Henry  MACKENZIE

My great-grandfather was ferrying day workers from one side of New York Harbor to the other when the first of the massive explosions at the munitions stockpiles on the docks in Princess Bay struck. The concussions in the air snapped the boom and part of it struck him in the head. He died 10 days later of internal bleeding. He was found in the snow where he fell by his best friend, Harry Millheiser, a long shoreman, who later married my great grandmother.

Henry Mackenzie was the first, and from what I was told by my parents, the last individual to have earned his ship's pilot license at the age of 21. He had two brothers, Gus and Frank, who owned their own fresh water carrier ships which met up with ships coming from Europe midway between the United States and Europe and replenished their stocks of fresh water so they could continue onto to the states with plenty of water for their passengers use, etc.

Henry had two brothers, Gus and Frank. They were all ship captains. Henry was the first, and from what I understand, the last American to earn his ship master certificates at the age of 21. He took his ship to China and brought back the first Chinese crystal chandelier to the US. He gave it and a capuchin monkey he gained on this trip to my great-grandmother. Years later, the monkey leapt from the banister of their home and latched onto the chandelier hanging from the cupola in the foyer and swung on it until it crashed to the floor below. The monkey survived but the chandelier was shattered.