Deedy.com Blog

Flipping through the old Sullivan scrapbooks, I came across this interesting little article about my great-uncle, Capt. Lawrence T. Sullivan. While the article provides some nice insights into his personality, it is riddled with small errors. I will list the corrections to the errors below, but first, here is the text of the article (source and date unknown).

GOLD STAR OVER BOSTON
---------------------

'Larry' Sullivan East Boston Hero

In terse, documentary language, the official government records state that Capt. Lawrence J. Sullivan was "lost at sea" when his collier was torpedoed in the Atlantic on March 14, 1942. He was, the records state further, 43 years old.

But ask any resident of St. Andrew rd., East Boston, where in a house numbered 69, Larry Sullivan lived, and you'll learn that he is still 43 years old. The neighbors insist on the present tense, so far as they are concerned, Capt. Larry will live forever in their memories.

Larry met death just as he had lived, courageously, without any trace of fear. That, too, is in the record.

YOUNGEST CAPTAIN

The older resident of St. Andrews rd., remember him as a nautical school student during the last war. They watched him grow from a grammar school kid into manhood. They remember how, at 25, he became a sea captain, the youngest captain, incidentally, on the Atlantic coast.

His mother, Mrs. Susan Sullivan, is a widow. Larry was one of eight children. One brother, Daniel M. Sullivan, is head of the Boston Water Department. Another, William, is in the School Department. His mother fondly recalls that Larry's earliest love was a small sailboat. To get that boat he worked and scrimped and saved while he was in his teens.

Mrs. Katherine Corrigan, the Sullivans' next door neighbor, remembers most his dry, salty humor. She pictures him today, as she so often saw him.

SEARFARING FAMILY

"When he was home he was always puttering around the house, or in the yard, fixing my fence or garden or working on his own," Mrs. Corrigan said.

Capt. Sullivan came from a seafaring family. His mother says his uncle, Patrick Henry Sullivan, was lost when a frigate sank off England in 1863.

At sea, Capt. Sullivan took part in many rescues and once the ship he was commanding saved all members of the Three Sisters, when that vessel foundered at sea.

"You couldn't help but like Capt. Larry," said Mrs. Corrigan.

And all friends and neighbors of the Sullivans readily echo her sentiment.

Corrections: His middle initial is T. not J.; the house number was 59, not 69; One of nine children, not eight; P.H. Sullivan was lost at sea in 1888 off the coast of Waterford, Ireland - not England in 1863.

Another way to gain a bit of insight into Capt. Larry's life is to look at photos found in the old scrapbook. While the one used in the article is a handsome head shot, this other one I found shows him on board one of his ships alongside his crew.

Lawrence T. Sullivan is the one in the black buttoned up coat. The photo is not labeled and I don't know the names of the other men. If you look closely (click on image to see larger) you will see that Capt. Larry is holding a cigarette in his hand - so he was a smoker. Also, you will see that his jacket appears to be covering up his dirty work clothes. While he may have been a captain, he was not one to just hang out in the wheel house - he appears to be crawling around and getting dirty alongside his men.

Another thing to note, is Capt. Sullivan's face in the ship photo. While still a handsome man, you can see the weathering from so many years at sea. Something not seen in the newspaper article.

Seeing him in the ships photo, you can imagine him as the salty talking, yet kind and hard working man his neighbor remembers in the article.

Labels: Sullivan