Charles R. Flint

Charles R. Flint was born in Maine, and was early drawn to the sea by his father Benjamin Flint Chapman, a partner in a shipbuilding company. He eventually moved with his family to Brooklyn, New York where, after attending school, he sought work.

As secretary for Jose Antonio Garcia y Garcia, the Minister of Peru to the United States, he helped buy and fit out three transports and two monitors (later christened the Atahualpa and the Manco Capac) (Flint, 1923) Captain Gilchrest escorted the monitors on their trip from New York to Peru in the steamship, the Maranon, arriving after many long sea miles at Callao in the fall of 1869. (Clayton, 1985)

Charles soon met and joined the firm of W.R. Grace, making two long trips to South America in 1874 and 1876. Assessing the value of various trade goods such as lard, canned goods, crackers, brooms, tobacco and nails, he identified Great Britain as a principal competitor. Charles grew to have a 25% interest in the W.R. Grace Company. This was later increased to 35%.

By 1879 he was serving as the Chilean consul in New York, still a partner in W.R. Grace and Co. (Flint, 1923) So when war came, he found himself on both sides of the war.

Resources:
Clayton, Lawrence. 1985. Grace: W.R. Grace & Co. The formative years 1850-1930. Ottawa, Illinois: Jameson. 403 pp.

Flint, Charles R. 1923. Memories of an active life: men and ships and sealing wax. Putnam. 349 pp.