Brig Wissahicken
REPORT or MANIFEST of all the passengers taken on board the Brig Wissahicken whereof Nathanial Webber is Master, from Trinidad de Cuba, burthen 166 36/95 tons, and owned by John C. Kentshow? of Philadelphia and bound for Philadelphia.
Columns represent: Passenger number*, name, age, sex, occupation, to what country belonging, country of which they intend to become inhabitants*.
1 Jack M^cLaughlin 35 male labourer Ireland 2 M^rs M^cLaughlin 30 female Ireland 3 Mary M^cLaughlin 11 female Ireland 4 Bridget M^cLaughlin 8 female Ireland 5 Patrick M^cLaughlin 3 male Ireland 6 Pat^k Casey 30 male labourer Ireland 7 M^rs Casey 27 female Ireland 8 Thomas Casey 5 male Ireland 9 Bridget Casey 3 female Ireland 10 Mary Casey 1 female Ireland 11 Patrick M^cCon 20 male labourer Ireland 12 Rob^t R. Stewart 56 male gentleman U. States 13 Frank? L. Bays 37 male accountant U. States 14 James M^cFowlien Jr 22? male engineer U. States 15 Isaac Lock???? 38 male farmer U. states 16 Eliza Shankland 38 female U. states Transcriber's Notes: * An asterisk indicates an error on the part of the original recorder, not the transcriber, or is used to call your attention to additional information in the transcriber's notes. ? Indicates a letter or number which could not be determined due to the condition of the manifest or handwriting of the original recorder. ^ A ^ followed by a letter indicates that the letter was superscripted. * Names were transcribed as seen regardless of spelling. * Passenger numbers assigned by transcriber for search purpose. * All passengers intended to reside in the United States of America so this column is not shown. Correspondence added 17 May 2012 Captain WEBBER Born in Beverly, MA 29 March 1795, Nathaniel Webber enlisted as a boy in the war of 1812 and served in the Massachusetts militia, achieving the rank of Sargeant. His parents died when he was a boy and he lived with a cousin who treated him badly, so he ran away to sea, so the legend goes. He was the captain of or sailed on the ships Tradewind, (see picture below) Washington, Mary Melville, Diadem and Triton, brig Brilliant,brig Wishicon, brig Armadillo, Tartar, Osprey traveling all over the world. He served on the privateer Favorite during the War of 1812. He captained the Tradewind (designed by Jacob Bell) to a record 103 day voyage from New York to San Francisco in the 1850's, competing against the famous Donald McKay-designed Flying Cloud. When it burned, he found another ship due to seaman's superstition and it eventually sank in years later. His daughter, Jeannie and husband Oliver Ketcham Sammis, were possibly married aboard ship, but haven' been able to substantiate this. His wife, Sarah Frances Mayer, was born in England and apparently reportedly christened in Westminster Abbey, but no record exists. Their marriage certificate says they were married 16 March 1824 in St. Andrew by the Wardrobe,a part of London. His death certificate says he was born in Beverly, Massachusetts, occupation sea captain, lived in Brooklyn, NY 30 years, living at #48 Hunter St., 7th ward, cause of death chronic diarrhea, existing for 12 months before death. 1830 United States Federal Census about Nathenl Webber Brooklyn Ward 5, Kings, New York Free White Persons-Males-Under 5:1 Free White Persons-Males-30 thru 39:1 Free White Persons-Females-Under 5:1 Free White Persons-Females-20 thru 29:2 Free White Persons-Under 20:2 Free White Persons-20 thru 49:3 Total Free White Persons: 5 1850 Census-Brooklyn, NY, 3rd ward Nathan Webber-50, male, ship master, born NY Fanny Webber-50, female, born England 1860 Census-2nd Dist.,7th Ward, Brooklyn, NY, Kings County Nathaniel Webber, 65 yo, male, sea captain, 1000 value personal estate, born NY (wrong, I think) Frances Webber, 60 yo, female, born Mass. Frances S. Webber, 33 yo, female, born New York Edward W. Webber, 18 yo, male, born Pennsylvania Nathaniel W. Webber, 18 yo, male born Pennsylvania Fanny & Jenny Webber, born 9 yo, female, born New York Obituary for wife from the Logansport Pharos from Indiana says: Born in England and christened in Westminster Abbey. Late husband Nathaniel Webber followed the sea (sea captain) for 50 years and she accompanied him on many voyages to different parts of the world. She was 94 years old. See Obituary below. Our Fearless Sailors An Incident of the Old Days Off the Cape of Good Hope Indiana Evening Gazette-January 28, 1914 American vessels in those days (1833) surpassed the sailing records of ships of every other nation. Once when down nearly to the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope, we encountered the most severe gale of our outward bound voyage. A mountainous sea was heaving in from the south, and the wind, which had originally come from that direction, was now blowing directly from the west and hurricane force. High as the Washington stood above the water, occasional crests would sweep her main deck and she steered so hard that I had to keep two men continually at the wheel and have them relieved every half hour. The wind, however, was fair, and therefore every man on the ship, from Captain L to the cooks boy, would have felt disgraced had the order been given to leave the ship to under double reef topsails and fore course she was logging upward of 16 knots and all hands were as pleased as if they had just been granted a weeks shore leave at New York. Later in the day, when the wind had moderated somewhat, we sighted a large British bark hove to under short canvas. She was flying distress signals, so Captain L Ordered the wh?? put up and ran down to have a look at her. As soon as our signals could be clearly seen he asked what she wanted, and the bark replied with a request to stand by. Captain L then ran up flags demanding if the bark were injured or anything wrong on board. The Britisher replied again, Stand by do not like look of weather. When the second mate read the meaning of this signal out of the code book a great laugh went up in our cabin and Captain L replied with flags reading See nothing wrong in this weather and hoisted the American ensign above the signal in order to give point to his remark. No doubt the British captain said, Another of those crazy Yankees when he read our flags, but we were in Batavia a week before he appeared. -From The Journal of Captain Nathaniel Webberr in Outing. An article written by grandson AE Webber in Long Islander publication: (See below) Captain Nathaniel Webber was an orphan at ten yeas of age, so he went to sea as cabin boy. Five years later he served in the 1812 war in the privateer Favorite. During his 56 years at sea he had visited every place of prominence in the world, and when he became master he did not forget the hardships of those in the forcastle. When he took command of the clipper ship Tradewind, the largest vessel afloat in 1852, he was please to find on a table in the cabin a large bible with the inscription in gilt letters "Ship Trade Wind, 1852, Captain N. Webber." The owners had placed it there for the sea parson, so he was called, for holding services on board ships he commanded. The Trade Wind, with 70 in officers and crew, also many passengers, sailed from New York on its maiden voyage around to San Francisco. On the passage out she came near being lost by fire. Her next voyage was around the world. In June 1854, she was in collision with the ship Olympus off the Grand Banks. The Trade Wind and 22 of her crew were lost. Captain Webber had gone on to another command because of seaman's superstition about a ship that burned on its maiden voyage and was not aboard for the calamity. Her master, Captain Webber, passed away in 1867, but the Bible is still in my possession (in AE Webber's).
Trade Wind Captain Nathaniel Webber
Obituary Fannie Webber 1923 Article Long Islander (Huntington)
1852 Article Cpt Webber and
Trade Wind 1913 Gettysburg article
1923 Article Long Islander Nathaniel Webber House
Click here for the pdf file called Voyages of an Old Shipmaster.
Click here for the pdf file called A Deep Water Voyage of a Century Ago
For further information please contact Gina Sammis
National Archives and Records Administration, Film M425, Reel 59.
Transcribed by Harry Green a member of the
Immigrant Ships Transcribers Guild
10 October 2009
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