Who Was the Solomon Jacobs of Solomon Jacobs Park? 
Today he is almost forgotten. Yet the Boston Globe said that Capt. Solomon Jacobs was “known among the English speaking people of two continents as the most daring and intrepid master mariner that sails a fishing craft.” The Gloucester Daily Times said that he was “in Gloucester’s long list of fishing skippers, the most famous … around whom could be woven sea tales so full of dash and dare, of luck, pluck and chance, as to almost pass belief.”
Sol Jacobs, from an old Newfoundland fishing family, came down to Gloucester as a young man. Within three years he was a highline captain and, for the next forty years during the great schooner age, set records for fast trips and big catches, and was known in every port as “king of the mackerel killers.”
He was often controversial – like the time he waved a pistol to protect his seine, and his treaty rights. The dispute escalated into an international incident, but the British foreign secretary finally agreed that Sol was in the right, and overnight the skipper who had been called a disgrace to the Gloucester fleet became its hero.
Capt. Sol commissioned, owned and was master of three of the most remarkable vessels in the Gloucester fleet. He sent schooners around Cape Horn, and joined them to pioneer the halibut fishery of the Northwest Coast. Indirectly he launched Ireland’s mackerel export fishery.
He was first in the Gloucester fleet to adopt wireless telegraphy, first to commission a schooner with an auxiliary engine, first to build a seining steamer. 
Sol was game for any adventure at sea. In his “clipper schooner, Ethel B. Jacobs,” he commanded a bird-watching expedition to the subarctic where, it was reported, he was “on friendly terms with many of the Indian and Eskimo chiefs.” He took passengers on mackerel trips. A Col. Russell from Minneapolis so enjoyed his cruise on the Ethel B., and the hospitality of the vessel’s master, that he was “eager to repeat” the experience. He brought his wife and son aboard for a trip the following year.
Ashore, Sol was devoted to family, church and community. He was elected a director of the Gloucester National Bank, and as an alternate delegate to a national presidential convention.
In World War I, when schooners manned by his old shipmates were being blown up by German submarines, Capt. Sol volunteered and – at age 70 – was sworn in as an Ensign in the U.S. Navy Coast Patrol. Right to the end he personified the undaunted Gloucester captain.
Thanks to a lady named Mary Favazza, we have the Solomon Jacobs Park on the inner harbor between the Coast Guard station and Maritime Gloucester. Mary had complained to her husband Sal that, while Howard Blackburn had a traffic circle named after him, and Fitz Henry Lane’s house had been preserved, there was no memorial to “the most famous” Gloucester schooner captain. Mary died, but when Sal became Executive Secretary of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, he campaigned relentlessly until the park in Sol’s name became a reality in 1975.
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Today we have the park, but Sol Jacobs remains a name known to few. In my new book, “On Opposite Tacks” (Whale’s Jaw Publishing, http://www.whalesjaw.com), I recount the captain’s astonishing career – with the hope that we can turn the corner in giving Capt. Sol the recognition he deserves. So that fewer people will be asking, “Hey, who is this park named after?”
Chet Brigham
chetbrig@yahoo.com
Who Was the Solomon Jacobs of Solomon Jacobs Park? From Chet Brigham, Goose Cove
Good Morning Gloucester 
Thanks for bringing this story to a wider audience. I’m looking forward to reading your book. Will it be available for Kindle?
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No Kindle plans as yet. Locally, the book is at the Bookstore and the Cape Ann Museum. Also in Rockport at Toad Hall. Online from Amazaon. Trying to get Capt. Sol’s story out as widely as possible – and GMG is a great start!
– Chet
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By the way, the photo shows Capt. Sol in his cabin on his finest all-sail mackerel schooner, the Ethel B. Jacobs. Any ideas as to the apparatus he’s studying so intently?
– Chet
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Thank you for publishing this article here.
I do a lot of research on Gloucester boats and have come across little squibs about Capt. Jacobs and his vessels. There is a painting of what I believe is the steam seiner “Alice M. Jacobs” at Mystic Seaport. She is approaching two sailing schooners, one of which looks like the Effie M. Morrisey. Since seeing it there a few years back I’ve wanted to do a similar painting of the Jacobs and one of her sailing contemporaries. I may do that soon. Now, I’m goint to contact the Cape Ann Museum and order a copy of your book.
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Bill,
A likeness of the Alice M. Jacobs was displayed prominently in the Master Mariners’ Rooms on Main Street – they have a photo in the Jacobs archives in the library of the Cape Ann Museum (closed for February). The plaque erected in memory on Capt. Sol in his park shows his pioneering auxiliary schooner, the Helen Miller Gould. There is no good photo of his finest all-sail schooner, the Ethel B. Jacobs – I included in my booki the best one I could find.
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Is Solomon Jacobs related to the Jacobs family that lived in Gloucester much earlier? (Isaac, Abraham Tarr Jacobs etc.)
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Hello, Christine
From the sources I consulted, I did not see any indication that Sol Jacobs had any relations on his father’s side (Jacobs) or mother’s side (Roberts) in Gloucester when he arrived from the small fishing settlement of Twillingate, Newfoundland in 1873. He would acquire a local sister-in-law when he married Sarah MacQauarrie, who had a sister, Jessie Haraden, living in Manchester.
Hope this is helpful.
– Chet Brigham
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Thank you! The “Other” Jacobs are my ancestors but their country of origin has been, and still is, a “Brick wall”!
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Christine,
I don’t see my last comment, so I’ll try again. I noted that your name sounds Scandinavian, and I mentioned that there was a highly respected Gloucester captain in the 1870s named Edward Jacobs whose family hailed from Sweden. I said Sarah Dunlap in the Archives Department in city hall, or Stephanie Buck at the Cape Ann Museum library might have suggestions.
Hope I’m posting this one the right way.
– Chet Brigham
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“Nordstrom” is my married name, so no connection. The Jacobs family is through my mother’s family, which is mostly English. My aunt said she heard there was someone in the family that was Swedish, and the name “Jacobs” certainly fits the bill. I have many Gloucester ancestors – Tarr, Pool, Jacobs, Lane, Grover. Some of them removed to islands off the coast of Maine – Vinalhaven, North Haven, Deer Isle etc.
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Certainly a roster of old Gloucester names! Good lunck in your search.
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a Toulengeter with wide horizons…..
abt.1850-1922…A Twillingate to VANCOUVER’s Island?? to New England,
“timeline” sorted by lghr
1922…A lengthy article in the Evening Telegram of the 4th inst.
gives another bit of history of the late Capt. Solomon JACOBS.
This was copied from the ‘Sunday Leader’ and we give some
interesting facts contained therein. They are as follows: “Capt.
JACOBS who died at his home in Gloucester, Mass., on February 7th
last, was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland, his parents being
Simon and Mary Anna (ROBERTS) JACOBS.
abt. 1867…He early showed a disposition to follow the sea and at
the age of 17 went across to England as one of the crew of a ship.
abt. 1868??…At 18 he came to New York in the ship Gen Berry of
Thomston, having shipped in England. He went back in the “Western
Hemisphere’ the biggest ship in the country at the time. Soon he
was Second Mate of the ship “J. S. Winslow”, which sailed out of
Portland.” “In the schooner Sabine he stocked $18,000, in the
“Moses Adams” his average was $14,000.
1875…Capt. JACOBS was twice married, his first wife, whom he
married on Feb. 25, 1875, being Miss Elizabeth L. McCABE of
Halifax, who lived but a short time,
1877….and Nov. 1, 1877, he married Miss Sarah M. McQUARRIE, who
survives him.”
1878-1882…In the next vessel, the first he owned, the “Sarah M.
Jacobs”, which he commanded in 1878, he stocked $19,000. Her
successor was the schooner “Edward E. Webster”, and for four
summers he pursued the mackerel without a letup. The first summer
she was new, for about six months in the mackerel fishery he
stocked $20,000, the next year, in 1882, $39,700, the $1005.00
each of 18 men.
1883…Other record breaking years followed in
succession, the figures being $36,013.83,
1884…$29,000,
1885…$29,000, and
1886…$29,500.
1887-1890 ??… On the passage for the Pacific Coast one of his vessels the “WEBSTER”, was dismasted in a gale and had to put into
Montevideo, where it cost $5,000 for repairs.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/south_america/montevideo/
abt. 1888…He however reached the Pacific, but the upshot of his halibut and sealing venture proved a failure, and he lost his fortune of $60,000.
Ever Industrious (Part 2) Today hundreds of thousands of pounds
of Pacific halibut are shipped to all parts of the East as the
result of this $60,000 experiment.
1891…Capt. JACOBS then returned to Gloucester and in 1891 began
at the foot of the ladder.
1898…His old time luck had not forsaken him and in 1898 his
stock in the mackerel fishery was $31,300, the crew’s share being
$703.30 each, the Cook making $1720. for his years work.
He was pursued and captured by the British in the Pacific, and his
vessel and cargo of fur seals were confiscated and the Captain
thrown into prison.
He successfully evaded capture by the Canadian fisheries agents in
the North Atlantic, and escaped by boldly putting to sea with
officers, landing them upon the French territory at St. Pierre,
innumerable other ways he distinguished himself.
[lghr note: Apparently sailing under the AMERICAN Flag, this NL born Captain was treated, by the Canadians/British, as if he was an American citizen.]
For cod,
halibut,
mackerel,
herring,
snappers and all other
varieties of fish,
from Iceland to the beginning of the ice zone
in the Antarctic,
up to placid Pacific to its Northernmost waters,
catching
cod and halibut
and fur seals in the Okhotsk sea and
Japanese grounds,
hardly a stretch of water had not been cleft by
the prow of his adventurous craft.
1899…It is said in another article from the News that he sued
King George for $236,000 for detention of his vessel on the Irish
Coast of 1899.
Capt. Edward WHITE of the Arm was two years fishing
with Capt. JACOBS and was in the Fortune Bay affray, when engaged
in seining.
*******************************************
Questions:
#1.What year was Captain JACOBS born and was his birthplace the
North Island or Toulenget South?
#2..Is there a website with more information about the life span
of Capt. Solomon JACOBS?
#3…I have read about ‘the Harbour Grace AFFRAY’….Can someone
please tell me more about the above mentioned ‘Fortune Bay
AFFRAY’?
a Toulengeter with wide horizons…..
abt.1850-1922…A Twillingate to VANCOUVER’s Island?? to New England,
“timeline” sorted by lghr
1922…A lengthy article in the Evening Telegram of the 4th inst.
gives another bit of history of the late Capt. Solomon JACOBS.
This was copied from the ‘Sunday Leader’ and we give some
interesting facts contained therein. They are as follows: “Capt.
JACOBS who died at his home in Gloucester, Mass., on February 7th
last, was born in Twillingate, Newfoundland, his parents being
Simon and Mary Anna (ROBERTS) JACOBS.
abt. 1867…He early showed a disposition to follow the sea and at
the age of 17 went across to England as one of the crew of a ship.
abt. 1868??…At 18 he came to New York in the ship Gen Berry of
Thomston, having shipped in England. He went back in the “Western
Hemisphere’ the biggest ship in the country at the time. Soon he
was Second Mate of the ship “J. S. Winslow”, which sailed out of
Portland.” “In the schooner Sabine he stocked $18,000, in the
“Moses Adams” his average was $14,000.
1875…Capt. JACOBS was twice married, his first wife, whom he
married on Feb. 25, 1875, being Miss Elizabeth L. McCABE of
Halifax, who lived but a short time,
1877….and Nov. 1, 1877, he married Miss Sarah M. McQUARRIE, who
survives him.”
1878-1882…In the next vessel, the first he owned, the “Sarah M.
Jacobs”, which he commanded in 1878, he stocked $19,000. Her
successor was the schooner “Edward E. Webster”, and for four
summers he pursued the mackerel without a letup. The first summer
she was new, for about six months in the mackerel fishery he
stocked $20,000, the next year, in 1882, $39,700, the $1005.00
each of 18 men.
1883…Other record breaking years followed in
succession, the figures being $36,013.83,
1884…$29,000,
1885…$29,000, and
1886…$29,500.
1887-1890 ??… On the passage for the Pacific Coast one of his vessels the “WEBSTER”, was dismasted in a gale and had to put into
Montevideo, where it cost $5,000 for repairs.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/south_america/montevideo/
abt. 1888…He however reached the Pacific, but the upshot of his halibut and sealing venture proved a failure, and he lost his fortune of $60,000.
Ever Industrious (Part 2) Today hundreds of thousands of pounds
of Pacific halibut are shipped to all parts of the East as the
result of this $60,000 experiment.
1891…Capt. JACOBS then returned to Gloucester and in 1891 began
at the foot of the ladder.
1898…His old time luck had not forsaken him and in 1898 his
stock in the mackerel fishery was $31,300, the crew’s share being
$703.30 each, the Cook making $1720. for his years work.
He was pursued and captured by the British in the Pacific, and his
vessel and cargo of fur seals were confiscated and the Captain
thrown into prison.
He successfully evaded capture by the Canadian fisheries agents in
the North Atlantic, and escaped by boldly putting to sea with
officers, landing them upon the French territory at St. Pierre,
innumerable other ways he distinguished himself.
[lghr note: Apparently sailing under the AMERICAN Flag, this NL born Captain was treated, by the Canadians/British, as if he was an American citizen.]
For cod,
halibut,
mackerel,
herring,
snappers and all other
varieties of fish,
from Iceland to the beginning of the ice zone
in the Antarctic,
up to placid Pacific to its Northernmost waters,
catching
cod and halibut
and fur seals in the Okhotsk sea and
Japanese grounds,
hardly a stretch of water had not been cleft by
the prow of his adventurous craft.
1899…It is said in another article from the News that he sued
King George for $236,000 for detention of his vessel on the Irish
Coast of 1899.
Capt. Edward WHITE of the Arm was two years fishing
with Capt. JACOBS and was in the Fortune Bay affray, when engaged
in seining.
**************************************
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i am a jacobs and my grand parents was thomas jacobs and he had 11 kids and most of the jacobs family in gloucester are my relatives
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Wow! Excellent story.. My Great Grandfather. We have yet to visit his native town of Twillingate Newfoundland but it is on my bucket list. Nathaniel Linfield Dale ,Portland Oregon,
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I was researching an item I acquired concerning Capt. Jacobs when I ran across this web site. I have what is apparently a 6″ X 10″ political handbill regarding the Capt. as Delegate to Republican National Convention. It sports a great picture of him with a handlebar moustache. It’s in remarkable condition having been kept under glass in a small picture frame for many years. In addition, there is a yellowing original article cut from the Boston Globe in 1922 concerning his death that is taped to the back.
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