The history of Cape Ann is filled with famous stories of courageous
fishermen and mariners. No story is more dramatic than Howard Blackburn’s
struggle to survive a storm at sea in January 1883.
A native of Nova Scotia, Blackburn was fishing out of Gloucester for halibut from the
schooner Grace L. Fears. A winter storm came up suddenly, stranding
Blackburn and another fisherman in their dory. Blackburn lost his heavy
fisherman’s mittens overboard and knew that his hands would freeze, so he
held them in curved position that would allow him to slip his frozen hands
back over the oars. Five days later -- days virtually without food, water
or sleep -- Blackburn had rowed back to shore. His dorymate died en route.
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| Howard Blackburn |
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| Blackburn's saloon |
Blackburn was taken in by a family living on the coast of Newfoundland.
They sheltered him for the winter and tended to his injuries as best they
could. His frostbitten hands and feet were soaked in a strong brine
solution, then treated with poultices of flour and cod liver oil. Despite
their efforts, Blackburn lost all of his fingers, both thumbs to the first
joint and a toe.
Blackburn returned to Gloucester a hero, someone who had fought the sea
for the highest stakes and won. He was unable to continue working as a
fisherman because of his injuries, and sympathetic townspeople raised $500
to help him get back on his feet. He used part of the money to open a
cigar store and soon applied for a liquor license.
The license was granted in 1888, but an impatient Blackburn had eased
into the saloon business in 1886. He continued to serve liquor during the
years that followed, while the town periodically voted itself dry. Despite
the problems that resulted from being a sometimes bootlegger, Blackburn
and his business flourished.
The saloon was popular with townspeople and seafarers alike. Blackburn
was a bona fide hero, a larger than life character who had great stories
to tell. And he could do coin tricks with his fingerless hands.
Blackburn’s prosperity allowed him to embark on a series of ventures
that added to the legend. In 1879, he caught gold fever and organized an
expedition to the Klondike. Rather than follow the crowd overland, he and
his party sailed south around the Horn, then back up to the Yukon.
Although they reached their destination, the business venture ended in
failure.
Back in Gloucester and looking for a new challenge, Blackburn started
planning his first solo crossing of the Atlantic. It had been done before
-- the first time by Gloucester’s Alfred “Centennial” Johnson in 1876 --
but never by a man with no fingers. In 1899, Blackburn sailed the
Gloucester sloop Great Western to England in 62 days. The Cape
Ann Breeze called him the “Man of Iron.”
By 1900, Blackburn was one of Gloucester’s most important businessmen,
donating generously to charities and replacing the old wooden saloon with
a fine brick building. The last remaining portion of the mahogany bar top
can be seen in the Museum’s library. That same year, he decided to make
his second solo crossing. He sailed the Great Republic to Portugal
in 1901, setting a new record of 39 days. The Gloucester schooner Great
Republic can be seen in one of the Museum’s maritime galleries.
Twenty years after he almost lost his life in a dory, Blackburn decided
to match himself against the sea again in a small boat, this time the
Swampscott sailing dory America. He sailed out of Gloucester in
1903, intending to cross and recross the Atlantic, only to be defeated by
foul weather and his own physical infirmities.
Time and early hardships took their toll, and Prohibition brought new
business problems in the 1920s, but Blackburn never lost his zest for
adventure. In 1931, at the age of 72, he was talking about another solo
sail of the Atlantic in Cruising Club.
Blackburn died a year later. His funeral procession down Main Street
included hundreds of people, among them the town’s most powerful and
influential citizens. The “Man of Iron” was buried in the Fishermen’s Rest
section of Beechgrove Cemetery in Gloucester. |
