Capt. Joseph Jackson

Captain Joseph Jackson is one of the "oldest heads" as marine men put it, on the great lakes, and he is one of those whose marine tuition began upon salt water. That he is a competent navigator goes without saying, for he has had charge of vessels in some tight places and has brought his charges through safely. He was born in Cumberland, England, near Newcastle, in 1833. His parents brought him to New Brunswick in 1839, when he was barely six years of age. Mr. Anthony Jackson, Joseph's father, was a farmer, and went onto a farm at Miramichi, N.B., where he did well. Captain Joseph received a good education in the common schools of the Miramichi district, and then he went to work aboard the ships in the harbor there, his duties being to help load the vessels and then assist the pilot to get them out to sea, coming back to port on the pilot vessel. This employment he followed until 1852, when he came to Toronto, Canada, and began sailing on the lakes. At that time he was nineteen years old.

First of all Captain Jackson went for two months into the steamer Maple Leaf, running between Toronto and Rochester under command of Captain Colquolou, of Hamilton. Then he went as mate into the schooner Almina, belonging to Wharfinger Gorrie, who at that time owned the Yonge street wharf. Captain A.. Crooks had charge of the Almina, and she traded on Lake Ontario and through the Welland Canal to Lake Erie. Captain Jackson remained in the Almina three years, succeeding which he went as mate into the schooner Royal Oak, under the same master, Captain Frank Crooks. In 1856 Captain Jackson went into the schooner John Potter, as first officer, again with Captain Crooks, and remained in her for nearly two seasons, or until she was sold in 1858. That vessel also traded through the Welland Canal to the higher lakes, being employed mostly carrying staves from the north shore of Lake Erie to Kingston and Garden Island, where they were rafted for Quebec. Captain Jackson, that same year, after the sale of the John Potter, went to Buffalo and sailed out of there before the mast, and as mate of the schooner J. F. Tracey,Captain Curtis. The following spring he sailed as chief officer in the schooner Merchant Miller, of St. Catharines for a time, going about the end of June of 1859 into the employ of Mayor J. G. Beard & Sons as mate in the schooner Australia. During the latter part of that year he was mate in the schooner City of Toronto, one of the largest schooners on the lakes at that time.

Thus arrived the time for Captain Jackson's advancement, and he became captain of the schooner Australia in 1860, and sailed her until 1866, the year of the Fenian raid on Canada. Going out of the Australia in the autumn of 1866, he and Captains Soloman and David Sylvester bought the Tranche Montagne, in partnership with Mr. Caleb Giles, Capt. Jackson remaining master and part-owner of her until 1871, when they made a deal and exchanged the Australia for the large bark George Thurston. This vessel, under charge of Captain Jackson, sailed in the lumber trade all the season of 1872. That winter they sold her and purchased the propeller L. Shickluna, of which Captain Jackson was master until the fall of 1889, when he abdicated in favor of his nephew Captain Henry Osgoode Jackson.Captain Joseph Jackson was still part-owner of the steamer L. Shickluna when she collided and sank in Lake Erie in the spring of 1897.

After leaving the bridge of the L. Shickluna, Captain Jackson sailed the steamer Eurydice off and on between Toronto and different summer resorts. On one occasion, in 1894, he exhibited his excellent seamanship by going to the rescue of the propeller Ocean, ashore at Frenchman's Bay, about fifteen miles east of Toronto, and lightered her with the steamer Eurydice. Whilst the Eurydice was on her way back, laboring under a heavy deck-load, a stiff gale sprang up from the west. Inch by inch the captain fought his way up behind the Island. People standing on the wharves watched the ship anxiously, and old sailors shook their heads. "He will have to jettison" they muttered. But he did not. He brought the ship into harbor and landed her safely on the windward side of Geddes' wharf in spite of the terrific broadside wind, only the rail being crushed a little. Never in all his long career has Captain Jackson encountered a serious accident to his vessels or to his men.

Mrs. Jackson was a daughter of Mr. Jordan, of Port Robinson, her mother being one of the halest old ladies in that part of Canada. Mrs. Jordan was aged 80 years and five months at the time of her death. No children were born to Captain and Mrs. Jackson, but they raised and have always treated as a son, their nephew, Captain H. O. Jackson, at present one of the best young navigators on the great lakes. In politics Captain Joseph Jackson is a Liberal. He is a member of the Anglican Church. One of his favorite haunts is the little red brick office of Sylvester Bros., at the foot of Church street in Toronto, where he often relates many interesting yarns to the habitues of that cozy nook.

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