The Life Of George Washington Readey • Part 1

Story and images courtesy of Lisa J. King 

Provincetown Town Crier George Washington Readey may have only been about five feet five inches tall, but he was bigger than life in this place he called his home port. After learning as much as I could about this memorable character, I wanted to tell his story to you. 

George’s biological father was named John Swarmsley, an immigrant who came from Burmingham, England, settling in Brooklyn, New York in the early 1800s. He was a ship’s mate on the frigate North Carolina for a stretch and made a trip to Boston where he met and married Rebecca Elwood, settling into domestic life near the Brooklyn Navy Yard. He was employed in one of the finest shipyards, building warships for his new homeland. I am sure that when Rebecca became pregnant, they were very excited to welcome their first child into the little family. On January 1st, 1832, baby boy Swarmsley made his entrance into the world, his home being close enough to the shipyard to be lulled to sleep or kept awake by the cacophony of that place. A few months after the birth, his father tragically fell from the yardarm of a square-rigger at the shipyard and died. His body was carried home to his young wife, but it was too much for her to bear. She gave up on this life and tragically went to meet her love on November 4th, 1832. At 11 months old, George was an orphan relying on the kindness of strangers to survive.  

Soon after his mother’s death, a man by the name of Nathaniel Readey had pity for this little lost soul and took the baby into his home, bestowing the name George Washington Readey on the infant. This would be the name he would use throughout his life. George stayed with Readey until he was five years old. In 1837 when Capt. George Little, master of the Provincetown schooner ELEMAR, took pity on the little lad and a deal was struck to assume the care of the child and taking him aboard his ship headed home where he would live with the captain’s family.  

From a young age, George had a restless spirit which yearned for the sea, distant shores, and adventure. So, it wasn’t surprising that in 1842, at the tender age of ten years old he left Provincetown, signing onto the ship YOUNG AMERICA with Capt. Cummings as a cabin boy and regularly traveling across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe and back delivering passengers, mail, and cargo. By the time George was fourteen years of age he was a skilled seaman, earning his keep sailing on the fully rigged packet ship  WIZARD KING. 

By the age of twenty-five, after fifteen years at sea, George Washington Readey secured his place as Quartermaster on the British ship JASON. This ship traveled to Antwerp, Wales, Australia, Egypt, and around the Cape of Good Hope to Bombay delivering its cargo and expanding George’s world far beyond the borders of Cape Cod. 

Part 2 coming soon …