Finding aid for the Harry Van Stack Collection

Biography of Harry Van Stack

Harry Van Stack was born to missionary parents in Transvaal, Africa. During his life, he worked as a columnist, author, courthouse reporter, and lecturer. Much of his columnist work was for the Lewiston Journal (Maine) and the Sandusky Register-Star News. His own publications include Flames of Darkness, Adventures in South Africa, African Reminiscences, Echoes of Sessalong, and Life Aboard a Prison Ship. The last book is a compilation of Van Stack's experiences aboard the former British convict ship, the Success, where he lectured between 1925 and 1943. While lecturing in Lewiston, Maine, Van Stack met Louise Beaulieu, who worked as a school teacher. The two married and eventually settled in Sandusky. There, Van Stack wrote for the Register-Star News from 1945 to 1963, while his wife taught at the Monroe Elementary School.

The history of the Success is shrouded in myth, much of it probably generated during the first half of the nineteenth century in an effort to promote the ship's perilous past as a convict ship. Although records cannot verify it (except the pamphlets and announcements produced by the ship's owners), the story of the ship begins in 1790 with its construction in Burma. According to the story, the ship spent its first twelve years in the service of merchant trade. In 1802, the Australian government purchased the Success for use in a "felon fleet," an armada of ships that transported convicts from England to Australia. The ship was outfitted with cells, and spent the next 49 years carrying prisoners. After its tenure in the felon fleet, the ship became a floating museum, sailing from port to port with haunting stories about its past. The ship made its way to the Great Lakes, where it eventually sank.

The actual story of the Success is a little more tame. Its life can be divided into three major sections: early history in passenger and merchant service, 1840-1852; government service, 1852-1890; and exhibition and destruction, 1890-1946. The Cockerell and Co. of Calcutta built the ship in 1840 in Burma for use as a merchant ship in the Indian Ocean. Later, between 1847 and 1852, the ship transported emigrants from England to Australia. In 1852, the Australian government purchased the Success to use as a prison, and later for ammunition storage. From 1860 to 1869, the ship specifically held women and boys. It was never used to transport English convicts to Australia.

Alexander Phillips purchased the ship in 1890 and soon began using it for traveling exhibitions, crossing the Atlantic in 1912 to display the ship in various North American ports. He capitalized on the fascination demonstrated by the public in the ship's morbid history. It was probably around this time that the extensive myths about the ship's past began to appear. Phillips opened the ship's cells and presented various tools of punishment on the decks for the viewing public, like the "iron maiden." Most of the tools displayed were probably not actually used during the ship's prison days, but were used to attract attention and shock. It was during this time that Van Stack served aboard the Success as a speaker.

In 1943, the ship sank during a storm while moored in Sandusky. It was raised and towed to Port Clinton in 1945, where the then-owner lived. The owner stripped the ship for valuable items. Neglected, the ship burned to the waterline in 1946 under mysterious circumstances.

Scope and Content

The Harry Van Stack Collection includes materials related to Van Stack, his career, and his time aboard the Success when it was a traveling exhibit site. These items include Van Stack's writings and papers, including newspaper columns, books, and personal correspondence. There are also some articles and clippings with information about Van Stack. Finally, there is also a set of approximately 75 photographs taken by Van Stack during a voyage from Portland, Maine to Chicago for the 1933 World's Fair.

Statement of Arrangement

Indexing Terms

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Preferred Citation

Harry Van Stack Collection, Sandusky Library Archives Research Center