USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Eastham > Eastham, Massachusetts, 1651-1951 > Part 8
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Background of Eastham's early years-Samuel Champlain, Voyages (Prince Soc. ed. Boston, 1880). Mourt's Relation (H. M. Dexter ed. Boston, 1865). William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation (Boston, Commonwealth, 1899). Alexander Young, Chronicles of the Pilgrims (Boston, 1841). Plymouth Colony Records. Acts and Re- solves, Province of Massachusetts Bay. Town records (in custody of Or- leans town clerk ).
Town histories of Old Eastham's daughters and neighbors, with much of interest on Eastham: Shebnah Rich, Truro, Cape Cod, or Land Marks and Sea Marks (Boston, 1884). William C. Smith, History of Chatham (Hyannis, 1909-1913-1947). Everett I. Nye, History of Wellfleet (Hy- annis, 1920), pamphlet. Josiah Paine, History of Harwich, 1620-1800 (Rutland, Vt., 1937).
General works on Cape Cod history with material on Eastham- Henry C. Kittredge, Cape Cod, Its People and Their History (Boston, 1930); Shipmasters of Cape Cod (1935); Mooncussers of Cape Cod (1937). Albert Perry Brigham, Cape Cod and the Old Colony (N. Y. 1920). Elizabeth Reynard, The Narrow Land; Folk Chronicles of Old
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Cape Cod (Boston, 1934). Katherine Smith and Edith Shay, Down the Cape (N. Y. 1936-reissued, 1947). Charles F. Swift, Cape Cod (Yar- mouth, 1897). Agnes Edwards, Cape Cod New and Old ( Boston, 1918). Mary Rogers Bangs, Old Cape Cod (Boston, 1920) Eleanor Early, Cape Cod Summer (Boston, 1949, reissue of And This Is Cape Cod, 1936). Jeremiah Digges, Cape Cod Pilot (N. Y., 1937). Arthur W. Tarbell, Cape Cod Ahoy (N. Y. 1932; revised, 1937). Katharine Crosby, Blue- water men and Other Cape Codders (N. Y. 1946). Edward Rowe Snow, Storms and Shipwrecks of New England (Boston, 1930), Pirates and Buccaneers of the Atlantic Coast (Boston, 1944); Famous Lighthouses of New England (Boston, 1945); A Pilgrim Returns to Cape Cod (Boston, 1946).
Books not primarily on Eastham but with material making them of special interest-W. Sears Nickerson, Land Ho! 1620 (Boston, 1931). James L. Howard, Seth Harding, Mariner; A Naval Picture of the Revo- lution (New Haven, 1930). Compiled, Yarmouth Camp Meeting, Its History and Its Leaders (1910). Heman Doane, Sketch of Life and Singular Sickness of Heman Doane (Boston, 1826). J. Henry Sears, Brewster Ship Masters (Yarmouth, 1906). Timothy Dwight, Travels ... (New Haven, 1822). Travels ... Edward A. Kendall (New York, 1809). Arthur H. Clark, The Clipper Ship Era (N. Y., 1910). Carl C. Cutler, Greyhounds of the Sea (N. Y., 1930).
Pamphlets and articles-Edward L. Smith, compiler, Ancient East- ham; Two Lists of Those Proprietors There in 1715 (Boston, 1913). John W. Dalton, The Life Savers of Cape Cod (Boston, 1902). James Freeman, A Description of the East Coast of Cape Cod, etc., (Boston, 1802). Freeman, Description of Eastham (Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll. Series 1, Vol. 8, 1802). Frank G. Speck, Indian Notes and Monographs (N. Y., 1929). Edward B. Hinckley, Thoreau and Beston, Two Observers of Cape Cod (N. E. Quarterly, Vol. IV, No. 2, 1931).
Fiction-Michael Fitzgerald, 1812-A Tale of Cape Cod, (Yar- mouth, 1912). Joseph C. Lincoln, Rugger Waters (N. Y., 1924). Elizabeth Reynard, The Mutinous Wind (Boston, 1951).
Notes from Nauset on Cape Cod
by Alice Alberta Lowe
Here follow extracts from the much longer manu- script of Mrs. Lowe entitled "Nauset on Cape Cod, A History of Eastham." It was published in The Cape Codder, weekly newspaper, during 1950-51, and contains the fruits of long research.
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SOME EASTHAM SEA-CAPTAINS
As in other towns that border the sea, many Eastham boys ventured at an early age to visit the lands that lay beyond the blue horizon. Some set out as cabin boys or cooks when they were fourteen, twelve or even only ten years of age. Many were still in their teens when they had learned to be excellent navigators. Then, as experience taught them judgment, more and more confidence was placed in their ability and they ad- vanced rapidly in rank.
During the early days of the colonies many vessels were engaged in coast trade. Except for the years when the em- bargoes were in force, this merchant trade flourished and soon extended to include the West Indies, then Europe and finally the rich ports of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The first trad- ing vessels were sloops, brigs or schooners, and many were commanded by Eastham men.
The shipmaster Richard Knowles was one of the early settlers of the town. In 1637 he had plied along the coast in his trader. In 1653 when there was threat of trouble with the Dutch Colony at New Amsterdam, he was in command of a bark which transported military supplies for the Plymouth government. His grandson, Captain Cornelius Knowles, later sailed between Boston and Connecticut every week.
Richard Rich, who moved from Dover, N. H., to Eastham in the 1670s, was another master mariner engaged in coastal trade.
In the 1700s when marauding Spanish pirates sailed the seas in quest of trading vessels, shipmasters had to be ready to defend themselves at all times without outside aid. Captain Isaac Freeman of Eastham was master of the Bethel, a letter of marque ship owned by Josiah Quincy, Edward Jackson and their English partner, Slingsby Bethel. In 1748, when Captain
SURF AND DUNES AT NAUSET BEACH
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Freeman was on a trip to the Azores in the Bethel, which car- ried a crew of 37 men and 14 guns, he came upon a heavily armed Spanish ship. Realizing the inferiority of his com- mand, Captain Freeman lined his rail with dummy guns and men. The Spaniards, believing they had encountered a su- perior force, soon surrendered without giving battle. After capturing this prize with its 161 chests of silver and 2 chests of gold, and leaving the prisoners at Fayal in the Azores, Cap- tain Freeman reported to his owners that he "esteemed this feat much better than fighting.'
Before vessels set out from Nantucket and New Bedford for the waters of the South Atlantic, the Pacific and the Arctic in search of the whale, many men were engaged in that indus- try nearer home. The perils of a whaleman's life were many and several lives were lost in the dangerous occupation. Ben- jamin Paine was killed while whaling in 1713. Ebenezer Paine was master of a whaler which sank in 1734 off the Nan- tucket Shoals with all hands. Benjamin Hamblen was killed in 1737. Gideon Mayo fell from the bowsprit of Captain Isaac Freeman's whaler in the St. Lawrence in 1762 and was lost. Barnabas Cook was drowned in 1771 while whaling at the Banks. At one time the most expert whalemen in Eastham comprised a crew who called themselves the "Seed Corn Gang of Whalers." Among them were the brothers Hezekia and Elisha Doane, Joseph Higgins and Captain Winslow Lewis. Upon retiring from active engagement in this industry, Elisha Doane invested in several vessels some of which he outfitted as whalers, others as traders, from which lucrative business he amassed a fortune.
Captain Joseph Higgins sailed to the West Indies from which he brought cargoes of coffee, molasses and mahogany.
Captain Joseph Atwood was born in Eastham in 1720. In 1740 he was master of the 80-ton snow Judith in which he engaged in the West Indies trade. In 1747 he was in com- mand of the schooner Isle Sables Galley on a trip to Amster- dam, and later in command of the sloop Falmouth in which he also made foreign voyages. These were small vessels, the
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crews consisting of one mate and three or four sailors.
Several Eastham mariners were officers on vessels which operated as privateers during the Revolutionary War. Levi Doane was commander of the armed sloop Fox, Jesse Hard- ing was commander of the brigantine Betsey, Nathaniel Harding was commander and owner of the schooner Dolphin on which Joshua Harding served as Lieutenant. Hatsel Knowles was master of the sloop America. Elisha Doane was at one time pilot on the brig Hazard. Christopher Rem- ick was prize master on the schooner Active and the frigate La Hague, and pilot on the famous brigantine Tyrannicide. Captain Remick was a man of many talents. Beside being a sea captain and an officer in the Revolution, he was the artist who made geographical maps of harbors and seacoasts as well as other primitives in water color.
After the peace was made with England, coastal trade flourished for several years.
Captain Simeon Higgins engaged in general trade between Boston and ports on the Atlantic coast and the West Indies. In 1783 he was master of the 15-ton sloop Polly which car- ried a crew of four men but no guns.
Captain Nehemiah Smith commanded the schooner Polly in which he carried general merchandise to southern ports. During a severe storm in the winter of 1810 when his schooner was wrecked on the Virginia shore, Captain Smith auctioned off his cargo of foodstuffs on the beach. He also commanded the schooner Albert which was in foreign trade.
Captain Elisha Higgins was master of a vessel which was seized by the French during the Napoleonic Wars. The value of the vessel and cargo was placed at $25,000. This loss so preyed upon Captain Higgins' mind it caused his sickness and death.
Captain Ezekiel Doane was born in 1813. In his life of adventure he wandered to many far away places. Starting on a fishing vessel at the age of eleven, he soon changed to the coasters where he shipped before the mast, rising quickly in rank. At nineteen he was mate of the ship Merchant in
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foreign waters, and at twenty-one became a master in the for- eign ports. After returning home, he commanded brigs in the southern trade. At the time of the Mexican War, Captain Doane was in charge of the brig Chattahoochee, carrying stores and ammunition to the American forces. Immediately after the war, he visited the Mexican ports becoming the first master to raise the American flag there after the cessation of hostilities. After two years of mining in California during the gold rush, he travelled from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico in an ox cart. On arriving at Eastham, he purchased the old Governor Prence farm which later became one of the largest dairy farms on the lower Cape. The call of the sea took him on a few short trips. At one time he had charge of a vessel carrying granite to South Carolina for the building of Fort Sumter.
America's magnificent clipper ships reigned as queens of the sea from the late 1840s to the 1860s. They were beauti- ful ships, designed with sharp and graceful lines in distinct variance with the blunt lines fore and aft of the old schooners. They were the pride of their owners who chose their com- manders from the most able of the deep sea captains. The success of a voyage to the Orient depended entirely on the com- mander, for besides being a skillful navigator, it was necessary for him to show keen judgment as a trader.
Eastham has the distinction of being the birthplace and home of Captain Freeman Hatch who commanded the clipper Northern Light when she made the record eastward passage from San Francisco to Boston in 76 days and 6 hours. The Northern Light was a beautiful ship 180 feet in length. Her figurehead was a white robed angel bearing a torch with a golden flame. At the age of 33, Captain Hatch took com- mand of this ship on her second voyage to San Francisco, the
CAPTAIN FREEMAN HATCH
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CAPT. FREEMAN HATCH LYDIAM, HATCH 1820 1889 1823 1903
IN IBS2 HE BECAME FAMOUS MAKING THE ASTONISHING PASSACE IN CLIPPER SHIP NORTHERN LICHT FROM SAN FRANCISCO TO BOSTON IN 78DAYS 6HOURS AN ACHIEVEMENT WON BY NO MORTAL BEFORE OR SINCE
HATCH
HATCH MONUMENT-This gray granite tombstone in Evergreen Cemetery commemorates not only Captain Freeman and Lydia Hatch, but the Captain's "astonishing" clipper passage.
outward passage taking 117 days. While in that port, two New York clippers arrived, the Trade Wind and the Contest. There was much rivalry between the ship builders of Boston and New York, and when it was learned that the three clippers were to start on the return trip at about the same time, a race developed which created much interest both at home and in San Francisco. Captain Hatch was promised a new suit of clothes if he could make better time than the Trade Wind, the Contest not being considered, for she was supposed to be a faster ship. In March, 1853, the clippers left San Francisco within a few days of each other, their hours of sailing being carefully recorded. The Northern Light was the last to leave the port. Captain Hatch passed the Trade Wind when only a few days out, and overtook the Contest at Cape Horn. Though not able to pass her for several days, he finally succeeded, signaling he could not sail
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in company with her as "he could not hold his horse."
In 1855, Captain Hatch was given command of the Bonita another of James Huckins' famous clippers. He went on a two-year cruise in this vessel, carrying cargoes between the ports of Batavia, Havre, Cardiff, Shanghai and London. At Lon- don, the Bonita was loaded with railroad iron which was to be taken to Calcutta, but on the way the vessel leaked so badly she was abandoned at Algoa Bay. At other times in his ca- reer, Captain Hatch commanded the West Wind and the Mid- night.
Another Eastham captain who made a record trip was Luther Hurd. In 1859 while on one of his voyages around the world, he sailed the clipper Charger from Calcutta to Boston in 84 days. This was an extreme clipper, built at Portsmouth, N. H. She had no figurehead, but carried a mounted charger on her stern.
Russell Doane, born in 1801, was another deep sea cap- tain. He embarked on his first voyage at the age of eleven and attained the rank of captain at the age of twenty-six. He made many successful voyages to foreign ports, sailing from the port of New York. He died in 1877 in Williamsburg (Brooklyn) N. Y., where he had taken up his residence in 1851.
Captain Winslow Lewis Knowles became one of the most successful captains who sailed for the firm Bangs & Williams. He made several trips around the Horn to the Pacific. Dur- ing the gold rush days in California in 1849, Captain Knowles sailed the Albatross to San Francisco with a speculative car- go he hoped to sell in that fast growing town. He also carried several passengers who were anxious to try their luck in the search for gold. On reaching California his crew, bitten by the gold bug, deserted, and his cargo went unsold, for those were days of insecurity in that region. While waiting for orders from his owners, Captain Knowles made a trip to New South Wales for a load of coal which was refused by the San Francisco merchant who had ordered it.
Captain Knowles married Sally Hinckley. Of their five sons, four became deep sea captains, the most famous being
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the oldest and youngest. Captain Allen Hinckley Knowles was born in Eastham in 1814. He eventually became a captain on the Liverpool packet line. This was a great honor, for only the most skillful were chosen to command those vessels which were supposed to make record time on the stormy At- lantic. Allen Knowles' command was the Chariot of Fame, the favorite vessel of her owner, Enoch Train. This was a beautiful clipper built by Donald McKay. His brother, Captain Josiah N. Knowles, was also born in Eastham. In 1858, at the age of 27 while on a voyage from San Francisco to Val- paraiso, he lost his fine clipper, the Wild Wave, when she struck an uncharted coral reef. This ship of 1,547 tons was built at Richmond, Me., and was owned by Benjamin Bangs. She was a total loss, but the ten passengers and the crew of thirty found refuge on the uninhabited island of Oeno nearby. Knowing help was needed, Captain Knowles started in an open boat for Pitcairn about twenty miles away, taking with him the mate and five seamen, $18,000 in gold, and several seabirds which he hoped could be used as carrier pigeons to take mess- ages back to the desert island where the others were left. They reached Pitcairn only to find it deserted. There their boat was smashed in the surf, but luckily, the compass and chronometer were saved. The men cut down trees, and with tools which had been left by the Bounty descendants built a schooner thirty feet long which they christened the John Adams. This effort took about four months, the men all the while feeding on native fruit and wild goats. Launching took place on July 23. and with hope in their hearts they set out for Tahiti, 1,500 miles away. After sailing about 1,000 miles through the South Seas, they met the Vandalia, an American sloop-of-war, which immediately went to the rescue of the stranded passen- gers who were waiting on the desert isle. It was with great relief that these men were found safe and healthy after their Jong diet of oranges, bananas and cocoanuts. Captain Josiah Knowles later became master of the Charger, Luther Hurd's old command, in which he made several trips to San Francisco during the Civil War, successfully avoiding the Confederate
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ALONG THE EASTHAM SHORE OF TOWN COVE
cruisers. In 1871, he won the honor of being chosen to com- mand the Glory of the Seas, another clipper built by the famous Donald McKay.
Captain Barnabas Chipman was born in Wellfleet in 1828. An orphan at the age of 11, he early became interested in the sea. After his marriage in 1852 to Sarah Mayo Hatch of Eastham, he lived in the large house called the Castle on Mil- ton Hill in Wellfleet and owned and operated the ship chand- ler's shop nearby. He was captain and owner of the two-masted schooner J. V. Wellington which plied up and down the At- lantic coast with cargoes of coal and lumber. In 1869 he moved his family to Eastham where he built a new home call- ing it Walton, the lumber being brought to the bayside in the
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J. V. Wellington and floated ashore. His untimely death of consumption at the age of 46 in the year 1874 ended negotia- tions for selling the schooner and purchasing a steamship. This was the new trend, much disliked by the sailors in his employ who for so many years had happily sung chanties as they hoisted the Wellington's sails.
Captain Clarington Smith was born in Eastham in 1840. He began his seafaring life at the age of 12 when he shipped as cook on a fishing vessel. At the age of 21, he was the captain of a schooner. During the seven trips he made around the world, he became especially interested in learning to express himself in Italian, French, Spanish and German as he visited those dif- ferent countries. One of his treasured possessions was a much used Bible. While cruising among the islands of the Medi- terranean he derived much pleasure from tracing the journeys of St. Paul. During the last 20 years of his life on the sea, he commanded the three-masted schooners Samos and Frank Rudd on coastwise trips. After retiring at the age of 60 to his home in South Eastham, he devoted much time to public service. He was a member of the Board of Selectmen for several years and when the new Town Hall was built, planted and tended the hedge and many trees surrounding it. Al- though he enjoyed home life, he sometimes "walked the decks" and expressed a longing to be on ship-board again, always say- ing if he were to live his life over it would be spent as before, on the ocean.
Captain Samuel Doane was born in 1831. He followed the sea from the age of 16. His first command was the Edward Reed. In 1865 while on a trip across the Atlantic his ship was in danger of sinking about 200 miles off the European coast when sighted by a German vessel whose captain rescued all on board. Upon reaching home, Captain Doane found a new little son whom he immediately named Samuel for himself and Hendrick for the German captain who had rescued him. His next command was the three-masted schooner Henry C. Win- ship in which he sailed to Europe, Gibraltar, the West Indies and South America for almost thirty years.
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Captain Samuel S. Sparrow successfully commanded ves- sels for several well known houses.
Captain Jonathan Sherman's home was the large cupolaed colonial still standing on the Bridge Road, and he owned a lumber yard nearby. He carried on a thriving business with his brother Richard who owned extensive timber tracts near his home in Winterport, Maine. Vessels of Captain Sherman's fleet plied between Rock Harbor and Maine, bringing cargoes of lumber to the Cape yard.
Beside the deep water captains who hailed from Eastham in the 19th century there were many skippers most of whom were the owners of the vessels they sailed. These men were always called "captain" though they were never granted the licenses which the deep water captains carried. Captain Scot- ter Cobb was a son of Elkanah Cobb, the builder of whaling and fishing vessels. Besides the 101-ton schooner Belvi- dere, Scotter Cobb owned packets which carried passengers from Eastham to Boston, as did his son, Harding K. Cobb. Other packet owners were Captain Samuel Snow and Captain David C. Atwood. Among the men who owned fishing vessels were the brothers Myrick and Samuel Nickerson, and Philip Smith, who was such a successful fisherman he was called 'King" Philip by his colleagues. Other captains under whom many Eastham boys trained were Captain Freeman Dill and Captain Lewis Lombard who sailed to the Banks or to the Vir- ginia coast. Captain Isaiah H. Horton was co-owner of a vessel which bore his name. Captain Jesse Collins owned the sloop Al- gerine in which he carried freight, principally salt, from East- ham on the bay to Boston. Captain Nehemiah Harding was the owner of a schooner in which he went salmon fishing in Alas- kan waters.
Captain James Savage began as a cook's helper at the age of nine. He later sailed on merchant ships to ports in South America and the Mediterranean. Leaving the merchant serv- ice, he went on several whaling trips from Wellfleet and New Bedford. Due to the poor health of his wife, he retired from the sea at the age of fifty and tended weirs in the Bay. Be-
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cause of his interest in public affairs, he became the leader in many town projects. As chairman of the committee that placed the fence around Evergreen Cemetery, Captain Savage was determined to have a permanent one that would withstand the ravages of time. When the cost of carting the iron rails and the granite ports from the railroad station seemed prohibitive, Captain Savage went to Boston for an interview with the Presi- dent of the Old Colony Railroad. This resulted in the freight train being stopped at the Cemetery where the heavy rails and posts were unloaded. When the Eastham Library was built, Captain Savage was appointed chairman of the building com- mittee. He settled the discussion concerning the windows by having them placed high so that the readers' attention would not be distracted by anything outside. He was a very genial per- son and much enjoyed relating his sea experiences. He attrib- uted his poor eyesight to the "Nantucket sleigh-rides" he used to take, when, after the excitement of spearing the whale, the men in the small whaleboat were towed at great speed over the bright water often directly toward the sun, until the whale was exhausted.
There were many tragedies on the sea, of which nothing can ever be known for there were no survivors to bring the stories home after their ships were lost in the battle with the elements. Among Eastham's lost mariners were two deep sea captains, Captain Matthew Hopkins Mavo (of 1812 fame) and Captain Heman Smith. Both perished with all their crews. Cap- tain Mavo's vessel was never heard from after sailing from Nor- folk. Virginia, January 8, 1832. Captain Heman Smith who lived in the large square cupolaed house on the Cove, was mas- ter of the bark Burnside. With his wife, he sailed in 1875 on his farewell voyage before retirement, but never returned for the Burnside was lost at sea.
Many acts of heroism became known when other mem- bers of a crew reported tales of their comrade's bravery. One of these concerned Matthew Mayo, grandson of Matthew "Hoppy." Young Matthew first went to sea at the age of fif- teen when he sailed to the Banks with Captain Dill. In March,
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1854, at the age of 25, he was mate of the A. B. Preston on a trip from New York to Baraco, Cuba. Not far from her des- tination when the ship encountered a terrific gale and a heavy sea, Matthew was ordered to set a man at a perilous task. Realiz- ing the danger involved, he refused to command another to risk his life against such odds, but carried out the order himself and was swept into the sea. His brother, Captain Joseph Free- man Mayo, heard of the tragedy at the counting office in New York and went to the home of Ellen Hall, the girl to whom Matthews was engaged, to break the sad news to her. Ellen went with Joseph to see the parents, Freeman and Bathsheba Mayo at Eastham. There they erected a little gravestone in the Mayo yard, and it was not until the mother's death, many years later, that the stone was removed to the family plot in the cemetery. Ellen and Joseph were soon married. He was a kindly captain, finding many men in every port who always wanted to be in his crews. He made several trips to the far east, often being away from home two or three years at a time. His favorite command was the C. S. Bushnell, a three-master of 1,679 tons, the largest schooner afloat at the time of her launching. Her rigging was later changed in a foreign port to a barkentine. After many years spent in the China trade, Captain Mayo engaged in the Mediterranean fruit trade, bring- ing home cargoes of figs from Smyrna, grapes from Malaga and citrus fruits from Messina and Palmermo. His family often accompanied him on those trips, enjoying the leisurely sail on the blue Mediterranean and the days ashore in the beautiful cities of Florence, Naples, Rome, etc. After he furled his sails for the last time in 1884, he retired to the old homestead on the King's Highway.
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