Compton’s nautical heritage
Captain Daniel M. Davis was born 1840 in Stafford County, Virginia. He joined the Confederate Army on May 25, 1861, at age 21. He mustered into “C” company Virginia 30th Infantry Regiment. On April 12, 1864, he was transferred to the Confederate States Navy. He was owner and master of a schooner that was destroyed at Fredericksburg to keep it out of the hands of the Union Army. His commitment to the Confederate cause remained with him all of his life. Following the Civil War he moved to Fredericksburg , VA. He married Miss Sara Bates; and they had eight children, one of which was Compton’s father Walter M. Davis, who was born in 1887. The 1892 Fredericksburg City Directory lists him as living at 119 Main St. His second wife, Miss Ida Plummer, of Solomons Island, MD, survived him.
Daniel M. Davis went to work for the Weems Line. where he worked on their steamboats for forty years. By 1892 he was Captain of the steamboat Essex which operated between Fredericksburg and Pier 2, Light Street, in Baltimore. One night in heavy fog off Point Lookout the Essex, bound down the bay, ran into the Baltimore-bound Potomac. Seconds before the collision, Captain Davis rushed out on deck and was knocked senseless. The Essex struck the Potomac amidships on the starboard side and both ships were extensively damaged. The Essex had heavy damage to the bow and she put into Solomons Island for examination, before being sent to a shipyard for repairs.
On January 28, 1905 the Weems Line was sold to the Maryland Delaware & Virginia Railroad Co, a steamship operation subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad. Captain Davis continued as captain of the Essex for it’s new owner.
On Friday January 21, 1910, the Essex was lying in the Rappahannock River opposite Carter’s Creek waiting for dense fog to lift. Following dinner, Captain Davis went to his cabin with orders for the officer on watch to call him as soon as the fog cleared enough to dock at Carter’s Creek. Around 10 o’clock he was called, but did not respond. His cabin was entered, and he was found lying in his berth dead. The cause of death was described in his obituary as ‘heart trouble’. Daniel M. Davis was interred in Fredericksburg Cemetery ( Section 11, Grave 78).
Compton’s uncle, his father’s older brother, John D. Davis, began his steamboat career in 1896, as a lookout man aboard the Essex, even though it was against Compton’s grandfather’s wishes. In 1901, at age 22, he earned his first-class pilot’s license. Uncle John served on the Middlesex for 20 years. By 1924 he was assigned to the Potomac, and then on the Anne Arundel until 1937. At his request, the Anne Arundel made a final round trip between Baltimore and Fredericksburg on September 11, 1937. Captain John D. Davis filled the passenger list with many of the friends and clients who had supported his career over the years. Could Compton and his parents have been among the passengers on this farewell voyage?
The accompanying photograph shows Captain J. D. Davis and crew standing on ice next to the Potomac on the frozen Chesapeake Bay.
One of Walter M. Davis’ three sisters married W. E. Compton, which is probably the source of Walter Compton Davis’s middle name.
Information sources
Tidewater By Steamboat: A Saga of the Chesapeake, by David C. Holly, 1991. Photo - Collection of Captain J. D. Davis in Mariner’s Museum.
www.Find A Grave Memorial # 11917151 Created by BigFrench Oct. 9, 2005 (newspaper clippings and information)
