Abram Kean

Abram Kean (July 8, 1855 – May 18, 1945) was a sealing captain and politician from Flowers Island, Newfoundland. He was famous for his success in sealing, with capturing over a million pelts, and infamous for his role in sending 78 men to their deaths in the 1914 Newfoundland Sealing Disaster.

He embarked upon a career in the Newfoundland cod fishery at the age of 18 but quickly shifted his interests to the seal fishery in which he spent the vast majority of his marine career.

Kean was a very relevant part of The Commission of Enquiry report regarding the 1914 Sealing Disaster, which was submitted on February 27, 1915, to Hon. Justice Johnson in St. John's, Newfoundland.

In 1917, he was named skipper of the Royal Naval Reserve in St. John's by the British Emperor.

In the 1920s and 1930s, he ran in the Newfoundland general elections. Once elected he was subsequently appointed to the upper house of Newfoundland, which played a similar role as the Senate of Canada. Provided by Wikipedia