St. John's Cemetery Individual Record

[No Photo]Eugene E.  Captain Saunders

Eugene E. Captain Saunders
(December 11, 1845 -- April 3, 1913)

Section: 9
Space: 3
Lot: 2
Spouse: Harriet Nichols
Place of Birth: New England
Occupation: Maritime
Owner: W. H. Northup
Area: 1

Seaman; Fishing/Maritime Businessman Changed The Landscape and History of Pensacola

Eugene E. Saunders, was born Dec. 11, 1845, in a New England seacoast town and went to sea when he was a very young man. Later, he became a sea captain and his cargoes of fish and ice harvested from the lakes and rivers of New England were shipped to Florida and other distant ports. In 1868, he sailed his ship, the Fannie Fern, into Pensacola Bay, recognized a great opportunity and settled in Pensacola.

Saunders established a fish company and later invited fellow New Englander, Thomas E. Welles, to joint ownership (see accompanying article about T. E. Welles). He and Welles also developed an ice-making plant that produced 35 tons per day and allowed for cold storage of up to 100,000 pounds of fish. Saunders Fish Company shipped fish as far away as New York City, Omaha, and Baltimore. Pensacola became the � Red Snapper Capital of the World.� Pensacolians bought their fresh fish from the E. E. Saunders market on south Palafox Street, Warren Fish Company and directly from the ships. As a by-product of the fish business, Saunders and Welles established a fishmeal plant.

E. E. Saunders Fish Company flourished under Welles� direction, and Saunders was occupied with many other maritime related enterprises. For many years, he had a contract to remove ballast from cargo ships docked in Pensacola. When empty sailing ships came to town, their holds would be filled with large stones, chunks of granite and other materials to prevent the ships with tall masts from becoming top heavy. Millions of tons of rock, tile, sand and gravel were dumped near Deer Point, around the Quarantine Station and along the bay shore. Saunders then sold ballast material for use in building.

Many Pensacolians bought ballast for the foundations of their homes and for walls along the sidewalk, as in Plaza Ferdinand and numerous houses in North Hill. Among those were Saunders� house at 221 E. Jackson Street and his sister�s house on Gregory and Spring Streets. Ballast was used also to extend the land out from the natural shoreline in the Main Street area. Saunders utilized the ballast to build Palafox Street wharf of earth and stone outward from Main Street. Many of his businesses were located there.

Saunders developed a fleet of four or five oceangoing tugs, including the Juno, an 83.5-foot tug he had built in 1880. These tugs were used to tow from Pensacola all of the crossties used in Cuba�s railroad beds. Saunders� tugs also brought lumber from Millview on Perdido Bay to sawmills along Pensacola Bay and Escambia River. In 1894, he and Welles purchased a ship repair facility, the Gulf of Mexico Marine Railway Company, at Navy Cove on the Gulf Breeze Peninsula.

Saunders was a member of the group that established Pensacola Yacht Club and Pensacola Driving Association for horse racing; a racing course was built at Kupfrian�s Park. He also provided some of the financial backing to start the Pensacola Daily News.

On Jan. 13, 1875, Saunders married Harriet Nichols of New Jersey; they had no children. Captain Eugene E. Saunders, with limited formal education, sailed into Pensacola Bay shortly after the Civil War, saw a land of great opportunity, became a very astute, successful and wealthy businessman, and made important marks on the landscape of Pensacola as well as it�s history.

He died April 3, 1913 and is buried in St. John�s Historic Cemetery 1 North, Section 9, just across the road from the gravesite of his business partner, T. E. Welles.

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