George Washington Fraser was born on February 22, 1816 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. As a young man, he worked on board ships involved in the China trade, particularly the opium trade. In 1842 he became the skipper of the schooner Ariel. A year later he was transferred to the schooner Mazeppa; a few years later he became the first officer of the Sea Witch (clipper). Fraser became captain of the Sea Witch in 1850.

Fraser married Margaret Youle, the daughter of Adam Youle of New York City, on April 10, 1848. While Fraser was at sea, Margaret stayed with her parents, until August 1852 when she joined him at sea. Margaret died in 1854, and it is said that Fraser's grief made him irascible, a state that intensified. On June 5, 1855 he was found by his first mate dying in his bed from a crushed skull, supposedly from a blow by a marlin spike by an unknown person. The captain's body was taken to Rio de Janeiro where it was determined through an inquest that the captain was murdered. After the conclusion of the inquest, Fraser's body was returned to New York, where he was buried next to his wife in Greenwood Cemetery.

Fraser's first mate, Sulvanus M. Spencer, was arrested and tried in New York for the murder; he was found not guilty. The captain's murder was never solved. The Sea Witch was wrecked on a reef off of the coast of Cuba in 1856.