John Webster

1777/1778 to July 12, 1871

John Webster was born in Dublin, Ireland. He was a seaman for 50 years. He was married and had a daughter, Mary A. Lukes, who lived in Brooklyn, New York, in the mid-nineteenth century. The last position that John Webster held aboard ship was Captain, and he hailed from Georgetown DC.
Georgetown Harbor

Georgetown Harbour 1850s - Library of Congress

John Webster entered Sailors’ Snug Harbor on November 18, 1844, when he was 67 years old. He would remain at the Harbor for 21 years, dying on July 12, 1871. John Webster is buried at Sailors' Snug Harbor Cemetery in Plot 1.

John Webster had a few infractions against him while residing at the Harbor. On April 30, 1846, he was removed from the Harbor for one month for disorderly conduct and fighting. On October 1, 1869, He struck a Mr. Gardner over the head with his Cain, injuring him. For this infraction, John Webster was removed for a month.

Southern Congressman Beats Northern Senator with a Cane (1856)

Southern Congressman Beats Northern Senator with a Cane (1856)

In Herman Melville's Redburn, his first Voyage, Melville describes what happens to Redburn, an ordinary Seaman who tries to see the Captain over a grievance. "The day following my attempt to drop in at the cabin, I happened to be making fast a rope on the quarter-deck when the Captain suddenly made his appearance, promenading up and down, and smoking a cigar. He looked very good-humored and amiable, and it being just after dinner, I thought this, to be sure, was just the chance I wanted. "I waited a little while, thinking he would speak to me himself, but as he did not, I went up to him and began saying it was a very pleasant day and hoped he was very well. I never saw a man fly into such a rage; I thought he was going to knock me down, but after standing there awhile speechless, the Captain plucked his hat from his head and threw it at me." (Melville, 62).

There is another incident of a Captain losing his temper with the Seamen, over discipline and the running of the ship that Richard Henry Dana talks about in Two Years before the Mast. "For several days the Captain seemed very much out of humor. Nothing went right or fast enough for him. He quarreled with the cook and threatened to flog him for throwing wood on deck; and had a dispute with the mate about reeving a Spanish burton; the mate saying that he was right, and had been taught how to do it by a man who was a sailor! This, the Captain took in dudgeon, and they were at sword's points at once. But his displeasure was chiefly turned against a large, heavy-molded fellow from the Middle States, who was called Sam. This man hesitated in his speech, and was rather slow in his motions, but was a pretty good sailor, and always seemed to do his best; but the Captain took a dislike to him, though he was surly, and lazy; and "if you once give a dog a bad name"–as the sailor-phrase is–"he may as well jump overboard." The Captain found fault with everything this man did and hazed him for dropping a marline-spike from the main yard, where he was at work. This, of course, was an accident, but it was set down against him" (Dana, 88).

In the first half of the nineteenth century, the Captain aboard any ship was a tough character who dealt harsh punishments when his ship was not running in the order that he felt it should. The Captain was also intolerant of a break in etiquette from his sailors. Thus, John Webster's behavior at Sailor's Snug Harbor was probably understood by the Governors of the Harbor that were once sea Captains themselves.

The Skipper always Knows

U-571 (7/11) Movie CLIP - The Skipper Always Knows (2000) HD