The Morrissey’s high performance was due in part to the skippers who sailed her. Beginning with William Morrissey, a succession of Gloucester’s best fishing schooner captains commanded the Morrissey on her voyages. John McInnis, Josh Stanley, Henry Atwood, and most famous, Clayton Morrissey (he went on to skipper the racing schooner Henry Ford) were all masters of the Morrissey during her Gloucester years through 1905.

It should be noted that, some years later, Clayton Morrissey posed for sculptor Leonard Craske’s monumental fisherman statue on Gloucester’s Western Avenue. The statue was dedicated in 1923.

In 1905 the Effie M. Morrissey began fishing out of Digby, Nova Scotia, under a new owner, Captain Ansel Snow, who was later a skipper of the Canadian Bluenose. Snow and other Canadians continued to fish and occasionally carry freight with the Morrissey for twenty more years.

1905 Owner: Ansel Snow, Gloucester, MA also of Digby, Nova Scotia. The Morrissey remained under the American flag but sailed with a Canadian crew.

I remember my father, the late Captain William Snow (fourth son of grandfather William) Digby, NS, back in the early 1920’s speaking of the late Captain Clayton Morrissey as one of the best mariners. My father’s brother, the late Captain Ansel Snow, owner and captain of the Morrissey in 1909 sold this schooner to my late uncle Frank Swett who in turn mortgaged her to my late uncle Captain John W. Snow the same year. Mr. Swett was a resident of Marblehead, MA. for some years.

Among other things Uncle John (eldest son of my grandfather William) was a ship builder in Port Wade, Annapolis County, NS He built a beautiful three masted vessel, named JEAN F. ANDERSON which he and a late partner, the late Captain Howard Anderson, sold about the end of the first World War, the sale being made just prior to the sharp drop in vessel prices. I remember seeing this vessel, soon after the launching, on her way to Digby from Port Wade. A picture of the JANE F. hangs in the Admiral Digby Museum in Digby.

Uncle Ansel was a fifth son of my grandfather. Ansel was an enterprising man who had his own electric power plant when electricity was quiet new and scarce in the Digby area. This plant served his home and farm buildings previous to the 1920s. The home still stands on Lighthouse Road, Digby. The homestead (Cape Cod style, now with five gables) of grandfather William still stands on Shore Road, Digby, built about 1850.

1907 Betty Koharek, granddaughter of Ansel Snow was born on the Effie M. Morrissey

1908 In Gloucester to land 200,000 lbs of shuck on July 5.

1909 Owner: Ansel Snow sold the ship to Frank Swett of Marblehead, MA, recorded at Salem, MA. Mortgage $4,500. Grantor: Frank Swett Grantee: John W. Snow. Capt. Ansel Snow of Gloucester

1911 Capt. Frederick Prince signed on at the American Consulate on October 16 in Digby, NS. On November 3 a license is renewed in Portland, ME for the fisheries and to land fare.