USA > Massachusetts > Plymouth County > Kingston > Ships of Kingston. : "Good-bye, fare ye well" > Part 2
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
a tow boat. The Holmes usually invited their friends and neighbors to go as passengers, and the crews were made up of men working in the building yards and sailors whose homes were in Kingston and happened to be on shore at the time and who shipped for the run. Often a charter was secured for a cargo from New York City or some southern port to Europe and the new vessel went to sea in ballast directly from Kingston with a full complement of officers and crew bound for the port, to load what was called for in the charter. The schooners and brigs were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages, with occasional voyages to the continent of Europe and to South America. The vessels that went fishing summers were sent south in the winter on what they called freighting voyages and they brought back to Kingston corn, flour, coal and lumber, arriving back in the spring in time to fit out for the Banks. Mr. Edward Holmes had a coalyard on the lower Landing Wharf, supplying many families in town with coal.
For many years after vessels were first built in Kingston the builders were able to obtain nearly all of the timber necessary for their purposes in the forests of Kingston and surrounding towns. On this account the Holmes became owners of large tracks of wood- land purchased for the ship timber growing there, and many acres of this land remain in the family today. At one time Mr. Edward Holmes bought a large wood lot in Halifax for one tree that was growing there which he had found suitable for a vessel stem. As late as the time of the building of the last vessel by Mr. Edward Holmes in 1874, long logs for keels, drawn by three or four yoke of oxen, could be seen going slowly through the streets bound for the Landing, having been hauled from Plympton or Halifax and sometimes Middleboro, considerable skill being required to make the sharp turn off the Main street to enter the way to the Landing on account of the length of the logs. The masts and spars were often made in East Boston and when finished brought to Kingston by some of the schooners. If too long to go on deck they were slung over the vessel's sides. The captain of the schooner picking a favorable chance to make the fifty-mile run. During the latter part of the building by the Holmes much of the timber and plank used in the construction of the vessels was brought in their own schooners from North Carolina.
From 1830 to 1855 the business carried on by Joseph Holmes was at its height and in 1850 he had over $200,000 invested in vessels afloat and was one of the largest individual owners of vessels in the United States at that time. Joseph Holmes had schooners named for every month in the year except for May, and that one was called the May Bee, as there was already a schooner named the May listed in the United States shipping register.
From about 1850 to his death in 1863, Joseph Holmes built a number of small barks for the Mediterranean fruit trade. These barks were chartered by Boston merchants and proved very profitable to their owners. They were the Ann and Mary, Fruiter, Abby, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Fruiterer and brig Bird of the Wave. After the death of Joseph Holmes, his son, Edward, who had been associated with him in business since 1827 continued it on his own account till 1887. He built and owned eight vessels. Mr. Edward Holmes was thus distinguished from all the other ship builders in Kingston for his father, Joseph, once said that he was the only man he ever knew who could go into the woods, select and cut the timber, design and build the vessel, rig and make the sales and sail her after she was finished. The last work done in the Holmes' shipyard at the Landing was in the winter of 1883 when the schooner Mary Baker was hauled into the north timber dock and retopped.
The Beals, David and David, Jr., were merchants in Kingston, and had vessels built here, as their names are on record in the Plymouth Custom House from 1788 to 1810 as owners with Nathaniel, John and Sylvanus Thomas, and also the Drews, who built for them. Their vessels were small and were used in connection with their business.
The first of the Severs to settle in Kingston was Nicholas who came in 1728, married the Widow Little, and soon after engaged in business as a merchant and owner of vessels, later being associated with his sons, William and John, the firm name then being Nicholas Sever and Sons, which was continued until his death in 1764, when the business was carried on by William, John having died in 1760.
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
KEY.
The Londing House, so-called
13 Upper Fish House and Wharf
2. The Joiner's Loft, also salt and ookum rooms below
3 Strom Box Shed
1
1
1
1
7 Open front work shed
19 Salt marsh
2a Salt marsh
27
8 Sait and mould loft, also store rooms below for paint, tor, etc.
21 Wharf
9 Timber dock
22 Wharf
23 Wharf
24 Jones River
25 Stony Brook
26 The Road to Duxbury
27 The Nook Lone.
14
14
1
17
15
12 Pump and Block Maker's Building or shed.
016
13
13
19
1
15
1
1
2
21
8
2.2.
23
1
26
12
5
. PLAN OF THE OLD SHIP OR BUILDING YARD OF JOSEPH HOLMES AND HIS SON EDWARD HOLMES AT THE LANDING ON JONES RIVER AT KINGSTON, MASS. Plan Traced from one by Edward Holmes
Not any land at the Landing was owned by the Severs until the latter part of the seven- teenth century when William secured a piece south of the present railroad tracks.
They hired or leased wharves at the Landing and at Rocky Nook as shown from old account books, and.were associated with William Drew and his brothers, who built vessels for them.
These vessels were sloops, schooners and brigs used for packets, coasting, mackerel and bank fishing and West India voyages, with a few European and whaling voyages.
Nicholas Sever had for his first vessel the sloop Harvard, built by Cornelius Drew in 173I, and named for Harvard College from which he had recently graduated.
It seems singular that this Nicholas Sever, who, with his sons, was the first person in Kingston to become an owner of vessels in any number, was first a minister and that one hundred years later Joseph Holmes, who, with his sons, was the largest shipowner and builder the town ever had, was also first a minister, both being college graduates, Joseph Holmes graduating from The College of Rhode Island, later called Brown's University, in 1797.
The firm of Nicholas Sever and Sons and later William Sever alone, are known to have owned seventeen vessels and their names and rig are as follows:
Sloop . . Harvard
Brig . Kingston Schooner . . Squirrel
Sloop . ยท Charming Betsy
Schooner , Desire
Schooner . . Defiance
Sloop . . Mermaid
Schooner . . Good Fortune Schooner . Triton
Schooner . Lark
Brigantine . Sally
Brig . . Stork.
Schooner . . Spring Schooner . . William Sloop . . Funo Sloop . . Hawke
Schooner . . Ranger
14 Lower Fish House and Wharf
15 Peobody Bradford House
16 Old Well
17 Barn
5. Bul king for dry lumber
6 The Launching Ways
18 Lone Rock in the middle of the River bed
-
10 Roadway under the railroad track to the shipyard. Very old and used before railroad was built, so railroad was built over it.
11. Railroad bridge over Jones River
20
24
10
1
4 Building for sow pits
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
It is probable that they owned others of which no account can be found. There is no record of the dimensions or tonnage of these vessels, except that of the schooner Triton. She was 77 tons, 47 feet keel, 191/2 feet beam and 8 feet deep, and built by Cornelius Drew in 1757. These vessels were chiefly employed in the same business. The above tonnage and dimen- sions would apply to nearly all of them, with the exceptions of the brigs, which were larger. Nicholas Sever and his son William were also interested in iron furnaces here, and their output was carried to Boston and Salem in their packets, and they were also large shippers of wood, plank, staves and salt fish.
Their whaling business was carried on from Rocky Nook Wharf, where William Sever owned a storehouse on land and wharf leased of the Delano's. This business does not seem to have been very important as they had only two vessels engaged in it, the sloop Mermaid and the brig Stork, and these for only a few years between 1760 and 1770.
It is in connection with William Sever's whaling voyages, that we find from his old account books that Robert Foster, of Kingston, who owned what is now the middle wharf at the Landing, was owner in 1767 of the schooners Brittania and Polly, both of these schooners being used for whaling, and he paid wharfage at Rocky Nook Wharf to William Sever for landing oil and blubber and docking his vessels there.
Foster was a blockmaker and rigger, having a shop at his wharf at the Landing.
In 1769 William Sever had the sloop Hawke built by William Drew and Co., and Robert Foster was allowed two quarts of rum by William Sever for setting the mast and later three quarts of rum for setting the masts in the schooner Defiance.
No other account can be found of Robert Foster owning vessels and his interest in them could not have continued many years.
The whaling voyages undertaken at this time in these small vessels were short, the blubber being tried out at home.
The old account books kept by William Sever are very interesting as showing the varied interest of a merchant of a seacoast town at a period shortly before the events took place that led to the war between England and her colonies in America, and the following taken from his day-book or journal gives an idea of the business that some of his vessels were engaged in between the years 1757 and 1771:
Dec. 1758 Schooner Desire, William Sever owner, re- turned from a voyage to Jamaica of 472 months.
Jan. 1759 Schooner Lark, William Sever owner, fish- ing the previous year. Abraham Everson, Master.
Jan. 1759 Ebenezer Fuller on a voyage to Carolina for William Sever.
June 1760 Zenas Drew building a schooner for Wil- liam Sever.
Aug. 1760 Samuel Drew building a brigantine for William Sever.
June 1760 Peleg Holmes and Josiah Fuller fishing for William Sever as masters.
1760 William Sever had brig Stork on a voyage to and from Cadiz. Theophilus Cotten, master.
May 1761 William Sever had schooner Ranger, Wait Grey, master, on a voyage to Philadelphia.
June 1762 Brig Kingston, William Sever, owner; Joseph Bartlett, Jr., of Kingston, master; completed a two months' voyage to the West Indies.
1764 William Sever paying ground rent for storehouse on Rocky Nook Wharf to Joshua Delano.
Nov. 1764 William Sever interested in a whaling voyage the past summer.
Apr. 1766 William Sever had the sloop Mermaid, Seth Chipman, master, on a voyage to Antigua the past winter.
1767 William Sever had a vessel on a whaling voyage in the summer.
1767 William Sever sent sloop Mermaid to Caro- lina and West Indies during the winter, Samuel Drew, master.
1769 William Sever had the schooner Ranger, Rufus Ripley, master, on a voyage from Carolina in the spring with corn.
1769 William Sever had the sloop Charming Betsy, Joseph Bartlett, Jr., master, on a voyage from North Carolina in the spring, freight 128 bushels of corn.
Feb. 21st 1770 Peabody Bradford sells to William Sever 14 part of sloop Juno for 35 pounds.
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
William Sever was Agent for the Provincial Government of Massachusetts or as he sometimes writes it, State of Massachusetts Bay, in the building at Kingston, Mass., in 1776 of the brig Independence as under date of November 22 that year the following entry is found in his journal:
Mass. State, for brig Independence Dr. to William Drew, his bill for building 488 pounds.
There are many other charges in his journal to the State on the brig's account and the last one is dated:
Kingston, Feb. 6, 1777, Mass. State, for brig Independence. To cash paid Daniel Adams for expenses in re- cruiting as per bill, 3 pounds, 7 shillings, 9 pence.
From these and other charges it is shown that William Sever was the State Agent till the brig was ready for sea with crew on board. At this time he was also an agent for the State in the sale of prizes captured from the English by State and private armed vessels. After the Revolutionary War he does not seem to have been actively engaged in business.
The first record in the Plymouth Custom House showing that the Severs owned any vessels here is in 1795, when John Sever, Merchant, owned the sloop Nancy, 57 tons, built in Duxbury. His store was on the corner of Main and Linden Streets where the building once used for a general store by George E. Cushman and now used for the manufacture of candies by the firm of Ye King's Towne Sweets, Inc., stands, and used by his father and grandfather. In 1799 he had the schooner Sarah built by William Drew and these vessels he employed in his business as packets to Boston and for coasting. The next one of his family that appears as an owner is his son John, who in 1817 owned, with his brother and others, the sloop Leo, 61 tons, built by Lysander Bartlett, senior. From this time till 184I he had a number of schooners, brigs and ships built by Lysander Bartlett, senior, in the Bartlett yard and owned them alone or with his brothers, James N., Charles, and others. In 1832 he had built the ship Baltimore, 229 tons; followed by the ship Mariposa, 317 tons; ship Russell, 436 tons; ship Charles, 387 tons; ship Alesto, 420 tons; and ship Leodes, 445 tons; this last ship being the largest vessel built above the present railroad bridge.
The ship Russell was a favorite of all Colonel Sever's ships and earned for her owner a great deal of money.
These ships were used for foreign voyages, several, and perhaps all, in the cotton trade between the southern states and Europe and although they hailed from Kingston never came here after they first sailed. John Sever, or Colonel Sever, as he was called, was the first president of the Old Colony Railroad and it is probable that about the time the rail- road came through the town in 1845 he disposed of most of his interest in shipping. He built and occupied the house now owned by Mr. Roland Bailey.
An old receipt book, kept by Major Seth Drew, shows him building the following vessels, of which there is no other record:
1784 Building a schooner for Jesse Harlow. 1785 Building a brig for Jackson, Davis and others.
1784 Building a schoonerfor Ripley, Fuller and others. 1785 Building a schooner for William Grey of Salem. 1785 Building a sloop for Wm. Drew and Jonathan Holmes. 1789 Building a brig, Betsy, for Captain. Benjamin Cobb of Boston.
A deed found by Miss Emily F. Drew in the Registry at Plymouth shows that once there was a building or shipyard on Jones River near the old fish wharves that are situated just below the mouth of Stony Brook.
The deed describes a drawbridge that crossed the river at this place, being reached by a causey over the salt marsh opposite to these old wharves. The road to this bridge was then the road to Boston from Plymouth and when it was changed and the present Great Bridge built the drawbridge was removed.
Until about 1855 this land on the north bank of the river below where Stony Brook empties into it was in Duxbury, so no attempt has ever been made to locate the position of this yard.
A copy of the deed describing this yard of Thomas Loring of Duxbury is as follows:
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
Plymouth County Deeds, Vol. 6, folio 113, 21 June 1706. Grantor, Thomas Loring of Duxbury Shipwright. Grantee, Saml Bradford of Duxbury Yeoman.
Fifteen acres of upland and Salt marsh land in Duxboro (which is undoubtedly the "Peabody Brad- ford Place") also five acres of upland and marsh on the west side of the highway and on the south- erly side of John Trasey and Tussock Creek "allways reserving unto my Self and my heirs lawfully be- gotten of my body forever, ye use of the building yard wch I now have att or near Jones River bridge, of Twelve rods Square bounded on ye South with
ye Sd river, and on the west with the highway, for me and my heirs - forever, to build Ships or Vessels in & upon, or to land or lay Any Manner of Timber plank or Any other lumber & goods necessary in order to building or riging & fitting of Vessels the Sd Bradford And his heirs forever having liberty to Continue ye fence by the high way on the Westerly Side of ye Sd yard where it now Standeth. . "
At the entrance to Short Reach is an old wharf, once called Sever's Wharf and used by that family, and later by Alexander Beal and Lewis Ripley as a lumber yard. Captain Francis Washburn, with Mr. Harvey Ransom, were the last to use it, between 1860 and 1870, keeping their fishing smacks there and using the old building that stood on the wharf for storage purposes. It is now called Skipper's Wharf for Captain Washburn.
At the lower end of Long Reach is Bradford's Wharf, now fallen to pieces. This was last used for landing and curing fish. An old building once stood on the south side of the hill, called Sunderland, which was used for a fish house, this hill being now owned by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes. Captain Ellis Bradford, who lived in Rocky Nook, owned it for some years, and the last one to own it for a fish wharf was Captain Frank Johnson, many years ago. This old wharf is near Elder Cushman's Spring and the site of his house and this place was probably used by him for a landing and later by those who lived in that vicinity.
The families of Winsors, Whittens and Delanos who lived in Rocky Nook owned many vessels and the first record found is in 1803 when Peter Winsor and Benjamin Delano owned the sloop Two Sisters of 44 tons. The Winsors, Peter, William D. and Elbridge G., owned vessels until after 1860, Peter Winsor having ownership in the largest number. Their vessels were sloops and schooners and were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages, using the Rocky Nook Wharf. They owned by themselves, or with others, 27. Melzar Whitten first owned vessels in 1814 and continued as an owner sometimes with Melzar Whitten, Jr., Sever and Delano, until shortly after 1840, also using Rocky Nook Wharf. These vessels numbered 16 and were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages.
Benjamin Delano and his son Joshua were, with the exception of Joseph Holmes, the largest owners of vessels in Kingston and carried on the business from 1803 to shortly after 1882 when the last vessel, the schooner Cordova, was sold. These vessels were used for fish- ing, coasting, West India and European voyages, and they owned in whole or in part, 37, having most of them built by Lysander Bartlett, senior and junior. They used the Rocky Nook Wharf and since they commenced business the family has retained an interest in it to the present time, now owning it with Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, who became an owner through his father, he inheriting it from his father, Alexander Holmes.
In 1866 Alfred F. Howe of Boston, who at that time was living in Kingston, had a yacht built at Clarke's Island by Mortimer and Edward Watson. This was a keel sloop, with a cabin 23 feet long, and named the Black Diamond. He used her for pleasure trips about the bay and cruising along the Massachusetts coast, selling her in Boston in 1868. This appears to have been the first small vessel that was owned here for pleasure that could be called a yacht, although there were always some small sailing craft on the river used for fishing, of which we have no record. At that time Captain Charles Stetson had a sloop about 18 feet long, using it for sailing and fishing around the bay. About 1867 Captain Otis Baker had the sloop yacht, Grace Darling, which he bought in Duxbury. This was a center board craft with cabin and large cockpit and was about 25 feet long. He used her for several years, keeping her at the lower end of Mr. Edward Holmes' wharf and then sold her to Plymouth. At this time Mr. Cyrus Ripley had a sloop about 17 feet long which
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
he used for pleasure, and these four were the first of the yachts owned in Kingston. In 1874, Mr. James L. Hall bought in Lynn the 23-foot center-board sloop Plough Boy and sold her to North Plymouth in 1876. That year he had the keel sloop Playmate built by Lysan- der Bartlett, in the building now used for a boatshop by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom, this building then standing by the river in the old Drew shipyard near the Alms House, and formerly used by N. D. Drew when building vessels for Alexander Holmes in 1850. The Playmate was 31 feet long, 10 feet wide, with a draft of 3 feet. Mr. Hall used her for cruising till 1879, when she was sold to Mr. Willoughby of Plymouth, who afterward sold her to Boston. In 1871 Captain Nathan B. Watson commenced building sailboats and dories in a shop he built on land of John Drew's, close to the Landing Road just south of the present boatshop used by the late Captain Ransom. In 1874, he built the 17 feet over all sprit-sail lobster boat, Wanderer, the first smooth-planked boat built for this bay and used for lobstering and fishing. She was the largest and fastest boat of the kind that had been built up to that time. These boats were partly decked and had a large sprit foresail and smaller sprit mainsail with a boom and were very fast and able. At that time their use was almost wholly confined to Plymouth, Kingston and Duxbury bays. Previous to Cap- tain Watson's building the Wanderer these lobster boats had been what is called lap- streak or clinker-built and much smaller and were built on Clark's Island and in Duxbury. The Wanderer was a deep keel boat, very sharp forward, and when she was launched it was thought by some that she would not be safe in running in a strong breeze on account of her sharpness as her sharp bow would cause her to run under. On trying her it was soon seen that this was just the reverse and no more full bowed boats were built.
John Drew, or Uncle John, as he was called, who at this time owned all of the land above the railroad bridge formerly occupied by the Drews and Bartletts for building yards, having become an old man, unable to work at his trade of ship carpenter, and not knowing what it was to be idle, dug the sloping bank all away clear to the highway where Captain Watson's boatshop first stood, continuing his digging nearly the whole length of this lot, carrying the sand in a wheelbarrow to the bank of the river and filling in what had previously been in most places a narrow strip of marsh land. This re- moved all traces of the site of the building yard last used by the Bartletts. All of the land where Captain Watson's boatshop and the boathouse of P. W. Maglauthlin stands, these two buildings, now being owned by Dr. Holmes, was made by him, and it was after he filled in this store that Captain Watson moved his shop to its present location near the river in 1874.
This John Drew was the last of his generation of old ship carpenters living near the Landing and of a truly vanished type of men who worked from sun to sun, drank their morning and afternoon allowance of rum, and were seemingly indifferent to the variations of our New England climate. Some of the stories told of these old carpenters, the jokes they played on one another, and their quaint sayings, are often recalled to this day. Their skill as workmen is shown in the lasting qualities of the vessels they worked on. None of the modern labor-saving machinery was ever used in these building yards, and one or two small buildings were sufficient to take care of what little work had to be done under cover.
As the business of Joseph Holmes and his sons increased they were obliged to have a larger number of buildings in their yard and were more fully equipped than the other builders to fit their vessels for sea, but all of the shipbuilding was done out in the open and the ship carpenters worked out of doors summer and winter, regardless of the weather.
Having enlarged his shop Captain Watson built in the winter of 1874 the 25 feet over all center-board cabin-sloop Idle Hour for Lewis H. Keith of Kingston, which was the first yacht ever built here. She was a great improvement in design and finish on any pleasure craft that had yet been owned here or in the bay and attracted much attention. Mr. Keith used her for cruising and racing, selling her in 1877 to Dorchester. The next year Captain Watson enlarged his shop again and built the Hermes schooner yacht, which is described in list of
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SHIPS OF KINGSTON
vessels built in Kingston. He continued building lobster boats and catboats to the number of 19 till 1892.
Captain Edward A. Ransom commenced building lobster boats in Captain Watson's shop about 1879, having previously worked on the yachts Idle Hour and Hermes when they were building. He continued building these boats there until 1885 when he bought the workshop, built by Nathaniel D. Drew in 1850 in the old Drew shipyard near the Alms House and moved it to its present site. Here, until his death in 1922, he built many lobster boats, small yachts and gasoline launches, also steamer Tiger, whose name is given in list of vessels built here. He designed and built the fastest lobster boats ever built for the bay and was the first one to build these boats with the modern hanging stern.
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