By No Means Made Up of Ordinary Sailors

These pages are part of an article from The Century Magazine published in October 1886 called Gloucester Fishers. I found it on eBay several years ago and had to have it.  I didn’t know what to expect beyond the detailed description of various facets of Gloucester fishing and fishermen.  The sketches alone are worth whatever investment I made at the time. But, as my Irish luck would have it, there was a great big treat hidden within.

You will notice some highlighted sections which I cropped for easier reading. Captain John Bentley of the Schooner Paul Revere is a direct ancestor, which I knew very well at the time. But this article points out that his father-in-law Martin Costello was part of the crew as cook, a fact I did not possess. This gave me the gift of my great great grandmother’s maiden name! This little piece of the multi-page article also gave me insight into the role of the cook on a shipping vessel of the time which I found fascinating.  I thought you might too.  No ordinary sailors indeed.