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it the gamble of a lifetime...
It
happened when Josiah Knowles returned to San Francisco, after
a near record breaking voyage from England, and opened a letter
from Henry Sears a short time later. Put simply, Sears invited
him to amass a fortune - not as a Captain, but as the Pacific
agent for the entire company. And the terms were awesome,
promising the Captain fully one half of all gross receipts
received.
Josiah
Knowles accepted, but under one condition only: that if his
efforts didn't meet expectations, he would be allowed to return
to his beloved ship again.
But
he never had to return. In a short time he no longer commanded
one ship, but an entire fleet of ships sailing to all parts
of the world. Next his operations moved into whaling, first
by Josiah acting as agent for the giant New Bedford whaling
merchant William Lewis, then by his formation of the Pacific
Steam Whaling Company and Arctic Oil Works. Under his direct
supervision were the main offices, the whaling fleets and
the dock facilities in San Francisco.
He was here to
stay. In 1879 he bought a stately home in Oakland, and it
soon became a landmark in the Bay area. People would always
point it out to visitors, and proudly explain that this was
the home of ''the distinguished Captain Josiah Knowles and
his family.''
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