USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Ships of Kingston. : "Good-bye, fare ye well" > Part 12
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Inagua, June 23rd, 1855.
JOSEPH HOLMES,
Sir, I have to inform you of the loss of your vessel, Clark Winsor, on the morning of June 19, 1855, at 3:30. Struck a reef on south side of the island of Inagua. Commenced heaving deck load over-board. At daylight found the vessel had bilged and breaking up fast; at 6.00 got out the boat and left the vessel with great difficulty and got here at 9.00.
Left Gonaives the morning of the 17th and had
a good departure from St. Nicholas Mole. By the course steered judged ourselves 20 miles to the southwest of the island when she struck, where she now lays. They have got off some of the rigging and sails which will be sold next week. The salvage will be about 70%. I have been sick ever since we left Gonaives. The mate and crew will come in on a brig bound to Bangor next week, when I'll write you again.
Signed, F. M. PERCIVAL.
This vessel had several different captains, mostly men belonging to the Cape. Among them were the brothers J. W. and F. M. Percival, Stephen Ellis, Jr., and Albert Holmes of Plymouth.
She was registered at the Plymouth Custom House, the customs port of Kingston, as a schooner, but all letters speak of her as a brig, and she may have been rigged as a brig after her first voyage. She was a regular topsail schooner on the plans, which was often called a brig, and by so doing confusing the entirely different rigs. The topsail schooner had a foremast about as long as the mainmast with a fore and aft foresail, a foreyard, fore-
WHTỪNG
BARK White Wings OF KINGSTON, 1852
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
MODEL OF BARK White Wings OF KINGSTON, 1852
topsail yard and fore-topgallant yard. She seemed to have been used wholly for West India voyages and the square sails forward were a great help in shortening the passage with the fair wind of the northeast trades.
At this time the schooners engaged in the West India trade carried a yard on the fore- mast with a large square sail for use in fair winds, both yard and sail being hoisted aloft from the deck and when not in use lowered and yard stowed on deck. The schooner captains in writing to the owners sometimes say that they needed a square sail, that their voyage would have been accomplished in a much shorter time if the square sail had been on board, or that it could have been used. In the hurry of getting to sea it seems to have been forgotten or else found to be too poor to set. It was singular that in the space of four years three of Joseph Holmes' vessels were wrecked in the West Indies, less than one hundred miles from each other, and that the two that were lost in 1855 were commanded by the brothers Percival.
The names of these vessels were:
Brig Edward Henry lost January 11, 1851 Brig Gustavus lost February 8, 1855 Brig Clark Winsor lost June 19, 1855
SCHOONER King Fisher
Schooner King Fisher of Kingston, 120 tons, built at Kingston by Edward Holmes, Master Carpenter, and Joseph Holmes, in 1853; owned by Joseph Holmes.
REMARKS
The schooner King Fisher was built in 1853 and owned by the Holmes' for many years, being sold a little after 1860. She was used mostly for coasting and West India voyages, but made some fishing voyages. In 1854 she was at Wilmington, N. C., for lumber, Captain, Albert Holmes of Plymouth. In 1856, at Pernambuco, Captain Ebenezer Pierce of Ply- mouth, bound to Baltimore. In 1857 fishing on the Grand Banks, Captain Otis Finney, Master. From this time until the vessels belonging to the Holmes' gave up Bank fishing, Captain Finney was continually employed by them as master of fishing vessels.
February 7, 1860, the schooner was chartered at New York for Barracoa, Cuba, for a cargo of fresh fruit by way of Savannah and back to New York, John T. Holmes, Master. She arrived in March with cargo in good condition. This was one of the first times, I think, that vessels brought cargoes of fruit north. Soon after this voyage the schooner was sold to Mattapoisett parties who used her for whaling. On a whaling voyage she was captured and burned March 23, 1863, near the equator, off the coast of Brazil by Captain Raphael Semmes, commanding the Confederate man-of-war, Alabama. At that time she carried a crew of twenty-three men.
BARK White Wings
Bark White Wings of Kingston, 293 tons, built at Kingston by Lysander Bartlett, Jr., in 1852; owned by Benjamin Delano, Joshua Delano, Freeman Sherman and Henry Pigeons.
REMARKS
She was soon sold.
FRUITER
I
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BARK Fruiter OF KINGSTON AT ANCHOR, 1853
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
LYSANDER BARTLETT
For over fifty years he and his father, Lysander Bartlett, senior, were engaged in ship building on Jones River in Kingston. As an account of their operations has already been given, little remains to be told. Their names appear in the lists of Kingston vessels as builders, but never as owners to any great extent, and when a vessel left their yards they had no further interests in her. The records in the Plymouth Custom House give the names of thirty-nine vessels, ships, barks, brigs, schooners and sloops which were built by the father and son.
Lysander Bartlett, senior, was a deacon in the Baptist Society of Kingston, and their yard; sometimes spoken of as the Middle Yard, was usually called Deacon Bartlett's yard, although leased from the Drews. On his death his son succeeded him in this office and became Deacon Bartlett. This title of Deacon like that of Captain for the master of a vessel was always used when addressing them, and it was considered very disrespectful to both to speak of them in a less formal manner.
His father lived in a house opposite to the entrance to the Alms House property which was burned a number of years ago, and he was born there, in 1805, dying at his home in Stony Brook, in 1890, eighty-five years old.
Several old models of vessels designed by him or his father are shown at the Bradford House in Kingston and a few of their pictures that were made for the owners, appear in this book.
The work done in their yard must have been very satisfactory to those they built for as the records show that most of them had a number of vessels constructed here, some of them remaining afloat many years. Two of these old ones were owned by the Delanos of Kingston : the schooner Cordova, built in 1835 and sold soon after 1882, forty-seven years old, and the schooner King Philip, built in 1845 and sold about the same time, thirty- seven years old. They were nearly of the same tonnage, the King Philip being of ninety- seven tons and the Cordova, ninety-three tons. Both were used for Bank fishing, coasting and West India voyages and the dimensions of the Cordova were 69 feet long, 18 feet wide and 8 feet deep, and these figures will apply to the King Philip. They were full bowed
and had a white band around their hulls at the water ways, with painted ports, old style, masts raking well aft and bowsprits steeved very high, giving them a decidedly odd appearance alongside of the modern vessels. In spite of their size and model these schooners survived the perils and dangers of the sea when larger ones were never heard from, which speaks well for their seaworthi- ness and the quality of the work and material the Bartletts put into their vessels.
BARK Fruiter
Bark Fruiter of Kingston, 290 tons, built at King- ston by Edward Holmes, Master Carpenter, and Joseph Holmes, in 1853; owned by Joseph Holmes 6/8, Allen Dawes 1/8, and Edward Holmes 1/8.
REMARKS
This vessel was built for the Mediterranean fruit trade and was used in that trade most of the time while owned by the Holmes. Captain Allen Dawes was her first master, and later his brothers, Jo- sephus and James H. Dawes, were in command.
In 1858, Captain Joseph A. Lavender had her,
LYSANDER BARTLETT, JR.
BARK Fruiter OF KINGSTON, 1853
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
and in 1859 she was under the command of Captain Andrew Burditt of Duxbury. She was sold in 1859 for $10,000, having cost $18,000 when new and ready for sea, July 4, 1853.
She was a very sharp vessel, noted for making fast passages in the fruit trade, and was painted green, and called "The Green Box." Captain Jo- sephus Dawes says that he always tried to have a crew of Cape Ann fishermen in the winter, as they made the best sailors when it came to carrying sail and racing on the runs home with fruit, as it meant many dollars to the owner of the cargo if the vessel should get into port first, when several vessels were due to arrive about the same time.
In making these fruit voyages home, sail was always carried to the limit and many vessels in this trade were never heard from after passing Gibraltar, having probably been run under carry- ing sail. Most of these fruit vessels came into Bos- ton, being small barks and a few brigs.
The Holmes' continued to have vessels in the trade till about 1863 and had besides the Fruiter, barks Ann & Mary, Abby, Sicilian, Neapolitan and Fruiterer and brig Bird of the Wave, all very fast and earning a great deal of money for the owners. CAPTAIN JOSEPHUS DAWES In March, 1859, the Fruiter, Captain Andrew Burditt of Duxbury, was at Wilmington, N. C., for Rio de Janeiro with a cargo of 160,000 feet of lumber, and the captain expects a forty-five days' passage. This was her last voyage while owned by the Holmes.
CAPTAIN JOSEPHUS DAWES
He was born in Duxbury, in 1820. His father was a sea captain and he went to sea with him when seven years old, and at ten, signed the ship's articles as a boy before the mast on a Bank fishing trip with his father. When he was twenty-one years old he was given the command of the schooner September of Kingston, belonging to Joseph Holmes, having sailed as mate with his brother, Captain Allen Dawes, in vessels belonging to Mr. Holmes.
Captain Dawes was always fond of telling how Joseph Holmes wanted him to go as cap- tain of one of his vessels when he was only twenty and how he said to him, "Well, I think you had better wait until I am twenty-one and a man for myself."
He continued in this schooner for a number of years, engaged in coasting and West India voyages, making many trips to Jacmel, Haiti and Porto Plata. On giving up the September he took charge of the new brig Gustavus of Kingston, in 1846, and the story of his voyages in her and the later fruit barks is told in the "Remarks" on these vessels, whose pictures are in this book.
He remained in Joseph Holmes' employ for nineteen years and was a most successful ship master for him. Although making very fast passages, his owners were never called upon to make good for any loss of sails or spars belonging to a vessel while in his charge.
His picture is from a photograph taken at about the time he gave up Joseph Holmes' employ. He died at Island Creek, Duxbury, in 1910, ninety years of age, a very active man up to the last and the only survivor of all the deep-water captains that lived here and once commanded vessels hailing from this port.
The bark Fruiter seemed to be a favorite with all of the Dawes brothers, not only as to speed, but weatherly qualities as well, and in their letters to Joseph Holmes, frequent
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
comparisons were made between her and the newer vessels. She was commanded by the three brothers in the order of their ages, and there are more pictures painted of her than of any other Kingston vessel.
Among the stories of the pas- sages he made in the bark was one in which the captain said that oftentimes when he got through the Straits of Gibraltar the Fruiter would put her bow under water and they would never see it again until they made Boston Light.
This is much like the story told SHEER AND SPAR PLAN OF BARK Abby OF KINGSTON, 1854 of the English tea clipper only in that case it was the lee rail that was never seen from the time of discharging the pilot in China until the pilot came on board in the English Channel.
BARK Abby
Bark Abby of Kingston, 178 tons, built at Kingston by Joseph Holmes, in 1854; owned by Joseph Holmes.
REMARKS
This vessel was named Abby for Abby Bosworth Holmes, the daughter of Edward Holmes, and had for a figurehead a young girl with long, flowing hair. In those days girls were very proud to have a vessel named for them and it was always considered a great honor. As this vessel was soon lost the little that is known of her now comes from a few letters written by her captains to Joseph Holmes from the various ports she visited.
She appears to have been very fast, but could not always compete with the larger fruit barks in length of passage, especially during one of continuous heavy weather which was usually encountered in the North Atlantic ocean in winter on a voyage to or from European ports. The captains of these small vessels of the Holmes' drove them very hard and loaded them deep and their letters often show that there was great rivalry between them if bound to the same port as to who should be first to arrive.
But these vessels were well built and found, and commanded by able and experienced men, so when a loss did occur it was not through any fault of those in charge, weather conditions alone being responsible; a case of peril and danger of the sea. Many of the Holmes' captains remained in their employ from the time of their first command till they retired from the sea, being appointed to the new vessels as they were built and their old commands sold.
The bark Abby was launched in the fall of 1854 and her first voyage was from Boston to Constantinople in command of Captain J. W. Nickerson of Harwich, who continued in her as master till relieved by his brother, Augustus Nickerson. She arrived at Constantinople the first part of February, 1855, and under date of the IIth of that month Captain Nicker- son writes Joseph Holmes that, "After a hard passage I have the privilege of writing informing you of our business. We had a very hard passage, severe weather from the Grand Bank to Minorca, winds from N.E. to E.S.E. and blowing a gale most part of the time. After making Cape Matapan took a gale, blowed me half way to Malta again. It has been a very severe winter on this coast. You will see by the papers I was obliged to throw over my deck load between the Grand Bank and Western Islands. The Abby is a fine sea vessel can be no better. We had a chance to try her. She sails well, carries her canvas well and no vessel has passed her this passage. I was some feared about her when I sailed from
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
Boston, after hearing so much said against her but after the first gale I saw how she behaved I felt safe. I arrived here on the 6th night. We have to go from here to Smyrna to load. The house here is good. I think I will accomplish my voyage in five months. You can look for me in that time unless they keep me over my lay days. I should have written by the other steamer but I was not able, my stomach felt so bad I could not. I hurt it very bad but it is getting better. I think I shall get away from here in ten days.
Yours respectfully,
Signed, J. W. NICKERSON.
March 8, 1855, Captain J. W. Nickerson writes Mr. Holmes from Smyrna. He says:
I left Constantinople February 23rd. Arrived at Smyrna March 2nd finding freights very dull. I ex- pected to find the remainder of my cargo already when I arrived at Smyrna but got disappointed; we have freight enough I think engaged to fill us within eighty bales. I think as my lay days will be up by the time I get this in and freights so dull they will not keep me over so I shall sail on the IIth. The Abby will be in better trim when I leave Smyrna than when I left Boston. We had very severe weather out the
worst that I ever saw crossing the Atlantic. The Abby behaved well for the trim she was in and is a good sea vessel. I have had a good chance to try her.
The bark Sultana will leave here two or three days ahead of me for Boston. She is a clipper, 450 tons, so there will be a chance to try the sailing qualities of the Abby. You may look for me in five or six days after the Sultana arrives.
Yours respectfully, Signed, J. W. NICKERSON.
·We do not know how this race came out as no records are at hand as to their arrival in Boston. Captain J. W. Nickerson writes from Boston on May 31, 1855, that:
business is very dull at present here and no prospect of its being any better at present. I take the liberty of giving you my opinion about the Abby. I should think there was but a small chance of chartering her at present, unless we go to Port au Prince or some such place and if you think best to bring her home
after trying this week, if nothing offers, please write. I think in four or five weeks there will be some charters for the Mediterranean. If you think best to have her brought home please send one of the Fruiter's boats, as I have none.
Signed, J. W. NICKERSON.
This shows the bark had arrived previous to the date of the letter. In his letter from Smyrna the captain speaks of bales; these were bales of rags which formed a part or the whole of the cargo.
June 2, 1855, Captain J. W. Nickerson writes from Boston that he has
had offered for the Abby $1300.00 to go from Boston to Aux Cayes, twenty lay days in Aux Cayes and thence back to Boston. I wish you would send me word Mon- day morning what I shall do and I would just say if Captain Dawes leaves the Fruiter I should be very glad to have her as the Abby is too small for hard times.
This charter for a West India voyage was not accepted and the next heard from the Abby is that she was at Smyrna, Captain J. W. Nickerson writing Joseph Holmes as follows:
Smyrna, Sept. 10th, 1855. JOSEPH HOLMES, Esq.,
Dear Sir: I arrived at this port after a very moderate passage of sixty days. I shared about the fate that most of the rest did, a great deal of calm weather. The Sea Bird that sailed in company with me has not arrived yet. She passed the Rock of Gibralter about the time I did, she was reported. I shall never try again to beat
I made a deposit in the New England Bank of $1800.00 to your account.
N. B. It is quite sickly in Aux Cayes by the ac- counts. I would come and see you but I have no one to keep ship. I am alone so I send this letter.
Signed, J. W. NICKERSON.
SAIL PLAN OF BARK Abby OF KINGSTON, 1854
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
the Fruiter until I have something to compete with her. I never tried harder to beat a vessel than I have this voyage to beat the Fruiter, and I begin to think the harder a man tries the slower he gets along often- times When I arrived and found she was there my
courage was all gone, long road that has no turn, I shall get away in about fifteen days from today, that is if things work favorable.
Yours most Obdt., Signed, J. W. NICKERSON.
The Fruiter spoken of by Captain Nickerson in his letter belonged to Joseph Holmes and was one, if not the fastest bark engaged in carrying fruit to Boston and New York from the Mediterranean and as she was nearly twice as large as the Abby, Captain Nicker- son ought not to have expected to better the Fruiter's passage unless conditions were greatly in his favor.
A message by the Cape Cod Telegraph from Boston to Joseph Holmes, Kingston, dated December 25, 1855, reads, "The bark Abby has arrived," which shows she returned to Boston.
Captain James W. Nickerson now gave up the command of the Abby to his brother, Captain Augustus Nickerson of Harwich, and took command of Joseph Holmes' ship, Nathan Hannau, which was employed in the cotton trade.
On taking command of the bark, Joseph Holmes gave Captain Augustus Nickerson a letter of instructions or, as he called it, orders, as he was accustomed to do with all of his captains. His orders were very plain to understand, expressed in well-chosen words, and show him to have been a very religious man. They were signed by Mr. Holmes and the captain in duplicate. Those to Captain Nickerson are similar to all the others he wrote and on account of the language used I will give them in full.
Orders for Augustus Nickerson, Bark Abby, January 9th, 1856.
Kingston, 9th January 1856.
CAPTAIN AUGUSTUS NICKERSON,
Dear Sir: You being Master of the Bark Abby, of Kingston, now in the harbor of Boston and ready for sea and bound on a voyage from Boston to South America and back to Boston, under charter to Messrs. Cunningham & Co., Merchants of Bos- ton, my instructions to you are, that you perform said voyage under the direction of the Messrs. Cunningham and back to Boston or New York. You will allow nothing taken on board your vessel that will make her liable to seizure in any Port you may visit during your voyage and cruise. You will manage the business of your vessel with all possible prudence and economy, remembering your vessel is not insured and expend nothing on her at
any time but what is necessary to keep her safe and seaworthy to return home. You will provide your vessel with good provisions but no ardent spirits, except for medicinal uses. You will write by every opportunity giving me an account of your welfare and business.
For your services, care and attention I agree to give you Forty Five Dollars wages per month, dur- ing said voyage.
Wishing you a pleasant and prosperous voyage I commit and commend you to the GOD* of the winds and the waves, may His spirit attend to guide, to sustain and to bless and return in safety to your home and friends.
Signed, AUGUSTUS NICKERSON, JOSEPH HOLMES.
The bark was soon at sea again, bound to South America. Captain A. Nickerson in writ- ing Joseph Holmes from Pernambuco, February 13, 1856, says:
I arrived here last night after a thirty-three days' passage without any mishap. I had one man frozen so badly the first night out he never got out of his berth afterwards. The first of February he died of the lockjaw so I had but two men all of the passage. I had one of the most severe gales I ever saw about a week out. Lay to under a mizzen- staysail forty-eight hours, most of the time with lee rail under water which drove me to the west- ward and lengthened my passage, being lighthanded,
etc. But she behaved as well as a vessel could. I have noted a protest and taken all necessary pre- cautions.
Shall proceed towards Rio tonight. Yours to command, Signed, AUGUSTUS NICKERSON.
P. S. My brother thought he could make the pas- sage in thirty-five days. Tell him if I come here again in the month of January with a full crew I will make it in twenty-five.
*Joseph Holmes always spelt God with capital letters
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The next letter reads:
MR. HOLMES, Rio de Janeiro, March 16, 1856.
Dear Sir: I am now ready for sea bound to New York. I intended to sail today but the runners stole two men and the cook from me last night.
I shall endeavor to procure men today and take steam out tomorrow as it is very expensive lying
here. It is also very sickly. My mate is sick and I am just so that I keep about. I shall send this by the brig Fillmore, bound to Baltimore, a very fast vessel. I beat her out but I am so deep that she may beat me on. Yours &c.,
Signed, A. NICKERSON.
The bark arrived at New York about April 28, 1856. A letter of that date says:
MR. HOLMES,
Sir, I arrived here from Rio after a passage of thirty-eight days. I had a good passage up to the latitude of Bermuda and after that gales of wind and calms. Twenty-five days from Rio I was within five days' easy sail of New York. I was very deep
The next letter of May 5, 1856 says:
MR. HOLMES,
New York, May 5th, 1856.
Sir, Your favor came duly to hand. I commenced discharging today. The coffee is in pretty good order. There is some damage by leakage through the deck. When you write again please to state what arrange- ments you have made or shall make in relation to
loaded coming on, drawing ten feet four inches aft and nine feet five inches forward. I think I can get a decent freight to go back to Rio again if it does not interfere with your calculations. I await your orders.
Yours,
Signed, A. NICKERSON.
settlement of the charter, etc., and also who is your man of business here, if you have any one in par- ticular. I have obtained nothing certain as yet for the bark to do. Am to receive an answer this after- noon.
Yours &c., Signed, A. NICKERSON.
The bark was soon chartered for the West Indies and the captain writes again:
MR. HOLMES, New York, May 9th, 1856.
Dear Sir, I chartered the Abby to parties here yester- day to go to Cape Haytien with the privilege of Gonaives with twenty-five lay days. If I get away from there in less than that time $10.00 per day for each day so saved to be subtracted from the charter, and if
Again from New York Captain Nickerson writes May 14, 1856: MR. HOLMES
Sir, The wind being ahead I shall not be able to sail today. As I cannot get all my bills together in time enough to draw money and pay them myself I shall approve them and send them to Messrs. J. O. Baker & Co. to be paid. I have of them $231.47. I shall try and
get away tomorrow if possible. As you are aware I have very low wages. If I accomplish this voyage to your satisfaction I think you should pay me Sixty Dollars per month.
I remain &c., Signed, A. NICKERSON.
Evidently Captain Nickerson did not get to sea as soon as he expected for a letter from his agents dated New York, May 22, 1856, to Joseph Holmes, says:
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