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long the banks of the Thames River, near the present-day Norwich Police Station, a young

William Dygert Ward had the perfect view of the ships coming up the river; sloops, schooners, brigs, packets and more, docking at Chelsea Harbor and unloading goods from foreign ports.

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From his home, he could watch the river action from his bedroom window or even the “widow’s walk” on top of the house where the family homestead, located on Mount Pleasant Street, overlooked the river. �e house was large with a porch on three sides and long French windows in the front. �ere was a coach house in the rear. He most likely watched as whale ships and sealing schooners were out�tted at the shipyard of George W. Clark for voyages to the South Seas.

His father, Ichabod Ward Jr., in 1808, at age 18, obtained a “seaman’s protec-tion certi�cate,” then served in the War of 1812. Being well acquainted with the sea, he served on seven vessels from 1815 to 1836. He was owner of the brig Gen-eral Ward built in Norwich by Jedediah Willet in 1815. �is ship was named a�er Ichabod’s father, Ichabod Ward Sr. Young William was well connected to the seafaring life.

A�er receiving a common education, William, in 1842, signed on the packet Quebec of the Swallow Line with Capt. Frederick H. Hebard, a Norwich native

Clockwise from top: Norwich Harbor, “City of Lawrence” steamship, Norwich

Line advertisement (from the Ed Rogolski collection). Facing page: Capt. William Dygert

Ward (from the Bill Fossum collection).

and friend of his father. He was paid $5 per month plus board. �e Quebec was a fast clipper ship plying the waters of the Atlantic. Following that, he signed on to the ship India, a whaler, which circled the world in 33 months. From the 4,000 barrels of oil, the crew received equal shares of the earnings. William received his “seaman’s protection certi�cate” in 1844 and was committed to the water where he spent a long, and at

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times dangerous, career of 55 years. While he spent the beginning of his career on schooners, packets and other supply vessels, he made his name captaining steamships.

Early careerIn 1850, Ward shipped with the schooner Hudson and two years

later, went on the schooner William P. Williams. He �nally served as mate on the Joseph Guest under Capt. Henry G. Roath, of Norwich. �is schooner sailed to the West Indies returning with molasses, sugar, rum, salt and other sundries. �e coasting trade, however, consisted of transportation of large quantities of wool, lumber, coal, iron, bales of cotton, nails and paper, to name a few of the goods, all of which were manufactured in Norwich during this prosperous time. �e route was to ports south including New York, Delaware and Newport, Va.

Just before the outbreak of the Civil War, Ward married Angelina Smith, of Preston, and started a family. His home was at 67 West

Above: Beatrice Frazer, the great granddaughter of Capt. William Dygert Ward, holding his hat (Norman photo). Left: Norwich & New York Transportation Co. advertisement.

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�ames St., now long gone. �e �rst of his 10 children was born in 1863. During this time, he commanded the packet Gleaner, which ran from Norwich to New York. �en came six years on the sloop Jane Maria, of which he was part owner. �e war being well under way, Norwich �rearms manufacturing was booming, providing munitions of all kinds, but mainly guns. Uniform manufacturing was also cranking and these supplies were shipped to the Union troops in the South. When Ward took over the command of the schooner John Jones in 1864, it was a supply vessel. �e Federal Government chartered some of Norwich ships, others were built in the busy shipyards there for use during the war.

Life of a steamship captainJust as the war was ending in 1865, Ward became the pilot

of his �rst steamer, the Plymouth Rock, of the Stonington Line,

carrying passengers and mail to New York. Jumping to the schooner J.B. Cunningham for a year, he then freighted coal to points south.

�e next 31 years were the most well-known of his career. Steamships had taken his fancy and he proudly commanded these 300-foot behemoths of Long Island Sound in all types of weather and travel issues. In 1867, Ward piloted the City of Lawrence and the City of New London, followed by the City of Boston and the City of New York in 1874, all of the Norwich Line. A good dinner could be enjoyed on board for 50 cents and the fare for Boston to New York was $1. Passengers and freight traveled easily on these “�oating palaces,” docking in New London and up the �ames River to Allyn’s Point and Norwich. �e steamer on which Ward spent the most time was the City of Worcester, known as the “Queen of the Sound,” and the �rst steamer to have electric lights, personally installed by �omas

Top: Norwich Harbor (from Mrs. James Frazer, Sr. collection). Right: The “City of Worcester.”

A good dinner could be enjoyed on board for 50 cents and the

fare for Boston to New York was $1.

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Edison, making Ward very proud. �is steamer was dubbed the “honeymoon ship” for all eastern Connecticut. Aside from carrying passengers, freight came by rail to the freight terminal in Norwich then transferred to the side-wheeler for its journey to New York.

Pleasant trips were not always so pleas-ant, and from 1881-1898 Ward was in seven accidents, �ve of which were on the Worcester. Navigating Long Island Sound was not an easy task, as there were reefs and rocks that caused much damage and costly repairs. Accidents and colli-sions were commonplace on the Sound. In Ward’s case, there were no signs of negligence. Some human error, as in mis-communication with oncoming ships, but mostly dense fog caused collisions. Fog distorted sound, making it di�cult to distinguish objects ahead. Fog whistles blew, but o�en collisions were unavoid-able. Ward stayed with the disabled ships until all passengers were safely discharged. He assisted in every way possible to save his ships from destruc-tion, especially when he was stuck on Bartlett’s Reef in 1890. Many newspaper accounts stated that Ward was a man of honor, sincerity and was highly esteemed by friends and colleagues even a�er the cloud of disaster which had occurred in 1882 when the Worcester struck a barge in the East River. It sank and four lives were lost. �e Captain was exonerated a�er the ensuing trial.

�e Norwich Courier wrote a tribute to Ward in 1898, stating that a delegate of 40 friends and city o�cials from Norwich rode the train to New London where they held a surprise reception on the deck of the Worcester to commend him for his years of service. It was fol-lowed by a party at the Crocker House on State Street. Ward was overcome by the demonstration. His subsequent retirement brought him time to be with his beloved family and to re�ect on his career. He died Nov. 5, 1906 at his home at West �ames Street at age 80.

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