COMMANDING OFFICER, Capt. James Carroll (1840-1912)

 

CAPTAIN JAMES CARROLL
(1840-1912)
Ireland to Alaska to Seattle,
  a career on the sea.
Gelatin-silver photograph from the archives 
of the Saltwater People Historical Society©

"Capt. James Carroll, an outstanding figure in shipping circles, and the development of North Pacific commerce was born in Ireland in 1840; when he was 6 months old was brought to America by his parents. Until he was 16 he lived on a farm with his parents. Then he went to Chicago and for two years as a sailor on the Great Lakes.

      He next entered the merchant marine and sailed the world over. He was in China during the war there in 1861. For some time he sailed out of San Francisco for the Hawaiian and South Seas trade and in service between the US and Europe.
      In 1863 he received his first promotion and later progressed through all of the offices in the service to the top. He returned to the Pacific in 1865 and in the following year he was made the second officer of the brig Swallow.
      He next was given command of the Colorado on the China run by the National Steamship Co. He was successively commander of the Great Republic, the Pelican, the California, the Idaho, the Ancon, and several others of the company's vessels.
      In 1878 Captain Carroll entered the Alaskan service and carried the first party of tourists to visit Alaska. This was when Alaska was largely an unknown territory and long before the discovery and development of the country's great mineral resources. In 1880 he and E.C. Hughes, N.A. Fuller and George E. Piltz equipped the vessels Juneau and Harris for the Alaskan run.
       For more than a quarter of a century Captain Carroll was with the Pacific Steamship Co when he became its senior commanding officer, every new vessel built or acquired by the company was entrusted first to his command.
       During his long years in the Alaskan service he gained the friendship of everyone interested in the territory's development. He was the first master of the famous old Queen and the first to take her through the Wrangell Narrows.
      In 1898, at the height of the Klondike boom, Captain Carroll abandoned seafaring life and settled down to life ashore in Alaska. He became the agent of the Alaska Commercial Co and the Rodman Mines on Baranoff Island, in which he held an interest. He also was the representative of the Northern Lakes and Rivers Navigation Co and rounded out his activities by becoming a general merchant and outfitter.
      

Later he returned to the Pacific Steamship Co to command the company's fine new vessel, the Spokane, but in 1906 he retired permanently from the sea and became a prominent figure in shipping and commercial circles in Seattle.

      He was the first Alaskan delegate to Congress and always was active in promoting legislation for the benefit of the territory. He was a Mason of high degree, a man of ability and high character, a genial, lovable man with hosts of friends. He died in Seattle in 1912."

Just Cogitating.C.T.Conover. Seattle Times. August 1954.