The Unlucky Captain Hayden
A classic sea captain’s yarn from 1884 about an intended voyage to Seattle that went unexpectedly off-course.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Captain Fox, of the ship Templar, who arrived here a few days ago, relates the following very good story: The day before I sailed, I met Captain Hayden, of the ship Two Brothers, on Market street, in San Francisco. He said to me, 'Fox, I hear you are chartered to go to Seattle. When do you sail?' I replied that I would set off the following day. Hayden said, 'Well, I will sail tomorrow myself, and when I get to Seattle I'll tell your old friends that you are coming.' I thanked him and walked on. The next day we were cleared to sail together. I got here, and to my surprise, my friends had not been notified that I was on the way. On making inquiries, I learned that the Two Brothers had not arrived. I think Hayden will sweat when he arrives, if I agree to say nothing about it.
“I think Hayden will sweat when he arrives, if I agree to say nothing about it.”
This 1884 anecdote captures the rhythm of 19th-century maritime commerce in Seattle, where news traveled only as fast as a ship could sail. It serves as a reminder of how, even in an era of global trade, Seattle was a frontier port where arriving 'on time' was a matter of survival, not just convenience.
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