Background

Elijah Cobb was born on July 04, 1768 on Cape Cod in the part of Harwich which later became Brewster, Massachusetts, United States. He was the son of Captan Scottow and Mary Freeman Cobb. His father died at sea in 1774 leaving his mother nearly destitute with six small children.

Career

In 1783, Elijah packed his wardrobe in a gin case and set out for Boston, where he signed as cook and cabin boy on a ship to Surinam. He continued at sea and by 1794 he was captain of a ship bound for Cadiz. After dodging the Algerine pirates, he was captured by a French ship and taken into Brest. With his characteristic determination and acumen, he hurried to Paris and secured the release of the ship from Robespierre, whom he later saw guillotined.

He returned to France again with a cargo of grain and then engaged in rum-running off the Irish coast, dropping hogsheads of rum into the Cove of Cork and hoisting aboard a bag of guineas in return. Loading at Malaga, in 1808, he first heard of the Orders in Council and his ship was held up by the British at Gibraltar, but he escaped by bribing an official.

In 1812 he arrived at Norfolk, Virginia to learn that the Embargo was to go into effect in thirty-six hours. Hastily unloading his ship in a storm, he rushed aboard a cargo of flour and secured a last-minute clearance from tile collector of customs who vainly pursued him into Hampton Roads on the hour when the act went into effect. The flour sold at Cadiz at a very high price. On a return voyage he received his first news of the War of 1812 off Newfoundland, when his ship was seized by the British and he was carried into St. John’s, later being released on a cartel. After this he remained ashore at Brewster until the end of the war, when he resumed trade with Europe and then made two trips to the African coast in 1818 and 1819. His cargo seems to have been oil and ivory, with no trace of rum or slaves.

In 1820, he retired from the sea and settled at Brewster where he became one of the leaders of the community, serving as town clerk, state representative and senator and inspector-general, with the rank of brigadier-general.

Achievements

• Elijah Cobb took an active part in the events which made American commerce at once exciting and lucrative during the first three decades after the Revolution.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Elijah Cobb (Macdonald maritime history series)

    ((Slightly off-mint) May smell slightly musty due to long ...)

  • Elijah Cobb: A Cape Cod Skipper

    (slim red hardcover)

  • Elijah Cobb, 1768-1848; a Cape Cod skipper,

Religion

Cobb was a devoted Universalist.

Personality

Cobb was tall and had straight fine figure. He was credited with sturdy integrity in addition to the unusual shrewdness and determination which he showed.

Connections

Cobb's memoirs bear the laconic entry that in 1793 he “went to the Cape & got married, ” but the records give no further details of his wife than that her name was Mary and that she bore him four children.

References

• Recollections of a Cape Cod Mariner: Elijah Cobb, 1768-1848