VOL. XIX, NO. 7.    _   CLEVELAND, OHIO, FEBRUARY 13, 1896.          $2 PER YEAR. 10c. SINGLE COPY.

THE SHIP MASTERS' NEW PRESIDENT
CAPT. GEORGE McCULLAGH.

Capt. George McCullagh, who has just been chosen Grand President of the Ship Masters' Association, has led an active life on the water, and gained his knowledge of the trade, to which he is an ornament, by practical experience.   He has taken all the hard knocks that seem inevitable in that calling, but with no perceptible abatement of his youthful ardor and certainly with no denotement of advancing years.  He ran away from home and went to sea at the age of eleven years.  He remained two years on a sailing vessel and then began his steamboat career.  The American civil war interrupted it, however, and he served as a soldier on the Union side from June 19, 1861 to August 5, 1865.  In the autumn of 1865 he again took up steamboating and has continued in it uniterruptedly for thirty years.  During that long and honorable service he has sailed the steamers Ivanhoe, Wissahickon, India, Winslow, Cumberland, George T. Hope, Colorado, Avon, Seneca, and others, besides serving four years as pilot of the United States revenue cutter Fessenden.

While still in command of the Seneca he resigned and bought an interest in a new boat, which he sold out and bought the Rhoda Emily, of which he is now master and one-half owner. 

Capt. McCullagh organized Detroit Lodge No. 7, the body of which he is now the executive head, and has passed through the principal chairs to his present post of distinction.   It was largely due to his personal efforts that the Detroit Lodge was established in its handsome and comfortable quarters at 12 Woodward Avenue. 

He is also a Kinght Templar, a 32nd degree Mason, a Noble of the Mystic Shrine, and colorbearer of the famous Detroit Commandery No. 1, Knights Templar.  He has been a resident of Detroit since 1858 and is comfortably situated at 77 Alexandrine Avenue, East.  His family consists of his wife and one young daughter, and engaging and intellectual young woman of 20.  Wherever he is known, Capt. McCullagh is held in the highest esteem, for he is made of materials that become brighter with use.


Captain McCullagh served as Grand President for two years (1896 & 1897).  The image below is taken from the '1897 Blue Book of American Shipping.'