I was born in 1830, in a small village called Londontowne, which sits on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay about a few miles from Annapolis. I was the third of my parents five children. My parents, who had immigrated from northern Europe in the 1820s, did the best that they could for us but my early life could be best described a s humble. My father worker as a fisherman for one of the many boating companies that fished the bay for crabs and oysters. His dream was always to one day have enough money to have his own boat, but he would never realize his dream. My mother worked in one of the many canneries on the bay, shucking and packing oysters into can for shipment. When we were old enough, my brothers, sisters and I would often get work on the docks shucking oysters for sale to a local restaurant. As I got older, my brother and I began to go with our father and assist on the fishing boats. Needless, to say I did not have much of a chance to get a proper education. To be sure, most of my education consisted of learning from the fisherman and dock workers about how to sail, navigate and read the sea.
Being that my early life was dominated by the bay, water, or boats; I naturally developed a passion for the sea. When I was 15, I learned that the Navy had opened up its Naval Academy in Annapolis. At that point, my dream was that one day I would be able to attend and graduate the Naval Academy. Alas, like my father it was a dream that I would never realize as I pictured it at that time. As I mentioned, I had neither a formal education nor was my family ever involved with the military. Accordingly, I have no opportunity to even apply for a position. Consequently, I decided if I could not enter the Naval Academy, I would do the next best thing, namely I joined the Navy when reached 18 years of age.
I soon found that I loved life on the water. Unlike many other that joined with me, I was quite comfortable on a boat and the sea. Moreover, the first boast that I was assigned to, the frigate U.S.S. Constitution was one of the newer vessels. One of our first assignments was to sail to the Pacific and the South China Seas. I was an eye-opening experience for many reasons. First, being a crew member on a warship made me realize that being in the Navy was not what I expected or wanted to stay in for long. Second, I saw that there was much more to the world than the fishing and oyster-shucking life of Chesapeake Bay. Lastly, I found that I had a gift for navigation and understanding how ships work in both shallow and deep waters. According, when my tour of duty ended, I did not re-enlist. I also did not return to Londontowne. Rather, I headed to Baltimore.
LSC&PL now has the largest and most extensive shipping and passenger fleet on the East Coast. Moreover, it also owns one of the largest fish, oyster, and crab packing plants in Maryland. However, we will ship anything and have extensive passenger and shipping services to and from Canton, China. Needless to say I am one of the richest men in shipping in the nation. Not having a real need for money anymore, my plan is to donate most of my wealth to a foundation I have created. That foundation will be dedicated to improving the lives of fisherman and dockworker communities along the Chesapeake Bay. In addition, I will donate a sizable amount to establish a training school and college for the children of fishermen and dockworkers.
As mentioned, I did not have much of a formal education, but that does not mean I was unread. Since my time in the Navy, I enjoyed reading and often tried to keep myself up to date on the latest trends, theories and ideas in business, politics, and history. This idea of self-learning developed as a result of my childhood educational circumstances. After attending school for several years, the children in our family left school to work on the docks and fish boats. Somehow, however, my mother got several volumes of The McGuffey Readers. When I had time I would read, and re-read the stories and information in them. I even hand copied some of the most interesting portions so that I could take it with me when I was on the boat. One of the lessons that I remember the most vividly was the lesson from the Fourth volume called “Try, Try Again” (McGuffey). As a child, young man, and even to this day, I can recite that lesson by heart. It has and remains an inspiration to me when I face hardships. For example, when I learned that I could not go to the Naval Academy, that lesson helped me think of joining the Navy as recruit.
Reading was not the only means to help inspire me. As a child I enjoyed the advice and wisdom that I got from the fishermen and dock workers. That enjoyment continued as a young adult and really, throughout my life. After leaving the Navy, while I was looking for work in Baltimore, I had the occasion to travel to Philadelphia with a friend to hear the businessman Andrew Carnegie give a speech on his successes. As I was myself about to begin the next phase of my life, I was eager to hear any advice, and what better advice could there be but from one of the more successful businessman in the nation. The title of the talk was “How I Served My Apprenticeship” and it was given in the large hall of one of the libraries he supported (Carnegie). It was a captivating talk that describe his rise from a poor boy to factory worker to business magnate. In many ways, the outline of his life mirrored mine at that time, that is with the exception of great wealth. To be sure, I also had risen from a poor boy shucking oysters on the dock to a recently honorably discharged Navy sailor that had seen the world. I was inspired by the Carnegie’s speech in that I felt that, just like him, my next step, the third step, would be from sailor to rich man. After the speech, I resigned myself to go back to Baltimore and find any job that fit my experience and skills. As Mr. Carnegie advised, I would then work hard to advance myself, no matter what the burden. In any event, nothing could be as burdensome as being poor.
Another influential meeting that occurred entirely by chance. During the first few years during my time at the Baltimore shipping company, at least one a year, I was sent to Philadelphia to do the accountings for a small subsidiary office owned by the Baltimore company. During those times, I lived in a boarding house run by an old Irish woman (Holt). By most standards, she seemed to have done well for herself. But one day over dinner she told the other boarders and I her story. How she travelled from Ireland and worked as a cook for many years before she saved enough to start her own boarding house (Holt). That was the perfect story for me at that time. I had started to think about giving up my dreams and just making a career of it at the Baltimore shipping company. After hearing her story, my fire was rekindled. I knew that I would never make it to the top of the company, so I resolved then to save my money, learn the system, make connections so that eventually I would be able to start my own company. I be sure, that old Irish lady and here story probably had the most influence on getting me to where I am now.
So what makes me a self-made man whose life and lesson are worthy of your attention. Well, first of all, I’m filthy rich so chances are that I know what I’m talking about and the advice I give will produce positive results. Second, I have been able to achieve my wealth by what you might call “the old-fashioned way”. I did not graduate Harvard, and no Senator provided me with a recommendation to work at Standard Oil. Rather, I got to where I am by perseverance, persistence, hard-work, and risk-taking. When combined those traits either produced good results or created the environment in which luck and chance play a part. I took that lucky chance then reapplied my ethic of perseverance, persistence and hard-work until success was achieved. Accordingly, I was able to transform myself from a poor fisherman’s son to a less poor Navy sailor to a lower management clerk to the titan of shipping that you see before you.
Works Cited
Carnegie, Andrew. “How I Served My Apprenticeship.” The Gospel of Wealth and Other Timely Essays. Andre Carnegie. New York: Doubleday. 1933. Print.
Crevecoeur, Hector. “What is an American.” Essays on Immigration. Ed. Bob Blaisdell. Mineola: Dover Publishing, Inc., 2013. 15-24. Print.
Holt, Hamilton., ed. Life Stories of Undistinguished Americans as Told by Themselves. New York: James Pott & Company. 1906. Print.
McGuffey, W.H. McGuffey’s Fourth Eclectic Reader. Project Gutenberg, 2016. Web. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14880
