USA > Massachusetts > Essex County > Nahant > Some annals of Nahant, Massachusetts > Part 11
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This was not only the first open regatta held at Nahant, but apparently the first held anywhere around Boston. S. E. Morrison, in his "Maritime History of Massachusetts," says: "Off Nahant, on July 19, 1845, was held the first open yacht
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race in Massachusetts;" and he adds, "The fame of this regatta, the boats owned by her summer residents, and a huge new hotel, made Nahant the yachting center of Massa- chusetts Bay until the Civil War." The hotel was not "new," but was newly enlarged and remodelled.
Thus was yachting around Nahant two or three generations ago. The interest remained, variable according to the enthu- siasm of the people. In later years, remembered by present- day Nahanters, two yachts were always familiar figures in summer time. One, the "Alice," was owned by Thomas Gold Appleton, brother-in-law of the poet Longfellow. A picture in the Public Library shows Appleton among his crew and others. This man started transatlantic yacht racing when in the summer of 1866 his yacht set sail from Nahant and crossed to Cowes in something over nineteen days. Charles A. Long- fellow, the poet's son, was aboard, and Arthur H. Clark was captain. This was the first crossing in a small yacht, and it is said she was spoken in mid-ocean by vessels who supposed she was lost and astray and probably needing help. The famous trip of the "America" was in 1851, the same year she was launched. She was a larger boat, eighty-seven feet long, schooner-rigged, and sailed across with short spars and no special attempt at speed. She was refitted at Havre before entering races around England. The summer of 1928 prom- ises to see the fifth race across the Atlantic, since the "Alice" showed how it could be done. On her trip, says W. U. Swan in "The Boston Evening Transcript," she carried full racing canvas and spars and a comparatively small crew. Six months later, in midwinter, came the first of four Atlantic crossing races, with three entries for a large stake. Succeeding races were in 1870, 1887 and 1905. The other yacht, the "Breeze," was first seen here when owned by Charles Minot, but will be chiefly remembered as owned by Samuel Johnson. Both these men are mentioned elsewhere. Captain William F. Kemp, also a well-known Nahant figure, was for many years captain of the "Breeze." A little earlier, perhaps in the 70's and 80's, these yachts had companions. There was the "Rebecca,"
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owned by Charles H. Joy, the "Romance," at home off Joe Beach, and the "Halcyon" of General Paine's, with Captain Stone, who afterwards sailed the cup defenders.
The famous yachts of General Charles J. Paine were familiar here. Paine raced the "Puritan" against the "Genesta" in September, 1885, and was successful. The boat was built by a syndicate of enthusiastic yachtsmen of whom J. Malcolm Forbes, William Gray, Jr., and Charles J. Paine were a com- mittee in control. After the races she was sold to General Paine, who afterwards sold her to Forbes. These men were all eastern or New England men, mostly of the Eastern Yacht Club at Marblehead, who wanted an eastern boat entered as a prospective defender of the America Cup. The New York Yacht Club had a prominent boat, the "Priscilla," which was defeated in the trial races. In 1886 Paine built the "May- flower" himself, using no financial aid from outside sources. She was raced successfully against the "Galatea" in Sep- tember. Again, in 1887, General Paine's enthusiasm was manifest. He built the "Volunteer," which successfully raced the English challenger "Thistle," which was built by a group of Scotchmen expressly to compete for the famous cup. On Friday, October 7, 1887, a public reception was tendered to General Paine and Edward Burgess, who was the designer of all three yachts, at Faneuil Hall in Boston. The reception was the idea of Mayor Hugh O'Brien, who called together a committee of citizens to assist in the affair. The city council of Boston passed resolutions of thanks to Paine and Burgess for their energy and progressiveness and for their triple vic- tories. It was deemed a matter of local pride, as the boats were eastern boats, commonly known as Boston boats. These great cup defenders never sailed important races in this vicinity, as the trial and cup races were held outside of New York; but they were often seen sailing along the North Shore, and at anchor off Nahant, where General Paine was a familiar figure. The proceedings at this reception were put into book form, with illustrations of the great yachts and their rivals, at the expense of the city of Boston.
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General Charles J. Paine was born in Boston in 1833 and graduated from Harvard in 1853. He married a daughter of John Bryant, who was of the firm of Bryant & Sturgis, whose business began in dealings up the American west coast and the Columbia River, later entering the East India trade. He owned the "Bryant" place on Nahant, which later was known as the Paine place, on Swallows Cave Road. General Paine was himself successful in business, chiefly in railroad enter- prises. He was of the old Paine family, reaching back to a signer of the Declaration of Independence and numbering many other well-known men in later generations. He had a fine estate in Weston, where he spent much time, but Nahant frequently saw him during the yachting season. His military title came from the Civil War, where he was commissioned captain in 1861, and major and colonel in 1862. In 1865 he received the brevet rank of major-general. He was a little- known man, always retiring and apparently preferring to be inconspicuous. Yet those who knew of him and his achieve- ments would turn to look at him, if they met him, as long as he remained in sight.
Then there were the famous dory races, for dory sailing has always been a popular sport along the North Shore. The best idea of this and of the glorious communion of souls down at the wharf is given in the article written by Mason W. Hammond, a brother of Samuel Hammond, some time in the 90's. Mason Hammond shortly afterward left Nahant and lived abroad until his death. "Bertie" Otis is Herbert Foster Otis. The Goves, Kemps and Covells were three families of that period, thirty or forty years ago, loving the sea and getting a living from it. Charles E. Gove kept Gove's fish market on Willow Road at the foot of Ocean Street. He had several chil- dren, only one of whom is now a resident of Nahant. One, George A. Gove, was for several years town treasurer, resigning on his removal from town. Charles E. Gove had a brother George H. Gove, who died in 1878 at the age of thirty-three. He was captain of the "Blanche," owned by Thomas G. Cary. He was twice married, to sisters who were daughters of
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Joseph Johnson and sisters of Luther S. Johnson. His children are known by Nahanters today, though not living in town. One is Anna H. Gove and one Edith Gove Breed, widow of George Herbert Breed. Another is Joseph H. Gove. Captain Kemp had a large family, mostly now away from Nahant. A daughter Susan is the widow of Francis B. Crocker. A son, Charles F. Kemp, lives here, and is grand mogul at the wharf. He was prominently connected with the Emergency Fleet Cor- poration during the Great War, being senior fleet captain. He is "Kibe" Kemp. Another daughter of Captain "Bill" Kemp married a son of Francis B. Crocker, Richard H. Crocker, now connected with the Nahant Fire Department. Another son of the senior Captain Kemp is Captain Joseph H. Kemp, not a resident of Nahant, but a well-known skilful sea dog. It is he who has put so many of the United States Navy ships over their trial test trips. The Covell boys were sons of Samuel Covell, elsewhere mentioned. Neither Samuel nor Otis, these two sons, have lived on Nahant for many years. "Cruso" Robertson is "Hall" Robertson, more correctly R. H. Robert- son, still a resident of Nahant and well-known harbor pilot for Lynn, Salem and Beverly. And there was George B. Taylor, who died in 1902 at the age of seventy-eight. He was keeper of Egg Rock Light before he moved to Nahant. His sons, Fred L., George W., B. Frank and Eben were familiar figures, though Fred was drowned in the 80's, as related elsewhere. George was "Buster" and Frank was "Tony," and these nick- names, meaning general popularity, clung to them. They were great chowder makers for fishing parties, and just a few years ' ago "Tony" was invited to Detroit, with all expenses paid and a fee besides, to show Detroiters how good chowder should taste. He refused, saying he could not do the subject justice so far away from home. He died in 1922 at the age of sixty- seven. And now for Hammond's article:
Every seafaring people in the world have a type of boat peculiar to them- selves and their needs. And the style of boat which is peculiar to New England is "the dory." To this flat-bottomed, flat-sided little boat more fishermen and seafaring men owe their lives than to any type of boat yet
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invented. No "banker" thinks of going out of Gloucester without a nest of dories amidships, and many a merchant sailorman, when his vessel has gone pounding on a rock or shoal, and the big seas come combing over her in walls of green water, and none of the keel boats could possibly have "a life" in such a sea, has prayed for an old-fashioned, slab-sided Swampscott dory. How the boat happened to be called a dory is a mystery. They have in England a fish called a John Dory fish, but they have no dories. We have the dories and no John Dory fish, and there you have it. The first man that we know about who made a name and a livelihood by building dories was one John Lowell of Essex, Mass., and today his grandson is head workman in a shop of Emmons & Co., dory builders, in Swampscott, Mass.
Gradually the dory, from being a rough, flat-sided affair, developed. The fishermen who went after perch and lobsters from the beaches put sails in their boats to save rowing home with a heavy load of lobster pots and fish. At first they only sailed before the wind, and then they found that by lashing a board over the lee rail and steering with an oar they could beat to wind- ward, and then they put in centerboards, and then they began building their dories with a "bilge" and a round bottom, and finally they decked them fore and aft and round the gunwale, so that the fisherman's dory of today is practically a big canoe. And can't they sail, though, and go to windward and live in a sea way and carry sail? Well, rather! Many and many a time the writer has seen Red Faced Johnnie Blaney of the Second Beach (who is not to be confused with any other Blaney whatsoever, because Swamp- scott is filled with them), beating his old green dory out between Egg Rock and Nahant and dragging whole sail through a tearing northeaster when the big coasters on the horizon were staggering under double reefs. With one hand on the tiller and the other holding the sheet which had been previously passed under a thwart, sitting on the rail with his body far out of the boat, Mr. Blaney would go bobbing along like a cork where any ordinary catboat would be all under water. Now Nahant, which is almost an island, being connected with the shore by a narrow strip of beach some three miles long, is close to Swampscott, and Nahant always has been and is now a great place for boys. Generations of sturdy New England boys who could swim like fishes and handle boats just as well as any man have grown up at Nahant and given place to other generations, and "Cupid," which is the great bath- ing place, has probably had more boys burnt black upon its hot flat rocks than any place of its size in the world, and there never was a boy who passed his summers at Nahant who was not fond of sailing and rowing small boats. Ten or fifteen years ago they used to race keel boats with big spritsails, and then when they grew older they raced catboats. But now Nahant is "dory mad." The epidemic struck the place three summers ago, when "Bertie" Otis bought "Buster" Taylor's old dory and proposed to deck her himself and rig her as a sloop. So he hauled her up and put her down behind "Perk the carpenter's" (his name is Perkins, by the way) shop and went to work at
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her while all the fishermen and boys stood round and gave advice. He put in "Hackmitack" knees and nickle-plated "gudgeons" and a deck strong enough to hold the Vigilant's crew, and then everybody said she would be top-heavy. Then he had his sails made by the most expensive sailmaker in Boston, and when they were finished they were about twice too heavy, "like awnings," as someone remarked, and then he nearly cut his finger off with a chisel and had to have the job finished by a carpenter. All in all, the rig- ging up of the old boat cost him just about the price of a new boat. At last the day came when the "Royal George," for so she was named, was to be launched, and the excitement was intense. All the fishermen predicted that she would instantly capsize or wouldn't steer, and all assembled to see her misbehave. On long pieces of joist placed upon sturdy shoulders she was carried to the beach. A picked crew, consisting of three boys suitably un- dressed, were placed in her; she was double-reefed, as it blew half a gale, and with a loud shout from the three men on her rail, and in a cloud of foam, the "Royal George" was shoved through the breakers, and not only did not capsize and did steer, but behaved beautifully, and the "Royal George" was the beginning of what is now a large dory fleet at Nahant. That summer other dories were decked and rigged and a pennant was sailed for, the races taking place every Saturday afternoon round the time-honored little course where generations of Nahant boys have sailed every species of boat. It is a little triangular course, each leg being about a quarter of a mile long, and it is usually sailed over three times. The writer, with an old dory which he bought for $12, had the honor of winning the Nahant pennant that year.
In the meantime, dory building in Swampscott had been progressing with giant strides. Warren Small, who never was known to build a "mean" dory, had produced a boat called the "Pointer," sixteen feet on the water line, carrying eight hundred pounds of ballast and five men, rigged with a jib and mainsail, and, if need be, a balloon jib and spinnaker, and this "Pointer," sailed by the Melzard boys, who always decked themselves out gaily in white duck sailormen's clothes and blue caps, beat everything. And then the Nahant boys had three or four dories built in Swampscott and raced them, but somehow they were not particularly satisfactory, and last winter they had four new dories built. And wasn't there a plotting and a planning and a rushing down from Boston to Swampscott, and Emmons, who built the dories, had his life made wretched with talk of weighted centerboards and wrought-iron knees, and what not, and so the winter passed away and the dories were built and the summer came and the dories were raced with vary- ing success. Sometimes one would win, sometimes another, according to the wind and who was sailing them. At last it was arranged that there should be a grand regatta on Labor Day, - a regatta into which everything which could carry a sail should come in, independent of size. There was a class for sloops and catboats over twenty-six feet, for catboats twenty-two feet long and over, and for racing dories sixteen and one-half feet on the floor boards.
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Then there was a class for fishermen's open dories, no restrictions as to sail or length, and a class for boats twelve feet long and under; also a rowing race for fishermen.
The prizes were cups in all the classes except the fishermen's, and they were to receive $10 first prize and $5 second prize. The excitement in Na- hant was something tremendous. Every fisherman's wife had to give up her household duties to go to making sails. The old dories which had not been cleaned for years were hauled up, dried out to make them light, and scraped with glass and sandpapered, and finally pot-leaded to the plank shear, just like the "Jubilee." The wharf near the steamboat landing was littered knee deep with bowsprits and gaffs and booms and spinnaker booms and old sails and new sails, and in the little back room behind Father Taylor's shop nothing was talked about but the fishermen's race. There is a great deal of local rivalry at Nahant. As to dory sailing, the Kemp family think that the Kemp boys can sail a dory better than the Gove boys, and the Gove boys think that they can sail better than the Kemp boys, and the Taylor boys know that they can sail better than anybody else, and the Covell boys deny the claims of everybody who attempts to say that he can sail a dory better than the Covell boys. In the meantime, a dark and deadly plot was being hatched among the younger sons of the "summer residents" who did not happen to own dories. Word had reached Nahant in some mysterious way - some said that a Swampscott fisherman had told a Nahant fisherman while hauling traps - that the familiar old dory "Pointer" was laid up in a barn in the back of Swampscott, the name had been taken off her bow, every one had forgotten about her, and that with all her sails and ballast complete, she could be bought very cheaply and fitted up in time for the Labor Day race. Behind closed doors the matter was discussed in hushed voices. A subscrip- tion was taken up. In the early morning two of the conspirators drove stealthily to Swampscott and inspected the dory, found her all right, and after a little bargaining bought her, had her painted, rolled down to the water's edge, launched, and anchored off the Second Beach.
Labor Day morning broke clear and fine, with white, fleecy clouds driving across the blue, and a hard, blurry, northwest wind churning up the surface of the bay. The scene at the wharf was one of great activity. Swarms of boys in white duck sailorman's trousers and jerseys rushed up and down the gangway leading from the wharf to the raft below. The old sea dogs and fishermen looked to windward and predicted that there would be more wind before there was less, and that there would be a likelihood of some one being drowned if the wind didn't go down before the race began. The stake boat and judges' boat were anchored off the end of the wharf with red flags in their bows, a tin horn which was to take the place of the usual gun used upon such occasions was procured, and the judges, two in number, were chosen, and copies of the rules and courses were nailed up on the post office and "Charley Gove's" and "Bishop's" fish shops and Father Taylor's shop on the wharf,
Caleb Johnson 1778-1867
Joseph Johnson 1776-1851
Luther Scott Johnson Donor of Ellingwood Chapel
C. Hervey Johnson 1812-1901
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and then the fun began for the unfortunate man who acted as the regatta committee. Everybody began to kick. Some would deliberately and care- fully read the list of courses and conditions and then hunt down the com- mitteeman and ask him what the courses were.
One young man who had been getting his dory in readiness for a week beforehand was too shy to make an entry, and would not have started at all if one of his friends had not done it for him. Still another entered his boat not less than five times, once in writing, once by deputy, and three times in person. One man protested the entire fishermen's class, consisting of eleven sail, because he thought that fishermen's dories ought to be steered with an oar instead of a rudder. Another protested the entire fishermen's class because they had washboards. And everybody kicked about the courses. Some wanted them longer, some wanted them shorter, and in the midst of the hurly-burly the "Pointer" arrived from Swampscott and distracted the attention of the quarrelsome crowd. Then the wind began to "flatten" ominously. Lighter and lighter it grew until the question arose as to whether there was wind enough to sail the race at all, and every one began taking out ballast until the raft looked like an old junk shop, littered as it was with chunks of pig iron. At last two o'clock came; the inhabitants of Nahant flocked as one man to the wharf and the rocks near it. Then the committee- man explained to each fisherman separately, and then to the whole collec- tively, exactly what a one gun or rather one horn start meant. How that horn would blow, and then each class would be given five minutes in which to get across the line. The committeeman had resolved to sail in the race himself, and to this end he had procured a ducking punt so small that the boys named her in derision "The Constitution," after "Old Ironsides," and a crew as small in proportion as the punt. He proposed to start in the last class. Well, the horn sounded and the crowd on shore set up a mighty shout, and the first class drifted slowly down on the line ready for the start, when the skipper of a boat in the second class suddenly decided that he didn't like the course, and sailed up to the judges' boat and said he would like to have it changed. "You can't," said the judges. "All right," said the skipper, "I'll sail my own course and make the one other boat in my class do the same."
And so the second class went a course by themselves.
Then the racing dories started and then the fishermen's dories. Cruso Robinson, who sailed the dory with the curious rig which you see a picture of, thought that he would be very clever, so he took his boat way up behind the line and then came down with a rush through the fleet. But he came down too soon and got over the line before the horn sounded. "Go back, Cruso," everybody shouted at him. "You're over the line." Down goes Cruso's tiller, up goes the dory into the wind and crashed into the almost motionless fleet of boats waiting to start, and at this critical moment off goes the horn and then wasn't there a row! "Buster" Taylor lost his rudder, bowsprits were smashed, everybody shouted, hats went overboard, every
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one tried to pull his own boat ahead and push the other men's boats back, and so the fishermen's class started, and somehow or other, although he had caused all the trouble, "Cruso" managed to get out of the jam first and rounded the first stake boat ahead. And then "The Constitution," with the other boat in her class, started. Alas, "The Constitution," of which the committeeman had had great hopes, could not seem to go. There was not enough wind for her, although every pound of ballast had been taken out, and she was miserably beaten. And so the eighteen little boats, looking from the shore almost like toy boats, went sailing about the little course, and "Otie" Covell won in the fishermen's dory class, with "Buster" Taylor second. "Bertie" Gove fouled ten buoys and Buster, and then protested "Buster." In the meantime the second class finished and the judges refused to give the winner the prize because the boats went the wrong course, and then the winner came to the committeeman and made a row, and the com- mitteeman, to make everything pleasant, gave him the cup, and then the judges were furious with the committeeman for not sustaining their decision, and said that they would never, under any circumstances, act as judges at Nahant again. In the meantime the "Pointer" had gone to windward like a steamboat and beaten her class handily, much to every one's surprise and chagrin who sailed against her, although the surprise an hour later was not so great when her real name was made known. Then "Kibe" Kemp won the rowing dory race, with Otie Covell second. So the "Kemps" and the "Covells" and the "Taylors," which represent the three great clans on Nahant, each had a share of the day's honors.
Finally all the boats were taken in to the moorings and the smaller boats tied to the raft. It so happened that the committeeman landed on the "Pointer" to inspect the visitor, and the "Pointer" had no tender, so when the committeeman and the jubilant crew wanted to go ashore they had to hail the raft and ask to have some one come out for them. It was noted that those on the raft whispered and smiled together a little bit, and some one on the "Pointer" thought he saw a man called "Pudge" silently trans- ferring his knife and other valuables to the pockets of his friends, and when "Pudge" got into a very crank canoe and came paddling out, the idea be- came a certainty that if the crew of the "Pointer" got into that canoe they would certainly find themselves wallowing in the eelgrass and seven feet of water inside of a few seconds. So a deep-laid plot was laid to entice "Pudge" on board on plea of examining a broken centerboard, then silently enter the canoe, one by one, push off, and leave Pudge to swim ashore by himself. This scheme worked beautifully, only just at the last moment "Pudge" saw the departing canoe, and with one mighty leap just managed to land his toe on the gunwale. That settled it. There was a wild shout of laughter from the shore, a still louder shout of dismay from the canoe, and five heads appeared above water. The committeeman spent the better part of half an hour diving in the eelgrass for his knife and shoes.
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