USA > Connecticut > New London County > New London > History of New London, Connecticut, From the First Survey of the Coast in 1612 to 1852 > Part 61
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The Dauphin, Capt. Laban Williams, sailed for the Brazil Banks, Sept. 6th, 1805, and arrived with her cargo, June 14th, 1806. Dr. Lee then bought the ship Leonidas, in New York, and fitted her also for whaling. Both ships sailed in August; Williams in the Leoni- das, and Alexander Douglas in the Dauphin.
The Dauphin arrived in April, 1807, full.
The Leonidas arrived in June, 1807, 1,050 barrels
In 1807, the ship Lydia was bought in New York, and put into the business. The three ships went to the coast of Patagonia.
The Lydia (Douglas) arrived June 9th, 1808-1,000 barrels.
The Dauphin (Sayre) arrived June 13th, 1808-900 barrels.
The Leonidas (Wm. Barnes) arrived June 23d, 1808-1,200 barrels.
The Leonidas left six of her crew on the uninhabited island of Trinidad ; they had landed for refreshment, and the weather becom- ing very boisterous, the wind blowing off from the island, and so con- tinuing for many days, the vessel sailed without them. In July, the schooner Experiment (S. P. Fitch) was sent to bring them away.
The Leonidas (Douglas) sailed again Aug. 31st, 1808.
The embargo, non-intercourse and war, following close upon each other from this period, entirely broke up this, as well as every other species of commerce.
The West India trade, which in former times had been the source of so much wealth and prosperity to the town, was never again ex- tensively revived. After the conclusion of peace, only a few vessels were engaged in that traffic, and every year diminished the number. The whale fishery seemed to offer itself to fill the void of this declin- ing trade.
In 1819, the whaling business was commenced anew by T. W. Williams and Daniel Deshon ; the first officers employed consisted principally of persons who had gained some experience in the former short period of the business between 1805 and 1808. The brig
54*
642
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Mary (James Davis) was sent out by Williams ; the brig Mary Ann (Inglis) and the ship Carrier (Alexander Douglas) by Deshon. The Mary came in the next season, June 7th, and brought the first results of the new enterprise. She was out ten months and twenty days, and brought in seven hundred and forty-four barrels of whale-oil, and seventy-eight of sperm. The Carrier brought nine hundred and twenty-eight barrels of whale ; the Mary Ann only fifty-nine.
In 1820, the brig Pizarro (Elias L. Coit) was added to the fleet, and in 1821, the brig Thames (Barnard) and the ship Commodore Perry (Davis.) The last named vessel was built in 1815, at East Greenwich, R. I., but coppered in New London, after she was enga- ged in the whaling business. It was the first time that this opera- tion was performed in the place ; and the Commodore Perry was the first copper-bottomed whaling vessel sent from the port. On her first voyage, she was out eight months and four days, and brought in 1,544 of whale, and eighty-one of sperm.
The Carrier, (O. Swain,) 340 tuns burden, was the first vessel from the port that went out on the long voyage for sperm whale. She sailed for the Pacific Ocean, Feb. 20th, 1821, and arrived July 12th, 1823, with 2,074 barrels. In November, 1821, sailed also for the Pacific, the new ship Stonington, (Ray,) built at Stonington, but sent from New London. In 1822, the ships Connecticut, Ann Maria and Jones, were added to the fleet, and in 1824, the Neptune. The four brigs and the ship Carrier, after making three and four voyages each, were withdrawn from the business ; and as no other vessels were added till 1827, at the commencement of that year, the whaling list of the port consisted of six ships only-three of them right whale and three sperm cruisers. Of these, five were fitted out by T. W. Williams ; and the Commodore Perry by N. and W. W. Billings, who were then just launching into the business, and who purchased, the same year, the Superior and the Phenix.
A fine ship, that has for many years braved the storms of ocean, can not be regarded with indifference. She has a history, which, if it could be written, would be full of interest. A few brief notes respect- ing the older ships belonging to the port, may therefore be accept- able.
The Commodore Perry made seventeen voyages, and the Stoning- ton thirteen. They both gave out, and were broken up in 1848.
The Connecticut was condemned in a foreign port in 1848; was sold, and is still afloat in the Pacific Ocean. The Ann Maria was run down by a French whaler in the Indian Ocean, in 1842.
643
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
The Jones made sixteen voyages, and was condemned in 1842.
The Neptune and Superior, two ships that belong to the whaling fleet of New London at the present time, (1852,) were both built in 1808. The Superior was built in Philadelphia, and purchased by N. and W. W. Billings in 1827 ; the Neptune in New Bedford, and purchased by T. W. Williams in 1824, for $1,650. She had just returned from an unsuccessful whaling voyage fitted out from New York, and being sixteen years old, the sum paid for her was consid- ered fully equal to her value. She sailed on her first voyage from New London, June 7th, 1824, has made eighteen voyages, and is now absent, (1852,) on her nineteenth, having been forty-four years afloat. She has been more than once during that period rebuilt, but has not lost her identity ; her keel, stern-post and some of her floor-timbers, belong to the original frame.
No other service admits of such rapid promotion as whaling. In 1821, Robert B. Smith went captain of the Mary. His experience in the business had been gained in two voyages only, but he proved to be one of the most successful and enterprising masters in the trade. He was the first to reach the amount of 2,000 barrels in one voyage, which he did in the Ann Maria in 1823, the second time that he went out commander. He was absent eight months and twenty-two days, and brought in 1,919, barrels of whale, and 145 of sperm. In his sixth voyage, he was unfortunately drowned in the Pacific Ocean, being drawn overboard by a whale, to which he had just made fast with his harpoon and line, Dec. 28th, 1828. Capt. Smith's four brothers pursued the same line of enterprise.
Capt. James Smith has made ten voyages as captain, and several of them have been eminently successful. In three successive voyages in the Columbia, made to the island of Desolation, from which he returned in 1840, 1842 and 1844, he brought in, each time, more than 4,000 barrels of oil.
Capt. Franklin Smith, another of the brothers, made the most suc- cessful series of voyages, to be found in the whaling annals of the port, and probably of the world! In seven voyages to the South Atlantic, in the employ of N. and W. W. Billings, and accomplished in seven successive years, from 1831 to 1837, inclusive-one in the Flora, one in the Julius Cesar, and five in the Tuscarora-he brought home 16,154 barrels of whale, 1,147 of sperm. This may be regarded as a brilliant exhibition of combined good fortune and skill. Two sub- sequent voyages made by him in the Chelsea, were also crowned with
644
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
signal success. These nine voyages were accomplished between June, 1830, and August, 1841.
Capt. John Rice was one of the crew of the brig Mary, in 1819, and sailed commander of the Pizarro, June 9th, 1822. He is still in the service, (1852,) in date of commission the oldest whaling cap- tain of the port.
The single voyage, that perhaps before any other merits special notice, is that of the Clematis, (Capt. Benjamin,) fitted out by Wil- liams and Barnes, and arriving. July 4th, 1841. She was out ten months and twenty-nine days; went round the world, and brought home 2,548 barrels oil. This voyage, when the time, the distance sailed, and the quantity of oil brought home are considered in connec- tion, merits to be ranked among remarkable achievements.
There is no associated line of business in which the profits are more equitably divided among those engaged in it, than in the whale fishery. The owners, agents, officers and crew are all partners in the voyage, and each has his proportionate share of the results. Its oper- ation, therefore, is to enlarge the means and multiply the comforts of the many, as well as to add to the wealth of the wealthy. The old West India trade, which preceded it, was destructive in a re- markable degree, to human life and health, and engendered habits of dissipation, turbulence, and reckless extravagance. The whaling business is a great advance upon this, not only as it regards life, but also in its relation to order, happiness and morality. The mass of the people, the public, have gained by the exchange. The improve- ments in the aspect of the city during the last twenty years, may be traced to the successful prosecution of the whale fishery.
In 1845, the whaling business reached its maximum : seven ves- sels were added that year to the fleet, which then consisted of seventy- one ships and barks, one brig, and five schooners. In January, 1846, the Mclellan, of 336 tuns, was purchased by Perkins and Smith, with the design of making an experiment in the Greenland fishery. This made the seventy-eighth vessel sailing from New London in pursuit of whales ; and ranked the place more than 1,000 tuns be- fore Nantucket in the trade. New Bedford was still far ahead, but no other port in the world stood between.
The Mclellan has made six voyages to Davis' Straits ; but the sea- sons have been peculiarly unfavorable, and she has met with little success. She is now absent (1852) on her seventh voyage.
Employed in the whale fishery from New London :
1820, one ship, three brigs-950 tuns.
645
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
1846, seventy-one ships and barks, one brig, six schooners-26,200 tuns ; capital embarked nearly two millions of dollars.
In 1847, the tide began to ebb; the trade had been extended be- yond what it would bear, and was followed by a depression of the market and a scarcity of whale. The fleet was that year reduced to fifty-nine ships and barks, one brig and six schooners : total, sixty- six ; tunnage, 22,625.
In 1850, about fifty vessels were employed, or 17,000 tuns, and the capital about $1,200,000.
In 1849 and 1850, twenty-five whaling captains abandoned the business, and went to California.
Value of imports from the whale fishery, as exhibited by the cus- tom-house returns : 1850-$618,055. 1851-$1,109,410.
A Table of Imports of Whale and Sperm Oil into the port of New London, from 1820 to 1851, inclusive.1
Year.
Ships and Barks.
Brigs.
Schooners and Sloops.
Barrels of Whale Oil.
Barrels of Sperm Oil.
1820
1
2
0
1,731
78
1821
0
3
0
2,323
105
1822
1
4
0
4,528
194
1823
4
2
0
6,712
2,318
1821
3
2
0
4,996
1,924
1825
4
0
0
5,483
2,276
1826
2
0
0
2,804
88.
1827
5
0
0
3,375
6,166
1828
3
0
0
5,435
168
1829
9
0
0
11,325
2,205
1830
14
0
0
15,24S
9,792
1831
14
0
0
19,402
5,487
1832
12
0
0
21,375
703
1833
17
0
0
22,395
8,503
1834
9
1
2
12,930
4,565
1835
13
1
0
14,041
11,866
1836
12
1
0
18,663
3,198
1837
17
0
1
26,774
8,469
1838
15
0
3
25,523
3,426
1839
15
1
2
26,278
4,094
1840
17
2
1
32,038
4,110
1841
15
1
2
26,893
3,920
1842
16
1
3
28,165
4,055
1843
20
0
0
34,677
3,598
1844
18
1
3
39,815
2,296
1845
21
0
0
52,576
1,411
1846
13
1
2
27,441
1,306
1847
35
0
2
76,287
4,765
1848
20
1
1
54,115
3,606
1549
17
0
3
38,030
1,949
150
17
0
0
36,545
1,603
1851
26
0
2
67,509
2,914
1 This table, and most of the statistics of the whale fishery since 1820, are taken from the Whaling Record of Henry P. Haven, which exhibits the date, length, and results of every whaling voyage made from New London since that period.
.
646
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Shortest voyage, ship Manchester Packet, 1832: seven months and nineteen days-(not including voyages of the Mclellan to Da- vis' Straits.)
Longest voyage, ship William C. Nye, arrived Feb. 10th, 1851 ; out fifty-seven months and eleven days.
Largest quantity of oil in one voyage, ship Robert Bowne, 1848; 4,850 barrels.
Largest quantity of whale-oil in one voyage, ship Atlantic, 1848 ; 4,720 barrels.
Largest quantity of sperm-oil, in one voyage, ship Phoenix, 1833; 2,971 barrels.
Largest quantity of oil imported in any one ship, ship Neptune, 27,845 whale, 2,710 sperm.
In 1847, the number of vessels employed from New London, in freighting, coasting and home fisheries was 171, viz., nine ships and barks, three brigs, fifty-six schooners, 103 sloops and smacks ; whole burden 12,300 tuns.1 The number of seamen employed in the whale fishery and domestic trade was about 3,000.
The year 1849 was distinguished by the general rush for Califor- nia; nineteen vessels sailed for that coast from New London, but of these one schooner was fitted in Norwich, and two or three others were in part made up from adjoining towns.
The statistics of the business with California for two years have been estimated as follows :2
Sent in 1849, four ships, three barks, twelve schooners ; 3,745 tuns. Passengers, 152; seamen, 186.
Value of goods ; merchandise, $3,228.
66
domestic products, $70,418.
domestic manufactures, $45,520.
Sent in 1850, one ship, one brig, three schooners ; 803 tuns.
Passengers, fifteen ; seamen, fifty-three.
Value of merchandise, $1,905.
domestic products, $19,598.
66 domestic manufactures, $10,524.
About fifty persons from New London went in steamers or vessels from other ports.3 The whole number that went from the place to
1 From statistics furnished the Harbor and River Convention, at Chicago, in De- cember, 1847, by T. W. Williams.
2 New London Democrat.
3 Nine or ten vessels sailed for California from Mystic.
647
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
California in those two years, as seamen and passengers, could not have been less than 450.
The whole value of vessels and cargoes, was supposed to be about $230,000.
Since 1850, the whaling business instead of continuing to retro- grade, has revived, and is again on the advance. Several fine ves- sels have been added to the fleet during the present year, (1852,) and among them the N. S. Perkins, (309 tuns,) a clipper ship, built in the port, and designed to unite the essential requisites of capacity, safety and speed. The whole number of whaling vessels now sailing from New London is fifty-five, that is, forty-nine ships and barks, one brig, and five schooners. The whaling merchants, with the number and description of vessels fitted out by each, are as follows:
Ships and Barks. Brig. Schooners.
Lyman Allyn,
1
Benjamin Brown's Sons,
.
4 1
1
J. Chester & F. Harris,
Frink & Prentis,
3
Thomas Fitch, 2d,
3
James M. Green,
1
Miner, Lawrence & Co.,
6
Perkins & Smith,
S
2
E. V. Stoddard,
2
3
Weaver, Rogers & Co.,
2
Williams & Barnes,
8
Williams & Haven,
·
10
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
Death of General Huntington .- Custom-house built,-Subsequent collectors .- Commercial memoranda .- Light-houses .- Ledges .- Fort Trumbull .- Steam navigation in the Sound .- Account of the steam-ship Savannah .- Newspa- pers .- Fire Companies .- Turnpike Companies .- Groton Ferry -Burial of the Walton family .- Remains of Commodore Rogers .-- Banks .-- Railroads and other associations .-- Cedar Grove Cemetery .-- Population .- List of Town- Clerks .-- Members of Congress .-- College graduates.
GENERAL JEDIDIAH HUNTINGTON, the first collector of the port under the federal government, resigned the office in 1815. He was an officer of the army of the Revolution, serving through the whole war, and after 1777, with the rank of Brigadier-general. At one period he was attached to the person and family of Washington as his aid, and was always regarded by the latter as a tried friend. When Gen. Huntington built his house in New London, he had it modeled, in some degree, after the plan of Mount Vernon, establish- ing a resemblance in the rooms, the portico, and the roof, in affec- tionate remembrance of that place.
The collector's office, during a portion of the term of Gen. Hun- tington, was more lucrative and involved a greater amount of busi- ness than at any other period since the foundation of the town. Be- fore the difficulties commenced which led to the second war with Great Britain, we are told that at least eighty coasters were owned in the river, principally at Norwich and New London, and that one hundred and fifty sail of merchant vessels cleared and entered at the port of New London. The receipts of the office were from $50,000, to $200,000, annually, of which the collector received $6,000 for his salary. The simplicity of Gen. Huntington's accommodations, com- pared with the amount of business and the value of the customs, is somewhat remarkable. He accomplished all the duties of his office in a single room over a store, at the corner of Bank Street and the
649
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
Parade, yet no one ever heard him utter a complaint respecting want of room, or inconvenience of situation. His immediate successors were not much better accommodated. But in 1833, the general government decided to build a custom-house. An eligible lot was procured in Bank Street, and an appropriate stone structure erected at a cost of nearly $30,000. This includes the lot, which was $3,400, and all subsequent appropriations. The plan was prepared by Rob- ert Mills, engineer and architect, in the employ of the government. The material is granite, mostly from the quarry at Millstone Point, but the front is of finer grain, and was quarried a few miles west of the city. The door has a peculiar value on account of its historical asso- ciations. It was once a part of the old frigate Constitution. When that vessel was broken up in New York, the portions that remained sound were reserved for special purposes in public works, and a plank was obtained to be used for the door of this custom-house.
General Thomas H. Cushing, the second collector, received the ap- pointment in 1815, and held it till his death, Oct. 19th, 1822. He was a native of Massachusetts, born in December, 1755, had served in the Revolutionary War, and in 1790 was in the army of St. Clair, holding at that time a captain's commission. In 1813, during the second war with Great Britain, he attained the rank of brigadier- general.
Captain Richard Law, a native of the town, was the third collector and held the office eight years.
4th. Ingoldsby W. Crawford, of Union, Ct., in office eight years.
5th. Charles F. Lester, of Norwich, in office four years.
6th. Wolcott Huntington, appointed in 1842, and held the office a year and a half, when C. F. Lester was reappointed, and continued in office till his decease, in March, 1846.
7th. Thomas Mussey, a native of Exeter, Maine, but a resident of New London since 1816-in office two years and a half.
8th. Nicoll Fosdick, a native of the town, appointed in Septem- ber, 1849, and still in office.
The following is an abstract of the duties received at the custom- house, during the first ten years of the present century-Norwich, · Stonington and Connecticut River included.
1801,
$78,478.
1806,
$214,940.
1802,
94,656.
1807,
201,838.
1803,
63,222.
1808,
98,107.
1804,
112,922,
1809,
58,417.
1805,
156,644.
1810,
22,343.
55
.
650
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
The district is now restricted to the river Thames, and the coast westward to Connecticut River. The whale ships pay but trifling duties, and from 1840 to 1845 inclusive, the amount of duties did not exceed $300. In 1846, it was upward of $800. In 1849, $38,653. In 1850, $8,815.
Foreign Commerce.
Vessels Entered.
Tuns.
Men.
Cleared.
Tuns.
Men.
In 1849, 31
9,091
646
29
7,917
648
In 1850,
23
7,171
553
30
8,058
635
In 1851, 28
9,610
806
27
9,134
525
Amount of Tunnage in the District of New London, 1850.
Registered,
23,149.69.
Enrolled,
12,474.89.
Temporary,
1,045.27.
Licensed,
992.92.
Total, 37,662.77
U. S. Steam Marine, District of New London, for 1850.
5,008 tuns, at 2,219 horse-power, employing 112 men. Transport- ing 73,083 passengers, at an average distance of 155 miles.1
The masters of the light-boats keep lists of all vessels that are seen to pass their stations. A statement of the number that passed Bart- lett's Reef, at different periods, will give some idea of the commerce of Long Island Sound.
1841. Ships, 162; brigs, 459; schooners, 4,906; sloops, 11,418 ; steamers, 1,168 : total, 18,113.
1847. Ships, 230; brigs, 672; schooners, 9,979 ; sloops, 13,750 ; steamers, 2,087 : total, 26,718.
1850. Ships, 142; brigs, 510 ; schooners, 9,124; sloops, 8,075; steamers, 3,116 : total, 20,967.
The total number passing Eel-grass Shoal, in 1850, was 17,697.
The collector of the port of New London, until within a few years past, was superintendent of all the light-houses of the state, but at present those west of Connecticut River are under the charge of the New Haven collector.
Those belonging to New London district are:
1st. West side of the harbor's mouth or entrance of the river Thames. . First built in 1760; rebuilt and assumed by the general government in 1800. The height of the tower is eighty feet.
1 These statements are furnished by H. T. Deering, deputy collector, from the cus- tom-house returns.
651
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
2d. Lynde Point, west side of the entrance to Connecticut River. First lighted August 17th, 1803; rebuilt 1839.
3d. Stonington Point ; established in 1823 ; rebuilt 1840.
4th. Morgan's Point, near Mystic, in Groton, 1831.
5th. Fisher's Island Hommock ; 1849. This light has red shades. Floating Lights .- 1st, light-boat on Bartlett's Reef; established in 1835 ; a new boat of 145 tuns, furnished in 1848.
2d. Light-boat on Eel-grass Shoal, in Fisher's Island Sound, to which the former boat on Bartlett's Reef was transferred in 1849.
Formerly the collector had a revenue cutter attached to his office, having the eastern part of the Sound to Montauk Point for its cruis- · ing ground, and keeping a watch upon Gardiner's Bay and Fisher's Island Sound. Capt. Elisha Hinman had command of this cutter for a number of years. The present Capt. Andrew Mather, of New London, was another of its commanders. It has been removed from the station within a few years past.
The most dangerous points in entering the harbor of New London, are Black Ledge and Race Point. Black Ledge has one foot of water at low tide on the shoalest part. Race Point is a long, low beach at the west end of Fisher's Island, surrounded with dangerous rocks, which extend into the water at some distance from the land. South-west from this point, with a ship channel between, is a single bold rock, upon which a spindle is erected, called Race Rock. This rock is a great impediment in the path of navigation, but the predic- tion may be uttered with confidence, that its removal will hereafter be accomplished. Standing alone, with deep water in its vicinity, it might be blasted away with less apparent difficulty than usually at- tends such operations.
On the north shore of Fisher's Island, east of Race Point, the steamer Atlantic was wrecked Nov. 27th, 1846. In this dreadful catastrophe, forty-two persons perished. The government has since purchased one of the Hommocks or islets of Fisher's Island, lying north-east of the rocks on which the Atlantic struck, and have erected upon it a light-house, furnished with a brilliant flame-colored light. Bartlett's Reef is three miles south-west of the harbor's mouth, in the track of vessels passing to and from New York. Here a light-boat is stationed.
Fort Trumbull is situated on a point of land that extends into the river from the west side, nearly a mile and a half north of the light- house, and two-thirds of a mile in a straight line from the center of the town. The present structure is the third that has stood upon the
652
HISTORY OF NEW LONDON.
spot. The old revolutionary fortress, built in 1775, was an irregular work, of comparatively small size; but standing high. on its muni- ment of rock, it had a gallant air of defiance, that concealed in a measure its defects. The old inhabitants of the town regarded this fort with a kind of hallowed affection. It was allowed to fall into decay, but this very neglect softened its features, and gave it a rural and picturesque appearance, pleasing to the eye of taste. In 1812, the old walls and battlements were entirely leveled, and the work re- constructed from its foundation. The portions retained of the former work were so inconsiderable, that it was considered a new fort. In a military point of view, it was far superior to the former structure, yet by no means a finished work. The surface had been imperfectly pre- pared, and the disheveled rocks that ran straggling about the i sth- mus, were much better adapted to cover and protect assailants than to defend the garrison.
This second fortification was demolished in 1839, the rugged ledges blasted away, and the site beautifully graded for the reception of the new fortress. The old original block-house of 1775, has however been retained through all changes, standing amid the magnificent walls and embankments of modern art, like a sepulcher in which the old forts lie entombed.
The present fort is constructed of granite, from the quarry at Mill- stone Point, and was ten years in building. The works were planned and executed from the commencement to the completion in 1849, by Capt. George W. Cullum of the U. S. Engineers. By his judicious management, the cost of construction was kept within the first esti- mate, viz., $250,000. It is allowed by all observers to be a beautiful structure ; simple, massive, and yet elegant in form and finish, a mag- nificent outpost to the town, and a fine object in the landscape.
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