Captain My Captain

I've been trying to find historical information about my late grandfather, John Hanrahan, who died in 1948, about a year before I was born. Family legend has it that he captained the first tugboat to pass through the new Cape Cod Canal in the early 1900s — and that somewhere in the bowels ("bowels" is an apt term here) of the Massachusetts State House there's a plaque attesting to this. I've never been able to substantiate either rumor, but a trip to the Massachusetts Historical Society or the state archives is probably in order. One of these days.

Anyway, what I do know is that my grandfather was a master mariner who originated from Harbour Grace, a small town on Conception Bay in Newfoundland.  In his early years, John worked tugboats in the waters of Newfoundland and other areas, including Maine (where my father Bernie was born in Calais on the Canadian border), Boston Harbor, and presumably, the Cape Cod Canal. My father's older brother, also named John, also became a captain and worked the tugs and freighters. Bernie himself did a stint onboard one of the tugs as a hardhat diver and deckhand before the war.

Reportedly, my grandfather was something of a character, who was known to be able to hear for miles on the high seas, but suffered from significant hearing loss when around my grandmother. (While my wife Jane swears this trait must be genetic, it's interesting to note that the love of being in a boat on the sea most definitely did NOT filter down to me.)

I've been unable to obtain any further information on Captain John Hanrahan, and sadly, there's no one around to ask now. I believe part of his employment was with the old Boston Tug company (which I believe is a predecessor of Boston Towboat), so that might be an avenue worth exploring.

Based on a reference I found to historical shipping reports, the motor vessel named the M.V. Saval had a documented history operating in the Newfoundland coastal trade in the late 1940s. The Saval's captain was consistently named Hanrahan in old Daily News reports out of St. John's.. The Saval was apparently a coastal freighter or cargo ship (not a tugboat) and worked the coastal routes around Newfoundland.  The vessel's movements frequently appeared in the St. John's Daily News waterfront directory, showing it taking on and discharging cargo for various Newfoundland coastal towns. By all records, the M.V. Saval was an important historical piece of the Newfoundland coastal shipping story, and was essential for supplying remote communities at that time.

As I raised my own kid on the Cape, I still like to think that Captain John preceded me in crossing the Canal.  While my son Erik is also a captain, John was the original.

I hope I can find out more.