April 18, 2024
Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry writes about a Provincetown sea captain, Richard Ryder, who had a long and adventurous career. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue with the Provincetown, Massachusetts, scrapbook belonging to Cora Gray West Fuller (1866-1930), a Cape Cod newspaper woman.
Cora was the daughter of Captain Simeon L. West and Eliza McLean, and the granddaughter of Eben West and Harriet Lavender. She married Arthur Wheeler Fuller, son of James Fuller and Maria F. Atkins.
Cora’s scrapbook, containing news clippings and photos from the early 20th century in Provincetown, was given to the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum by Mrs. Nellie Law in 1931.
There are quite a few pages dedicated to the Ryder family, whose name is well-known around Provincetown.
Many were seamen, and one seaworthy fellow worth remembering is Captain Richard Ryder (1829-1923), born to Richard Ryder and Rebecca Crowell. He married Rebecca Atkins and had one son, Marcus.
He descends from Mayflower passengers Stephan Hopkins (through his daughter Constance, who married Nicholas Snow) and William Brewster (through his daughter Patience, who married Thomas Prence.)
Doughty Sailor Gets Prestigious Cane
There is a newsclip in Cora’s scrapbook about Capt. Ryder (then 91) receiving a gold-headed cane as Provincetown’s oldest resident:
On Tuesday Aug. 23, 1921, the Selectmen of Provincetown sent a messenger with an automobile for Captain Ryder to come to the town hall, as pleasure awaited him.
Selectman Artemus Paine Hannum presented Capt. Ryder with the Boston Post gold-headed cane, which is handed down to the [town’s] oldest citizen.
Delos Birge, father of Dr. William Spofford Birge, was the last to hold the cane.
Captain Ryder accepted the honor of guardianship to the cane with grace and delight.
He said these words:
“The cane is a lovely one. I can’t speak my appreciation fully enough. I wish you would tell the people that I’ll take good care of it. I’ll be particular about it and never disgrace it. My old one will do for common occasions, but I will use this one on special times.”
This photo caption reads:
Captain Richard Ryder of Provincetown.
Holding the Post gold-headed cane recently presented him as the oldest resident of the town. He is 91 years young and is confident that he will easily pass the 100 mark.
The press was present at the presentation of the cane, and asked Captain Ryder if he had any good pictures of himself. He told them he was recently painted by the artist Charles Webster Hawthorne. I did a search and found the portrait. It is now in the Huntington Museum of Art.
Hero of Wrecks, War Prison, Scurvy, and Sea Adventures
At the age of 12, Richard Ryder commenced his maritime career as cook of the schooner Experiment out of Chatham, Massachusetts. At 15 he sailed on the square rigger Chickasaw Baltimore as a “hand.”
During the Civil War, Ryder was aboard the schooner Manhasset, a civilian vessel out of Boston, under contract to supply 300 tons of coal to the blockade gunboats of the Union fleet at Sabine Pass, Texas.
During a severe storm on the night of 19 September 1863, the Manhasset, with its cargo, ran aground on a sandbar near the site planned for a new Confederate fort.
The Confederates discovered the wreck, and the Manhasset was immediately seized and her civilian crew of seven men were taken prisoner.
The Confederate fort was named Manhasset after that.
Ryder was held in a prison camp for nine months. During that time, he ran away three times, but was trailed by bloodhounds and returned to the stockade each time.
He once bribed a guard with $10, but when he got to the top of the fence that guard fired his rifle in the air and another guard shot at Ryder. The bullet went through the breast of his shirt. It was a narrow escape and brief. They got him and brought him back.
Shortly after, he was released in a prisoner exchange under the name Fitzpatrick. The real Fitzy had died the night before, so Ryder was released under a dead man’s pass.
In 1867 he sailed on the brig Granada from New York carrying cargo for the first and second kings of Siam, consisting of two steamboats and three boilers to be used in the first rice mill ever in Siam.
From Bangkok to Shanghai was a run of about 60 days. On a run to Bombay scurvy broke out on board and so the captain brought two loads of fruit – it was magical, and the men all recovered to health in 10 days’ time.
Among the other ships Captain Ryder sailed on during his maritime career: M. J. Smith, Harrisburg, Burmah Warren Hallett, James Cushman, David Dudley, T. K. Whelden, Constantine, and Careb.
When he finally reached his “home port,” he settled at his nephew’s home at 5 Central Street, Provincetown. That would be Richard Everson Mayo, son of his only sister Rebecca Ryder Mayo and her husband Robert Mayo.
Ryder had a brother, John C. Ryder, who married Arethusa Howes, daughter of Solomon Howes and Eliza Taylor. They left descendants.
Captain Ryder retired from sea voyages at the age of 79. For the next 12 years he set nets and caught mackerel.
A nice sketch of the nearly 93-year-old Captain Ryder was featured in the Boston Herald in 1922 with a headline: “Cape Skipper Headed for 100.”
Unfortunately, Captain Ryder did not see his 100th birthday. He died on 24 November 1923 in his 94th year.
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Note on the header image: a close-up of “Clipper Ship Captain” (Capt. Ryder) by Charles Webster Hawthorne. Credit: Huntington Museum of Art, Huntington, West Virginia.
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