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I am interested in knowing anything about a possible "business, or personal relationship" between my grandmother's first husband, SEA CAPTAIN WELLINGTON HOWES, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, and CALIXTO GARCIA, CUBAN PATRIOT, with whom, my grandmother & Captain Howes dined, according to an old letter written by my grandmother.
Captain Howes and my grandmother named their son, my mom's half-brother, "Calixto Garcia" Howes, in honor of him. Later, he went by the name of "Bud" Howes.
As I understand it, Calixto Garcia fought along side of Teddy Roosevelt and the Rough Riders,in Cuba, during the Spanish Cuban/American War.
Captain Howes' ship was wrecked, during a storm, with my grandmother on board. Later, she wrote an article on the shipwreck, for publication in an unknown major newspaper or magazine.
I am grateful for being given the following new information on Captain Wellington Howes' ship, THE MATTHEW VASSAR, JR.:
" The schooner MATTHEW VASSAR, JR. that your grandmother's husband owned was indeed the same vessel that served in the Civil War. The schooner was built in 1855 in Poughkeepsie, New York, and was owned by Matthew Vassar, who was a wealthy brewer and later philanthropist in that town. Vassar did own several whaling vessels, but there is no evidence in any of our sources on whaling that the schooner bearing the Vassar name was one of them. Schooners were rather small to be used for whaling; most typically whaling vessels were ships or barks. Incidentally, the vessel seems to have been named MATTHEW VASSAR, JR. because it was the second "MATTHEW VASSAR" schooner owned by Vassar and not because it was named after himself or a son. Matthew Vassar was not a "junior" and he did not have any children.
MATTHEW VASSAR, JR. was acquired by the US government and served as a mortar schooner and later on blockade duty during the Civil War. The vessel was enrolled at the port of New Bedford, Mass., for many years after the war, having been sold at auction in August 1865 to New Bedford owners. She appears to have been acquired by Howes around 1890.
I have discovered that the schooner was carrying a load of lumber from Norfolk, Virginia, to New Rochelle, New York, at the time of her accident, so it does not appear that any Cuban trade was involved at the time. According to the Nov. 24, 1897, issue of the New York Maritime Register, the vessel "encountered a severe gale off the [New] Jersey coast, Nov 16, sprang a leak and quickly filled. Captain Howes, wife and crew were rescued by schr Childe Harold, Nov 18, and landed at Newport News Nov 19th." MATTHEW VASSAR, JR. was itself towed to New York by tug ROBERT HADDON. Both accounts I have read indicate that the vessel ran into trouble off Long Branch, New Jersey, and not in the Chesapeake Bay. The fact that the schooner was towed to New York seems to bear this out. The crew of the vessel was taken to Newport News, which is in the Chesapeake, because the rescuing schooner was heading that way......
Because Garcia spent time in the United States, it may be that Capt. Howes and your grandmother met him in this country and not in Cuba. Whatever the circumstances, your ancestor may have admired his revolutionary spirit. This admiration does not appear to have any relation to views on slavery, but that is of course just an opinion based on what few facts are known at this point. The Cubans were revolting against the rule of Spain and not against slavery as we typically think of it. You might read a complete history of the Spanish American War to discover the significance of Garcia's role in it and thus to try to determine how Howes came to know him.
Wendy Schnur
G. W. Blunt White Library
Mystic Seaport
The Museum of America and the Sea
75 Greenmanville Avenue
PO Box 6000
Mystic CT 06355 "
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