Henry Gillespie was a Maine native. His parents owned and ran boarding houses, hotels and saloons, yet Henry chose another path. In 1874, he became a sailor, signing aboard a whaler at age 17. “From Whaler to Clipper Ship: Henry Gillespie, Down East Captain,” by Michael Jay Mjelde, tells what happened next.
The biography of Gillespie’s life (1857–1937) also follows the history of the U.S. merchant marine over half a century, from 1874 through 1921, when Gillespie finally retired. It was a period of great change at sea, and Gillespie took part in that change. In 1874, when Gillespie signed as an able-bodied seaman aboard the whaler Wave, most of the American merchant fleet was made up of sailing ships. In 1921, when he retired as captain of the 12,000 deadweight ton tanker SS Swiftsure, most of the windjammers had retired and steamships ruled.
