John Ward Westcott (December 19, 1848 – August 17, 1913) was an American ship captain on the Great Lakes in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. He is noted for making and developing the first floating range lights and the first lightship for safe navigation in Lake St. Clair at the Detroit River. He was the youngest ship captain on the Great lakes. Westcott was a representative for steamship lines and developed a message delivery system between moving Great Lakes freighters on the Detroit River at the Michigan-Canadian border. That ultimately led to the only floating United States post office, and enabled United States Mail delivery to river vehicles 'on the fly' by addressing to the boat's name and the only floating postal zip code of 48222. The key technique was to row a small boat next to a large ship and transfer pieces of paper through a pail hoisted between the vessels. This technique advanced to a powered tugboat moving at the same speed as the large ship and more mail could then be transferred between them. This developed out further in the twenty-first century by specially designed supply boats to be able to transfer not only mail, but packages and supplies between the moving vessels. Early life and education Westcott was born in the village of Warnersville on Lime Island, Michigan, on December 19, 1848. He was the son of shipbuilder David H. Westcott and his wife Mary Jane (Ward) Westcott, sister to Captain Eber Brock Ward. His father was 25 and his mother was 22 at the time of his birth. He had four brothers George, Edward, Charles, and David and two sisters Mary Jane and Susie who lived to maturity. The family moved shortly after his birth from Lime Island to the village of Newport, near Detroit, Michigan. Westcott went to public schools and received a grade school education. In his preteen days he worked in his father's boat yard. At the age of 13, he became a cabin boy on the ship SS Forester. From this job he learned the operations of a ship steamer and worked his way up the various ship's duties as deckhand, steward, wheelsman, and mate. Westcott ultimately became a ship captain in 1868 at the age of twenty. When he received this promotion he was the youngest captain on the Great Lakes. He then sailed in ships his father