William Dane Phelps

William Dane Phelps

United States sea captain and master of the ship Alert, William Dane Phelps traveled and traded along the California coast from 1840 to 1842. Phelps kept a journal and recorded details of the removal of the Nicoleños from San Nicolas Island that he had learned from another sea captain, Thomas Robbins. In 1841, Phelps described meeting Black Hawk, who Phelps said came from San Nicolas Island, in San Pedro.

DATE OF BIRTH: February 14, 1802
PLACE OF BIRTH: Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA
DATE OF DEATH: August 15, 1875
PLACE OF BURIAL: Gloucester, Massachusetts, USA


References
Phelps, William Dane. Alta California 1840–1842: The Journal and Observations of William Dane Phelps, Master of the Ship “Alert.” Edited by Briton C. Busch. Glendale: Arthur H. Clark, 1983: 172–74.

Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620–1988,” database and digital images, Ancestry.com. (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed December 11, 2014), entry for William D. Phelps, February 14, 1802.

Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, “Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988,” database and digital images, Ancestry.com. (http://www.ancestry.com: accessed December 11, 2014), entry for William Dane Phelps, August 15, 1875.