Gloucester’s famous Capt. Howard Blackburn (1859–1932) pictured aboard the famous fishing schooner Gertrude L. Thebaud in the early 1930’s. He was an American fisherman and during a winter storm in 1883 got separated in his dory and feared lost from his fishing schooner the Grace L. Fears out of Nova Scotia. He rowed his dory and shipmate across a wintry ocean, freezing his hands and feet badly. Despite losing his fingers at sea he later prospered as a Gloucester, MA businessman.Yearning for adventure, he twice sailed single-handed across the Atlantic Ocean, overcoming his disability and setting record times for the crossing. Both his vessels are at the Cape Ann Museum.
Photo by Leslie Jones
Len Burgess, Essex Shipbuilding Museum.
Good Morning Gloucester 