SEAWARD
Chasing Master Mariners in the Golden Age of Sail
by Harold Bradley
Packet ship Margaret Johnson off the south stack light approaching Liverpool, Joseph Heard, oil on canvas, c. 1835; Courtesy: Penobscot Marine Museum, Image ID 1970.23
Welcome to the Chase
Seaward is a biographical and historical memoir that explores the lives of two master mariners from one Irish family in the nineteenth century. William and John Kelly were brothers from Antrim, Northern Ireland—my great-great granduncles who sailed from Belfast and Liverpool to Canada, the United States, Peru, Australia, India, and China. They left wakes to trace and history to plumb, and their nautical comings and goings still resonate today.
Do you have ancestors who warrant a closer look as to who they were, when they lived, where they went, what they did, and how they did it?
Seaward is a case study in reconstructing lived history—a remarkable excursion into the past with many interesting surprises along the way.
Testimonials
“Deftly marshalling an amazing range of historical records from around the world, Seaward chronicles the lives of two brothers who were brought up in a public house on the edge of Antrim Town. Their subsequent careers as master mariners intersected with the glories of the Victorian age of sail but also with some of its more controversial episodes.”
Robert H. Foy, author of "Dear Uncle: Immigrant Letters to Antrim from the USA, 1843–1852" and "Remembering All the Orrs: The Story of the Orr Families of Antrim and Their Involvement in the 1798 Rebellion"
“The nineteenth century UK merchant navy was a demanding enterprise and a hard life. The rewards could be remarkable, the difficulties devastating. Seaward is a meticulously researched narrative of the sea that explores both of these possibilities in the great age of sail.”
Clare Abbott, author of "Faithful of Days: The Story of Robert Crighton, Master Mariner"