Not surprising then, that his son, George Weems, born at the family home of Marshes (or Marshall) Seat in 1784, inherited a love of the sea. As a young man, George sailed with Captain James Norman to the East Indies. When Captain Norman died during the voyage, George was put in command and brought the ship safely back to Baltimore. He subsequently travelled the world and during the War of 1812, he outfitted a sloop for privateering and was taken prisoner.
Captain Weems married Sarah Sutton in 1808 at Old St. Paul's Church in Baltimore. They had a daughter Margaret and five sons, three of whom followed their father to a sailor's life.
By 1817, George Weems was intrigued with the possibility of steamboat travel and chartered the steamboat Surprise to travel along the western shore of the Chesapeake and to the Patuxent, Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. Four years later, he purchased his own steamship, the Eagle, and almost ended his career before it really began. A boiler explosion in 1824, wrecked the steamer, killed a passenger and injured Captain Weems so badly that doctors wanted to amputate both his legs. Fortunately, Weems' family was able to nurse him back to health and save his legs. That passenger death was the only one recorded in the history of the line.
By 1827, Captain Weems had prospered to the point that he established his own company, the Weems Line, later known as the Weems Steamship Company. The Patuxent, completed in 1828, was the first of thirteen steamers built expressly for Weems and the first to claim the proud distinction of being built in Baltimore. Her route began in Baltimore, stopped at Herring Bay in Anne Arundel County and then went on to Fredericksburg VA on the Rappahannock. The Patuxent was at the time regarded as a floating palace with comfortable equipment and a bounteous cuisine. The Weems Line always prided itself on having the very latest in nautical equipment and a high standard for its dining table. Captain Weems and his successors further developed the Chesapeake trade by building wharves along the river and thus creating convenient avenues of commerce for farmers and traders. The Weems boats eventually became official carriers of US Mail as the fastest way to transmit letters to coastal points.
Captain George Weems died at his home in Fairhaven, Anne Arundel County in 1853. By the time of his death, Weems had given the management of the company to his four sons: George Weems Jr., Mason Loch Weems, Theodore Weems, and Gustavus Weems. Three of his sons--George Weems Jr., Mason Loch Weems and Theodore Weems--each eventually captained his own ship for the line.
During the Civil War, the Weems ships were seized by the government and used as transports, but after the war, they resumed their usual routes. Mason Loch Weems, the last surviving son, developed his father's property, Fairhaven, as a well-known excursion resort for Baltimoreans who wanted to get out of the city for a relaxing day in the country.
In 1874, at the death of Mason Loch Weems, his two daughters--Georgianna Weems Williams and Matilda Weems Forbes--bought out the rest of the family's interest and became the sole owners of the Weems Line. Georgianna's husband, Henry Williams, became the president of the company.
By 1895, the Weems Line had consolidated its pre-eminence by buying out most of its competition on the Patuxent, Potomac and Rappahannock Rivers. The Weems steamers with their distinctive stack marking of a red ball with the letter W dominated the trade until in 1905, the company was sold to the Maryland, Virginia and Delaware Railway Company and steam ships gave way to railroads as the transportation backbone of the middle Atlantic. At the time of its sale, the Weems Line employed 600 people and had a fleet of ten ships, all named for counties in Maryland and Virginia.
No comments:
Post a Comment