Captain David Bordeaux

Captain David Bordeaux, captain of the propeller John V. Moran, is one of the most widely known masters in the merchant marine of the Great Lakes. He was born in Clinton county, N. Y., in 1841, and was educated in the academy at Malone, N. Y., and at Nicolette College, Quebec, taking a three-years' course of study in the last-named institution.

At the age of fourteen years he commenced life on his own account as tar-boy on the schooner Courtland, sailing between Detroit and Ogdensburg, and after two months was earning a man's wages as a sailor before the mast. He was then employed as watchman on the side-screw steamer Baltic, running from Buffalo to Chicago; and in 1860 he became wheelsman on the propeller Racine, of the People's line, and later in the same year sailing in the same capacity in the propeller Forest Queen, plying between the same points. In the fall of this year he shipped as wheelsman on the propeller Union, belonging to the American Transportation Company, and toward the end of the season sailed as wheelsman on the propeller Potomac, running between Milwaukee and Grand Haven, remaining on her until January 15, 1861. In the spring he was given the same berth on the propeller S. D. Caldwell, and then shipped on the propeller Gov. Cushman, plying between Buffalo and Toledo, after which he served as wheelsman on the Badger State. In 1862 he was wheelsman on the propeller Buffalo, and in August of that year he shipped on the propeller Saginaw, plying between Buffalo and Sandusky. In 1863 he became wheelsman on the propeller Equator, going between Buffalo and Toledo, and in September of the same year sailed in the same capacity on the steamer Michigan, which ran from Buffalo to Green Bay, Wis. The following year he shipped as wheelsman on the propeller Cuyahoga, plying between Buffalo and Detroit, and then on the propeller Guiding Star, as second mate. While in the Cuyahoga, he received his papers as second-class pilot, and finished the season of 1864 as second mate on the propeller Kentucky. In the season of 1865 he shipped as second mate on the propeller Orontes, sailing from Buffalo to Toledo, and in the spring of 1866 he became first mate of that vessel, on which he sailed for five years. In the early season of 1870 he became second mate of the propeller Newburg, of the Union Steamboat line, and finished the rest of the season as first mate on the propeller Passaic. In 1871 he sailed as first mate on the Colorado, and in 1872 acted in the same capacity on the Jay Gould.

The following year he was chosen first mate on the propeller Newburg, belonging to the Union Steamboat line, and in 1874 he served in the same capacity on board the Portage. In 1875 he was made first mate of the Anchor line steamship Conestoga, then belonging to the Erie Transportation Company, and in 1876, in the same capacity, he sailed in the propeller Jewett. In 1877 he shipped as first mate on the steel steamer Tioga, and in September of that year became captain of the Nebraska. During the season of 1878 he sailed as master of the propeller Portage, and in 1879 was transferred to the captaincy of the steamer New York. For six years he was captain of the steel steamer H. J. Jewett, and in 1896 sailed between Buffalo and Duluth as master of the propeller John V. Moran.

The Captain was married, in 1866, to Miss L. C. Keeley, of Buffalo, and they have one child, who is the wife of Capt. Samuel Golden. Captain Bordeaux resides at No. 386 Fourteenth street, Buffalo, New York.

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Volume I

This version of Volume II is based, with permission, on the work of the great volunteers at the Marine Captains Biographies site. To them goes the credit for reorganizing the content into some coherent order. The biographies in the original volume are in essentially random order.

Some of the transcription work was also done by Brendon Baillod, who maintains an excellent guide to Great Lakes Shipwreck Research.