USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Ships of Kingston. : "Good-bye, fare ye well" > Part 13
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We enclose our account of cash advanced Bark Abby showing amount due us of $766.10 which you can re- mit to us. We also send vouchers. The bark we believe went to sea Tuesday last, having been detained by
some trouble with the crew. Not serious, we believe. We remain with much regard,
Yours truly Signed, J. O. BAKER & Co.
Vessels often had trouble with their crews getting drunk or running away if obliged to remain in port any length of time after they were shipped. Having received a month's advance pay and spent it they were always ready to leave if there was a possible chance and try for another ship with the customary advance wages. We do not know when the Abby reached Gonaives, but a letter to Mr. Holmes from there says:
MR. HOLMES,
Gonaives, June 24, 1856.
Sir, I am now lying here about three quarters loaded. It is very sickly here. One American brig is lying here ready to sail the last four days. All hands sick aboard of her. Sickness is very expensive here as they will not allow you to have a man die on board under a penalty. I have one man on shore sick now
and I have been sick myself but am some better now. I have had two men sick. Have had to hire men to get my cargo on board. I shall probably sail within a week or ten days. I shall sail when I get loaded if there is no one well on board but my mate and myself. Yours &c., Signed, A. NICKERSON.
I lie longer than that $25.00 per day demurrage. I am to send a boat ashore at Cape Haytien for orders. If I discharge there I load there, if I proceed to Gonaives and discharge and return to Cape Haytien to load my passage from Gonaives to Haytien counts as lay days.
Yours &c., Signed, A. NICKERSON.
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Many times vessels have left West Indian or South American ports with crews sick, men from on shore or from other vessels helping to make sail and work them out of the harbor. They thought if they once got to sea the crew would soon get well. This usually happened, but sometimes they died, leaving the vessel very short handed and then she was fortunate if able to make port without assistance and escape a bill for salvage for a large amount as was the case of the brig Gustavus a few years before, when she was reported at Nassau with her captain, mate and crew all dead but one man, having been brought in by wreckers.
The Abby reached New York after a moderate passage. The letter telling of her arrival is this:
New York, July 15, 1856.
charge in quarantine. Have no time to write more. Signed, Yours A. N.
MR. HOLMES:
Sir: I have arrived here today. Have got to dis-
P. S. Lost one man and had one sick on the passage.
July 17th, Captain Nickerson writes again :
New York, July 17, 1856.
MR. HOLMES:
Sir, I left Gonaives the first day of July with one man sick besides myself. Three days out another man was taken sick and died; then my steward was taken sick but recovered before I arrived. I have
just got well enough to attend to my business. I am still very weak. I have chartered the bark Abby to go to Malaga and back with thirty lay days there for $2100.00. Yours &c., Signed, A. NICKERSON.
The following is the last letter that can be found in Joseph Holmes' letter files from Cap- tain Augustus Nickerson of Harwich, Mass., master of the bark Abby of Kingston, Mass.
New York, July 22, 1856.
MR. HOLMES,
Sir, I received yours of the 20th, this morning. I am very sorry that I have not succeeded in satisfy- ing you in regard to the charter of the bark. I did not receive your letter until two days after I had chartered. It is a very good charter for the times
in New York. A vessel of 275 tons was chartered here yesterday to go to Palermo with thirty-five lay days for $3000.00. That is a month's longer voyage than mine. I consider mine a three and one-half month's voyage.
Yours, Signed, A. NICKERSON.
This proved to be the Abby's last voyage. From a letter from Nantucket to Joseph Holmes, we find she sailed from New York the first part of August, arriving in Malaga, September 10, 1856. She was never heard from after leaving Malaga. Lost with all hands. A copy of a letter from Joseph Holmes to J. O. Baker and Co., New York, dated January 20, 1857, says:
Dear Sirs: I enclose a charter party of the bark Abby to Messrs. Howes and Co., of your city for a voyage to Malaga and back to New York. She is probably lost. Her charter was half due on arrival at Malaga as you will see by document. I wish you
to call on Messrs. Howes and Co., and ask them to settle for the outward freight etc. Your compliance will much oblige,
Your friend and humble servant,
JOSEPH HOLMES.
Another letter to Mr. Holmes from a ship chandler in New York, dated January 30, 1857, says: "Enclosed please find bill for provisions for your bark Abby, which I fitted out last August, the vessel being now overdue at our port of New York some two months and I fear she has been lost at sea."
About this time another firm of New York ship chandlers sent Joseph Holmes a bill against the bark Abby for supplies, not approved by Captain Nickerson before his last sailing, and on that account it was disputed by Mr. Holmes. In writing this firm protesting this bill he closes his letter to them saying, "this bill which you now present has laid in the dark six months and floats up from a sinking ship to be paid from nothing."
"Signed, JOSEPH HOLMES.
The letter from Nantucket is dated March II, 1857, and is addressed:
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To the Owners of the bark Abby of Kingston, Mass.
Respected Sirs: I have taken the liberty to address you a few lines respecting the whereabouts of the bark Abby which sailed from the port of New York in August 1856 for Malaga. I saw by the New York Herald of her arrival there, the 10th of September, since which I have not heard from her. My son, Timothy W. Riddle, Jr., went out second officer of her and if you can give me any information respecting her you will con- fer a great obligation on an anxious parent and his family. With much respect,
Yours obedient servant,
Signed, TIMOTHY W. RIDDLE. If the captain had received SHEER AND SPAR PLAN OF BRIG Frank Henry OF KINGSTON, 1854 Mr. Holmes' letter before charter- ing to Malaga the vessel and he and his crew might not have been lost, as they would have gone to a different port.
From Captain Nickerson's letters he appears to have done everything possible to be successful with the Abby, giving careful attention to loading and discharging cargoes, securing paying charters and using dispatch in getting to sea and the prosecution of his voyage.
The cargo loaded at Malaga was fruit which they were anxious to have landed in New York in the shortest possible time and the Abby being deeply loaded was probably lost by carrying sail too long in the heavy fall gales of the North Atlantic, in order that her passage might be shortened by a few days.
The bark Abby, brig Bird of the Wave, and the schooner, May Bee, were the only vessels belonging to Joseph Holmes' large fleet that can be recorded as sailed and never heard from; lost with all hands.
I know of no better way of showing how the owners of vessels carried on business at this period when American ships of all rigs, flying the American flag were to be seen in every port of the world, than to give the captain's letters in full, concerning the bark Abby.
Considering the number of vessels owned by Joseph Holmes during his life, few were lost when new and as the Abby was only two years old when she made her last voyage it was not difficult to follow them as most of the letters of the two brothers who commanded her had been saved.
The voyages made by the other vessels owned by the Holmes' were of the ordinary kind, accompanied by the usual accidents of the sea as to the loss of spars, sails and so forth.
BRIG Frank Henry
Brig Frank Henry of Kingston, 99 tons, built at Kingston by Na- thaniel D. Drew, in 1854; owned by Alexander Holmes.
REMARKS
She was lost soon after launching on her second voyage.
She was named for Frank Henry Holmes, son of Alexander Holmes. Cornelius Bartlett, a ship carpenter
SAIL PLAN OF BRIG Frank Henry OF KINGSTON, 1854
BARK "SICILIAN" CAPT" JOSEPH A. LAVENDER, ENTERING SMYRNA BAY
-
NY110IS
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MODEL OF BRIG Frank Henry OF KINGSTON, 1854
of Kingston, who kept a diary, says, "Aug. 19, 1853. Joinering a little brig for Alexander Holmes,in his yard. Nathaniel D. Drew, builder. Jan. 2Ist, 1854. The brigantine Frank Henry went out of the river, launched the 19th, bound for Boston. No ice or snow."
She was launched fully rigged and ready for sea. Alexander Holmes, grandson of the owner, has the half hulled model of this vessel and it shows the finest lines of any of the vessels built on Jones River.
Evidently an error has been made in describing the rig of the Frank Henry. The records in the Plymouth Custom House seem to have classed this vessel as a schooner, but she was always spoken of as a brig. Since her name was recorded in the present story of Kingston vessels, the sheer and spar plans have been found that were made by her designer, Nathaniel D. Drew. These show her to have been rigged as a hermaphrodite brig, a rig that was then fast taking the place of the brigantine and full rigged brig. At this time any two-masted vessel with yards on her foremast and a square foresail was called a brig or brigantine by those who worked or went in them, and unless there is a picture of spar plan it is impossible to know what was the actual rig of the vessel.
BARK Sicilian
Bark Sicilian of Kingston, 321 tons, built at Kingston in 1855, by Edward Holmes, master carpenter, and Joseph Holmes; owned by Joseph Holmes 34, Edward Holmes 1/8 and Allen Dawes 1/8.
REMARKS
The bark Sicilian was built for the Mediterranean fruit trade. Her dimensions were as follows: 115 feet 372 inches long, 25 feet 10 inches wide and II feet 10 inches deep. She was valued at $20,000 when she first sailed December 18, 1855. She was first commanded by Captain Allen Dawes; January 7, 1856, he was in her at Marseilles and the bark Fruiter commanded by Captain Josephus Dawes was at the same port, both being from Boston. Captain Allen says he thinks the Sicilian will sail as well as the Fruiter when he gets his sails cut so as to make them set. He had a twenty-nine days' pas- sage out. He went to Malaga and back to Boston and died in 1857, when Captain Josephus Dawes took charge, Captain James being in the Fruiter.
August, 1858, the bark went to Constantinople, Captain James H. Dawes, from New York; cargo, rum. He says he had rum in his cabin, stateroom and deck house, and that she was never so full of cargo since she was built. Most of his provisions were on deck as it was summer, and the bread and
SAIL PLAN OF BARK Neapolitan OF KINGSTON, 1856
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
flour in the water closet in cabin. Captain Dawes left her about 1861 and took the Fruiterer, new, and Captain Lavender took command of the Sicilian. He was followed by Captain Andrew Burditt as master who continued as such until she was sold to Boston in 1864. She was sold to Baker and Morrill of Boston for $16,000.
The following item is from the Boston Globe of March 3, 1925, and is taken from an article on "Two Forgotten North Shore Wrecks. Barks from the Mediterranean Lost SHEER AND SPAR PLAN OF BRIG Bird of the Wave OF KINGSTON, 1857 at Swampscott and Lynn Beach." The article after describing the loss of the bark Tedesco with all hands, January 18, 1857, also described the loss of the bark Vernon, February 5, 1859, when all hands were saved and concludes:
"It was somewhat singular in regard to this vessel that, having sailed from Messina on the same day with the bark Sicilian, both vessels should meet in the Boston Bay on Wednesday night, in a snowstorm, and that after recognizing each other, the former should go ashore on the north side of the bay and the latter, by standing more to the southward, should experience a similar misfortune by driving upon Calf Island, near the Outer Brewster.
The Sicilian, however, was rather more fortunate than her consort. After striking, she swept off into deep water and her commander, Captain James H. Dawes, immediately let go his anchors. The crew manned the pumps and by dint of hard labor kept the vessel free.
BARK Neapolitan
Bark Neapolitan of Kingston, 320 tons, built at Kingston by Joseph Holmes, in 1856; owned by Joseph Holmes.
REMARKS
The bark Neapolitan was also built for the fruit trade and was valued at $20,000 when she first sailed from Boston. Her first voyage was from Boston to Smyrna, Captain David Ellis, and she was there March 6, 1856, together with the Fruiter, bound to Boston. In 1857 and 1858 she was in the West Coast of Africa trade, carrying to Boston palm oil, which was picked up in small lots along the coast, often making the voyages quite long, Captain Ellis then being master.
In January, 1862, while bound from Mediterranean ports with fruit for Boston, Captain Andrew Burditt, master, she was captured in the Straits of Gibraltar by the Confederate cruiser Sumter, Captain Raphael Semmes, and burned, the captain and crew being allowed to save their personal effects, and landed at Gibraltar.
The Sumter was the first ship of war commissioned by the Confederate States and the first to fly the Confederate flag. She was a small screw steamer of 500 tons burden rigged as a barkentine, that had escaped the blockade at New Orleans, June 30, 1861. After cruis- ing in the West Indies and on the coast of South America, having captured and burned a number of Northern vessels, she arrived at Cadiz, Spain, for repairs and coal. She was ordered to sea by the Spanish government and was on her way to Gibraltar when the capture of the Neapolitan took place. The account of the capture and burning is best told in Admiral Semmes' own words:
"We made the light at Gibraltar just as the day was dawning, and hurried on by the cur- rent, moved rapidly up the Strait. Several sails that were coming down the Mediterranean
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became plainly visible from the deck as the twilight developed into day. We could not think of running into Gibraltar before overhauling these sails; we might, perchance, find an enemy among them, and so we altered our course and gave chase; as so many barks, ancient and modern, heathen, Christian and Moor had done before us in this famous old Strait.
"The telescope soon revealed the secret of the nationality of two of the sails; they being as plainly as symmetry and beauty of outline, the taper and grace of spars, and whiteness of canvas - produced upon our own cotton fields - could speak, American. To these, therefore, we directed our attention.
"It was a couple of hours before we came up with the first of these ships. She was stand- ing over toward the African side of the Strait, though still distant from the land some six or seven miles. We hoisted our own colors and fired the usual gun. She hauled up her courses and backed her maintopsail at once, and in a moment more, we could see the brightest of stars and stripes fluttering in the breeze, and glittering in very joyousness as it were, in the rays of the morning's sun; for the captain of the prize had evidently treated himself to a new ensign.
"The cat ran close enough to parley with the mouse before she put her paw on it. The bark, for such the prize was, proved to be the Neapolitan of Kingston, Mass., from Messina, in the island of Sicily, bound for Boston with a cargo of fruit, dried and fresh, and fifty tons of sulphur. She had been freshly painted, with that old robber, the bald eagle, sur- rounded by stars, gilded on her stern; her decks looked white and sweet after the morning's ablution which she had just undergone; her sails were well hoisted and her sheets well home; in short, she was a picture to look at, and the cat looked at her as a cat only can look at a sleek mouse. And then only to think, that the sly little mouse, looking so pretty and so innocent, should have so much of that villainous material called sulphur in its little pouch !
"The master stated in his deposition that the entire cargo belonged to the British house of Baring Brothers, it being consigned to an agent of theirs in Boston. The object of so wording the deposition was of course to save the cargo as neutral property, but as I hap- pened to know that the Boston house of the Barings, instead of being an agent merely, was a partner of the London house, the master took nothing by his deposition. Besides, if there had been no doubt as to the British ownership, sulphur going to an enemy's country is contraband of war; and in this case the contraband of war was not only condemnable of itself, but it tainted all the rest of the cargo, which belonged to the same owner.
"The master, who was as strongly marked in his Puritan nationality as the Israelite is in the seed of Abraham, feeling himself securely intrenched behind the Baring Brothers, was a little surprised when I told him that I should burn his ship, and began to expostulate. But I had no time for parley, for there was another ship demanding my attention; and so, transferring the prisoners from the doomed ship to the Sumter as speedily as possible, the Neapoli- tan was burned; burned in the sight of Europe and Africa, with the tur- baned Moor looking upon the con- flagration on one hand, and the garrison of Gibraltar and the Span- iard on the other.
"Previously to applying the torch, we took a small liberty with some of the excellent fruit of the Bar- ings, transferring a number of drums of figs, boxes of raisins and oranges, to the cooks and stewards of the different messes."
SAIL PLAN OF BRIG Bird of the Wave OF KINGSTON, 1857
BARK Fruiterer OF KINGSTON, 1861
E
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BRIG Bird of the Wave
Brig Bird of the Wave of King- ston, 178 tons, built at Kingston by Joseph Holmes, in 1857; owned by Joseph Holmes and Edward Holmes.
REMARKS
The first voyage of the brig, Bird of the Wave, was from Boston to Barcelona in 1858. Captain, Andre Burditt; Robert Thompson, mate. Robert Thompson from this time remained in the employ of the Holmes' as mate and master until SAIL PLAN OF BARK Egypt OF KINGSTON, 1860 about 1887, when the last vessel owned by the Holmes, schooner Mary Baker was sold. He was a very able shipmaster and highly thought of by Mr. Edward Holmes.
The brig had a forty-one days' passage to Barcelona and the captain wrote that it was a very rough trip and lost part of deck load of wood. Vessel did not leak very bad and was very fast. She went to Messina and loaded fruit for Boston. In 1858, July 4th, she was at Jacmel for Boston, B. N. Adams, master, who writes home that brig is very fast.
In 1859, she sailed from Boston, Captain Andrew Burditt's brother, Alfred, master, and was never heard from again; all hands lost. She was a very sharp vessel and probably run under carrying sail in bad weather. It was thought at the time she was lost on Georges, as there was a hard southeast gale the day after she left Boston.
BARK Egypt
Bark Egypt of Kingston, 557 tons, built at Kingston, in 1860, by Edward Holmes, master carpenter, and Joseph Holmes; owned by Joseph Holmes 4/8, Alexander Holmes 1/8, Paraclete Holmes 1/8, Edward Holmes 1/8 and William S. Adams 1/8.
REMARKS
The bark Egypt was 557 tons and her dimensions were 139 feet 7 inches long, 29 feet 21/2 inches wide and 14 feet 714 inches deep. Albert Holmes of Plymouth was her first master and Robert Thompson, mate. She sailed from Boston, new, for New Orleans and from there to Bordeaux with claret staves and return to New Orleans. From New Orleans she went again to Bordeaux and from there to San Francisco. On her return she was sold in 1863 for $34,000 to Henry Sears, Boston. Lemuel Holmes, son of Edward Holmes was one of her crew on her first voyage.
This bark was named Egypt for the farm where Joseph Holmes was born. This was called Egypt because his father, who owned it and whose given name was also Joseph, always raised large crops of corn. The farm was situated in the western part of the town of Kingston on what, in old plans, was called the road to Hanson, now called Egypt road, not far from the southern end of Silver Lake and this section continues to be called Egypt to this day. Most of this farm is still owned by the Holmes family but is not cultivated.
BARK Fruiterer
Bark Fruiterer of Kingston, 321 tons, built at Kingston by Joseph Holmes, in 1861; owned by Joseph and Edward Holmes. Stephen Holmes, measurer.
REMARKS
The Fruiterer was built for the fruit trade from southern Europe, but on account of the war she was used for other business. Her dimensions were 115 feet long, 25 feet wide and
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
II feet deep. The story of this vessel as told by Mr. James A. Simmons of Duxbury who at this date, May 1, 1926, is the only survivor of the ship's company on her first and only voyage is as follows :
The Fruiterer left Boston, new, in 1861, bound to Malaga in command of Captain James H. Dawes of Kingston; Calvin H. Bryant, Plympton, mate; Justus A. Bailey, Kingston, second mate. The crew was what was called a home crew and their names were as follows:
Steward, OZRO WOODWARD, Duxbury Sailors: CHARLES SIMMONS, Duxbury GUSTAVUS ELLIS, Plympton WILLARD CLARK, Duxbury HENRY O'HARA, Boston TRESCOTT TUPPER, Kingston JAMES A. SIMMONS, Duxbury
At Malaga the bark loaded wine, raisins and lemons for San Francisco. They had a very good run to Cape Horn where the bark Egypt of King- ston, owned by Joseph Holmes, and commanded CAPTAIN JAMES H. DAWES by Captain Albert Holmes, was sighted. She left Bordeaux sixteen days before the Fruiterer left Malaga. Captain Dawes signaled the Egypt but she would not reply and they soon passed her. When the Fruiterer arrived off the Golden Gate a bark was sighted just ahead, and after taking a pilot, they learned that the bark was the Egypt. Captain Dawes immediately ordered all sail made. They passed the Egypt and anchored in San Francisco bay just before the other vessel. This was a very close race from Cape Horn, but Captain Dawes was much disappointed that he did not beat the Egypt more as he had made a much faster passage from the Mediterranean to Cape Horn.
From San Francisco the Fruiterer went to Yokohama making the passage in thirty-five days, which at that time was the fastest passage that had been made between the two ports. After leaving Japan Captain Dawes employed the bark in freighting on the China coast between Chinese ports and to Japan, and at that time American vessels had very good freights for these coasting voyages. They often remained in Chinese waters several years before returning home.
October 22, 1863, the Fruiterer sailed from Foochow for coast ports and the next morning, October 23, at 4.20, the vessel being under topsails, weather thick, and a fresh gale blowing, was run down and sunk by the S. S. Viscount Canning, an English steamer under the Siamese flag. The steamer was running before the wind under sail and steam, going very fast and struck the bark near the mizzen chains, tearing away her stern. Trescott Tupper was at the wheel and was left on the after part of the vessel where he supported himself in the water on a broken deck beam for seventy-six hours and during that time had nothing to eat but a small water snake which he caught. He was picked up by a Dutch bark and taken into a Chinese port where he found Captain Josephus Dawes, who was there in the Boston bark, Valetta, freighting on the China coast. He reported the bark lost with all hands not knowing that the rest of the crew had been rescued by the Canning and already landed, reporting him as lost. This bark was a very fast vessel and had an elaborate figurehead carved by Charles Holmes of Kingston.
CAPTAIN JAMES H. DAWES
He was the youngest of the three brothers and was born in Duxbury in 1826. Like his brother, Josephus, he began his seafaring life when quite young for he was mate for his
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MODEL OF THE SCHOONER Fisher, 1865 AND Mary Baker OF KINGSTON, 1869
brother, Captain Allen, in the brig Belize when she was new and later took command of her. He also commanded the barks Fruiter and Sicilian, both used for the Mediterranean fruit trade.
In 1861, Joseph Holmes launched the bark Fruiterer and Captain Dawes, who was in the Sicilian, left her to take charge of the new vessel, being in her when she was lost in the China Sea in 1863. The story of this disaster is told in the "Remarks" on the Fruiterer and the "Remarks" on other vessels he went in contain accounts of his voyages while in them.
The picture of him is taken from one made in San Francisco about 1880 while master of his own ship Matchless of Boston.
ยท About 1864 he came to Kingston to live, buying the property now occupied by the pastor of St. Joseph's parish of Kingston, and died there in 1905.
On his monument in the Kingston cemetery is carved a globe and an anchor, signifying "Around the world and anchored at last."
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