For many of his nearly eighty years, Frank Hamilton, a Charter Member of the Great Lakes Historical Society, went Down To The Sea In Ships and Did Business In Great Waters. This fact is attested to in a family log of pictures which contains youthful snapshots of him as a cabin boy peering from a pilothouse window of the steamer Arrow; as a deck officer on a U.S. Shipping Board transport in the First World War; as master on the bridges of many Great Lakes boats; and lastly, as the proud recipient of the "Great Lakes Historian of the Year" award from the Marine Historical Society of Detroit, in the fall of 1970.

The photos in the Captain's personal log represent but a ripple when com- pared with the "oceans" of pictures in his Great Lakes marine collection. This compilation of steamship pictures constitutes, along with its historical backup data, one of the outstanding reference library collections of its type in the country. The happy circumstance of having actually lived and worked his hobby for so many years cloaked him with a mantle of authority, which was uncontestable. He was, at the time of his passing, doyen of the "Lakes Historians." 

Frank Eaton Hamilton was born on Kelleys Island April 14, 1892. His roots in the island's history were indeed deep. His father's family migrated to the island in about 1839. His mother was Frederina Kelley, granddaughter of Addison Kelley, whose parents were one of the families for whom the island was named. His parents were not steamboat people, although his father, Titus J. Hamilton, was the first president of the Kelley Island Steamboat & Dock Co., formed in 1904. The steamboat never developed; however, the dock became the "main dock" at which steam­boats landed for many years. His mother provided Frank with many opportunities to ride on the steamboats, and he often recalled with fond remembrance some of these youthful excursions. 

In a letter written to an acquaintance in 1943, he reviewed his background which revealed that prior to World War I he had been on the road with stock companies, sold real estate in Cleveland, where he lived for six years, and been in the ore trade. During the period of the First World War he stated that he had been at sea for five years as mate in deepwater ships carrying horses, mules and troops. This service gave him a background seldom experienced by lakes men. Voyages included many trips from Newport News to St. Nazaire, France - New Orleans to Genoa, Italy - a year in Greece, the Black Sea and Mediterranean ports - the sugar trade to the West Indies and, once, a trip along the west coast of South America. Much of this war work was in the U.S. Shipping Board steamer Amphion.  

In 1919 he was married to Kathryn Shebley of Sandusky, Ohio. During the years from World War I until about 1933 he served as master in Colonial and City of St. lgrace, on the Port Stanley, Ontario, run from Cleveland; and Dover and Erie, on the Port Dover, Ontario, run from Erie, Pennsylvania; Parks Foster, in the automobile trade; Fellowcraft in the steel trade; and for a while, Marquette & Bessemer No. 1, in the coal trade. (Note: Colonial was, first, Darius Cole and Huron; City o f St. 1 grace had been D&C's City o f Cleveland; Erie had been, first, Pennsylvania, and then Owana, and Dover was built as Frank E. Kirby. The Captain was Marine Superintendent for the Port Dover and the Port Stanley runs, serving also as master on one or the other of the boats.) 

For about ten years, until 1943, he engaged in the cottage, rowboat and store business at Kelleys Island. In June of that year he answered an emergency phone call from O. S. Dustin, in Detroit, which requested that he fly to Put-in-Bay to take over command of Ashley & Dustin's steamer Put-In-Bay from Captain John Peterson who had been stricken whilst en route from Detroit. It was an appointment that was to continue through September 1947. Captain Peterson passed away in July 1943, and Captain Hamilton carried on in Put In Bay until the steamboat changed hands. 

The war years in an excursion boat were busy and trying ones. Few "escapes" were open to civilian war workers other than boat rides. The big boat ran practically day and night during those years on routes that included Toledo, Monroe, Wyandotte, Sandusky, and late moonlight trips into Lake St. Clair that returned to Detroit with barely enough time to embark the passengers for the daylight trip into Lake Erie. One senses that his relationship with Mr. and Mrs. Oliver Dustin was much more than employer-employee. The Captain was a trusted friend and business advisor to the aging Mr. Dustin and to his wife when the responsibilities of running the A&D line fell to her.

Following the sale of the steamer Put-In-Bay, the Captain remained on his beloved island, keeping an eye on his cottage and boat business and maintaining and, expanding his huge Great Lakes photo and history collection. In 1950, history repeated itself and he became president of the Kelley Island Boat Company (his father had been the first president of a predecessor company in 1904) , which purchased the small ferry Welcome, for the auto and passenger run from Sandusky to Kelleys Island. The Captain was a "working president" since he also sailed the boat but this time without the gold braid and "high pressure cap" of the ex­cursion trade. Old age caught up with the boat in a few years, and from that point onward the Captain devoted his time to his island business interests and to expanding his collection to an even greater extent. 

During these years too, he continued to contribute many articles to historical journals and fostered the interest of a score or more of budding collectors. His was a deadly serious interest in history. Carelessly written historical articles (no matter who the author) received scathing correc­tion from Kelleys Island. Some of the sensitive, at first, were apt to take personal umbrage at the Captain's fiery concern for authenticity. Few nursed their pride for long, how- ever, before they sensed that his relentless pursuit of absolute fact was strictly impersonal, and that his sole wish was that future generations of historians and research students be spared the deadends and "wild-goose chases" that he had experienced as a result of incorrectly chronicled events.

Captain Hamilton's legacy is many faceted: it appears today in the person of every one of the very many marine history students whose interest he encouraged, and whose collections grew because of his generosity through the years. It is evident in the magnificent collections that he created, and the incredibly voluminous bank of data that he researched. It is revealed in the countless literary contributions that he made to journals and publications, wherein he left a solid impact of authenticity on any subject with which he dealt, and, finally, he left to those who knew him well, a remembrance of warm family love that, while always appealing, was never at a greater flood than on March 4, 1969, when his island nearly "slipped its moorings" during his and Mrs. Hamilton's 50th Wedding Anniversary party. Many of the youngsters, now grown into adult historians themselves, thanks to his tutelage, were there to pay honor to the warmhearted couple who shared their home and their lives with them so many times throughout the years. 

Several years ago, in answer to a question as to whether they might not soon wish to "retire" to the mainland, the Captain’s reply was “ No – I was born here and I guess maybe this is where I want to die.” On Saturday, January 22, 1972, his wish was granted. 


L'ENVOI 

A number of years ago, Captain Hamilton, in pondering how best to insure a proper permanent home for his marine collection, met with officials of the Rutherford B. Hayes Library of Fremont, Ohio. Eventually, he and Mrs. Hamilton agreed that this would be a fitting place for his collection and legal steps were taken to make such provision in his will. In the interim, a new wing has been added to the Library, and in it is located the Great Lakes History Room. Sometime in the spring of 1972, The Frank E. Hamilton Marine Collection will be moved to its final home port where today's and tomorrow's students can benefit from his years of research. 
  
Source - Article from Inland Seas, Quarterly Journal of the Great Lakes Historical Society, Volume 28, Spring-1972, Number 1.