Henry Leighton, 2nd Officer

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 7 January 1886, Bridgeport, CT
• Became a mariner like his father and grandfather before him; his father was a harbour pilot.
• Had a college education at Wesleyan College.
• Married 27 July 1910, to Mary Ann Wilkins of New Haven, CT
• Two children: Sarah, a girl born 21 August 1911, very pretty and cheerful; Henry Jr, born 4 September 1913, who says he wants to follow in his father's footsteeps with a nautical career.

• Joined the Lighthouse Service just in time for it to be put under the Department of the Navy for the Great War. Served on the Anemone in the 2nd District.

• Transferred to the 9th District on the advice of his wife's Osteopath, who thought the frigid Northeastern weather was affecting her health.
• He thinks transferring caused him to miss career opportunities, but is confident he did the right thing in moving.
• Henry's family are living in San Juan. His children are doing well, and his wife's health and spirits seem to have improved some.
• Interested in science, particularly in geology and the ancient world.
• A Methodist like the rest of his family, but not especially religious.

Benjamin O'Hare, Seaman

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 27 July 1904, the Bronx, NY
• Son of an established Irish family whose ancestors immigrated during the potato famine.
• Third of five children, all boys.
• Got into trouble a lot as a kid, often playing elaborate pranks on schoolmates and neighbours.
• Taking courses with the International Correspondence School.

• Didn't take much to school, but does like to read, especially the pulp magazine Weird Tales.

• A practising Catholic.
• Has a girlfriend in San Juan, Consuela, who would like to be married but her parents don't like him.
• Plays the fiddle very well, but always by ear. (Rather than reading music.)
• A sharp dresser, he owns two fashionable suits.

Pedro González, First assistant lightkeeper

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 7 July 1897, Guaynabo, Puerto Rico
• Son of a good family, he had a reputation as a steady, reliable man.
• He has been at Navassa twice before, in 1920 and 1922, as third and second assistant respectively.
• His father owned a cobbler shop in Guaynabo, which his brother has inherited with the death of their father (of the Spanish Flu) in 1918.
• A Catholic.
• Fluent in Spanish and English.
• Had a good education at a parochial school.
• Married 10 December 1917.
• Three children with wife Teresa:
• 1 January 1919, Mario, a boy (died in infancy, due to a congenital defect).
• 14 July 1921 a boy born, Miguel, now aged 5, very excited about the ocean voyage
• 4 September 1923 another child born, Rosalia, a girl.

Teresa González, Wife of lightkeeper

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 19 November 1900, San Juan, Puerto Rico
• Fluent in Spanish and English, prefers Spanish.
• Psychologically resilient and rather wilful
• Collects pressed flowers
• A pious Catholic
• Married 10 December 1917.
• Three children with husband Pedro
• 1 January 1919, Mario, a boy (died in infancy, due to a congenital defect).
• 14 July 1921, Miguel, a boy born, now aged 5, very excited about the ocean voyage
• 4 September 1923 another child born, Rosalia, a girl
• Daughter of a customs house worker.

George Startup, 1st Assistant Engineer

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 18 September 1891, Youngstown, OH
• Middle name is not "Whywontthedamnengine," regardless of what you may have heard.
• The son of immigrants from Ayrshire, Scotland.
• Parents became prosperous farmers.
• Older brother, who had returned to the UK, died in the Great War at the Battle of the Somme.
• Fascinated with riverboats as a boy.
• Completed high school and a correspondence course for his engineering license.
• Worked on a packet riverboat on the Ohio River before joining the lighthouse service
• Served on an old sidewheeler lighthouse/buoy tender on the Western river system before being transferred to the 9th District
• Married 20 August 1913, his wife is in San Juan with their two daughters, Susan and Madeline.
• Daughter born 9 July 1913, Susan, tomboyish and once exploded a tea kettle after her father told her about steam engines. He is secretly proud.
• Daughter born 22 July 1915, Madeline, shy and bookish in contrast to her sister.
• Presbyterian.
• A teetotaller and a Progressive. Cast his first presidential ballot in 1912 for the Bull Moose Party.

Virgil Morgan, Fireman

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 3 February 1907, Georgetown County, South Carolina
• Grandfather was born in 1865, the year the Civil War ended.
• Father was a tenant farmer, as were two of his uncles.
• Literate and good with arithmetic.
• Virgil moved away from South Carolina to Philadelphia during the Great Migration. He worked in the war industries.
• Moved to Puerto Rico, desiring a change in scenery, and to avoid the racism that he found was still definitely an issue in the North.

• Answered a solicitation for crew in the lighthouse service when the Maga was delivered to the the 9th District.

• Promoted to Fireman from Coal Passer in recognition of his diligence.
• Hoping to work his way up further, he is studying engineering with the International Correspondence School. Mr. Startup supports him.
• Writes poetry, which is pretty good, but it rarely meets his own standards.
• Baptist, devout. Believes clean and sober living make a man a success.

Hans Reiten, Machinist

Some life events and facts:

• Born: 14 March 1882, Köln, Germany (the Rheinland)
• Son of a factory worker who immigrated to Boston when Hans was 5.
• Speaks English and German. Literate in both. German is his home language.
• A very skilled machinist.
• Interested in the latest technological developments, especially as they pertain to the lighthouse service, like the submarine bell and radio compass.

• Radio operator on the Maga, knows Morse code.

• Married 1901 to a German-American woman, Sophie, who died in the 1918 flu pandemic.
• Four children: Eldest son George (b. 1902) is studying at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Other children: Marie, b. 1904; Steven, b. 1907 (d. 1918 of pandemic flu), Willard (b. 1908).
• One granddaughter, Else (1925), by his daughter Marie Trimble (nee Reiten), who is married and lives in Rhode Island.
• Willard is graduating high school and may attend college as well, if the finances can be arranged.
• Maiden sister helped raise his kids after Sophie died.
• Smokes a meerschaum pipe.