Sailor Tom Sharkey

[mattdonnellon]

Yes, Tom loved telling "stories". He did however have several fights while still a sailor, many against other seamen.

[Marchegiano]

It's a pretty good story though. Tom might be my new favorite story teller.

[mattdonnellon]

Tom Sharkey was born in Hill Street, Dundalk, on November 26th , 1873, to James Sharkey and Margaret Kelly. He was to be one of ten children but would leave the town almost as soon as he was able. He regularly worked on the coal boats that crisscrossed from Dundalk to Scotland and Liverpool and developed a love of seafaring that would never leave him. When he was about thirteen he left school for good, to work on the local boats and later worked the long-distance steamers that travelled every corner of the sea.
Tall Tales of Tall Ships
Tom liked to tell a tall story more than most and this makes it hard to discern what was truth and what was fiction. He tells of beating up four older boys who attacked him at school when he was only nine. Various claims have him running away from home when ten, twelve or thirteen. He said that he went first to Calcutta, had been to every part of the globe. Four times he was ship-wrecked, once cast adrift with no water for four days. His ship got wedged in the ice and he had to work to free it in minus 64 degrees! He hunted Indians in the West Indies, worked the gold mines in Australia and…you get the gist.
He did eventually join the United States Navy in 1892 in New York, serving mainly aboard The Philadelphia which was stationed for the better part in Honolulu. He had a good career and rose to Master-At-Arms before his stint ended in 1895.
Bulldog Nature
While his stories were tall, Tom himself was not. He stood around five foot eight in his stockings and as such he was one of the smallest elite heavyweights ever, and elite he certainly was. During his prime career from 1894-1904, the generally accepted top eight heavyweight fighters in the world were Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, Joe Goddard, Joe Choynski, Peter Maher, Gus Ruhlin, Kid McCoy and Jim Jeffries. He fought them all and with great success. He defeated Corbett and Fitzsimmons, two world champions. He beat Choynski, McCoy, Ruhlin and Goddard. He drew with Maher in their great fight for the title of best Irish heavyweight but gained his eternal fame for his fights with the one he didn’t defeat, Jeffries.

In his two tilts at Big Jeff, he gave the all-time great champion his toughest fights before his ill-fated comeback to fight Jack Johnson six years after he retired. In their second, and title, fight Tom led on most people’s cards after twenty of the twenty-five rounds. The physical effort alone of giving thirty-two pounds and nearly six inches in height alone swung the fight in the champion’s favour.

Indeed, Sharkey had claimed the World Title after his controversial win over Fitzsimmons when Referee Wyatt Earp, the famous gunman, awarded the win on a foul to the sailor. More of that story anon. Sharkey was phenomenally well built with extraordinary muscle definition. His thick neck was mounted on a powerful barrel chest of forty-seven inches over a narrow waist, and his thighs were like proverbial tree trunks. His muscles stood out like steel cords on his back and neck and on that deep chest, he had his famous tattoo of a large ship and star.

For all these attributes it was his bulldog nature, his love of a scrap, tremendous courage, strength, fitness, toughness and punching power that brought him to the top of his profession.

Early Fights
Tom learned to box in rough-and-tumble fights on board ship and by 1893 was starting to amass some victories. One of these was over Jack Gardner for the Championship of the Navy. On January 27th he boxed three rounds on a benefit show for local-based fighter George Washington against a boxer named Lambert, the Honolulu Advertiser reporting that “Sharkey, who was the best boxer of the evening, had the match all his own way.” Others were quickly dismissed; the only hitch appears to be a fight with Washington, an experienced boxer who had then opened a club in Honolulu. Little is known of this affair except what appeared in the Daily Bulletin, on February 8th. “Geo. Washington, the coloured pugilist, knocked out Sharkey, a heavy-weight, in a set-to at a certain place last night. Gloves were used.” To add to the vaguenes,s the Hawaii Holomua reported Tom boxing a three-round exhibition with Langley on the same night. Tom in his reminiscences only remembers a later fight where he claims he rushed Washington off the stage.

Burley Opponent
He had his first opponent with a national reputation on May 24th, 1894, in Honolulu. Nick Burley, or by his real name, Nick Barrowich, had docked from the SS Australia and sought to add to his growing reputation. He had lost but one fight, that to Irishman Peter Maher the previous year when Nick tried to step up too fast and too high in class. Maher disposed of him in one. The Daily Bulletin Honolulu of May 25th gives us the Sharkey-Burley action.
“The first round was tame, Sharkey doing most of the leading, Barrowich remaining on the defensive. The second round witnessed some fierce exchanges. In the third round, Sharkey forced the battle and would have finished his opponent had he not been winded himself. Many thought this would be the final round. Barrowich recovered his wind in the fourth round and sailed forth with determined looks, but Sharkey evidently came to see the thing through. Although he was punished severely, he responded to every blow. The fifth round was of the give-and-take order, both finishing winded. The call of time saved Barrowich a defeat.”

“The sixth, seventh and eight were repetitions of the fifth round, Sharkey showed dogged perseverance and responded with blow for blow. It became evident to spectators that should the match continue much longer Barrowich would acknowledge defeat to the Philadelphia man. ”
“The ninth and final round, in the opinion of those present, was in favor of Sharkey, but the referee decided it a draw.”
The Bulletin of June 21st reported on a fight with Langley from HMS Champion. It was a close fight in general and was fought with four-ounce gloves. Two things made it notable as it was to display even at this early stage in his career, two of Tom’s greatest characteristics as a fighter, his disregard for the rules and his punch. “Third round. Sharkey again assumed the aggressive and nearly put his man to sleep. He became so excited that he disregarded the referee’s commands of “break away”. The Champion claimed a foul which was not allowed.”
Langley held his own in the next four rounds but then came the eight. “Both men sparred carefully, Sharkey found Langley off his guard, and giving him a right-hander, sent him to sleep.” Sharkey weighed 165 pounds, five less than his rival. They made them tough in those days; Sharkey boxed a three-round exhibition with Burley the next night.
No Sour G****s
The 4th of August saw Sharkey back in another fight against the decent, but heavily out-weighed, “Rough” Thompson. Hawaiian Gazette this time. “Sharkey of the “Philadelphia” and Thompson of the “Champion” fought a finish contest at Waikiki Saturday evening. Sharkey was the winner, in four rounds. In the third round, Sharkey struck his opponent while the latter was rising to his feet after a knock-down blow. The referee allowed a foul, but the Englishman was game enough not to claim it, and the fight went on. In the fourth round, Sharkey knocked his opponent out in short order. The fight was for a purse of $100.”
After the fight was over, Thompson bought a barrel of beer for the spectators!

California
Jack Marks and Sailor Brown were both blown away in the first round in the following two weeks in Vallejo before Tom’s learning curve continued with another fight in California in Vallejo. The Record Union: “Oct.21. A sparring match took place at Armory Hall in the presence of about 300 men between Matt Mulverhill of San Francisco and Tom Sharkey, ship’s corporal on board the United States steamship Philadelphia, who styles himself champion middleweight of the United States Navy and Hawaiian Islands. The match was for $250 a-side. Both men showed up well, but there was great difference in size and weight, Sharkey weighing 185 pounds, and Mulverhill 150. Twenty rounds were fought, in the last round. Mulverhill was knocked down and counted out. It was a rattling fight from beginning to end. Five-ounce gloves were used.”

Footballer
Tom appears to have been an excellent footballer, handballer and also a runner. He contented himself in early 1895 in playing for the Philadelphia against local teams and other ships, usually in a starring role. In May, Tom played a different role on board his ship. The Hawaiian Star, May 16th, 1895, recounts this unusual story about a shipmate P. Dunn who apparently took mentally unwell. “Dunn was just on the edge and about to drop over into the bay when he was caught by Sharkey, the pugilist, who saved the man by tackling low. Dunn was at once put into bed, in the charge of the ship’s physicians.”

[Ivich]

Tom Sharkey was born in Hill Street, Dundalk, on November 26th , 1873, to James Sharkey and Margaret Kelly. He was to be one of ten children but would leave the town almost as soon as he was able. He regularly worked on the coal boats that crisscrossed from Dundalk to Scotland and Liverpool and developed a love of seafaring that would never leave him. When he was about thirteen he left school for good, to work on the local boats and later worked the long-distance steamers that travelled every corner of the sea.
Tall Tales of Tall Ships
Tom liked to tell a tall story more than most and this makes it hard to discern what was truth and what was fiction. He tells of beating up four older boys who attacked him at school when he was only nine. Various claims have him running away from home when ten, twelve or thirteen. He said that he went first to Calcutta, had been to every part of the globe. Four times he was ship-wrecked, once cast adrift with no water for four days. His ship got wedged in the ice and he had to work to free it in minus 64 degrees! He hunted Indians in the West Indies, worked the gold mines in Australia and…you get the gist.
He did eventually join the United States Navy in 1892 in New York, serving mainly aboard The Philadelphia which was stationed for the better part in Honolulu. He had a good career and rose to Master-At-Arms before his stint ended in 1895.
Bulldog Nature
While his stories were tall, Tom himself was not. He stood around five foot eight in his stockings and as such he was one of the smallest elite heavyweights ever, and elite he certainly was. During his prime career from 1894-1904, the generally accepted top eight heavyweight fighters in the world were Jim Corbett, Bob Fitzsimmons, Joe Goddard, Joe Choynski, Peter Maher, Gus Ruhlin, Kid McCoy and Jim Jeffries. He fought them all and with great success. He defeated Corbett and Fitzsimmons, two world champions. He beat Choynski, McCoy, Ruhlin and Goddard. He drew with Maher in their great fight for the title of best Irish heavyweight but gained his eternal fame for his fights with the one he didn’t defeat, Jeffries.

In his two tilts at Big Jeff, he gave the all-time great champion his toughest fights before his ill-fated comeback to fight Jack Johnson six years after he retired. In their second, and title, fight Tom led on most people’s cards after twenty of the twenty-five rounds. The physical effort alone of giving thirty-two pounds and nearly six inches in height alone swung the fight in the champion’s favour.

Indeed, Sharkey had claimed the World Title after his controversial win over Fitzsimmons when Referee Wyatt Earp, the famous gunman, awarded the win on a foul to the sailor. More of that story anon. Sharkey was phenomenally well built with extraordinary muscle definition. His thick neck was mounted on a powerful barrel chest of forty-seven inches over a narrow waist, and his thighs were like proverbial tree trunks. His muscles stood out like steel cords on his back and neck and on that deep chest, he had his famous tattoo of a large ship and star.

For all these attributes it was his bulldog nature, his love of a scrap, tremendous courage, strength, fitness, toughness and punching power that brought him to the top of his profession.

Early Fights
Tom learned to box in rough-and-tumble fights on board ship and by 1893 was starting to amass some victories. One of these was over Jack Gardner for the Championship of the Navy. On January 27th he boxed three rounds on a benefit show for local-based fighter George Washington against a boxer named Lambert, the Honolulu Advertiser reporting that “Sharkey, who was the best boxer of the evening, had the match all his own way.” Others were quickly dismissed; the only hitch appears to be a fight with Washington, an experienced boxer who had then opened a club in Honolulu. Little is known of this affair except what appeared in the Daily Bulletin, on February 8th. “Geo. Washington, the coloured pugilist, knocked out Sharkey, a heavy-weight, in a set-to at a certain place last night. Gloves were used.” To add to the vaguenes,s the Hawaii Holomua reported Tom boxing a three-round exhibition with Langley on the same night. Tom in his reminiscences only remembers a later fight where he claims he rushed Washington off the stage.

Burley Opponent
He had his first opponent with a national reputation on May 24th, 1894, in Honolulu. Nick Burley, or by his real name, Nick Barrowich, had docked from the SS Australia and sought to add to his growing reputation. He had lost but one fight, that to Irishman Peter Maher the previous year when Nick tried to step up too fast and too high in class. Maher disposed of him in one. The Daily Bulletin Honolulu of May 25th gives us the Sharkey-Burley action.
“The first round was tame, Sharkey doing most of the leading, Barrowich remaining on the defensive. The second round witnessed some fierce exchanges. In the third round, Sharkey forced the battle and would have finished his opponent had he not been winded himself. Many thought this would be the final round. Barrowich recovered his wind in the fourth round and sailed forth with determined looks, but Sharkey evidently came to see the thing through. Although he was punished severely, he responded to every blow. The fifth round was of the give-and-take order, both finishing winded. The call of time saved Barrowich a defeat.”

“The sixth, seventh and eight were repetitions of the fifth round, Sharkey showed dogged perseverance and responded with blow for blow. It became evident to spectators that should the match continue much longer Barrowich would acknowledge defeat to the Philadelphia man. ”
“The ninth and final round, in the opinion of those present, was in favor of Sharkey, but the referee decided it a draw.”
The Bulletin of June 21st reported on a fight with Langley from HMS Champion. It was a close fight in general and was fought with four-ounce gloves. Two things made it notable as it was to display even at this early stage in his career, two of Tom’s greatest characteristics as a fighter, his disregard for the rules and his punch. “Third round. Sharkey again assumed the aggressive and nearly put his man to sleep. He became so excited that he disregarded the referee’s commands of “break away”. The Champion claimed a foul which was not allowed.”
Langley held his own in the next four rounds but then came the eight. “Both men sparred carefully, Sharkey found Langley off his guard, and giving him a right-hander, sent him to sleep.” Sharkey weighed 165 pounds, five less than his rival. They made them tough in those days; Sharkey boxed a three-round exhibition with Burley the next night.
No Sour G****s
The 4th of August saw Sharkey back in another fight against the decent, but heavily out-weighed, “Rough” Thompson. Hawaiian Gazette this time. “Sharkey of the “Philadelphia” and Thompson of the “Champion” fought a finish contest at Waikiki Saturday evening. Sharkey was the winner, in four rounds. In the third round, Sharkey struck his opponent while the latter was rising to his feet after a knock-down blow. The referee allowed a foul, but the Englishman was game enough not to claim it, and the fight went on. In the fourth round, Sharkey knocked his opponent out in short order. The fight was for a purse of $100.”
After the fight was over, Thompson bought a barrel of beer for the spectators!

California
Jack Marks and Sailor Brown were both blown away in the first round in the following two weeks in Vallejo before Tom’s learning curve continued with another fight in California in Vallejo. The Record Union: “Oct.21. A sparring match took place at Armory Hall in the presence of about 300 men between Matt Mulverhill of San Francisco and Tom Sharkey, ship’s corporal on board the United States steamship Philadelphia, who styles himself champion middleweight of the United States Navy and Hawaiian Islands. The match was for $250 a-side. Both men showed up well, but there was great difference in size and weight, Sharkey weighing 185 pounds, and Mulverhill 150. Twenty rounds were fought, in the last round. Mulverhill was knocked down and counted out. It was a rattling fight from beginning to end. Five-ounce gloves were used.”

Footballer
Tom appears to have been an excellent footballer, handballer and also a runner. He contented himself in early 1895 in playing for the Philadelphia against local teams and other ships, usually in a starring role. In May, Tom played a different role on board his ship. The Hawaiian Star, May 16th, 1895, recounts this unusual story about a shipmate P. Dunn who apparently took mentally unwell. “Dunn was just on the edge and about to drop over into the bay when he was caught by Sharkey, the pugilist, who saved the man by tackling low. Dunn was at once put into bed, in the charge of the ship’s physicians.”

Good Stuff Matt!

[JAB5239]

Some good information and perspective here.

[kara]

Some good information and perspective here.

Agree with this.