2021.87.93

CLASSIC CAPTAIN Ralph C. Brittain, born in Pennsylvania in 1842, left home to sail the high seas at the age of fourteen. His father was a lumberman who came from Pennsylvania to Muskegon in the early 1850s. By the age of thirty, Brittain had owned and captained three Great Lakes steamers and a Mississippi River packet. In 1872 he came to Saugatuck to become the master and part owner of the brand new steamer G. P. Heath, built by Cal Heath. Starting in 1875 he and master builder James Elliott built some seventeen boats in their yard located where Wicks Park is now, just south of the chain ferry landing. Elliott was the designer and hands-on builder, Brittain the captain, the planner and the financier. Brittain’s successful shipping company was the Red Bottom Line. Captain Britton had extensive real estate holdings and two fruit farms in Saugatuck Township. He purchased about 1875 the home – one of the finest in town - which had been built by lumberman Otis R. Johnson. Brittain married first, Florence Snyder who died in 1884 and in 1887 he was married to Effie Spaulding. He had four children, two from each marriage. His first son was Leonard, nick-named Cappy, who was also ship captain and who in later years ran the Saugatuck chain ferry. Captain Ralph Brittain died in 1905. In his Commercial Record obituary the editor wrote: “Capt. Brittain was typical of a class of lake mariner that is fast disappearing. He was reserved in his disposition and doubtless the forecastle of his early years had left something of an impress on his character, but beneath the exterior he had a heart that was as tender as a child’s and a spirit that was impulsive and sympathetic. He was always considerate of his employees and tenderly devoted to his family. In the community where he has lived for more than thirty years there is a vacant place that will never be filled.” I thank Kit Lane for her vast knowledge of local boat building history. Her book “Built on the Banks of the Kalamazoo” is a wonderful and invaluable resource on the builders and the boats they built here. By Jack Sheridan

Remembering When

Winthers, Sally

01/02/2022

03/31/2024