Jack Corbett: Mariner

This is the true and compelling story of the relationship between one of America's foremost financiers and the old Irish seaman who changed his life. In 1849, Alfredrick Hatch, a delicate and slightly asthmatic youth, was dispatched to sea by his physician father to "either cure him or kill him." He signed onto a Liverpool packet as an apprentice seaman, in the company of the "roughest, dirtiest, swearingest, drinkingest men alive." Hatch probably would not have survived had he not been befriended by an illiterate, bewhiskered Jack-tar named Jack Corbett, who became his guardian and mentor. The often dramatic story of their experiences sailing together is the centerpiece of this autobiographical narrative, rich in language and its description of life aboard a square-rigged sailing vessel in the mid-19th century. Thirty years later, after Hatch had become a prosperous Wall Street bankerone of the principals in financing the Union's effort in the Civil Warand President of the New York Stock Exchange, Jack re-entered Hatch's life and household, where he became the guardian of Hatch's eleven children and remained to the end of his days. 15 halftone illustrations.