The Old Pirate of Union Street

This story was first published in the March 2023 issue of Discover Downtown Brunswick, a publication of the Brunswick News printed in Brunswick, Georgia.  Written by Josh Dukes

This weekend, Jason and I took our niece and nephew (and their parents and grandparents) to Disney World.  Yes, I’ve talked about Disney World in this column before. I probably will again.  Sorry!  One of the kids’ favorite rides of the day happened to be mine as well – Pirates of the Caribbean.  While there were plenty of historic pirates wreaking havoc along Georgia’s coast, there was one Old Pirate who wasn’t really the plundering type – though he did get up to a bit of local mischief.

Captain F. D. M. Strachan
Image provided by Jan Galloway

Frank Duncan Macpherson Strachan (pronounced STRAWN) was born in Scotland in 1871. He arrived in Savannah in 1885 with his father, Frank G. Strachan.  Frank Sr. had established the Strachan Shipping Company in 1883.  As the turn of the century approached, Frank and his father built their fortune as brokers for ships hauling cotton and timber from Georgia to overseas markets. Strachan was also an experienced yachtsman and sharp businessman. A member of the New York Yacht Club, he won the prestigious Astor Cup and continued to sponsor the prize into the 1920s.

In 1898, Frank married Savannah native Mary Bernard Adams.  Strachan came to Brunswick as head of the Brunswick and Florida Steamboat Co. shortly after his marriage to Mary.  He soon took the helm at the Strachan Shipping Company after his father’s death in 1902.  As Brunswick’s new turn-of-the-century power broker, Strachan served on the boards of the Brunswick Bank and Trust and the Saint Simons Transit Company, which had a monopoly on ferry service to the island.  As business boomed, he became Brunswick’s first millionaire.

Strachan Mansion circa 1905 and now
Historic image provided by Jan Galloway

Strachan built a grand mansion at 822 Union Street in Brunswick in 1902.  Originally built as a massive wooden home with galleried porches, the home was remodeled in 1915 in a brick Edwardian style.  To really add a wow factor, Strachan imported a 15th century soapstone fireplace from a castle in Florence, Italy.  Much of the landscaping still present at the home, including the Heritage Camellias, dates to the time of the Strachan family.  The home also housed the family’s pet menagerie that included 27 dogs, a parrot, and a monkey named Koko.  A sea captain possessing a parrot and a monkey would be enough to give any gentleman an air of mystery, but it is Strachan’s antics on Saint Simons Island that likely earned him his nickname, “The Old Pirate.”

In 1910, Captain Strachan purchased the former Retreat Plantation property on the south end of Saint Simons Island and built an impressive summer cottage for his family.  Known as Beach Lawn, the 2-story home was part of Strachan’s beachfront compound that also included a detached kitchen, two servant buildings, a large cistern the children used as a swimming pool, and a two-story carriage house.  Local tradition has it that Strachan settled on this cottage plan after he was rejected for membership in the prestigious Jekyll Island Club. To taunt the other millionaires across the water, he instructed his servants to burn the house lights brightly every night to give the appearance that he was enjoying lively parties. The house also had two Spanish-American War cannons facing Jekyll Island – likely leftovers from the war fortifications that predated his home.  Legend claims that Strachan fired the cannons during cocktail hour each day as an act of defiance against his Jekyll adversaries.  During Prohibition, Strachan was arrested when the Coast Guard discovered 41 quarts of illegal whiskey on his private yacht, Roamer. The charges were later dismissed, but the legend of the Old Pirate was born.

Strachan Beach Cottage, aka Beach Lawn, circa 1915
Image by Charles Tait, photographer

On Christmas Day 1931, Strachan died suddenly of a heart attack in his Union Street home.  He was 60 years old.  It seems his widow and daughter soon relocated to Savannah, where Strachan’s son was already living at the time of his death. The younger Strachan continued to head the Strachan Shipping Company in Savannah until his retirement in the 1960s.

To make way for the new Butler Mews subdivision, Strachan’s 2-story beach cottage was placed on a barge in 1986 and moved to Daufuskie Island, SC where it stands today as the clubhouse to Haig Point. The remaining carriage house was placed on the National Register in 1997.  The Old Pirate’s home on Union Street still stands guard over the other stately homes of Old Town.