196 



FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK, 



Mnety-Three Voyages to Surinam. 



A Remarkable Record. 



Capt. William Tucker of this city has made nine- 

 ty-three voyages to Surinam, and has well earned 

 the title of the "Veteran Master" in this branch of 

 maritime business. He commenced going in 1843, 

 and made his last voyage in 1881. He never had 

 occasion to call upon the underwriters for a cent of 

 damage to his vessel, or cargo. The only disasters 

 he ever met with was the carr^'ing away a jib-boom, 

 the loss of a man and a main-topmast. Allowing 

 fifty days for an average passage to and from that 

 port, Capt. Tucker has passed four thousand six 

 hundred and fifty days of his life on the water, or 

 nearly thirteen years. 

 What an experience has been his, sailing smoothly over tropical seas, 

 'neath Summer skies, now and then interspersed with the sudden squalls so 

 prevalent in those latitudes, running along the low coast of South America, 

 looking out for the lightship off the Surinam river, running in and anchor- 

 ing off the city, receiving the congratulations of friends, visiting plantations 

 and enjoying the many pleasures of that country. Then, on the other hand, 

 coming home on a Winter's coast, experiencing all the hardships connected 

 therewith ; oftentimes being blown off for a week after sighting the land, 

 beating about in the bay, 'mid storm and cold, with anxious hours by day 

 and night, longing to get into port and come safely to anchor. 



The Surinam trade, once the pride of old Gloucester, has long since de- 

 parted, and there are but few American vessels now engaged therein. The 

 old captains who were wont to walk these streets and whose presence was 

 so warmly welcomed, have also, for the most part, gone their last voyage 

 and found a haven beyond. We call to mind among these, the brothers 

 Foster, Thomas, Jere., Benjamin and Joseph ; the Sayward brothers, John 

 and Samuel ; the brothers Center, Solomon and Loami ; Capts. William 

 Grover, James Rowe, Solomon H. Davis, Francis Procter, David S. Day, 

 John Corliss, William H. Herrick and his son William E. Herrick, Averil 

 Rowe, Joseph Procter, Edward Babson, Charles Fitz and Eben Higgins. 

 Among those living are, Capts. John Hawson, Nehemiah D. Cunningham, 

 John A. Pulcifer, Charles A. Homans and others. 



