USA > Maine > Sagadahoc County > Bath > History of Bath and environs, Sagadahoc County, Maine. 1607-1894 > Part 14
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In 1821, the BRIG MARY JANE was robbed by pirates on the coast of Cuba; she was owned by Hill & McCobb, Phipsburg.
Schooner Evergreen, Capt. Pool, arrived at Bath, having been robbed and ill-treated by pirates, and having retaken his vessel.
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Schooner Milo, Capt. Cushing, arrived in the river safely after having been robbed by pirates off the West India coast. She was owned by Parker McCobb.
Sept. 10, 1821, the SCHOONER DESPATCH of this port was taken by pirates and was retaken by a vessel fitt d out from Trinidad. The captain of the pirate vessel was condemned to be hanged and the crew to work in chains in the streets for two years.
On Oct. 8, 1821, the BRIG COBBESECONTE, Capt. Jackson, of this port was robbed by pirates in an armed boat four miles out from the Moro Castle, Havana. They first gave the captain and the mate a severe beating, then hanged the mate and stabbed the captain through the thigh, when they took what they wanted and left.
Disasters to Bath Ships. - Bath having built and owned so many ships, it naturally follows that the story of the sea recounts each year loss of life and vessels that greatly interest her, but so numerous are these disasters, mention can be made of only the most memorable.
In about 1795, there was a prospect of war between France and the United States. France was belligerent on the ocean aud unlaw- fully captured some merchant vessels belonging to the United States. During this state of things WILLIAM KING had a ship at sea of which Capt. Redmond was commander, and Capt. Lane, mate. She was captured by a French cruiser and a prize crew put on board of her, but the officers and a portion of the crew were permitted to remain. They concerted a plan to retake the ship, and while the French crew were aloft reefing sails the captain secured the French commander, the mate the man at the wheel, and the crew stood by with handspikes and captured the French sailors as they came down from aloft, giving the Americans full control of the ship. They took her into port and the court awarded them $10,000 salvage, which the owner of the ship had to pay. It gave Gen. King a claim against the United States government.
Jan. 19, 1851, CAPT. WILLIAM P. LARRABEE had retired from a sea-faring life for a rest, and was part owner of the SHIP MoRo that was built by William Hall at the South End. She was loaded with
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coal at Philadelphia for Havana. She was destitute of a captain, and Capt. Larrabee was induced to go on and take charge of her as his last voyage. He took with him two of his young daughters. The vessel was never heard from after she had sailed, Jan. 19, 1851. The only account relating to her fate was given by another ship in company with her on a portion of the voyage. Early one morning, when near the island of Cuba, the captain of this ship discerned the Moro in the dim distance low in the water. On coming on deck after breakfast he found the Moro missing and remarked : " If that ship does not reach her port of destination I shall think that she has gone down." He was bound to the same port and the Moro never arrived there.
A Total Wreck. - In 1865, JAMES T. MORSE was in command of the schooner Engina, and while on a passage from Bath to Mobile the vessel was struck by a hurricane while lying to, when one of the tremendous waves which plunged along mast-high "tripped " the vessel and she was instantly turned bottom up. Capt. Morse and a companion were in the cabin at the time, and as the deck was several feet below the surface of the sea they were imprisoned. They were in absolute darkness, standing in water up to their waists, seemingly helpless and doomed. But Capt. Morse and his companion were not the kind of men to surrender to the seemingly inevitable until forced to do so. Groping about they found a hatchet and decided to hew their way to the upper air. Knowing that as soon as an opening was made the air, which was then shut in by the arch of the inverted hull, would escape and the water take its place, they were obliged to work with the greatest cau- tion lest they should make a fatal leak before there was a hole large enough to permit of their escape and so be drowned like imprisoned rats. For days they worked, cutting away the ceiling and planks until they could catch the gleam of light through the thin wood in one place, then cutting again until another part was simi- larly cleared, and so on until the light, passing through the slight surface, marked the lines of a square place large enough to admit the free passage of a man's body. Then, when every possible preparation had been made and there seemed to be nothing more
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that they could do to assure the success of the final move, they knocked out the obstructing square and crawled into the daylight as the water, freed from the opposition of the compressed air, followed them, and the vessel sank lower into the water until the natural buoyancy of the timber checked her.
There they were, perched on the curved surface of a capsized wreck, drifting at the mercy of the seas. But they had no idea of surrender. Having escaped to the light, they at once set to work to build up a sort of signal station to attract the attention of any vessel that might chance to come that way, and upon the top they fixed a staff from which fluttered a shirt for a signal. Fortunately a brick- laden schooner, passing that way, sighted the signal of distress, bore down and rescued the men, who were almost exhausted by days of suffering, their torn hands showing how they had labored in the terrible darkness; but they soon recovered. No one talking with the captain to-day would ever suspect that he had once dug his way out of a sepulcher of the sea. The schooner was owned by Capt. Morse and Bath parties.
Somewhat similar to that of Capt. Morse was the experience of Capt. Trimmons of the schooner Clermont of this port. The vessel, lumber-laden, was capsized off the Bermudas. The one survivor of the crew crawled upon the bottom of the over-turned craft and clung there for thirty-one days, living upon the drowned rats and apples that floated from the hold until rescued by a passing vessel.
The Great Gale of 1839. - On Saturday, Dec. 14, 1839, from one to two hours past meridian, fifteen vessels passed out by Seguin, with a light wind from the north-west and a very smooth sea. The weather continued beautiful that day, and there was a cheering prospect of having a good run off the coast, for when the passengers " turned in," past ten o'clock, the moon shone forth serenely placid in the south-east enlivening the charming picture.
But what a change was wrought in a few hours! In less than six hours from that time, at four o'clock Sunday morning, the ship was laboring heavily under close reefed top sails, close hauled on the port tack, trying to proceed on her proper course by the south
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channel; but the increasing gale and north-east snow storm with a tremendous sea forbade that hope, and the wind having changed from east by south no chance remained but to wear ship and stand back, that she might possibly weather Cape Cod and have a little sea room in the bay. The sea did not abate that day, however, and at six P.M. the main-top-gallant mast went 1., the board, broken short off at the cap, rolled away, and the ship made the remainder of the passage without any.
There were on board at the time, as passengers, Thomas D. Rob- inson and son, Gardner Green and wife of Topsham, Mr. Green, his nephew, Rufus K. Page, Jr., of Hallowell, Louis O. Cowan and sister of Sidney, Edward K. Harding, and John Hayden of Bath. The captain was Samuel Swanton, a true man in all things and a thorough seaman. An excellent chief mate was William Sprague of Phipsburg, and the second mate was Mr. Crooker of North Bath.
THE OTHER VESSELS were lumber laden for ports in the West Indies and along the coast. Of the fleet was the brig Alice, of Bath, in command of Capt. Given of Brunswick, and as seamen from Bath, Daniel Blair and Warren Mains; brig Rideout, built in Bath and owned by Mr. Frost of Topsham, and in command of Capt. Purington of Bowdoinham; brig Democrat, on board of which was Zebulon Reed, for a number of years since a master rigger in this city; brig Austin, of Bath, John Walston, master; Henry E. Jenks, mate; Elbridge G. Parshley, Frank Roach, Daniel McCloud and Charles Bisbee, all of Bath, seamen; schooner Margaret, Capt. Aaron Williams, of Bath, father of Leonard and Aaron F. Williams of this city. This vessel was afterwards saved.
Of the fifteen vessels that sailed from Bath two days before, only one, the ship United States, weathered Cape Cod, the rest of the fleet being driven ashore on the rocky and dangerous coast of Cape Cod. The brigs Rideout and Austin went ashore on Peaked Hill Bar, a short distance from each other. The crew of the Rideout were all lost, while those of the Austin reached the shore in safety. Winter Haines was the only man on the Rideout known to have been a resident of Bath. He left a young wife, having been married but a few weeks. The brig Democrat went ashore in Barnstable
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Bay; the crew were saved. Schooner Margaret struck on Scituate Beach, the crew reaching shore safely. All of the vessels that struck were totally wrecked and the loss to Bath was heavy.
The two hermaphrodite brigs, Austin and Rideout, cast off from the wharf at Bath at the same moment on Saturday, Dec. 14, 1839, lumber loaded, bound to Matanzas. ill went well until about two o'clock Sunday morning, when a gale from the south-east was encountered, and the Austin was "hove to." All day long it blew a hurricane and her deck load was thrown overboard; she could not carry a stitch of canvas; it would be blown away quick as lightning. Finally the wind came round to north-east and drove the vessels directly on to Peaked Hill Bar, Cape Cod. These brigs kept near together, the Rideout striking about fifteen minutes before the Aus- tin. She had her deck load on, rolled over and over, and all on board were lost. Capt. Purington's brother and son were on board and went under. When the Austin struck she was thrown on her beam ends and was driven up on the beach. Seeing rescuers on shore, a box was got out, a line fastened to it and sent ashore; a hawser was attached to the line which was drawn ashore, upon which the men reached the land by going along the hawser hand over hand. The brig went to pieces.
CAPTAIN SWANTON saved his ship - the United States - by his skill and courage in carrying a great press of canvas, enabling the ship to "claw off" the shores of Cape Cod that dreadful night. The great anxiety of Bath people over the unknown fate of this ship was greatly heightened when later there was picked up on the beach of Cape Cod a " head board " on which was painted the name " United States." To keep off shore the ship had to tack several times; the ropes were new and slackened by the strain upon them and when the ship would be put upon the other tack all hands were put to work tightening the shrouds to leeward, thus saving the masts when she went round on the other tack. Men had to be kept in the rigging knocking off the fast-forming ice.
During the gale Mr. Robinson, who was a large owner in the ship, asked the captain to run her into Boston harbor, but it was
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very thick and foggy, and Capt. Swanton said there would be only one chance in a thousand to run in safely, and declined to take the risk. A reliable account says that the ship was running under double reefed top sails with the yards let down to the caps, from whence the sails "bagged out," the crew being unable to close reef them. What aided in saving the ship was, besides being new, she had on board 300 tons of ballast and 600 tons of paving stones that kept her on her bottom. "Considering the number of prominent men on board of her, the possibility of her loss created great excite- ment in Bath when news came that the head board had been washed ashore. Nothing was heard from the ship unitl the announcement of her arrival at NEW ORLEANS, which was necessarily slow in reaching here as no telegraph was in operation at that day.
Loss of the Hanover at the Mouth of the Kennebec. - The old ship Hanover of the Houghton fleet was commanded by Capt. George Rogers, and his first officer was Ballard Bartlett, Jr., both of the Basin, Phipsburg. The ship had been on a voyage to Europe with cotton from a southern port, and was on her homeward voyage to Bath. She was laden with a cargo of salt for her owners. . She made Seguin in the afternoon of Nov. 10, 1849. It was blow- ing a gale with a south-east wind and heavy sea running. The ship had sagged quite close into the western bay, and to fetch by POND ISLAND had to " close haul " on the starboard tack, and when nearly up to Pond Island the wind suddenly veered to the east, just enough to " shake her sails " and prevent her weathering the island. The only course possible was to go in west of Pond Island, which was attempted; when going over the bar there the trough of a sea settled her stern on to it which carried away her rudder, leaving her to the mercy of the wind and waves. She backed right on to the bar that lies between Pond and Wood Islands; the second sea that thumped her on the sand stove her all to pieces and every soul on board was lost ! They were obviously killed by the floating wreckage tossed about by the angry waves. The wreckage was washed ashore and strewed along Popham Beach, bringing with it a few only of the dead bodies of the crew. Although many of them belonged to
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towns on the Lower Kennebec, particularly Phipsburg, none could be recognized but that of the captain. His appearance indicated that he had recently prepared himself to go ashore by shaving, dressing in a newly laundered shirt and his "best suit of clothes."
The sad news spread rapidly and quickly; a crowd rushed to the beach, but all was over with the ship and her crew. The unknown bodies of the victims of the disaster were buried on the banks of Morse River, where a solitary head-stone marks the place where they lie, in a cemetery which is so ancient that conjecture fails to account for it in that secluded spot, as no ancient stone there with inscription on it exists.
Rebellion Episode. - In 1861, CAPT. ANDREW TARBOX, when master of the BARK SAMUEL TARBOX, which was owned by ALFRED LEMONT and WILLIAM M. REED, was with his vessel at Charleston, South Carolina, and was the last American ship that sailed from that port before the bombardment of FORT SUMPTER, the captain witnessed the first secession gun that was fired. At its report the custom-house flag of stars and stripes was hauled down and the PALMETTO FLAG run up on the same staff. The gun was fired near the custom-house, and in anticipation of the occurrence a large concourse of people had gathered and the street was quite blocked with cotton drays driven by SLAVES, and at the report of the gun there was a stampede among the mules causing collisions and cap- sizing.
There was a captain from BRUNSWICK who was not allowed to bring his ship over the bar, but to communicate with his owners and then leave the city, and as a natural result was not in good temper. Being in a group where the excitement was great the captain jumped up, swung his hat, and cried out: "Hold your mules, boys, that is the death knell, sure as fate!" This prophecy proved true.
Capt. Tarbox succeeded in getting clear of the excited city with a valuable cargo of SEA ISLAND COTTON, clearing under the seal of South Carolina for Liverpool, where he arrived in safety. Capt. Tarbox was father of Capt. H. C. Tarbox of Bath and lived on the old Phips farm at Phips Point, Woolwich.
وفقا المد للتجارة
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Loss of the Ranier. - The wreck of the RANIER is one of the most notable disasters, creating wide-spread interest at the time on account of the unusual circumstances attending the rescue of the captain and crew. The Ranier was built at Bath by the Sewalls in the year 1883, and was a fine ship of 2,000 tons burden. Soon after launching she went to Philadelphia to take on her first cargo to the port of Kobe in Japan. She sailed from Philadelphia Aug. 12, 1883. On the night of Jan. 3, 1884, when within two weeks' sail of her destined port, the ship having passed several islands of the Marshall group was sailing before a favoring wind and the captain supposed they were clear of the islands, when suddenly there was a cry from the lookout of "breakers ahead! breakers ahead!" The officers sprang and let go all the port braces, but it was too late! The ship was instantly in the midst of the breakers and, with a heavy crash, struck on a CORAL REEF. The heavy seas commenced to break the ship up aft very fast. The next morning the shipwrecked mariners were rescued by the natives of an island not far distant called the UJEA. They lived among these SOUTH SEA ISLANDERS on this lonely isle of the sea five months. The crew numbered thirty- two men including the officers, besides the captain's daughter. After passing through much suffering and peril they were rescued by the American man-of-war Essex, sent by the United States gov- ernment from HONG KONG.
The SHIP THOMAS M. REED, of 1,987 tons, built by A. Sewall & Co., T. M. Reed, A. E. Work, and others in 1880, was burned at the dock at Liverpool, Feb. 3, 1888, to the water's edge; was nearly loaded with coal for San Francisco and had hauled off into the middle of the dock to go to another wharf to finish loading. The coal was highly ignitible, and candles stuck on the pitch-pine beams were used by the stevedores to light the hold. It is believed that the fire originated from the gas made by the coal. Little was saved from her and there was little insurance on her hull. Captain Abel E. Work had taken command of her only a few days prior to the disaster.
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Iron Ships. - " The fact that iron as a constructive material in ship-building has practically superseded wood is one which Bath, in her position as the greatest ship-building port in the world, has been unable to overlook. She has seen the iron ship grow rapidly into favor and take from the wood ship a large portion of her business. She has noted the fact that those who have cargoes to send across the ocean prefer to intrust them to iron-built vessels rather than to those constructed of wood. She sees that insurance companies will underwrite iron ships at lower f gures than they will wood ships, and that in all parts of the mercantile world the opinion commonly pre- vails that iron has superseded wood in much the same way in which steam has displaced sail and the railroad the stage-coach, but notwithstanding this, Bath has clung to her wood ships; she has continued to build them and sail them in competition with both iron and steam. She thoroughly believes that the wood ship is less liable to total loss than the iron ship, that life and property are safer when intrusted to her staunch oak frame and hard pine plank- ing than when placed in the slender ribs and brittle plates of the iron vessel. She knows that statistics show this to be a fact, and she knows that it is a matter of much question whether grain or any other cargo can be carried in such perfect condition in iron as in wood. She is aware that the wood ship costs no more to build, will last fully as long, and can be sailed with no greater expense than the iron ship. However, in view of the fact that the iron ship is at present the favorite, and secures a cargo when the wood ship can get none, and always at rates from five per cent. to fifteen per cent. in advance of those offered to wood ships, and because she can insure at lower premium, Bath ship-owners and builders have been forced to the conclusion that to build longer in wood is folly. They do not feel that it is demanded of them to build ships of either material at the present time, and hence to discuss the question as far as it has any bearing on ship-building of the present is useless. But Bath looks forward to a future in ship-building, and feels con- vinced that the constructive material at that future time will be iron.
Those who have carefully studied the subject in its various phases see no reason why she should not meet with as great success
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in building ships of this new material as she has in building then of the old. The cost of transporting coal and iron from the mines of Pennsylvania to the Kennebec has been urged as an objection to Bath's competing in iron ship-building with the yards of the Dela- ware. Everything which enters into the construction of a wood ship, from keel to truck, is brought from a distance, and Bath's superiority as a wood ship-building port is in no degree dependent upon adjacent forests. In short, it will cost less to bring iron to Bath than it does to bring wc d, owing to the fact that both bulk and weight, as well as the distance to be traversed, are considerably less. In fact, the difference in transportation between the Delaware and Bath is only a small fraction. It has been urged that Bath has no mechanics skilled in working this new material. This also is a trifling consideration, for her mechanics know how to build a ship, and can without difficulty learn to construct her of iron. In fact, there are a number of workmen here already who are proficient in iron ship-building.
Thus it is seen that the objections ordinarily urged have but little weight, and it follows as a consequence that when the ship-owners and builders of Bath see any profit either in building or owning ships of iron, they will establish an iron ship-yard. Much has been done even now in that direction. Capital has been expended and plans matured by the New England Ship-building Company with a view to embarking in the near future in the construction of iron sailing vessels and steamers. It was partly with this object that the Iron Works Department was supplemented to the firm's already extensive plant. A fine wharf adjacent to the Marine Engine Works was also purchased with this end in view. While at present Bath capitalists are not prepared to enter into iron ship-building with no hope of finding profitable employment for the ships when completed, it is certain that they will be fully prepared, when there is a demand, to furnish for our merchant marine iron ships which will rank as high in the navies of the world as have the wood ships which have made her name famous on every sea and in every port" (vide Albert A. Reed in Report of Bath Board of Trade, 1887).
Shipping Notes. - Years since when Bath had a large fleet of
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ships in the cotton-carrying trade, so large a number of them would often be at Liverpool at the same time that Englishmen were known to make the remark that " Bath must be a very large city judging by the large number of ships that had " Bath " on their sterns.
In the iron ship-yards the heavy work is done by steam power, as is likewise the sawing and planing of planks, and also the timber and knees sawed into any shape required for wood vessels.
At a former day it was believed that the building of vessels solely on contract did not prove rem perative. In this mode of doing business the chief man engaged in it was Johnson Rideout who had a yard at the North End. He built a large number of ships, com- prised in a long series of years, without adequate profit according to general belief. Of later years a large number of schooners, steam- ers and other vessels have been built for outside parties on contract with remunerative success.
With many builders the custom of late years has been for the builder to induce other persons, both at home and abroad, to join him in investment in his proposed building, making the aggregate amount sufficient to cover the cost of the vessel. Investors of this class have preferred to own only a comparatively small amount in any one vessel, believing it better to own a small piece in different vessels, or as they term it, "not to put their eggs all into one basket "; and this has generally proved the most remunerative method of vessel investments, especially of the schooner class.
The various collateral industries that furnish material and fittings for vessels are usually required to take an interest in the vessels for wuich they furnish supplies such as iron, cordage, sails, blocks, smiths' work, chandlery, cooking apparatus, carpets, bedding and furniture for cabins, and some who are foremen in the yards often take small pieces in the vessels they help construct. The captains of deep sea going ships frequently own a share in the ships they command. Nearly all of the early builders kept a store of general merchandise and the wages of their workmen were largely paid in goods and termed " store pay."
When the demand for sailing ships largely decreased, after 1880, the building of schooners increased in Bath yards, as well as that of
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