William D. Gregory

William Doliber Gregory (December 31, 1825 – August 14, 1904) was an American sea captain born in Marblehead, Massachusetts. Gregory was captain of the clipper ship Tejuca from her 1854 completion to her foundering and sinking in an 1856 hurricane; Gregory and most of his crew were rescued only at the last moment by the courageous intervention of a passing ship. Gregory was later commander of the bark Albers, and in 1857 is said to have put down a riot on his ship virtually singlehanded.

With the outbreak of the American Civil War in April 1861, Gregory took a temporary commission in the United States Navy and was given command of the brig . Bohio under Gregory's command took a number of prizes, the most remarkable example of which involved a ruse to disguise his vessel as a steamship in order to deceive the enemy into surrendering.

After resigning from the Navy, Gregory struggled to find a new command due to the exigencies of war. His last voyage as a mariner was reportedly made in 1866.

Life and career

William Doliber Gregory was born on December 31, 1825, in Marblehead, Massachusetts, William was one of seven sons from the union, at least five of whom would become sea captains like their father, and three of whom—Samuel, Michael and William—would have notable seafaring careers.

Gregory began his career as a sailor in about 1840, at the age of fifteen, eventually working his way up to the rank of captain. While still in his early twenties, he supervised the construction of the clipper ship Sunny South, built in 1850, which his older brother Michael would captain. Gregory took command after the ship's completion, and would remain her master throughout her brief career.

Tejuca was built for the coffee trade, and between June 1854 and July 1855 she made three round trips between New York City and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, returning via Bahia, Brazil, on each occasion with about 5,000 bags of coffee. On the second such trip, she reportedly made "one of the quickest passages on record" between Rio and New Orleans, Louisiana. Her last voyage to Rio returned with a cargo of sugar, arriving New York on December 7.

On December 27, 1855, Tejuca set out from New York on her first attempted transatlantic crossing, with a cargo of sugar bound for Queenstown, Ireland. A few days out, on January 5, the ship ran into what Gregory later described as a "terrible hurricane". At midnight, Tejuca shipped a sea which rolled the vessel almost on her beam ends, broke most of the yards, and destroyed or swept away everything on deck including the lifeboats, the seawater also contaminating the crews food stores and drinking water.

Albers (1857–1861)

Following the loss of Tejuca, Gregory assumed command in 1857 of the 360-ton bark Albers, Taking charge of the vessel at that city, Gregory sailed her to Charleston, South Carolina, then to Buenos Aires, Argentina; Montevideo, Uruguay; and Patagonia, before returning to Baltimore. His next port of call with Albers was Whampoa, "where he was violently ill",

While sharing a meal with the new owner of Albers at the latter's residence, Gregory received word that the crew were running wild aboard ship. Hurrying back to the vessel, Gregory caught one crew member attempting to swim ashore, and dragged him back aboard.

Dismissal and reinstatement, 1861

William Gregory was quickly given command of the steam gunboat , with the rank of Acting Master, while his older brother Samuel joined him on the same vessel with the rank of Master's Mate. No sooner had the two men been appointed to these posts, however, than they were both summarily dismissed from the Navy without explanation. After making inquiries, William and Samuel discovered that some political opponents in their home town of Marblehead had preferred charges of disloyalty against them to the Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles. and Samuel command of the steam gunboat . Neither source clarifies which Matamoras the vessel was bound for. with a "valuable cargo"

At 5 am the next morning, Bohio sighted the vessel, but the latter immediately set all sails to evade her pursuer, and a chase ensued. Finding after some hours that he was unable to gain on the other ship, Gregory devised a ruse by which he hoped to deceive her captain. He had his crew erect a 12-foot length of stovepipe, fastened to some barrels on deck, to resemble a smokestack. Sand was placed in the bottom barrel to protect the deck, and a fire was then started in the stovepipe "with bits of rope, old junk, tar and other materials"

Bohio took several other prizes while under the command of Gregory. On June 21, Bohio captured the sloop L. Rebecca bound from Biloxi, Mississippi, to Mobile, Alabama, and on June 27, the brig captured the sloop Wave on its way from Mobile to Mississippi City with a cargo of flour. Not long after, Gregory resigned his commission, reportedly due to some ill feeling between himself and some of the other officers. He died on 19 August 1904 at the age of 78. He and the other members of his immediate family are buried in the family plot in Waterside Cemetery, Marblehead.

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