1. William Sturgis was a Boston merchant in the China trade, the California hide trade and the maritime fur trade.
13 Facts About William Sturgis
1. 2.
Sturgis was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, to Hannah Mills and William E Sturgis, a ship master and lineal descendant from Edward Sturgis of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, the first Sturgis in America.
3.
William Sturgis then served under Captain Charles Derby on Caroline until Derby died and Sturgis took command.
4.
William Sturgis managed to get the ship underway and fought off the pirates using four small cannons he had brought on board against the wishes of the ship's owner.
5.
William Sturgis had been prepared to blow up the ship if the pirates caught them in order to save the crew and passengers from being tortured.
6.
Lyman reportedly chastised William Sturgis for having violated his instructions by bringing the cannon on the voyage.
7.
In 1814, William Sturgis was elected a representative of the town of Boston in the Legislature of Massachusetts.
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Hannah Mills 8.
William Sturgis was a member and a president of the Boston Marine Society, an honorary member of the Massachusetts Mechanics' Charitable Association and a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
9.
William Sturgis donated his childhood home to be the Barnstable public library, now called the William Sturgis Library, and his papers are collected there.
10.
William Sturgis was one of the early investors in Massachusetts General Hospital.
11.
William Sturgis was a trustee of the Boston Athenaeum from 1823 to 1825.
12.
William Sturgis sailed from Cardiff to Iloilo with a cargo of coal.
13.
William Sturgis struck the Magicienne Bank, then sank on Ottorg Bank.