John E. Howell, born March 2, 1813, died July 23, 1840, in the Pacific Ocean while engaged in the whale fishery and in command of the ship France, losing his life in an encounter with a sperm whale in the 28th year of his age. The whale fishery was a noble enterprise, and the bold and enterprising ship masters, sons of Southampton, peril their lives in a daring profession and perish in actual encounter with the monsters of the deep; entombed in the ocean, they live in memory. Charles W. Payne, master of the ship Fanny, died in the Atlantic Ocean on January 4, 1838, in the 30th year of his age; Stratton H. Harlow, master of the ship Daniel Webster, died in the Pacific Ocean on October 31, 1838, in the 27th year of his age; Alfred C. Glover, master of the ship Acasta, died in the Atlantic Ocean on January 4, 1836, in the 29th year of his age; Richard S. Topping of Bridgehampton, master of the ship Thorn, died in the Atlantic Ocean on February 1, 1838, in the 29th year of his age; and William H. Pierson of Bridgehampton, master of the ship American, died in the Pacific Ocean on June 1, 1846, in the 30th year of his age.

Photo: Andrew Ruppenstein

Photo: Andrew Ruppenstein

Photo: Andrew Ruppenstein

Photo: Andrew Ruppenstein