CAPTAIN ALEX. AIRD.
Alexander Aird, previous to joining the Allan Line, had been in command of the John Bell and United Kingdom of the Anchor Line. His first command in the Allan Line was the St. George in 1864. Subsequently, he was captain of the St. David, Nova Scotian, Nestorian, Scandinavian, and, finally, of the Sarmatian. Of the last-named ship he was very proud, and it was a feather in his cap that he brought out the Marquis of Lorne and Princess Louise in 1878, receiving from them a handsome recognition of his efforts to secure their comfort. Owing to impaired health he retired from the sea some years previous to his death, which took place in 1892.
CAPTAIN RITCHIE.
Robert Brown, of the Polynesian, “the rolling Polly,” as she used to be called, was the beau ideal of a fine old English gentleman, than whom none could more gracefully discharge the honours of the table. He had many encounters with field ice off the coast of Newfoundland, but by dint of his caution, skill and patience, he invariably came out scatheless, though not unfrequently locked up in the ice for weeks at a time.
William Richardson, of the Nova Scotian and the Sardinian, who died not long ago, was an easy-going, kindly-disposed man, and a general favourite. Neil Maclean, of the third Canadian, was a man of fine presence and good address. Captain Joseph Ritchie who retired from the command of the Parisian in 1895, though not to be called an old man, had spent forty-four years at sea. He was captain of the Peruvian in 1882, when the twenty-five-foot channel through Lake St. Peter was inaugurated; and again in 1888, in the Sardinian, he was the first to test the increased depth to twenty-seven and a half feet. Ritchie’s whole career was a most successful one. On retiring from the service he was presented with a very handsomely engrossed address and a valuable service of silver plate by his Montreal friends.
CAPTAIN JOSEPH E. DUTTON.