THE ODYSSEY OF CAPTAIN HEALY profiles the life of one of the most famous men on the Pacific Coast during the 19th century. As captain of a U.S. Marine Revenue cutter, Captain Michael Healy stood for law and order along the treacherous 30,000-mile coast of the Alaska territory. From San Francisco's Barbary Coast to the Arctic, sailors swapped stories of "Hell-Roaring Mike Healy." The man who skippered the U.S. cutter called Bear from 1886 to 1896 kept a closely guarded secret: He was the son of an African-American slave. Using 19th- century footage of old San Francisco, and interviews with longshoremen and historians, the film tells the dramatic tale of a fascinating man who was haunted by demons and, in the end, charted a destructive life course that ended with a heart attack in 1905.
Length: 57 minutes
© 2013 KLRU-TV