John Pirie

John Pirie was a Londoner born in 1829. In 1843 he became an apprentice to Robert Anderson, a ship owner in Aberdeen, for four years. Thereafter he sailed the world as a ship's officer until given the Parisian as his first command in 1860. The Parisian was sold in 1863 and Pirie became available to Captain the Walter Hood. He was Captain of the Walter Hood, which sailed from London to Sydney, until his death in 1867. He died on board the ship in London suffering from Tuberculosis. He was buried in Nellfield Cemetery Aberdeen.