Captain Nathaniel Turner was an English colonist of New England in the seventeenth century. He was an early colonist of New Haven, Connecticut and served in the Pequot War. He disappeared aboard the Ghost ship of New Haven, as the ship was never seen again.
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Early life
Nathaniel Turner was born in 1595 in London, England and was trained as a merchant from a young age. He married Margaret Leachland in the 1620s and moved to New England in 1630 aboard the Arbella. He settled in Lynn, Massachusetts and quickly began taking civic and military roles in the community, such as Constable.
Later life and disappearance
In 1638, Turner joined the initial migration to New Haven Connecticut, led by John Davenport (minister) and Theophilus Eaton. He continued serving in civic and military roles, until his disappearance in 1646, when the ship he was aboard vanished, presumably lost at sea.
Legacy
His daughter Mary Turner married Captain Thomas Yale. His ships disappearance was told in the 1858 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow poem "The Phantom Ship".