USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Falmouth > Suckanesset; wherein may be read a history of Falmouth, Massachusetts > Part 12
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After leaving these chains of islands, we continued on our northerly course, free from danger, to the latitude 32 N. and longitude 165 E., and although we had not been many days on our passage, we were yet over two thousand miles from our port of destination. The wounded men were doing well, except Lewis, who continued to decline until mortification set in and that soon carried him off.
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He died in forty days from the time that he was wounded.
The next day after he was buried, I discovered that mortification had begun on the person of a young man named Wood, which was a cause of much anxiety to me, as I could think of no means within our reach to prevent its extension. It was seated directly by the side of the spine, below the shoulders. After spending much time in consulting different authors, who all recommended am- putation as the only sure preventative, and thinking that the process of amputation when applied to the spine would not produce very favorable results, I came to the conclusion that burning would be the only available means. As he was not aware of his dangerous condition, I waited until he had dropped asleep; then, securing him firmly to his bed and waking him, I applied a red-hot iron to the part affected. Although the operation was a short one, it was extremely painful; but it had the desired effect and he finally recovered.
On the twenty-fifth day of November, after a passage of fifty days we arrived at the port of Oahu, now Hono- lulu."
The last survivor of the Falmouth men who on one cruise or another sailed in the bark Awashonks on whose decks occurred the bloody battle with South Sea natives was, according to his own statement, George L. Bowman who was born in West Falmouth, but after retiring from the sea made his home in New Bedford.
In 1920, at the age of 83 years, Mr. Bowman wrote a little account of his early voyages which we are privileged to quote. It gives a vivid little picture of the incidents of a whaleman's life at sea. George Bowman went on his first voyage when only seventeen.
"On Friday, Sept. 30, 1853, the Ship Hobomok, Capt. Peter Childs, North Falmouth, master, sailed with a com- pliment of 29 men. Officers and crew twelve of us be- longed in the County of Barnstable ten of us in the Town- ship of Falmouth one Ed Herendeen Woods Holl. The Mait Marstons Mills, the rest of us right around home. and I am the only living one of that company that is alive today as far as we know. We had one Falmouth Town boy. I think he lived on the shore road. I suppose you call it shore street or some other pretty name. His name was John Green. Son of Bethier Green. I think his Father was dead. I think a great deal of that Boy in his helping save my life when I came on top of the water.
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unconscious. having lost my senses. after being under water so long.
Now to come back to our sailing. The Capt. had his Wife and one Child Lucretia by name. I think if aliv she lives in North Falmouth. We went to the Arctic the first season. no whaling to speak of that season. We caught about 350 bbls. a number of Ships that season did not get a whale. The second season we went to the Japan Sea & Ochosk Sea. this season We took 2100 bbls and 18000 pounds of bone. This season is when I came so near los- ing my life. We were in the Japan sea. We struck a Whale and he stove us so that the boat rolled over and We were all in the water. in the course of a minute I found the line was around I think booth feet. I felt of the line and it felt very taught. I took my knife out of my pocket and opened it. then I lost my senses. oh I thought I was dieing. then I thought of the Ship coming home and all the Boys. but George. oh how hard it would be to my Dear Father and Mother. when in my death struggles I made God a promise. if he would save me. Fred Nye of North Falmouth dove down and cleared the line from of my feet. I was in stray line. onely the heft of the line and my own weight was carying me down. when I came to the top of the water. John Green left the stoven boat and got hold of me and they halled me to the boat. When I came to my senses we was on our way back to the Ship. and I was in another boat of course. and I was vomiting salt water. When they halled me on board of the Ship and lade me on the deck or the booby hatch. I heard the Capt say Steward, bring me some hot rum. I said I do not want any rum. the (Capt) said none of your temperance lectures here. He knew I never used any rum when they use to pas it around when cutting a Whale, as that was ruleable in those days. We was gon 34 months and brought home about 2800 bbls. of oil. We ar- rived home Saturday Aug. 2nd, 1856 and the next day being Sunday I went across the road and picked a cup of huckleberries and so I remember those berries begin to get ripe about the first of August.
I have not yet told you why I am writing this letter. I want to ask about Minnie Lawrence. Capt Samuel Law- rences Daughter. on my next voyage I shall come to the question.
My second voyage I sailed in the Ship Sharon. after being from home in her I left the Sharon. and I am the
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only one of the Crew that sailed from home as far as we know that is living today. I left the Sharon in Honolulu and Shipt in the Ship Addison Capt Samuel Lawrence. Mrs. Lawrence and Daughter were on board. We arrived home the next June.
I will just say I went three more voyages whaling, the next in the Bark Awashonks formerly of Falmouth. I am the only one living that sailed in her as one of the crew. The Capt. and his Wife & Boy with him. The Capt. died on the voyage. the next voyage Fourth voyage was in the Ship Gov. Troup Capt. Ashley. There is Three of us living that sailed from home on that voyage. Capt. Ashley had his Wife and little Boy with him. I do not count them as they were not of the crew. Now my Fifth and last voyage in the Albion. there is three of us living the last I knew. if William Anthony, the Standard Anthony is alive."
Mr. Bowman, it will be noted, speaks of Captain Peter Childs having his wife and little daughter Lucretia with him on board the Hobomok, while on the Sharon Captain Samuel Lawrence was accompanied by his wife, and daughter Minnie.
It was quite common on the whaling voyages that might last for three or even four years, for the captain to take his wife with him and a number of Falmouth wo- men made such voyages. We append a list of Falmouth people who, because of this custom, were born in many strange and distant quarters of the world.
On the day that his son, Reginald, was born at St. Helena, Captain Charles H. Turner of Hatchville used to relate, he had taken a sperm whale from which was ob- tained 154 barrels of oil. This was an extremely large quantity to be tried out from a single whale, although the record is said to be 162 barrels and 5 gallons reported by Captain Briggs of the New Bedford bark Wave on August 2, 1876.
Turner, Capt. Charles H., Hatchville: Clementine, born Valparaiso, Chile; Reginald, born St. Helena.
Baker, Capt. Nehemiah C., Teaticket: Nellie B., born in New Zealand, married James Darling.
Lawrence, Capt. Thos. H., Mary, born Sept. 2, 1854, died, Sept. 19, 1879; Stuart, born on Pitcairn Island, So. Pacific; Amelia H., born Sept. 19, 1857, Horta, Fayal, Azores.
Childs, Capt. Peter, North Falmouth: Minnie Law-
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rence, born Honolulu; Byron, born Byron Bay, Sandwich Islands.
Hamblin, Capt. John., West Falmouth: Alice, born Australia; Harry, born on Norfolk Islands, South Pacific; Ernest Seaborn, born on shipboard, straits of Magellan.
Davis, Capt. Samuel, Falmouth: Edward Payson, born St. Helena; Virginia, born St. Helena; Theodore Moss, born St. Helena.
Lawrence, Capt. Lewis H., Falmouth: Samuel Bourne, born June 8, 1854, died, Nov. 20, 1882, baptised by a mis- sionary at Tahiti, Island of Otahiti, Society Islands; Augustus, born Dec. 31, 1857, baptised at Falmouth, born Norfolk Island, So. Pacific Ocean; Frederick Thomas, born Honolulu, April 21, 1867.
The bark Elijah Swift, built at Woods Hole, is not included in the comprehensive study of the whaling in- dustry published by Starbuck, and we have always be- lieved, and been told, that this vessel, which was owned by Elijah Swift of Falmouth and carried as a figurehead a bust of that gentleman, being a faithful likeness even to the patch over his eye, was engaged in the freighting and packet line on the New Orleans-Boston run. There is a most interesting anecdote about the last voyage of the Elijah Swift.
This bark, built in 1830, was of 400 tons, and on her last voyage to New Orleans was commanded by Captain David Nye of North Falmouth. Among the passengers was a lady, accompanied by her maid servant, who during the voyage, gave birth to a baby girl. Shortly afterwards the Elijah Swift encountered a storm and was wrecked on the island of Little Isaacs.
The bark struck on a coral reef some distance from the shore, with a violent expanse of surf between the reef and beach. The second mate volunteered to swim ashore with the invalid lady strapped to his back, and made the attempt. He was drowned, and the crew hauled his body back by a rope that he had tied about himself, finding the lady unconscious but still living. Captain Nye then took the difficult task upon himself, but he too was over- come in the surf and the lady perished.
The rest of the crew succeeded, finally, in getting to shore and taking the nurse and child safely thither too. Captain Nye was revived and after the sea went down, the castaways found on the shore among the wreckage some port wine with which the nurse managed to keep
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the tiny baby alive for a few days until help came and they were all taken on to New Orleans where the child was delivered to its father. The father gave the baby girl the name by which Captain Nye had called her in memory of this wreck on the coral reef, "Coralline" and she lived to grow up like any little girl.
Captain Nehemiah Baker of Teaticket was another Falmouth man to have many adventures. He went to sea as a boy of 13 in the whaler John Adams of New Bedford and at 28, as master of the New Bedford ship General Pike, distinguished himself by quelling a mutiny at sea. They were rounding Cape Horn to pass to Behring Straits when a mutiny broke out, the men refusing to obey an order to turn out to fill the water casks. Captain Baker gave them ten minutes to come up and get to work, and at the expiration of that time, staged a surprise attack by having loyal members of the crew lower hastily pre- pared stink pots of smouldering tar, oakum and old can- vas down the main hatch.
This soon brought the mutineers to terms. Their ring-leader jumped overboard but Captain Baker had him fished out and confined the culprits in the lower hold on a diet of bread and water until the ship made the Sandwich Islands, when he turned his prisoners over to the American consul for lawful punishment.
The Commodore Morris, owned by Elijah Swift, and commanded by Captain Lewis H. Lawrence from 1849 to 1858, had a figurehead of doughty Commodore Morris with an ornamental painting on her stern of a large basket of fruits of various sorts. It is related of the Commodore Morris that while 'gamming' with the bark Atlantic in the North Atlantic Ocean the two ships had seven boats chewed up by a whale, and succeeded in tak- ing the whale only on the following day.
Edward Payson Lawrence of Teaticket is one of the last of living whalemen in Falmouth. He went to sea first at 17, when he shipped on the Gazelle of New Bed- ford, Captain Michael Baker. Captain Baker had his wife with him and Mr. Lawrence tells of her being an expert navigator herself, and giving lessons in navigation to promising members of the crew. After being out two years, cruising in the Pacific, Mrs. Baker was landed at a small island for a stay with a family of missionaries domiciled there while the Gazelle went whaling. A month
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later they returned and took on board again Mrs. Baker, her baby and a goat to provide milk for the baby.
An amusing recollection of the Gazelle's voyage as told by Mr. Lawrence is that in 1862, putting into Sidney for supplies for their homeward voyage, they had their first news of the Civil War in America. The English at Sidney dilated on the danger from privateers and per- suaded Captain Baker to sail for home under an English flag to protect his valuable cargo of oil. Off Pernambuco they fell in with a Yankee ship and while 'gamming' dis- covered that the Yankee ship had a circus on board bound for South America. The homesick crew of the Gazelle at once invited them all on board for a dinner, hoping to have the band of the circus play for them.
"My band couldn't blow a note under that damn rag of an English flag you have flying!" was the blunt answer of the Yankee skipper, and off he went with his circus. The crew of the Gazelle took the cue and went home the rest of the way under their own colors.
A fitting conclusion for our remarks on the whaling history of Falmouth will be an original song, composed by Mr. Levi D. Fish of Quissett who in 1855 made a voyage on the bark American, Captain Peter Pease, which took them up in the Okohtsk Sea. Mr. Fish who was very musical, wrote the setting for words written by a shipmate, Sidney Beck, and the song afterwards became very popular among sailors.
"The time is fled like lightning away And 'tis now three years or more
We bid adieu one August day To our friends on the Vineyard Shore.
Chorus:
And as we glided through the Sound Let the song go merrily around
Farewell, farewell to grief and fear For tonight we're Homeward Bound.
Here's to the captain, may'st thou live A ripe old age to see
May wealth its richest showers give This is our wish for thee.
And here's to the American, gallant bark, We'll often think of thee
And the nights we paced the decks so dark In that cold northern sea."
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CHAPTER XIII PREACHING OF THE WORD
A S early as 1686 it was voted in the town meeting "to set apart lands as a help and encouragement to any fit person who may be helpful to us in maintaining the public preaching of the word of God."
Through the influence of the Rev. Joseph Metcalf, seventeen men and women were detached from the parish in Barnstable to set up a parish of their own in Falmouth, and in 1708 the First Congregational Church of Falmouth was formed. The meeting house that the people held their worship in soon became inadequate to house the steadily increasing congregation, and in 1715 the second meeting house was built. The money came from the sale of pews to the families of the town, the price varying with the position of the pew.
Even this structure in a few years became too small for the growing town, and in 1749 the people voted to build a meeting house 45 feet square with 17 spots for pews below, and 12 above. The usual amount of wrang- ling over the size took place and it was not until 1750 that it was voted "to build the new meeting house 42 feet square and the present house used to build." This new church was not built on the site of the old one but on the present Green.
Again in 1796 it appeared that the meeting house was incapable of housing all the worshipers on the Sabbath, and in that year was built the present Congregational Church, subscribed to so well by its members that suffi- cient funds remained in the treasury to buy the Paul Revere bell.
In 1840 the Congregational Church petitioned the Legislature for the right to sell the parsonage lands and put the proceeds in a fund. These lands were originally on the land now known as King Street and the old par- sonage first occupied by the Rev. Henry Lincoln is Dr.
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A. L. Pattee's house on Main Street. The present parson- age is on Palmer Avenue.
The old church was moved to its present location and completely renovated in 1857, coming out of the hands of the decorators distinctly Colonial in design and finish. In the spring and summer its white painted exterior with the green of the surrounding foliage brings its beauty into sharp relief.
The ministers who have been pastors of the church since its founding are: Samuel Shiverick, Joseph Metcalf, Samuel Parker, Henry Lincoln, Benjamin Woodbury, Josiah Bent, Henry Hooker, William Bates, James P. Kim- ball, Henry K. Craig, Charles H. Washburn, Edgar T. Pitts, John Hastings Quint, Frank Hazen, Frank Baker, Irving A. Flint, Hubert A. Allenby, Leonard S. Nightwine.
The old East End Meeting House, built in 1797, typi- cally New England in its architecture, looms at the crest of the hill where the old Sandwich road leaves the Hatch- ville road. It marks the culmination of a long forgotten controversy as to whether the east or west end of the township should have the predominance. Before the Revolution Falmouth village had not attained the im- portance it now possesses. Woods Hole was a small settlement far removed from commerce. Barnstable, Sandwich and Plymouth were the main centers of busi- ness nearest to Falmouth and the east end of the town lay on the direct route to these points. Leading families like the Hatches, Lawrences, Swifts had their homes in that section.
The building of the East End Meeting House did not end the controversy, and for the next forty years peren- nial discussion of jurisdiction enlivened the records of both the First and Second Societies.
The original building, erected in 1797, faced south, with an entrance porch 16 feet square, and had no steeple. Between 1800 and 1830, with the rise of the whaling in- dustry and coasting trade and the flourishing salt works along the shore, the main villages of Falmouth and Woods Hole established their supremacy as the principal centers of the township, which was reflected in the assertion of authority by the parent church society. In 1836 in answer to a.petition from the East End Society that the First Congregational Society relinquish their right. in the East End Meeting House, the main body voted "We deem it in- expedient to take any action thereon."
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Meanwhile the East Enders were agitating themselves to find a more convenient site for their own place of wor- ship. In 1840 they appointed a committee of six to view the situation and location and probable expense. Three or four sites were considered, it finally being voted to place the meeting house "within 10 rods of the Fresh Pond school house." However, Mr. Shubael Lawrence of the East End parish died on March 18, 1841, and by the pro- visions of his will effectually settled the question once and for all. He bequeathed to the society $10,000 to be used for the support of preaching provided, "that said Society, at their own expense, turn the present house of worship gable end to the road, put a handsome steeple to the same, put up a bell of sufficient size, paint and keep the same in good repair and forever keep the house standing at the head of the burying ground where it now stands." These conditions were carried out the following year at a cost of $2,200. In addition to the required al- terations, the porch was removed, the galleries taken down, and the pulpit lowered, making the meeting house as it is today.
An amusing entry in the records of a meeting in 1830 of the First Society asks to have one or more stoves set up in the East End Meeting House. The members of the First Society agreed to do this provided that the members at the East End pay $30 into the treasury of the parent body. The result of this charitable vote is not given in the records, but no heating of the church is recorded until 1842.
The service of dedication of the remodeled Meeting House was preached by the Rev. Allen Gaunelt of Edgar- town conjointly with the service of installation of the Rev. James D. Lewis as pastor.
Pastors of the church since its founding: Silas Shores, 1822-31; Melancthon G. Wheeler, 1831-33; John Hyde, 1933-35; Timothy Davis, 1835-39; William Harlow, 1839- 42; James D. Lewis, 1842-47; Silas S. Hyde, 1847-53; Alex- ander C. Childs, 1853-56; George Ford, 1856-63; Edwin Seabury, 1863-69; Daniel H. Babcock, 1869-72; David Perry, 1872-77; Samuel Frisley, 1877-84; Samuel Morrison, 1884-88; Thomas Bell, 1888 -; H. K. Craig, 1888-97; Charles Thurber, April 1897-Sept. 1897; E. H. Smith, 1897- 98; William Fairley, 1898-99; George E. Chapin, 1899- 1904; Philip Gob, 1904-07; H. E. Thygeson, 1907 -.
In speaking of churches and religious experience in
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Falmouth, mention must be made of "the Great Revival" at Quissett on May 12, 1809. In the illustration opposite page 20 is shown a view of the village of Quissett, with the homestead of Deacon Thomas Fish prominent on the high land overlooking the harbor ,and in this house oc- curred the revival.
Thomas Fish was born in 1762 and died September 24, 1848. His wife was Susannah, daughter of David and Sarah Crowell. He was a son of Samuel Fish and Sarah Dimmick. One of his daughters, Celia, married Dr. Aaron Cornish, a founder of the Falmouth Glass Works on Shore Street.
Owner of a shipyard at Quissett, Thomas Fish at 17 enlisted in the army for the Revolution; after the war he tried his hand at schoolteaching; went into the West Indies trade, becoming master of a vessel; and in 1802 became agent for the shipyard. The War of 1812 dis- turbed the prosperity of this business, and the latter part of Deacon Fish's life was spent in public service, being 21 years in the legislature and 20 years a selectman of the town, as well as a deacon of the First Congregational Church for 24 years.
Robinson Crocker Bodfish wrote that "What Elijah Swift stood for in business affairs, Deacon Fish was in Falmouth in all its moral and religious interests" and gave an anecdote illustrating the Deacon's character. Isaiah Jones, father of Dr. L. C. Jones, was agent of the Robinson Stocking Yarn Mill at Waquoit. Meeting Dea- con Fish one day he said "I have a little bill against you, deacon." "Oh yes," replied the old gentleman, handing his pocketbook to Mr. Jones, although the latter was a stranger to him, "Please take out the amount that I owe you."
The Great Revival originated with a spiritual ex- perience that came to the Deacon's wife, Mrs. Susannah Fish, one night. In the morning she told it, vividly and eloquently to her family. A contemporary account says "All work was put aside; the men were called from the shore where they were busy with ship-building, and they too were deeply impressed. Word of what had occurred spread from house to house and the neighbors began to come in. The time was spent in praise and prayer. Mr. Lincoln (Rev. Henry Lincoln) was sent for. So deeply were the people moved upon by the Holy Spirit that they remained through the day. No regular meals were cooked.
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The mother in the home saw that simple but ample pro- vision was made so that all who chose could help them- selves. As the hours passed many testified to the change that had come over their spirits. The meetings continued for several days. The rooms were filled. People came from the neighboring villages. The revival spread and continued for several weeks and meetings were held at the church. Year by year on the twelfth of May people gathered at the hospitable home to praise and thank God and relate their memorable experiences."
The second oldest religious denomination in Fal- mouth is the Society of Friends. The Quaker Meeting house, located on the main highway in West Falmouth, is the third building to be erected by the society for its meetings. Built in 1841, on the site of the previous one, it is square with two doors in front, and an entry on the side. It is painted cream with green blinds, and is sur- rounded by the old burial ground, which with its green lawn and white stones forms a pleasing background.
The first meeting house was built in 1720, and was located farther back in the woods on the then road from West Falmouth to Falmouth Village. The spot on which it stood is marked at the center with a white post, erected by Daniel Swift and others, and chiseled with the date that it was built. In 1775 this church was torn down and the second one constructed on the present site. In 1794 stables and outbuildings were added for the convenience of those Friends who came to meetings on horseback or in carriages.
In this church today are held the quarterly meetings of the Sandwich Society of Friends as well as the regular Sunday services of the Falmouth Quakers, from June 30th to Sept. 15th at 11 o'clock.
Despite persecution, in 1658 regular monthly meetings, held the first Sunday in each month, were set up in Sandwich and with a few exceptions, were held regularly for many years after. By 1717, the need for a meeting house was felt, The burying ground was laid out and put in the charge of Richard Landers, and subscrip- tions started for the money to build.
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