Joseph Raphael De Lamar

Joseph Raphael De Lamar (September 2, 1843 – December 1, 1918) was a prominent mine owner and operator in the western United States and Canada, as well as a financier and speculator, from the late 1870s until his death in 1918. Early life De Lamar was born in Amsterdam to Maximiliaan de la Mar (1814–1847) and Johanna Teune (1816–1867). His father, a banker in Amsterdam, died when Joseph had just turned four years old. In search of adventure, De Lamar stowed away aboard a Dutch vessel heading to the West Indies. When he was discovered, he was put to work without pay as assistant to the cook. De Lamar worked as a seaman until he was twenty, when he became master of a ship, and three years later received a captain's command. He visited many of the world's ports and acquired an education through his observations in foreign countries. He was attracted to underwater work, including salvage which was profitable owing to the American Civil War, so he abandoned the merchant service and became a contractor. He was headquartered at Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts, operating along the entire east coast to the West Indies. Maritime prosperity De Lamar received several contracts for raising sunken ships, and was very successful. In 1872 he raised the Charlotte, a transatlantic steamship that had foundered off the Bermudas loaded with Italian marble, and which had baffled the attempts of three previous wrecking companies. He nearly died at Martha's Vineyard, going down in a diving suit to examine personally the damage to the Steamer William Tibbitts, in which he was imprisoned for thirty-six hours. This led De Lamar to give up submarine work.