USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Ships of Kingston. : "Good-bye, fare ye well" > Part 1
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
Good-bye, Fare Ye Well'
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
M. L.
Gc 974.402 K57 j 1993080
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00085 1649
REF.
MAR 17 '78
2.
SHIP Herculean OF KINGSTON, BENJAMIN COOK, MASTER, ENTERING LIVERPOOL, 1840
SHIPS OF KINGSTON
"Good-bye, Fare Ye Well" BY HENRY M. JONES
ABBY
THE MEMORIAL PRESS OF PLYMOUTH, MASSACHUSETTS MCMXXVI
Copyright 1926 by EDITH L. HOLMES, Trustee
1993080
"One Bell"
I WISH to return my thanks to all who have assisted me in the preparation of this book. As a record, its value has been increased by those who have allowed photographs to be taken of their pictures of Kingston vessels, and also of the men who built or commanded them.
June, 1926.
HENRY M. JONES.
Mr. Jones died June 10, 1926, two weeks after he appointed a trustee to publish his work.
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O many years have elapsed since vessels were built or owned in Kingston on Jones River and in Rocky Nook, that on undertaking to write an account of these vessels it was soon found that very little information could be obtained about an industry that had its beginning before the incorporation of the town in 1726 and continued until 1887 when the last vessel, the schooner Mary Baker, owned by Edward Holmes, was sold, although during most of this time shipbuilding was the largest and most profitable business that the town has ever had. Nothing is now left to show where the vessels were once built and discharged their cargoes except a few old wharves, fast falling to pieces, and where once it was a common sight at high water for vessels to be seen coming and going to sea, the river is now deserted, the only navigation, a few small boats and launches. In place of the busy ship- yards which once gave employment to many men are two boat-building yards, one owned by the heirs of Captain Edward A. Ransom on the site of the old Bartlett shipyard, and the other by George W. Shiverick just below the shipyard last used by Edward Holmes.
In connection with the list of vessels built and owned in Kingston I have received most valuable assistance from my wife, Abby B. Jones, daughter of Edward Holmes, concerning the voyages made by vessels owned by the Holmes family, and also from Mr. Alexander Holmes, especially in regard to the ownership of the strip of land on the westerly bank of Jones River, called the Landing, and from Mr. Thomas W. Bailey as to plans of this property at different periods.
Two hundred and seventy-six vessels with a total tonnage of about 34,000 tons have been built and launched into Jones River at the Landing since the Revolution. These vessels include sloops, pinks, schooners, brigs, barks and ships. The Drews, Bartletts, Severs, Eversons and Holmes appear on the records as builders of these vessels, although not all of them were owners of the land where they were built. A few records of vessels built before the Revolution are in existence and perhaps the number given above might be substantially increased from this source, but as these earlier vessels must have been comparatively small, the total tonnage would not be increased in proportion. The following brief description of the descent of the land upon which these vessels were built may be of some interest to those who wish to trace a bygone industry of Kingston.
The term "Landing" has been applied from the time of the earliest records to that strip of land bordering the Jones River from a point near its junction with Stony Brook up stream, to a point some few rods above the present Poor House. This strip was distinguished from the Landing place on Stony Brook used by the Governor William Bradford family by the use of its full name, The Jones River Landing Place, and was the only place on the river within the town limits where the upland came sufficiently near the natural bed of the stream to allow of the full use of the tide waters without the construction of causeways. The Land- ing originally was a portion of Major John Bradford's farm, and was bequeathed by him to his son William in 1713 in the following words, "A certain piece of my homestead where I now dwell in Plymouth aforesaid being by estimation about five acres. Bounded at the Southerly end by the land of Elisha Stetson, on the Northerly end by my salt meadow, Easterly bounded by Jones River and to extend six poles from the River, the whole length of said strip or piece of land, always allowing and reserving to my other two sons John Bradford and Samuel Bradford and their respective heirs forever, free liberty of Egress and Regress to and from said Jones River over said strip of land with the privilege of landing or laying any lumber or goods on the same convenient room for the same." Major Bradford had previously given a right to pass and repass to the Landing Place to Francis Cooke who lived near the Great Bridge, and perhaps to others. The cartway to the Landing came down to the river's edge at a point near the present railroad bridge and at this point the
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
DOWER SET OFF TO
PARTRIDGE
6 Rods
ELIPHALET
14 Rods
Il Rods
2/ Rods
HANNAH
JAMES
JAMES
JARULE
JAMES
NANNAN
ELIPHALET
SAMUEL
ZADOCK 6
WILLIAM 6
ZADOCK
WILLIAMS
SAMUEL
JONES
Plan of THE LANDING PLACE in the Town of Kingston showing the WILLIAM BRADFORD DIVISION in 1756
843210
5
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SCALE
of RODS.
first wharf was probably built. The fact that so many persons acquired right-of-way and privileges of landing goods here seems to be the only basis to the claims sometimes heard at the present time that there is a public landing place still in existence at this point. An interesting item in the deed of Francis Cooke, before mentioned, is the stipulation of the payment of a fee for the opening of the drawbridge, referring to the bridge over the Jones River near the old fish wharf.
William Bradford, who died in 1737, left a widow and six children. The Landing property seems to have been used in common by these heirs or their assigns until 1756, when a divi- sion of the whole strip was made, the widow getting a portion of the wharf. Zadock, William and Eliphalet the northerly portions, and James, Hannah and Samuel the southerly or up- stream portions. As a matter of fact, the heirs had disposed of their title in the Landing some ten years before the division so that Samuel Foster appears as owner of the lower end in 1745, John Brewster all of the upper portions in 1742, and Seth Chipman of the middle portion, where the original wharf was located. The dower of the widow was divided in 1785. The Chipman share of the Landing has come down with fewer changes of ownership than any other portion, having been sold to Cornelius Sampson and held in the Sampson family until bought by the Old Colony Railroad Company, which company sold to Mr. Joseph Holmes such portions as were not necessary for the building of its tracks. There is no record to show that this portion of the Landing was ever used as a building yard.
The lower or down-stream end of the Landing was probably used at first for a wharf by Samuel Foster and by his son Robert, who is mentioned in 1765 as having lately built a new wharf thereon.
Samuel Foster sold in this year the lowermost wharf to Benjamin Walker, Shipwright, and it then descended by various deeds through Elisha Brewster and Stephen Drew, to Joseph Holmes in 1810. It probably was used as a building yard by all of these owners. The other half of the wharf was not included in Samuel Foster's first deed and came down through his son Robert's heirs to Joseph Holmes in 1827, and was known by the name of Foster's Wharf, and was probably the central wharf below the railroad bridge. It was on these two wharves that all of Joseph Holmes' shipbuilding operations were carried on, and was all the land Mr. Holmes owned on the river front previous to the building of the rail- road, with the exception of a small parcel just south of the present railroad bridge, which he purchased of the heirs of Caleb Bates in 1823.
William Sever appears to be the first purchaser of a share of the upper portion of the Landing which John Brewster purchased in 1742 and which included all of the land once
JAMES
FIRST WHARF
RIVER
HANNAH PAR .4756 DIVIDED 1705
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
owned by Captain N. B. Watson and now by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom, Major George F. Sever, Mr. Verdelli and the Town of Kingston. The Severs' share, which included the land now owned by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, was held in the Sever family until 1846, and there is some evidence to show that vessels were built here. It is said that the Water Snake, built in 1813, now lies buried in the sand just to the south of Dr. Holmes' boat- house. In 1773 William Drew, the grandson of Samuel Drew, who came to Kingston in 1713, and whose family had been building vessels at the Landing ever since that time, purchased all of the Landing between the Severs' share and the present Poor House lot. It was on this portion of the Landing that the Drew's shipyard and afterward the Lysander Bartlett (father and son) building yards were situated. The Bartletts' vessels were built at a point near the present boatshop of the heirs of Captain Edward A. Ransom, but the Drews' first yard was further up the stream near the Poor House. This upper yard, probably the oldest on the Landing, had been temporarily abandoned in 1772 as appears from a deed of that date describing the present bounds of the Poor House lot, which mentions a stone in a valley where was formerly a building yard. This upper yard was again used, from 1839 to 1854, by Alexander Holmes who built and launched here ten vessels.
Alexander Holmes, the eldest of the sons of Joseph Holmes, leased of John Drew the old building yard of the Drews and engaged Nathaniel D. Drew to superintend, as master carpenter, the building of his vessels. Very little is known about their voyages as they were sold soon after launching and on becoming president of the Old Colony Railroad Mr. Holmes gave up the business of building and owning vessels altogether.
The Reverend Zephaniah Willis, sometimes called Parson Willis, the minister of the town and the First Congregational Parish from 1780 to 1828, wrote, February 14, 1815, what he called "A Sketch of Kingston," with a description of the Landing, of which the following is a copy :
The Landing Place is on the bank of Jones River a little more than a mile from the mouth of the river. At low water there is only the natural stream at the wharf where the tide rises from eight to twelve feet. The Landing is the only place where shipbuilding is carried on. The water is not sufficient for carrying out vessels exceeding 400 tons and few of that size have been built there. Ship timber is nearly exhausted in Kingston and is brought from Middleboro, Halifax and the back towns. At Rocky Nook in the S. W.
corner of the town is a wharf and the most convenient place for the business of navigation, it being of more easy access than the river, and has lately been more used. The fishing till the war was in latter years wholly carried on from this place. Formerly fish were cured at Sunderland, so called, on Jones River one mile from the sea. Before the Revolutionary War the fishing was more extensive than since. About 20 schooners were owned in the town. At the declaration of peace at the close of the second war with Britain the navigation
DREW
JAMPSON
WILLIAM
CORNELIUS
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FOSTER
STEPHEN DREW
WM
SAMPSON
SEVER ! DREW
WILLIAM
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ZENAS DREW
FOSTER LAND!
RIVER
VONES
Plan of THE LANDING PLACE in the Town of Kingston showing PROBABLE OWNERSHIP in 1800
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JCALE
OF RODS
DREW!
WAT
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LYSANDER BARTLETT!
DREW
WHARF
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
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PLAN OF THE LANDING AT KINGSTON, MASS., IN 1818
owned in Kingston was as follows: At the Landing 3 sloops 150 tons and I brig 160 tons. At Rocky Nook 6 schooners 445 tons and 2 brigs 256 tons. Between the Revolutionary War and the war now terminated
there have been built in this town upon an average 250 tons of shipping annually. About 60 men have been annually employed in seafaring business and 30 in shipbuilding.
The Poor House lot was purchased by Zenas Drew in 1772 from Samuel Foster and in- cluded a portion of the original Landing. Still further up stream was another share originally set off to the heirs of Samuel Bradford in the division of 1756, described as extending to the land of Elisha Stetson. The southerly bound of this share was probably the corner of the wall still in existence at the river bank. It does not appear that these two upper shares were ever used as building yards.
The first record of vessels built in Kingston that can be found is in Thomas B. Drew's historical sketch of Kingston, given in 1876 on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, and in a history of Kingston written by him for the Plymouth County Atlas, published in 1884. In these accounts he says that Caleb Stetson had a building yard previous to 1714 at the Stony Brook Landing Place, which was on the north side of Stony Brook just above the mouth of Tussock Brook. The Landing Place, near the house built by Governor William Bradford, was probably the first one used by the early settlers here, continuing to be used until 1776.
In 1713 Samuel Drew with his eldest son, Cornelius, who was born in 1702, came to Kingston from Duxbury. He was a shipwright and he and his descendants continued in the business as builders and shipwrights as long as vessels were built and owned in Kingston. He lived at what was then called the Kingston Landing in the lower front part of the house formerly occupied by Wiswell S. Stetson and now owned by Mr. Candini. Cornelius A. Bartlett in his history of the Drew family says: "Here all their family was born. The ship-
4
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11
SHIPS OF KINGSTON
yard where he and his sons built was in the valley near the line of the Alms-House lot launching many vessels across the river." Cornelius Drew had six sons, William, James, Zenas, Cornelius, Seth and Abijah, all shipwrights who carried on the business in Kingston as owners and builders of vessels, probably in the yard where Cornelius and his father first built. Mr. Bartlett says these sons built the brig Independence, 16 guns, in 1776, and the ship Mars, 20 guns, in 1778, both for the Provincial Government of Massachusetts. Mr. John Drew, called Uncle John, a son of Abijah, said they were built near where the Alms House now stands, having been told so by men who worked on them when they were build- ing. It was not until 1773 that any of the Drews appear to have owned any land where their shipyards were, when William Drew, son of Cornelius, bought the land they were then using, having previously leased the land of the different owners, as was done by the Bartletts and Alexander Holmes. James Drew, the second son of Cornelius, lived in the house now owned by Miss Alice E. Thorp. He was called Master Jimmie and was considered the best shipbuilder of all his family.
From 1784 to 1789 Major Seth Drew was building on his own account, and in 1785 Stephen Drew appears as owning the northerly part of the Joseph Holmes shipyard, which was sold to him in 1806. After 1826, when Stephen Drew built a brig for Benjamin Delano, none of the Drews are on record as builders of any vessels, although they were probably employed in the other yards until 1839, when Nathaniel D. Drew, a grandson of Abijah, was the designer and master carpenter for Alexander Holmes, who that year commenced building vessels in the old Drew shipyard north of the Alms House and then owned by his Uncle John Drew. He continued with Mr. Holmes until he ceased building in 1854. In 1855 Nathaniel D. Drew went to Buffalo, N. Y., and built several vessels, but after a few years returned and entered the employ of Joseph Holmes, remaining with him and his son Edward until the last vessel was built in the Holmes' yard. Spencer Drew, a relative of Nathaniel, appears as the master carpenter in the Plymouth Custom House Records in the building of this vessel, the brig Helen A. Holmes, and we find that the Drews have been continuously connected with the shipbuilding industry of Kingston since the arrival of Samuel Drew in 1713, a period of 161 years. On the Records in the Plymouth Custom House, Lysander Bartlett's name is given as a builder and part owner of the sloop Harmony in 1804. He, together with his son, Lysander junior, occupied a shipyard on land then owned by the Drews and now owned by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom and Major George F. Sever. Here they built many vessels, some of them ships of large size for the time. They built for the Severs, Delanos, Winsors, Joseph Holmes, all of Kingston, and others, and the last work done in their yard of which there is any record was in 1854 when the schooner Cordova, Benjamin Delano and son owners, was retopped. Close to the north end of Major Sever's boathouse was an old well, now filled up. Northeast and near the Alms House, not far from the river where the old Drew shipyard was, is another well always called the potash well on account of the softness of its water. These two wells mark the location of these two
JOSEPH SAMPSON
T. A BEAL
TRBEAL
JOHN DREW
DREW L
WATH'LE
L. BARTLETT STETSON
IN SALLY DREWES
JOSEPH HOLMES BunNing Yard . Lot hart
"Shore Line
Salt Marsh
whand
JOHN DREW Building Yard
SEVER !HOLMES,
JONES
FOSTER LAND
KINGSTON POOR
ALEXANDER HOLMES
RIVER
Salt Marsh
HOUSE
JONES
RIVER
E3 HOUSE
Plan of THE LANDING ROAD
DUXBURY
WILLIAM STETSON
in the Town of Kingston From the Duxbury Line to Wm. Stetsons. From an old plan made by John Gray April 9 1836
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SCALE OF ROOS
------
ELISHA STETSOM
JAMES JOSEPH! JOSEPH SAMPSON ,
HIGHWAY TO PLYHA
ELISHA STETSON
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
yards. There are also the remains of the two old wharves, one where the Drews built on land now owned by Mr. Verdelli, and the other where the Bartletts built on land now owned by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom. Below, and just above the railroad bridge on the same side of the river as the wharves just described, the timbers of a wharf where the first one on Jones River Landing was located could be seen until a few years ago when the land was filled in. Lysander Bartlett, senior, or the "Deacon," as he was called, having become an old man, his son Lysander, junior, succeeded him in the business and gave up this yard about 1855 and went to the yard of Joseph and Edward Holmes, remain- ing there as designer and master carpenter until Edward Holmes ceased building in 1874. In 1876 he built the 31-foot sloop Playmate for Mr. James L. Hall in the building built by Nathaniel D. and John Drew in the old Drew shipyard, and this was the last building done in this yard.
In 1806 Joseph Holmes occupied the lower half of the yard and wharf, and later the upper half of the Landing, as it is called today, for a shipyard and landing place for mer- chandise, the previous owners, as before described, having used it for the same purpose. He first commenced shipbuilding in Bridgewater on the Taunton River and his account of his building and ownership of vessels, written July 1, 1859, is as follows:
THE BUILDING YARD AND WHARVES AT THE LANDING, KINGSTON, MASS., OF JOSEPH AND EDWARD HOLMES, ABOUT 1890
My connection in building vessels in Bridgewater commenced in the year eighteen hundred and one. May 27th went to Bridgewater engaged plank of Zeph. Shaw and timber 10 tons at 4 dols. per ton
of Jothn. Leonard. At this time I com- menced collecting material for building and laid the keel for a vessel in a yard which I hired near the line between Bridgewater and Raynham which I called the Bridgewater Ship Yard and is where I built all the vessels which I built in Bridgewater, five in number: Brig Two Pollies, Brig Algol, Brig Lucy noted for taking first cargo of ice, Schooner Alexan- der, Brig Trident which vessel took spare material to Kingston on Jones River my native place where I commenced building in the year 1806 at Jones River Landing so called. I have kept a vessel on the stocks nearly the whole time, sometimes two and once built three in a year and bought one besides. All but two I have fitted for sea and sent to sea on my own account and risk. I am now about placing another keel on the blocks of about two hundred tons, being 87 years and 7 months old.
Signed, JOSEPH HOLMES, Kingston, Mass.
It has been told by the old ship carpenters who worked in Mr. Holmes' yard that when first built, the vessels were launched down stream off the northeast corner of the lower wharf. Later when he came into possession of the upper portion of the wharf he launched up stream, out what is now the remains of the upper or southwesterly timber dock. The land where the last vessels were built at the Landing is now greatly changed. The highway or Landing Road goes under the railroad tracks and directly across the place where the vessel keels were laid. Previously this road was just to the west on the high bank. The vessels when launched ran into the bank on the southerly side of the river and after the railroad went across, the sterns of the larger ones overhung the track and there was just room to swing them bow down stream clear of the southwesterly corner of the present middle wharf. The day when a vessel was launched was always an eventful one for the town and people often came from a distance to see it. The rising ground in the rear of the yard was covered with people and about all the boys were on board the vessel when she took the water. The vessels sometimes went into the river bank with great force for
13
SHIPS OF KINGSTON
quite a distance and the boys were made to run from side to side on the deck causing the vessel to roll and this with the lines from the wharf to the windlass soon had her clear. There was never any formal christening ceremony at these launchings, but when it was all over Mr. Holmes served crackers, cheese and coffee in the old store to those who had assisted. The smaller vessels were completely rigged here, but the larger ones, after their lower masts were in, were towed down the river by men and oxen on the banks and when the bay was reached they were kedged and sailed to Rocky Nook Wharf and there made ready for sea. The large ones which Mr. Joseph Holmes commenced building after 1830 never came back to the Landing although hailing from Kingston, and the only time any of his ships returned was when the Rialto came to Rocky Nook Wharf for repairs. The smaller brigs and schooners were constantly coming and going from here, for, in addition to his extensive business of building and sending his larger vessels on foreign voyages he sent a number of brigs and schooners up the Straits and to the Grand Bank, fishing. He was also interested in a line of packets between Kingston and Boston, which was a business that had been carried on from the earliest times by those connected with shipping. Before the railroad was built all of the heavy merchandise was brought here by water and the packet business was continued for a number of years after the railroad was in operation. The vessels used were small sloops and schooners and the cargo from here was usually wood, fish, and often passengers. These packets ran all the year excepting when the bay was frozen over in the winter. His fish wharves where he landed and cured his fish were just below where Stony Brook comes into Jones River on the north side. Alexander Holmes, his son, built the upper fish wharf and used it from 1840 to 1854 in his fishing business. At this time he also owned one-half of the Rocky Nook Wharf, using it for the same purpose. After Alexander gave up the fishing business Joseph THE FISH WHARVES AND HOUSES OF JOSEPH AND EDWARD HOLMES ON JONES RIVER, KINGSTON, MASS., 1874 Holmes occupied the upper as well as the lower fish wharf. The business of owning and building vessels by Joseph Holmes, first by himself, and later in company with his sons, was on a much larger scale than had ever been carried on here before and although he sometimes built vessels for other parties he usually retained a controlling interest in them. The total number of vessels built and owned by him of which there is any record is 82. He also had a store in the lower part of the old house called the Landing House that still stands on the Landing from which he furnished supplies to his workmen and to his vessels when fitting them out for bank fishing and coasting voyages. The large ships and barks that he built after 1830 were used chiefly in the cotton trade between southern ports, England and the Continent, the return cargoes being usually salt and marble and sometimes liquors if from southern European ports, iron and coal from England, and they also brought many immigrants. The masters and officers of his vessels were usually men belonging to Kingston and adjoining towns, but a number of them came from the Cape. The entire crews of the fishing schooners were often obtained from this town, and many went on these voyages the greater part of their lives, one Kingston man, Andrew Stranger by name, going to the Grand Bank forty summers. It was very seldom that any vessel came to Kingston with a foreign cargo and then it was salt. After the vessels were rigged and sails bent they were taken to Boston to load a cargo, sometimes under their own sails if wind was fair, and if ahead, towed by
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