USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 11
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40
By the way, I suppose you would like to hear something about Reed and the Squire, Uncle Mac. Mac is the steadiest man on board and generally liked. Reed is also popular on board. He and Patterson had considerable quarreling the first part of the voyage about their chests, but I think Patter- son was the most to blame. He, however, thought Reed wanted to crowd him and wanted to swap berths with me. I swapped with hini and after- wards with Perkins getting the berth I would have chosen before any other in the cabin, viz, the upper berth next the forward door.
San Francisco, July 29th. Arrived Tuesday last. Yesterday, Sunday, there were so many on board and so much talking that I could not get a chance to write. It appears that we are going to make a rather losing go of this; the cargo has been sold on board for thirty dollars and the vessel will not fetch at the utmost over three thousand dollars. I fear you will get scarcely quarter
106
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
the value of the vessel. Captain Chase has some idea of putting her up for Oregon; there are three times as many vessels of this class here as are wanted. A schooner of 70 tons will fetch more than a vessel of this size.
I think I shall start for the mines in a few days as I shall have wages enough coming to carry me there. I have now about $60. coming. It is of no use to stop here, though wages keep up pretty well-about six dollars a day- yet men are so plenty that they have great difficulty in getting work. Whistle if you want men and you'll have fifty in five minutes. I have seen a number lately from the mines, they give very conflicting accounts, some hav- ing made good wages while others were barely able to get back again.
So here, some are getting rich while others have actually starved to death. Suicides are frequent, gambling is carried on here to a monstrous extent, all of the large hotels are gambling houses. Be sure and write every steamer - once a month-and then I shall be lucky if I get one once in three months. These matters are managed very loosely here. I predict that there will be a grand crash here within a year, there are now altogether too many people in the country. . .. Silas.
Fifty-seven days from Callao and 185 from home the good brig G. W. Kendall had arrived, harbored for a time, and then coasted along to Oregon. Again in San Francisco in the fall, when California was ad- mitted to the Union, another round trip to Astoria followed. The brig was sold to Samuel Merritt, and during the winter of 1850-51 Cap- tain Chase sailed to Puget Sound for a cargo of ice. None was found; instead timber was brought back. Enoch Chase returned home and his mate, A. B. Gove, purchased a share and for several years ran the brig between San Francisco and Puget Sound. The brigs George Emery and G. W. Kendall are said to have been the first vessels to enter Puget Sound after its American occupancy; the Emery arrived in advance of the Kendall. The last trace found of the Boothbay brig was at Callao in December of 1855.
Samuel Merritt was a Maine man, and practiced medicine before going to California. A pioneer there, he became interested in shipping, and frequently was addressed as 'Captain.' He had two barks con- structed: the Samuel Merritt, launched at Bath in 1854, and the Live Yankee, commanded in 1856 by a Captain Reed. Captain Merritt died wealthy, and left a substantial bequest to his alma mater, Bowdoin.
107
THE ARGONAUT VESSELS
The Francisco was launched at Boothbay in the fall of 1847 and hailed from Wiscasset, home of the principal owners with exception of Thomas M. Cutter of Charlestown, Massachusetts. The others were Samuel Davis, John D. McCrate and Benjamin F. Smith, the master.
In April 1848 the new brigs Rainbow and Francisco loaded at Wis- casset for Cuba, and the latter sailed with a crew of seven. About a year later the vessels were in New York, and on the Rainbow Sarah A. Em- erson wrote: 'This evening we are going on board the Francisco to take tea with Capt. Smith and Lady; he was on board and invited us this forenoon. Capt. Jacob Auld and Capt. Benjamin Lewis are here, but it is no use to look for them, you might as well look for a needle in a haystack as to look for them among so many vessels.' Thus was the ap- pearance of New York harbor in the days of sail, when the world's ton- nage was carried in numerous comparatively small vessels.
In the fall of 1849 the Francisco was at Cardenas in company with other American ships. Its harbor was shallow and the town lay on the level and somewhat marshy shore of a spacious bay sheltered by a long promontory. That year an unreliable census gave the white population of Cuba as 457,432.
It was the hurricane season, and ten days out a terrific blast struck the brig which carried away trysail and mainmast-head. The storm continued with unabating fury, and seventy hogsheads of molasses were washed overboard. As the gale abated two brigs were spoken, also damaged. Captain Smith arrived in Boston after a trying passage of twenty-two days. After other Cuban trips in 1850 pine lumber was loaded at Saint John, New Brunswick. Several days out another Sep- tember hurricane played havoc with the brig. A few miles off Five Fathom Bank the vessel was thrown on her beam ends in a terrific squall. All appeared lost. The main rigging was cut away and the main- mast fell, carrying everything with it above the foremast-head. The brig then righted, half full of water and with deck load, boat and every- thing movable washed away. In Philadelphia she was refitted.
Thereafter Thomas M. Cutter became managing owner with Boston the home port. In January of 1851 the Francisco sailed with general cargo for Astoria, Oregon, and an abstract of the log furnished Lieu- tenant Maury with data for preparing his sailing directions. The facts
١
£
108
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
showed that the brig crossed the equator thirty-eight and a half days out, passed Cape Saint Roque on the forty-third day; crossed fifty south latitude seventy-eight days out; was twenty-eight days rounding the Horn; reached fifty south in the Pacific 106 days out of Boston and ar- rived in August. The long voyage occupied about 222 days.
The Francisco returned to the North Atlantic; but in 1853 the brig again rounded the Horn, this time to Portland, Oregon, where she was sold. Captain Smith retained command and engaged in coasting on the Northwest coast. Although he retained his interest in the brig, she had other masters, and at one time hailed from Astoria, commanded by D. Pinkham.
Sometime before 1868 the Francisco was owned by S. L. Mastick, a wholesale lumber merchant of San Francisco who had a mill on Puget Sound. He seems to have employed the brig in this trade for a number of years. In 1871 she put in at Honolulu and was broken up.
CHAPTER VIII
THE BRIGS
T HE Abigail, launched at Hodgdon's Mills in the fall of 1833, was a small brig eighty-three feet in length. She was constructed by An- drew and William Adams, who owned her in connection with William Seavey, Samuel Tarbox and others. Stephen Sawyer was the first mas- ter, and presumably the vessel was named after his wife Abigail. Sev- eral years later Charles Reed succeeded to the command, followed by a Captain Kelley. On a passage from Boothbay for New York in the fall of 1840 the brig was driven on Gardiner's Island by a gale, but was assisted off by revenue cutter Walcott. The Abigail was repaired at New London; her final fate is unknown.
The Tecumseh, an Indian name signifying 'Meteor' or 'Flying Pan- ther,' was launched at the North Boothbay yard of David R. and James Adams early in the fall of 1838. The brig was about ninety-three feet in length, twenty-four in beam and not very deep. The vessel was owned by the builders and the master, Paul G. Pinkham, who had command- ed the topsail schooner Mary Adams. The Tecumseh hailed from Bos- ton, and early in 1850 a brig of that name en voyage to California put in at Valparaiso. The vessel's name does not appear in Lloyd's of 1857.
The Espoleta, Spanish meaning 'swashbuckler,' was a full-rigged brig constructed at Hodgdon's Mills by Andrew and William Adams for command of Robert Sproul. He and James Sproul of Bristol, Ben- jamin and John Reed and the builders were the local owners. The brig was over 100 feet in length, twenty-four in beam and hailed from Boston. Launched in the fall of 1839, her employment was mostly in West Indian trade, although she crossed to Antwerp and returned to Damariscotta in 1842.
On her last ill-fated voyage the Espoleta sailed from her home port in January 1845, with a cargo valued at ten thousand dollars intended for Havana. Stormy weather prevailed, and during a heavy squall in latitude thirty-eight the brig was dismasted. The news was carried to San Antonio by a British schooner, which spoke the brig a month out under a jury-rig cut away from wreckage. Captain Sproul declined as- sistance, preferred to stay with his ship, and endeavored to make port.
110
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Wintry gales arose, the vessel became unmanageable and it was found expedient to abandon her. The United States mail only was saved. All were rescued by a vessel that carried them to Cienfuegos, thence to Car- denas. The Captain, his first and second officers, John F. Sproul and Silvester Brown, took passage in the Colorado for home.
The brig became a derelict, and was seen by the Gulnare, from Thomaston, with barrels and onions floating around. Homeward bound the frigate Congress fell in with the wreck of a large American- built water-logged brig. The hull was painted black with a white streak around it; the mainmast was gone, but the bowsprit and foremast were standing. A week later the Constitution, inbound to Charleston, passed the Espoleta stripped and burned to the water's edge.
The Sturdy Oak, a little larger than the Tecumseh, was constructed in 1848 by Andrew and William Adams, chiefly for Samuel Clark and Robert Sproul of Bristol. The former was master. On her first voyage late in January 1849 the brig was lost at the Turks Islands. No lives were lost.
The E. Baldwin was launched by Andrew and William Adams in 1850, and in September was in commission under Andrew R. Mont- gomery. He owned a master's interest, and with occasional relief re- tained command for several years. Other owners were Elizur Baldwin of Boston, Allen Lewis, Leonard and Frederick Montgomery, Jere- miah Baker and Rufus K. Sewall.
The brig, under charter of the Portland firm of J. Rhynas and Com- pany, entered Havana early in 1856, followed by Albert S. Tibbetts's brig Onward, also from Portland. Captain Montgomery chartered to load at Cardenas, and while homeward bound in March ran into heavy weather, lost part of his deck load and put in at Holmes's Hole until the gale abated. After a disagreeable trip of twenty days he passed in by Portland Head and delivered in good condition the rest of his cargo of molasses. The year ended with a voyage to Matanzas for the same firm. The passage was stormy, with rough seas and long continued northwest gales. But all changed on sighting the Pan of Matanzas, a high conical hill forming a prominent landfall for navigators.
The author of Gan-Eden wrote in 1853:
Matanzas has its lovely bay, shoaling out so far from shore that between
£
111
THE BRIGS
the fleet of ships and the noble quay the moon at night makes a broad lagoon of gold, dotted over with scudding cloud-like boats and launches, and its long, rolling, flower-studded hill of the Cumbre, parting the busy town from the happy valley of the Yumuri, ... peaceful with the calm pres- ence of colossal ceybas.
Homeward bound, the brig's entire deck load of molasses was lost during a storm. She touched at Boston, her home port, and arrived in Portland in March of 1857. The Captain was still in command in 1860, and three years later the E. Baldwin was wrecked at Lewes, Delaware.
The Mazatlan. In the fall of 1850 William Holton was engaged in the construction of a brig at the Sargent yard, conceivably the Mazatlan, in commission the following July, and owned by Allen, Benjamin and Russell Lewis, Stephen and Charles Sargent, Lewis Thorpe, John W. Weymouth; and at Westport by Robinson Heal, James McCarty and Samuel Tarbox. This medium sized hermaphrodite brig was com- manded briefly by Russell Lewis, Samuel M. Reed and by Benjamin H. Lewis until he took the new ship J. G. Richardson.
Late in 1853 the Mazatlan sailed from Baltimore for Martinique and experienced one of the worst storms in the annals of the Atlantic. For instance, the Tam O'Shanter, a Freeport ship from Calcutta, was abandoned off Cape Cod; and on Christmas Day the whaleship Mount Wollaston lost two men and four boats. (In 1881 the wreck of this whaler was found in the ice of the Arctic.) The brig emerged from the storm a dismasted partial wreck, and under jury-rig put in at Charleston.
A year later the vessel was blown off the coast, but made port in Savannah in January 1855. She carried pine lumber from Doboy Is- land to Boston, thence to Matanzas and twice during the summer was in Boothbay, her home port. Sumner R. Tibbetts commanded and voyaged to Port of Spain and soon after Christmas touched at Saint Thomas. He continued master during 1856-57.
After thorough repairs the Mazatlan, commanded by Samuel M. Dodge, who had owned a master's interest since 1853, sailed from Port- land and ran on a ledge, but floated off at high water uninjured and proceeded to Cuba. He touched at Bahia Honda, and made the run home from Havana in twelve days. A trip to Cardenas followed, where Captain Dodge died July 29 1858, aged thirty. On the return passage
7
m
112
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
the brig, 'Green, master, late Dodge,' ran into a northerly gale off Hat- teras which washed away the galley and started the butts. Although · water entered freely, it was kept under control.
During 1859-60 the brig was commanded by a son of James Mc- Carty, and on two occasions received more or less damage in stormy weather. Other masters also had the brig, and in 1865 she put in at Nassau with loss of a mast. The vessel then hailed from Portland, and had been managed by Littlejohn and Chase. Under a Captain Adams the last trip of the Mazatlan started from Georgetown, South Carolina, with lumber for Portland, and in heavy seas kicked up by an April gale the brig sprang a leak. Unable to keep her free he steered for Hatteras Inlet and let go the anchors in four fathoms of water, but both chains parted, and the brig drifted among breakers and became a total loss in 1867.
The Tornado came out in 1851 from the North Boothbay yard of John McDougall, and was a fine hermaphrodite brig ninety and a half feet in length, owned by James McCarty and sons, also Ebenezer Green- leaf and James Tibbetts. The vessel hailed from Westport, command- ed by Ozias McCarty in West Indian trade.
Early in 1854 he employed the brig in the New York-Bermuda carry- ing trade of live stock and provisions for the islanders. On return the vessel was blown off the coast, and with split sails and damaged yards made New York in distress. On his last trip that year the brig, with a pilot in charge, grounded on Somerset Point, Bermuda, but after.most of the cargo had been lightered came off safely. Later came a voyage to Rio Grande do Sul and the homeward passage, in the latitude of South Florida, was an exceedingly rough one with the brig hove to more or less for twenty days. Sails, rigging and spars were badly damaged in wintry squalls with sleet (March 1856). On a round trip to Jamaica in the fall the vessel touched at Fortune Island, and in another severe blow lost sails and spars. Most of the sailings were from and for New York. In 1858 the brig hailed from Wiscasset, still commanded by a McCarty.
About 1860 Lincoln W. Tibbetts took the Tornado, managed by Libby and Company. Late in the year he sailed from New York for New Orleans with a large cargo of gunpowder consigned to the George A. Fosdick Company, but probably intended for secessionists. Fortu-
113
THE BRIGS
nately for the Union cause a tempest dismasted the brig, and under jury-rig made up of the jib boom for a foremast and another small spar for mainmast she finally made Saint Thomas. While undergoing re- pairs the cargo was stowed elsewhere, and Captain Tibbetts was about to sail in April of 1861 when, because of expected hostilities, he re- ceived orders to return to New York.
In 1864 the Tornado was owned in and hailed from Boston, previ- ously commanded for two years by masters named Merritt and Dodge. The following year the latter sailed from Philadelphia, and at sea in nighttime the brig collided with a schooner and was reported to have foundered, probably erroneously, since the Tornado appears in Lloyd's of 1868 as schooner-rigged, owned by Pendleton and Rose of Boston, with Dodge as master.
The Phoebe A. Paige was built at Hodgdon's Mills in 1851 by An- drew and William Adams. A hermaphrodite brig, she was ninety-four feet in length and twenty-four in beam. The local owners, besides the builders, were Allen Lewis, Thomas Hodgdon and Alexander Line- kin. A Captain Linekin was the first master, and after a few years West- brook G. Lewis commanded the brig.
In 1858 a Captain Tibbetts relieved Lewis for a time, and made a round winter voyage to Cienfuegos for sugar and molasses. After re- turning North from West Indian ports, the vessel frequently carried coal from Philadelphia to Boston and Maine. On one of these trips in 1860, Captain Lewis sailed from Belfast and was caught off Hatteras in a heavy October tornado, which whisked away his topsail before it could be taken in and furled. Heavy seas struck the brig, staving in the windows of the cabin and partially filling it with water. Four days passed before he could make port in Savannah.
When the opening gun of the Civil War was fired at Fort Sumter in April 1861, bark Windward lay in Havana. On board was a Boothbay sailor of sixteen who, anxious for home news, wrote: 'I hope the Phoebe A. Paige will arrive before we leave.' There trace of the Phoebe is lost, and since she is not listed in Lloyd's of 1863 and 1864, it seems probable that she was laid up in some quiet cove during the war where her bones slowly molded and rotted away.
The Phoebe was one of the so-called 'Paige fleet' engaged in trans-
114
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
portation of coal and lumber in conjunction with West Indian trade; others were the Charles E. Paige, Albert C. Paige, John D. Paige, Hat- tie Paige and the J. Q. Wishart. Not known to have been connected with the 'Paige fleet' were barks Helen S. Paige and J. W. Paige. The former sailed from Boston late in 1849 with passengers for California gold fields, and arrived after 201 days.
The brig was named after Phoebe Amelia, the eleven-year-old daugh- ter of Charles Elliot Paige, a wealthy coal merchant of Boston, or his wife, Phoebe A. Kennedy of Boothbay, whom he married in 1838. They were interested in the vessel which bore their names, but unfortunately Phoebe Amelia died in her fifteenth year. Mrs. Paige died in 1864, aged forty-seven; Mr. Paige survived her until 1879, then sixty-five.
Five hermaphrodite brigs were built at Boothbay during the year 1852, and of these the Montgomery was the second largest, registering almost 217 tons. The other four, Hesperus, J. H. Kent, Onward and the Tangent, were of full model, while the Montgomery was of me- dium model, ninety-nine and half feet in length with beam of twenty- five and one-half feet. The Montgomery, managed by Yates, Porterfield and Company of New York, hailed from Boothbay for a time, and is thought to have been commanded by Robert Montgomery before he took the brig Torrent. Josiah K. McIntire was master in 1856, and the brig was also captained by John Wylie.
In 1858 the Montgomery hailed from Damariscotta, and early in the following year was sold to parties in Boston, thenceforth her home port. She was operated largely in Boston-Matanzas trade. The Montgomery, in common with other Boothbay-built brigs, passed out during the Civil War. A few were lost, while others were laid up on account of high war risk because of danger of capture and general inactivity in trade and freight rates.
The Hesperus was launched by John W. Weymouth in the fall of 1852 for command of James Chase. He, Jonathan and Moses Chase, Woodbridge Clifford, all of Edgecomb, David Adams and the builder owned the brig, which hailed from Wiscasset. Evidently her name came from Longfellow's famous ballad of the sea.
In 1825 the schooner Hesperus was constructed at Pittston and owned by William Bradstreet of Gardiner. In the memorable winter gale of
11-191
115
THE BRIGS
1839 the schooner broke away from her anchorage in the inner harbor of Boston and fouled a ship moored at Rowe's Wharf. During the storm a number of lives and vessels, including the Mary Gould of Boothbay, were lost at Gloucester near the dangerous reef of Norman's Woe. On reading the account Mr. Longfellow took the name of the schooner in Boston and connecting her with the reef by poetic license, wrote the Wreck of the Hesperus.
Early in 1853 Captain Chase made two rounds to Havana, and in August the brig was in Boothbay. Later Captains Huff and Adams com- manded; the latter sailed from Bath for Trinidad de Cuba in 1855, and in company with brig Rainbow lay at anchor in its shallow landlocked harbor of Casilda. In 1857 the Hesperus arrived in New York from the West Indies; Merryman, the master, reported having experienced a gale which blew away sails like chaff. It is thought the brig was lost or laid up sometime after 1861.
The J. H. Kent was doubtless the largest brig constructed locally up to 1852, when she was launched at Hodgdon's Mills chiefly for Captain John Kent. Other shareholders were Andrew and William Adams, Baker and Montgomery, and Arthur Libby of Boston. The Kent and also the Phoebe A. Paige hailed from Boothbay and were managed by Yates, Porterfield and Company of New York.
In 1856 Captain Kent entrusted his brig to his son-in-law, Captain Cephas Reed, and off Havana one night a glancing blow in a collision carried away spars and rigging on both vessels. While bound to Ja- maica in the fall of 1859 the Kent went ashore at night on Little Caicos Cay. In darkness and storm all landed safely. The mate and crew made their way to the island of Grand Turk, thence took passage home in brig Scotland; Captain Reed remained at the wreck for salvage. Noth- ing was saved.
The Onward, a brig of superior model and finish, was launched from John McDougall's North Boothbay yard in November 1852. The principal owners were Captains James McCarty of Westport, Stephen Lewis of Whitefield, and the master, Albert S. Tibbetts of Boothbay.
Onward's career of about fifteen years was fairly fortunate, for in- stance: In 1853 she and the new brig WV. L. Crosby, Captain Clifford, were loading at Bath and the latter sailed on Christmas Day and never
116
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
was heard from afterward; Onward started after the extremely severe gales had abated, nevertheless had a very rough passage of twenty-eight days to Havana. Captain Tibbetts chartered to load at Matanzas for Boston, thence made another round to Havana. Later the brig visited Curaçao with its harbor of Willemstad, one of the finest in the Carib- bean.
In January of 1856 the E. Baldwin, Onward and bark Windward were loading in Portland for Havana, and on arrival Captain Tibbetts enjoyed the company of Captains Andrew R. Montgomery and Sewall S. Wylie. On return to New York Onward crossed to the coast of Africa and in May touched at Gambia. A year later the brig was sold for $6500, hailed from Boston, and although Tibbetts retained his interest and command for a time, a master named Morgan followed him.
The Tangent, another product of John McDougall's shipyard at Oven's Mouth, was almost a sister ship of the Tornado. The new brig made her appearance in September 1852 at Calais, where lumber was loaded for the South. Christmas found the brig in the Kennebec. In Civil War days the vessel was commanded by Captains Tibbetts and Matthews, and in the spring of 1864 the latter had an extremely rough passage from Portland; strained in heavy seas, the brig was rebuilt. In May 1867, then hailing from Boston, the Tangent, Captain Chandler, sailed from Jacksonville with lumber for New York and was aban- doned at sea. The derelict was salvaged, and a change of ownership took place with the home port at Tremont, Maine.
Under command of James Reed and for the Portland shipping firm of Chase, Leavitt and Company, Tangent sailed in February 1855 for Matanzas, thence to Portland and Calais, and after another trip returned to Portland in June. About the first of the following year Tangent cleared Portland with the new bark Windward, and knowing she was also bound to Havana, doubtless Reed crowded sail and after a twenty- one-day passage with light winds had the satisfaction of arriving with the Windward. While supplying the shipyards of Damariscotta with timber from Georgia and Florida, the Captain met his future wife, Lucy Brown. In 1857 his brig was in Boothbay. He took her to Portland and was relieved by Alfred R. Bennett, who sailed in March with a northwest wind for Cardenas.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.