p. 162. ISBN 9780937822692.
  5. ^ a b Bunting, W. H. (1994). Portrait of a Port, Boston, 1852-1914. Harvard University Press. p. 144. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  6. ^ a b c Eastman, Ralph M. (1956). Pilots and pilot boats of Boston Harbor. Boston, Massachusetts: Second Bank-State Street Trust Company. p. 57.
  7. ^ "Navigation About Boston". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 17 Feb 1875. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  8. ^ a b "Navigation About Boston". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 14 Aug 1904. p. 10. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  9. ^ "Indiana Here. Big Battleship Soundly at Anchor Off Boston Light. Trial Trip On Friday". Boston Post. Boston, Massachusetts. 16 Oct 1895. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-03-10.
  10. ^ "Quits Harbor. Battleship Massachusetts Goes to New York". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 8 Sep 1898. p. 2. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  11. ^ "Picked Up Off Cape Cod". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 11 Nov 1879. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  12. ^ "Harbor and Marine Notes". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 13 Jul 1882. p. 4. Retrieved 2021-03-11.
  13. ^ "Index to Ship Registers". research.mysticseaport.org. Mystic seaport. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
  14. ^ "East Boston". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 15 Nov 1887. p. 5. Retrieved 2021-03-05.
  15. ^ "Boston Pilot Boat Sold". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 23 Oct 1893. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  16. ^ "Eastern Yachting News". The New York Times. New York, New York. 1894-05-20. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-08-04.
  17. ^ "Liberty Safe. Pilot Boat No. 3 Came to Dock in Good Shape". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 31 Jan 1897. p. 6. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
  18. ^ "Harbor Front Items". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 2 Dec 1889. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-03-09.
  19. ^ "Grave In The Sea. Swept Off Vessel's Deck by a Monster Wave". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 12 Nov 1900. p. 12. Retrieved 2021-03-07.
  20. ^ "Funeral of Capt Thomas Cooper". The Boston Globe. Boston, Massachusetts. 9 Apr 1906. p. 9. Retrieved 2021-03-06.
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