USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > History of Bath and environs, Sagadahoc County, Maine. 1607-1894 > Part 12
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HISTORY OF BATH.
She is so advantageously located that she is destined to become a very much larger city than she is now, and of greater importance as a ship-building point.
The Pioneer Builders. -- In 1741, JONATHAN PHILBROOK came to Long Reach and settled on the site of the present city of Bath. He was its pioneer ship-builder. In 1743, this Jonathan Philbrook and his two sons built a schooner on the banks of the river south-east of the present custom-house. This vessel must have been a success, for these builders followed a few years later with another schooner.
But the first man to ESTABLISH SHIP-BUILDING in Bath as a per- manent business was CAPT. WILLIAM SWANTON. In the year 1762, this ship-builder put up the FIRST FULL-RIGGED SHIP built in Bath. It was called the Earle of Bute; the succeeding year he built a ship, also on contract, for an English merchant named JENNESS, and the following year filled a like contract with a Mr. Ayles for a ship which was called the Rising Sun, a name prophetic perhaps of the rising glory of Bath-built ships. In 1765, he built a small ship and named her the MOORE. He continued building a merchant vessel every year until the commencement of the Revolutionary war. In 1776, he built a ship to be used for a privateer for a Salem company. She was considered of superior model for sailing; was mounted with eighteen guns; was named the Black Prince and fitted out at Bath. Soon after leaving the Kennebec she had a severe battle with an ENGLISH SIMP of the same size, took her and sent her into port. She joined the famous expedition against Castine in 1779. It is thus seen that at an early day vessels were built at Bath for outside parties, as is the business of building them on contract so largely the custom at the present day.
WILLIAM SWANTON was by birth an Englishman. He came to Boston at an early age and lived there many years. In consequence of the disturbed state of the country on the sea-board, caused by the French war, he removed to Haverhill in the interior, where he was enrolled in a company of the militia; served as captain in the French war and was at the reduction of Louisburg in 1758. He
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was by trade a shipwright. and was remarkable for skill and indus- try. About the year 1760, ne came to the river Kennebec where Bath now stands, locating his first ship-yard at the foot of Summer street, and afterwards at the foot of South street after the Revolu- tion. He was a constant ship-builder during the active years of his life, and when he died in 1810 was ninety-nine years of age. Capt. Swanton was the ancestor of the several familes of Swantons of Bath, some of whom have been for a long series of years notable ship-owners and ship-masters.
With the commencement of ship-building by Capt. Swanton was the advent of Joshua Raynes, who in 1762 built a sloop at Bath called the Union and which had other owners. Going on a West India voyage at the period of the Revolution, she was on her return to Bath with a cargo of molasses when she was captured off Seguin by a British cruiser. It is stated that in 1722 Joshua Raynes built a sloop of one hundred and forty tons at the South End, but the date is not verified. At the close of the Revolutionary war Joshua Raynes built a schooner which was owned by ten persons, among whom were Dummer Sewall, Joshua Philbrook, E. H. Page, and others. This was a great undertaking for that period and many people attended the launching of the vessel. She was about 100 tons burden, cost something like $3,000, and was profitably employed in the coasting business.
Vessels built at West Bath at an early date will be recorded in the history of that town.
The first vessel built by the PATTEN FAMILY was in Topsham. In 1772, the schooner Industry was built by the elder John Patten and his son Robert and owned by them and Robert Fulton, Mr. Jameson, Mr. Harward, and James Maxwell. The latter went captain of her. She was one of the first vessels that went to the WEST INDIES from the Kennebec. She was sold during the Revo- lutionary war for paper money which was not of par value. In 1776 or 1777, JOHN PATTEN, SENIOR, built at Topsham the schooner Orange, which went to the West Indies and was taken by a French cruiser which confiscated vessel and cargo. This John Patten was
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the great-grandfather of the noted ship-builders of Bath, George F. Patten, John Patten, and James F. Patten.
In 1780, a sloop of ninety tons was built on the bank of FIDDLERS REACH, north of " Rowsic mills," facing south. Her owners were ALEXANDER DRUMMOND and THOMAS WILLIAMS. She was com- manded by Drummond and was run as a packet between Bath and Boston; his crew were Patrick Williams and Andrew McFadden. Ultimately she encountered a gale while at anchor at Heals Eddy at the mouth of the river, dragged her anchors, went ashore and was lost.
After the Revolution. - The inception of peace following the war of the Revolution having made investments in navigation safe and prospectively profitable, the business of building vessels on these waters was largely entered into, gradually changing from sloops to schooners, hermaphrodite and full-rigged brigs, and later ships. At this day brigantines are rarely seen on the Kennebec, these and brigs having largely given place to the three and four masted schooners of heavy tonnage. The latter are chiefly confined to the coasting trade, while square-rigged vessels are considered preferable for long ocean voyages. The ships were chiefly employed in the European carrying trade, the brigs and larger schooners in West India voyages; the smaller schooners and sloops employed coastwise.
The first ship built at Bath after the Revolution of which there is record was the Atlantic of 235 tons by Jonathan Davis, Jr., in 1790, whose yard was what is now that of the Houghton Brothers. Forty or fifty years ago work in the ship-yards was usually suspended during the winter season, and later carpenters headed by the master workman were sent South to cut timber, the first crew going in 1850. Models of vessels in the building of which the timber was to be used were taken along, the timber prepared on the spot where cut, each piece numbered ready to fit into its place when the vessel for which it was designed was set up, with the exception of a little trimming.
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HISTORY OF BATH.
Chebacco Boats. - Chebacco boats for fishermen's use were universally in use for many years. The name was derived from the place where they were first built in Essex County, Massachusetts; many of them were afterwards built in this district. The sterns came out to a peak, hence they became denominated "Pink-sterned." As the planks came together at the stern the cost of their construc- tion was much less than those of the same tonnage with square sterns. They could be built for from $700 to $800. They had also the advantage of being superior sea boats as the high and sharp stern prevented the shipping of heavy seas and they rode lightly on the waves. The high peak of the stern served as a rest for fishing nets. They gradually went out of use and scarcely one is now to be seen.
'The tradition is that the first one that was built was by a man in a barn, and when it was ready to be put on the water he found that there was no way to get his craft out without cutting away one end of the building, which he accordingly did. This style of boats became gradually enlarged to the extent that some of them were as large as any craft then in use for fishing purposes. They averaged about fifteen tons and carried three men each. Early in the present century about two hundred of these boats were owned in Gloucester. The Chebacco boat had two masts, but no bowsprit. The foremast was placed well forward and the mainmast in about the center of the craft.
In 1810, the Chebacco boat gave place to the "jigger," a class of vessels twice the size of the Chebacco boat. These had a bowsprit, full forward but very sharp aft, the stem terminat- ing at a point curling gracefully upward. The main-boom rested in the crotch of the peak. They steered with a long tiller or "cart tongue," as some of the fishermen were wonted to call it. There never was a safer or more substantial class of vessels built than this old-time craft. Notwithstanding the full bow they were fast sailors and would ride the sea like a gull. The peak gave way to the square-sterned, and finally the present graceful and yacht-like fleet of fishermen were substituted. But while the modern fishing vessels are much handsomer than the old pinkey, the latter
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was a better sea boat than the clipper built craft of to-day. The reason the present generation have not seen a pinkey is because none have been built for many years. They were built of oak frame, planking, and ceiling, and consequently lasted many years. The pinkey Senator, built in Essex in 1831, was afloat a few years ago. .
Snows. - In 1792, '95, '96, there were three craft built here called Snows, - one of 193, one of 174, and one of 164 tons. A Snow was a vessel of two masts corresponding to the main and foremasts of a ship and a third small mast just abaft the mainmast carrying a sail similar to a ship's mizzen sail. This style of vessel went entirely out of use, none having been built in this district after those already mentioned, and it is not known in what special trade they were employed.
Former Mode of Building. - In former years it generally required a year to build a ship. All the materials were prepared by hand with the broad-axe, the whipsaw, the adze, and the pod auger. This style of auger was straight, grooved on one side through which the chips came up, to clear which the auger had to be often withdrawn. The timbers, planks, and ceiling had all to be carried to place on the shoulders of the workmen instead of moved as at present by oxen or horse with a tackle. But the timbers were vastly larger than those now used for the same size of vessel. In- stead of sawed in the yard mill, the planks were sawed by whipsaw in the saw-pit. Less iron fastenings were in use and treenails * were utilized for that purpose. These were made by hand with the broad-axe from pieces rifted from white oak bloeks. This light work was mostly done during stormy days under cover. An incident has been related that when a crowd was gathered at a launching a dandy young man came along while some trunnels were being made by workmen; he stepped up to help, took off his kid gloves, lay them down on a block, placed one end of an unshaped trunnel on the gloves, took the broad-axe and hewed out a perfect trunnel, the tapering end and all, without cutting the gloves a particle, to the admiration and wonderment of the many by-standers.
* Commonly pronounced " trunnels."
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HISTORY OF BATH.
In building vessels at an early day the bolts and spikes were made by hand. The blacksmith would heat the end of a flat bar of iron, which he would split the length of a required bolt, cut off the pieces and shape the bolt on the anvil. Spikes were made in a similar manner. When bolts were to be fastened by nuts, the screw on the small end of the bolt would be made by hand, as likewise was the nut. Vessels were not, as now, constructed by models; the master workman lined out each piece to fit the place it was to fill; the stern and stern posts were first set up, framing was begun at mid-ships and filled in with the timbers working in the direction of fore and aft.
Supply of Wood Material. - At an early day vessels were built with timber cut from the forests in the vicinity of the yard, and when the supply grew less, resort was had to other parts of the state. The timber and knees were selected with the natural bend or sweep, and were hewed only on two sides, the other sides left in their natural condition. The timbers were set as much as two and one-half feet apart; in latter days they are only a few inches apart. The planks were cut with the whipsaw. The stern was so flaring that the keel only extended aft so far as to permit the foot of the mizzen mast of a ship to rest upon it. The cabin was entirely below and lighted by a "bull's eye " set in the deck, and the seamen lodged in the forecastle under the forward deck.
Southern Timber. - In 1818, '19, '20, and '21, John Bosworth was employed by Green & Emerson of Bath to take one hundred men to Florida and Georgia and cut live-oak timber, which they had contracted to furnish the United States government for naval use. Mr. Bosworth, with Mr. Drew for his partner, loaded a brig and a schooner at Bath with the workmen, provisions, oxen, carts, and all necessary supplies for the work, which they landed at Darien. They had the molds for timber for three ships; one of these, the Pennsyl- vania, built at Philadelphia, was a 144 gun ship, the largest then in the fleet. They also landed at Philadelphia frames for three frigates. Mr. Bosworth was rated a superior mechanic and had built a large number of vessels for himself and others at Bath. He died in Florida in 1828 at the age of fifty years (per Lemont ).
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HISTORY OF BATH.
NATIVE TIMBER to put into the construction of vessels having finally become scarce in Maine, attention was called to the advant- age of using timber from the South for merchant vessels. About the year 1837, George F. Patten and William D. Sewall went together to Philadelphia and contracted for a supply ( per Capt. John Patten). Southern timber was found to be of superior quality when grown near the sea-board, from where at first it was cut; it is now obtained chiefly from the interior. The first vessel built with southern timber was the SHIP DELAWARE in 1838 by the Pattens and Charles Dav- enport. The same year W. D. Sewall built a ship of southern timber, and the use of this kind of timber was continued by these builders while in the business. During the war of the Rebellion, the supply of timber from the South was cut off, and its place was supplied with timber from Canada, Northern Maine, New Hamp- shire, and Vermont. Considerable supply of timber for frames and knees is still derived from those sources.
The mode of LAUNCHING VESSELS at an early day was to cut away the after blocks the last. The present method of cutting away the forward blocks last has proved the safest way to put a craft into the water. The time was when at a launching a man would set astride the farther end of the bowsprit and when the vessel was sliding from the ways would call out the name that had been given her, at the same time breaking a bottle of rum over the bowsprit, first drinking from the bottle. This custom has long since been dis- pensed with, except in some special cases, when the bottle is broken on the bow from below. Formerly vessels while on the stocks did not have their lower masts set; now the most of them have all the lower masts up. Many of the schooners are fully rigged, and a few all fitted for sea, rigging, sails bent, water and provisions aboard, with little to do but ship the crew in order to sail on her voyage. The fashion had been to place carved and gilded " FIGURE HEADS" on the bows of ships under the bowsprit, usually representing the name of the vessel. It is rarely done now. Billet heads came later into use and are not common at this day.
Carpenters and Sailors. - The carpenters worked from sun to sun, going into the yard before breakfast during the longer days,
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and they "knocked off" at night for a late supper; they were boarded by their employers and lodged by them often in their own dwellings. One dollar a day was round wages. Yet many of the workmen laid up money and some of them owned farms in the vicinity of their employment. There was little if any imported labor. The steering apparatus was simply a helm with a tackle fastened to either side of the upper works of the quarter-deck, and the wheelsman had no shelter when handling the tiller. When all hands were called to go aloft the captain often "took the helm."
The chief food on board the vessel was salt beef, pork and beans, rice, hard bread, coffee, and duff ( a flour pudding ) twice a week. There was a regular allowance of "grog " both to the ship-carpenters and seamen, served out to them in New England rum at eleven o'clock in the forenoon and four o'clock in the afternoon. When the temperance reform became an accepted fact, this allowance was cut off from the workinen, and for a while the sailors in the navy had a money allowance instead of the liquor, and in time this custom was abolished also.
When a seaman had signed the shipping papers he was entitled to and was paid a "month's advance" to use in purchasing his " sailor's outfit "; of later years the vessel carries a "slop chest " supplied with such clothing as would meet the need of the sailors at sea, which is dealt out to them as wanted and charged against their wages.
The SMALLEST SHIP that has been built in Bath was the Ann of 132 tons in 1802 for Charles Bradford of Boston, who commanded her. When the size increased to that of the Rappahannock of 1, 133 tons in 1841, owned by Clark & Sewall, Thomas M. Reed, and others, she was considered a monster, and in comparison with other vessels loomed up magnificently on the river. Before going to sea a large party was entertained aboard of her. She was partly owned in New York, to which city she sailed, when another large party was given on board; proceeding thence to New Orleans she had another ovation. WILLIAM DRUMMOND was her commander. She was the largest merchant ship in the world, and was put into the
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cotton trade. Originally she had two decks, and eventually a third was added.
With the business of the merchant marine there have been at intervals SEASONS OF DEPRESSION of longer or shorter duration. One of these seasons commenced in about 1883 and continued- until far into 1889. The building of full-rigged ships in this country had ceased altogether, and those afloat were generally run at a loss. Many of the ships of smaller tonnage were sold in California to go into the Pacific coast trade, and others disposed of at Atlantic ports and converted into coal barges.
Business for ships having at length in a measure revived, the building of ships again commenced at Bath. January, 1890, the Rappahannock of 3,000 tons, in November the Shenandoah of 3,258 tons, in 1892 the Roanoke of 3,400 tons were all launched from the same yard; in 1890 Houghton Brothers built the Parthia of 2,378 tons,-these the largest and latest of Bath wood ships. In 1892 the greatest depression commenced and continues to the present date, 1893. While Bath has built the larger part of the vessels constructed in this district, other towns on the river and contiguous waters, notably at Phipsburg, Richmond, Hallowell, Arrowsic, and Georgetown, have added many to the Kennebec fleet. At one time the district took in Harpswell and a portion of Brunswick, and many ships and smaller vessels were built on that portion of the Casco Bay waters.
STEAMBOAT BUILDING was commenced in Bath in 1865 by A. M. Sampson, who built one of about 64 tons for use on the Pacific coast. She was called the Lookout. The same year Geo. F. Patten built the steamer Montana of 1,000 tons. John R. Kelly became captain, and took her around Cape Horn to go into the California coast trade. These were followed in 1866 by G. F. and J. Patten building the steamship Idaho of 1,077 tons. Jarvis Patten was the captain, and she was taken to the Pacific coast. These steamship ventures did not prove remunerative, and the building of that class of vessels ceased for about ten years, when Goss & Sawyer com- menced building them on contract, mostly to be sent to the Pacific coast, followed by others to be placed on regular steamship lines on
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the Atlantic coast. The establishment of the Goss Marine Iron Works in connection with the New ; England Company's vessel building enabled the builders to fit steamers built at Bath with required machinery and fully equipped for service.
Restrictions on Commerce. - Prior to 1806 the commercial prosperity of the country was beyond example, and a large portion of our ships were employed in transporting timber and other Ameri- can productions to the dominions of Great Britain, but near the close of that period the English government imposed such heavy duties on American timber, and so greatly favored the introduction into that country of that article from the north of Europe, that it amounted to prohibition of our trade and commerce in that com- modity. This unfavorable change in its transportation business bore . heavily upon a large amount of Bath capital invested in shipping. Immediately after this disastrous condition of the shipping interests came the still more depressing EMBARGO of Dec. 22, 1807, followed in 1809 by the NON-INTERCOURSE act and war of 1812, which caused a period of depression lasting eight years.
Our war of 1812 and the NAPOLEONIC wars having ended, universal peace ensued. Consequently all other commercial nations came in to share the carrying trade of the world, making formidable rivals to such of our shipping as had survived capture and decay during the troublesome times just passed. To this was added the great FAILURE OF CROPS in 1816, causing excessive stagnation of business lasting two years. The great staple for bread in this sec- tion of country was Indian corn, which commanded the price of two dollars and fifty cents a bushel, and in Bath was difficult to be obtained at any price. .
Commercial Prosperity. - Good crops finally prevailing de- pression ceased, and in 1820 and 1821 flour was only four dollars and a half a barrel to the consumer. An extensive trade with the WEST INDIES commenced about this time, which employed a large fleet of brigs and schooners, taking out cargoes chiefly of lumber and bringing back cargoes of rum, molasses, and sugar. Bath became a mart for wholesale trade in West India goods. There was
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a DISTILLERY in town, and this consumed large quantities of the imported molasses, especially of the inferior grades.
Besides long lumber, shooks, headings, and hoop poles for cooper- age, these vessels carried out dried fish, pork, beef, and among the return cargoes were raisins, oranges, lemons, and fruits of West India growth and salt. Vessels were constantly going out and coming into the river, and employment was given men and youths who chose the sea for a vocation. Sailors of foreign birth were rare. So lively was commercial business that vessels were at times com- pelled to anchor in the stream for weeks waiting to procure berths at the wharves.
A CUSTOM-HOUSE OFFICE was then no sinecure. Inspectors, weighers, guagers, and measurers were kept constantly busy attend- ing to the discharge of cargoes. During the winter season, before the advent of railroads, large quantities of goods were conveyed by teams to the up river towns and in other directions. These were not only goods from the West Indies, but as well from Boston and elsewhere, being landed in Bath as the head of winter navigation.
The English West India Ports. - In 1826, the English gov- ernment closed its West India ports against trade with the people of the United States. This bore disastrously upon Bath, where vessel building ceased, and business became depressed. Ship-carpenters were glad to obtain work at fifty and seventy-five cents a day, getting occasional work on old vessels undergoing repairs, taking store pay at that, and working from daylight till dark. In those days, however, workmen were boarded by their employers, making a saving at home. This interdiction by England continued until the fall of 1830, when the West India ports of that power were again opened to American vessels. On the day the news reached Bath, all the vessels in port displayed every piece of bunting they possessed, presenting a gay scene at the wharves where numerous vessels were lying, as well as in the stream where vessels were riding at anchor.
The opening of the English West India ports was brought about during the first term of President Jackson. England had closed these ports to the commerce of the United States for the reason
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that vessels of that country were virtually excluded from our ports, our maritime laws discriminating against them. As Secretary of State in Jackson's administration, MARTIN VAN BUREN instructed Mr. Dallas, our minister in London, to make a treaty conceding to vessels of Great Britain the right to enter our ports on the same terms that American vessels were admitted to her West India ports, England having secured a proviso that regulations of this commerce were left with the authorities of those islands. Our diplomats failed to see the trap set for us. The consequence was that a duty of six dollars a thousand was placed upon lumber brought from American ports and none on that from English ports, and we were left. Our export trade to these islands was chiefly in lumber and the English controlled the markets there. And what operated more to our disadvantage was that English ships bound to our southern ports took in coal at Newcastle sufficient for ballast, loading with lumber, which would be discharged at British West India ports on their route, effectively costing nothing for transpor- tation.
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