Matthew Alexander Henson was thirteen years old and an orphan when he ran away to Baltimore. The year was 1879 and nobody paid any attention to a homeless little colored boy, wandering along the pier - nobody that is - except a weather beaten sea captain with smiling eyes and a gruff voice. His name was Captain Jonas Childs and he was the skipper of a merchant ship named Katie Hines. He took Henson under his wing giving him work as a cabin boy on the ship, treating him like a son and under his tutelage Henson became an able-bodied seaman.