John Cassin Cantwell

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John C. Cantwell (pictured left)
USS Nunivak

John Cassin Cantwell (born January 9, 1859 in Raleigh , North Carolina , † October 8, 1940 ) was an officer in the US Revenue Cutter Service (USRCS) of the United States of America . Cantwell was one of the first explorers in Northwest Alaska at the end of the 19th century .

Life path

Cantwell was born in the United States in 1859 to Irish immigrants. During his youth he was sent to a Roman Catholic seminary in Ireland. He joined USRCS at the age of 20. At first he was on coast guard ships off the east coast and the Gulf coast. In 1884 he was transferred to the west coast and served on the cutter Thomas Corwin under the command of Captain Michael A. Healy . The ship regularly patrolled the coast of the Bering Sea . In the summer of 1984 Cantwell got the opportunity to explore the course of the Kobuk River (then still the Kowak River ) with a research team . They drove upstream with a steam-powered launch . Cantwell kept a detailed record of the 54-day trip. It was warm and humid at the time and there were countless mosquitoes. In addition to geographical and geological conditions, plants, raw materials and mammoth tusks were also documented. The explorers also met the indigenous people there. The following year Cantwell led a second river expedition up the Kobuk River. He reached Walker Lake in the source region of the river. In addition to the two Kobuk expeditions, Cantwell was the first to investigate a volcano on Bogoslof Island that was newly formed in 1883 . He continued his explorations in Alaska in the following period. 1899-1901 he was the captain of the cutter Nunivak on the Yukon River . Cantwell was married and had a son. His family lived in San Francisco. Cantwell died in 1940.

Honors

In Alaska, several geographic features have been named after Cantwell, including the town of Cantwell and the Cantwell Glacier .

literature

  • John C. Cantwell: Alaska and the US Revenue Cutter Service, 1867-1915 , 1999.
  • John C. Cantwell: Report of the cruise of the Revenue Marine Steamer Corwin in the Arctic Ocean in the year 1885 , 1887.
  • John C. Cantwell: Report of the operations of the US revenue steamer nunivak of the Yukon River Station, Alaska .
  • John Francis Murphy: Cutter Captain: The Life and Times of John C. Cantwell , 1968, doctoral thesis at Univ. of Connecticut, AAI6902165 .

Web links

Commons : JC Cantwell  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c d John C. Cantwell (1859–1940) and the Kobuk (Kowak) River, Alaska (PDF, 821 KB) Arctic Institute of North America, Arctic Profile, Vol. 62, No. 3. pp. 345-348. September 2009. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Cantwell, John Cassin
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cantwell, John C.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American explorer in Alaska
DATE OF BIRTH January 9, 1859
PLACE OF BIRTH Raleigh
DATE OF DEATH October 8, 1940