USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 18
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VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS
After that was over and on the southern limits of the stream we took an- other from SSE., blowing with unabated fury for four or five days, then Calm and then another Gale from SW. which lasted four days, all of the time in the Gulf stream till I was in Long. 60° go', Lat. 37° 30'. Fifteen days out I was farther from my port of destination than when I left home, twenty-one days out I passed Bermuda to the Eastward and thirty days out I arrived off the Morro, thirty-one days into a safe harbour.
I am really thankful that it is no worse than it is, for I had my doubts that I should ever see you again. For the last twenty days we had to live on dough and butter, our small stores were spoiled and we had no chance to Cook be- cause the apparatus was lost. At the height of my trouble I dreamed that little George was with me and I awoke with the impression that something had happened to him. It made me feel very bad. The Mail boat leaves in the morning. Affectionately Your Husband Wm. S. Emerson
It was a sad Christmas on the Rainbow. Little was said, for the storm and the precarious situation of the short-handed crew left no time for mourning; nevertheless the sudden disappearance and death of the men cast a gloom over all. Albee, aged nineteen, lived at Wiscasset; Osborne, twenty-four, was a native of Bath but a resident of Boothbay.
In that same storm and also in the Gulf Stream the steamship San Francisco, bound to California with a regiment of soldiers, was wrecked 'by a single wave sweeping the deck from stem to stern, car- rying away the masts, destroying the machinery and hurrying into a premature death 199 officers and soldiers,' wrote a Frenchman, Figuier. The survivors were rescued by the ships Antarctic, Kilby and the Three Bells.
My Dear wife
Havana 5th Feb. 1854
An opportunity of writing you by the U. S. Mail steamer Isabel, I im- prove. I trust I shall not be called upon during the short period of my ex- istence in this world to witness such weather as I had on my passage out. I have a great deal to be thankful for, as I understand there are five or six vessels that sailed from Boston and N. York about the time I left home, bound here and have not yet arrived. The brig Onward, Capt. Tibbetts, is here from Bath, but I could not learn much about home from him.
I was detained here twelve days before I got clear of my outward Cargo and have engaged to load for Boston with sugar at $1.50 per box cigars at 25 cents per M. and molasses on deck at $3 per hogshead. I hope to pay
1
In
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
$1900 freight home. On arrival I should be very happy to find you and John there. When he has had proper experience I trust he will be well quali- fied to do business understandingly. I hope it may be God's will that we all may meet again. W. S. Emerson
My Dear wife Havana 12th Feb. 1854
On this lovely Sunday morning I am in the enjoyment of good health, a blessing I desire to be thankful for; but am disappointed by delayed sailing. I have completed filling the hold and am detained waiting for my deck load, to come from an out port, but expect to be ready for sea by the 15th and shall proceed to Boston with all haste. W. S. Emerson
At that time there was more or less enmity on the part of Spanish officials in Cuba toward the United States, partly because Franklin Pierce advocated in his inaugural address annexation of Cuba, a meas- ure favored by the South on account of slavery. Soon after the Rain- bow sailed the American steamship Black Warrior was seized in Ha- vana harbor by local authorities. The incident threatened war, and Southerners made use of it to obtain the island from Spain, but were opposed and checked by the North. The steamer was released, and in 1859 was wrecked on Rockaway Beach.
Meantime at Boothbay John noted that the brig had been spoken nearing port, left school and hastened to Boston to relieve his father while he visited home. On return he wrote:
The Rainbow had not done much at loading when I arrived, but I am now loaded and shall be ready to sail as soon as I can obtain a crew and get clear from the custom house. Seamen are remarkably scarce, wages are high and provisions likewise. I am sorry that I did not take Ben Blair with me. May God protect you and grant me a speedy and prosperous voyage and a safe return home.
My Dearest wife
Sagua la Grande May 7 1854
We will be ready for sea in a few days. I have completed loading my Cargo under deck and my deck load is to come on board to-morrow, and I hope for a safe and speedy passage to Boston. I shall not sail before the 12th, and am in hopes to arrive by the 25th. This warm weather here I wish to exchange for a more bracing air. I have written James Bliss to effect in- surance on my part of Freight of $1000, on iny part of the Rainbow, $900.
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VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS
I am very anxious to see you all and shall expect to meet you in Boston. John is well and takes Great pleasure in sailing in the boat on Sunday.
Wm. S. Emerson
After arrival the brig was chartered to proceed to Turks Islands for a cargo of salt. They take their name from a species of cactus having the appearance of a turbaned head. Composed of coral and sand forma- tion, the only two of any size are Grand Turk and Salt Cay, which has a good harbor.
Dear wife
Boston June 6, 1854
I am now ready for sea and if the wind had been favorable should have sailed to-day. I hope I shall have a safe and speedy passage and safe return to the Embrace of those I love. There is so much confusion here that I can hardly tell what to write but I hope you are comfortable in your own Domi- cile enjoying comforts that are not to be enjoyed anywhere but in the heart of your family. You must bid gloom and melancholy begone and be cheer- ful and you and your children will be happier, and it will be a source of happiness to Your Faithful and Affectionate Husband.
William S. Emerson
While loading at Salt Cay Captain Emerson was taken ill, and not recovering sufficiently he placed John in command and they sailed for Boston.
Dear Mother
Monday 24th July
We arrived this morning and the news which I am obliged to convey to you is of the most melancholy nature. My kind and indulgent Father is no more. He died Sunday morning about three o'clock the 9th of July, five days out from Turks Islands. It is hard, very hard indeed, to think that it is so but it is and we must bear it with as much fortitude as we possess. I am left to bear the affliction with you and I hope that you are aware that I possess the deepest affection for you, and it shall be my aim to be a comfort to you as long as we are in the world together.
God only knows what I have suffered since he died by having to perform his duty as master, also my own as mate. I cannot look on any part of the Rainbow without seeing something that reminds me of my noble Father, for we have been away from home together the most of the time the last six years. Little did I think when you and Father were on board in Boston that it was the last time that we three would be together again. The day after he died I had the remains buried temporarily in the cargo of salt and I
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
humbly pray they are in good preservation to send home, for I never could have survived the awful sight of seeing him buried in the ocean.
Jno. B. Emerson
The dead Captain's old friend, James Bliss, was of great assistance to John in his misfortune, and the friendship for the older man settled on the son. He went home and after the funeral the owners of the brig decided, despite his youth, to place him in command. Assuming the responsibilities of master at the age of nineteen, John became careful and resourceful and thus paved the way for his successful career as a shipmaster.
Dear Mother
Boston August 1854
I have been very busy since I returned and found everything as I left it. The owner of the cargo refused the salt on account of my burying a corpse in it, but has accepted it and makes out 163 hhd. Damaged, on which he claims a discount. It remains unsettled. [The custom house took off the duty on the salt.] I am going to sail to-morrow for Sydney, Cape Breton, to load coal for Boston and shall be about a month performing the trip. I ex- pect to have all strangers. Charles Adams had shipped before I got here, otherwise he would have gone. Jno. B. Emerson
Dear Mother
Sydney August 18, 1854
We arrived in this port yesterday after a good passage of four days from Boston, and shall have to wait ten days for our turn to load, which is dis- couraging since I was assured of good despatch. However, the detention is less than at Pictou six years ago. What has happened to us this summer sinks me right down, but I shall have to weather it if I can. There has been a very severe gale of wind from NE, this being a very good harbour it did not do any damage. I may go home after arriving in Boston in pursuit of a Mate. I think I can get Milton Sawyer, if he is at home and his Father has not got a vessel.
Jno. B. Emerson
Referring to the French at the Saint Johns in 1562, Francis Parkman wrote in part: 'On the next morning, the first of May, they found them- selves off the mouth of a great river. Riding at anchor on a sunny sea, they lowered their boats, crossed the bar that obstructed the entrance, and floated on a basin of deep and sheltered water.'
Dear Mother
Jacksonville Bar October 20 1854
I made a harbour in this port yesterday in a severe gale of wind from NE,
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VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS
which blew on shore and feel thankful I have escaped the danger of a lee shore. I was seventeen days coming out with head winds and stormy weath- er; shall proceed to St. Marys the first chance and get loaded and home as soon as possible. I understand by the pilot that is very sickly in St. Marys with the Yellow Fever, but I do not fear it much as I am not going to the Town to load. I hear that it is surmised in Boothbay: 'That boy will lose that Brig.' I wish I had some of those wonderful folks to show me. Inform Mr. [M.] Smith of my whereabouts. I shall write from St. Mary's where I hope to hear from home.
J. B. Emerson
Dear Mother
St. Marys Nov. 5 1854
On arrival, after being wind bound ten days, I called on my consignees for the cargo that I chartered for in Boston, but they had lost all their Boys [slaves] and could not furnish a cargo; so I canceled the Charter Party and took up with Timber at eleven dollars per M. and small stowage at ten. When loaded I shall write again.
They have had a real scourge here with Yellow Fever with about three deaths in every Family and in some Families all have died. I would give any- thing if I could only go home and go to school this winter, but there has been a great change with us since last year. Then I had a Father loved and respected by all who knew him and who was an honor to us all.
Affectionately John B. Emerson St. Marys Nov. 15 1854
Dear Sister Mary
We shall be loaded soon to sail for Boston. The Brig Baron de Castine loaded at the same Mill that we are at, the Captain's name was Lufkin and had his wife with him. I had some good times on board while they were here, and they were well acquainted with Parson [Jonathan] Adams and family. I expect that I shall find it cold and stormy on the passage home. Send my overcoat and all Arguses to Boston without fail. When we arrive I expect I can leave my business and go home and see you all. I should like to see Ben [Blair] and Charlie McCobb.
John B. Emerson
Marshal Smith Esq., Boothbay Boston January 11 1855
Dear Sir, I am now ready to sail for Trinidad de Cuba. I am chartered out and back at the rate of $3.50 per hhd. of 110 gals. for molasses, foreign port charges paid. I hope to perform the voyage in sixty days. Shall prob- ably get good despatch there since they are in a great hurry for the molasses. My freight amounted to $993 and a part of it I have turned in on repairs of $400, and sent my accounts to Mr. Clifford at Edgecomb.
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
When at home I consulted him about the Rainbow's bottom and he said he would see his brother about it; they thought it best to have her coppered - again. I took her on the ways and found the copper very bad, but had it patched considerably so that I think it will run until spring. I should have had her stripped but it was a very bad time of year to do anything to a vessel and I could not have it done with the old copper less than a $1000, which would have been a very expensive job. Respectfully
John B. Emerson
Captain John used his schoolbooks at sea, and on January twenty- sixth he wrote on the flyleaf of Weld's English Grammar:
When I look at this Book it reminds me of many pleasant times which are past and gone and are never to be recalled again only by memory. Often, very often in the lone night watch far on the dark blue ocean, my imagina- tion carries me back to the schoolroom, where I see many merry faces which are familiar as schoolmates and friends and the stern master tending to his many duties. How I wish I could have the pleasure of going to school again and how little did I value it when the pleasure was granted me. Oh, if I only were on that front seat in the old schoolhouse with that amiable class and the attentive teacher, Mr. Brookings!
The following day the brig was off Bermuda, and seventeen days out spoke the bark Emigrant, bound to New Orleans. After a calm passage of twenty-six days anchor was dropped near the brig Hesperus in Port Casilda. In March the Rainbow sailed with a cargo of 47,170 gallons of molasses, a two-day run carried her to Cape San Antonio, and except the topsail-yard carried away in a squall nothing unusual occurred on the passage to Boston.
In April the brig was chartered by William McGilvery, of Searsport, for a voyage from Boston, with twenty-five running lay days to dis- charge and load in Cardenas, and back to a port of discharge north of Hatteras. Other round trips followed, one to Guayama, Puerto Rico, thence to Saint Marys River and to Boston in mid-December. Wintry weather forced shelter in Holmes's Hole, now Vineyard Haven. Some- one remarked: 'Still, there is reason to wish Martha had planted her vineyard elsewhere, or that Mr. Holmes had better protected his hole against "the wind that bloweth where it listeth." ' In a nor'easter the brig rounded the lee shore of Cape Cod and arrived New Year's, 1856.
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VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS
Capt. Emerson, of Brig Rainbow Boston Feby. 18th 1856
Your vessel being now ready for sea, you will proceed with all reasonable despatch to Port Praya, Cape de Verde, and on your arrival there report yourself to the naval storekeeper, or to the Commanding officer of any United States vessel of war, which may be present, and deliver to either of them the stores shipped on board your vessel by the Navy Department. . ... I desire you to advise with the Commanding officer of the United States ship there present, whose better acquaintance with the coast will be of use to you. .. . Wishing you a pleasant and successful voyage, I am
Very truly yours N. W. Coffin
Outward bound the usual March gales were encountered, and while hove to a sea carried away the boat, flooded the cabin and lost a man overboard. The mountainous Pico da San Antonia was sighted and anchor let go in Porto Praya, rendezvous of American naval vessels en- gaged in suppressing the inhuman slave trade. Present were the sailing sloop of war Jamestown, flagship of Commodore Thomas Crabbe, and the brig Dolphin (later burned at Norfolk to prevent capture by South- erners). He ordered a survey of cargo and 20,000 pounds of bread were found damaged by sea-water; the rest was discharged on board the Jamestown.
For a return cargo of salt the Rainbow proceeded to Isle Sal, a flat- surfaced island of the Cabo Verde group, which appears on the earliest map of America by Juan de la Cosa, a shipmate of Columbus on his second voyage to the new world. The following May the brig arrived off Boston in company with the ship Golden Eagle.
Without delay a charter party was signed for a trip to Santo Do- mingo for 'a full cargo of Logwood, Coffee or other merchandise at Gonaives. The cargo to be received at the wharf, the charterers fur- nishing Lighters and paying all expenses of loading and discharging same. If Mahogany Logs are shipped the charterers are to furnish dogs and deliver the rafts in the water afloat.'
Dear Mother
Boston June 20, 1856
I am now ready for sea and shall sail the first chance. The flour for you will go on the Governor, the rest by Capt. Orne. I enclose check on Mariners Bank for $125, earnings of the Rainbow. Brother William gets along first- rate, he will make a smart fellow. You must take care of yourself. Good-Bye.
J. B. Emerson
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
On arrival at Gonaïves one of several vessels in port was the brig Howard, Captain John Race. It was hot and unhealthy, and yellow fever was rampant. While there Captain Emerson had a mild case of fever, but on putting to sea he soon recovered. Eleven days out William was stricken, and for a week was very sick. John stood by his dying brother's side until, overcome by care and sorrow, he gave way to others. It was mid-August, they were within five days' sail of Boston, and the Captain decided against burial at sea. The crew were sympa- thetic by actions rather than by words and attended to duties without grumbling.
My Dear John
Boothbay August 17 1856
I am thinking it is about time for you to be in Boston. I received your kind letter as you were leaving, also yours from Gonaives, July 15th. I want you to come home without fail to see us and, if you wish, let William keep ship until you go back and then he must come home and go to school, if your lives are spared to come home again.
Your Uncle Joseph made us a visit and we are looking for Thomas this week [brothers of W. S. Emerson]. I miss and mourn your Father I look out upon the sea and think how many times he has sailed out of this Harbour and Returned again, and how many days I have watched for the pleasure of his coming. It is the Sabbath, the day I grieve, one of niy gloomy days and can't write anything to cheer and animate you. Your Mother
On arrival the brig was quarantined by a port regulation effective in 1854. It was a sad home-coming for the youthful Captain, and on a quiet Sunday afternoon the boy of sixteen was laid at rest beside his father in the village cemetery. As these lines are penned a boyish serious-looking face looks down from an old-fashioned oval frame upon the writer.
From sunny Spain came a message to Aunt Sarah from a sea-captain's wife, Esther K. Miller: 'I remember well how William looked that morning he left his dear home never to see it again, but little did I think it would be the last time I should see his smiling face. Poor Mary cried and said she hated to have him go but his hopes were high and bright. I think Captain Emerson has had trouble that few men of his age have experienced.' He had no heart to go to sea that summer and
-
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VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS
autumn, and a Captain Small took the Rainbow out on another round trip to Gonaïves, then John rejoined his brig.
Sister Mary
Boston Sunday Decbr. 7 1856
I think of you often in your lonely situation. I shall commence loading to-morrow for Matanzas, Cuba, which will take some time for freight comes very slowly. In about ten days after I sail I want you to write me in care of my consignees there all that is going on in Boothbay. I want to know all about angels and you must do all you can for me. You are not aware how cheering it is to get a letter from home. Lyman Sargent was on board and stayed overnight. Give my love to Mother, God bless her.
Your loving Brother John B. Emerson Matanzas Feb. 1 1857
Sister Mary
I take pleasure informing you of our safe arrival and good health. We arrived in this port the 25th ultimo, after a rough passage of nineteen days. After leaving Boston we experienced a tremendous gale of wind from NW which lasted five days during which we scud until in Latitude 31º N., Longitude 62° 40' W., after which we had mixture of gales and moderate weather. We are now about discharged. This is a fine sunshiny day. My love to Mother and I want her to make herself as happy as the past will permit and not worry about me:
'For there is a little bird up aloft That always looks out for poor Jack.'
Wednesday. I have not as yet chartered [for New York]. Freights are very scarce at present but a prospect of revival exists on arrival of the steamer from the United States, and I hope she will bring a letter for me. I wish I were with you all in my good old home. John B. Emerson Brig Rainbow
Dear Mother
Havana May 1857
Since my arrival [from South Carolina] I was glad to hear that you were well. I have had plenty of company here. Capt. [Robert] Montgomery lay alongside of us all the time. Capt. [Amos] Nichols, of Bark David Nichols, a true friend of mine, was taken yesterday with the Yellow Fever and now lies at the point of death. [Died May 31.] He is a very promising young man of twenty-one years of age - belongs to Searsport. I shall sail for and write from Cardenas. My love to all at home.
Your Affectionate Son
John B. Emerson
.
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
On return to New York in June, John relinquished his command to a Captain Patterson who voyaged to Georgetown, South Carolina. Mis- fortune followed in September: first, the brig grounded on the bar leaving port; secondly, first officer George Boutelle, of Edgecomb, died on board, aged twenty-eight; and finally, at North Island, the chains. parted in a gale and the vessel drifted through breakers upon the beach, firmly imbedded in sand. After days of arduous labor and ex- pense she was freed and towed back to Georgetown, where wreckers were awarded fifty per cent of the gross value of vessel and cargo. John, in brig Tempest, commented: 'I think it would have been better for all concerned if the Rainbow had been lost entirely.'
Thereafter Captains Matthews, Huff and Giles commanded. In 1858 Matthews lost part of his deck load off Havana, inbound from Wis- casset; in 1860 Huff was eleven days north of Hatteras with head winds, unable to make Sandy Hook from Cuba; and in March the next year the Rainbow was lost under the following circumstances:
After a coastwise trip from Maine to Texas, Captain Eleazer Giles sailed from New York for Havana and soon after Nicholas Sleeper, reefing sail in a gale, fell from the foreyard and was lost. Five days out the maintopsail split in a nor'easter and a sea shipped which stove the lee bulwarks and boat and washed the deck load overboard. The brig was hove to and a drag or sea-anchor put out on the larboard bow, nevertheless she labored heavily and began to leak. Constant efforts at the pumps failed to keep her free. On the ninth day brig M. T. Ells- worth, of Windsor, Captain J. Lawrence, took off all hands and landed them at Cardenas, thence to New York in brig Darien.
The Rainbow was abandoned in latitude about thirty-five degrees, longitude sixty-nine, with three feet of water in the hold. Although the brig weathered severe gales during her thirteen years' career, toward the end she was considered an unlucky vessel. To-day there re- main as mementos of the Rainbow, so closely identified with the Em- erson family, a gilded stern letter, bronze hinges, the first log book, ship accounts, and a sea-stained century-old Bible, a silent witnesss of storms and death at sea.
1
BRIG 'RAINBOW' OF BOOTHBAY
SARAH AND MARY EMERSON
MRS. WILLIAM S. EMERSON AND GRANDSON, WINFIELD L. RICE
2.
WILLIAM S. EMERSON WILLIAM A. EMERSON SAMUEL M. REED
--
JOHN B. EMERSON GEORGE G. EMERSON FLORA M. REED
CHAPTER XIV
VESSELS AND VOYAGES OF THE EMERSONS [CONTINUED]
TN the fall of 1855 a superior bark of 530 tons named Windward, con- structed by Stephen Sargent and Moses R. White, was launched at Boothbay for the account of Peter Lennox and Son and others of Wis- casset, her home port. Sewall S. Wylie owned a master's share, and her maiden voyage in January was from Portland to Havana. He made two summer-time passages from Saint John, New Brunswick, to Ardrossan and to Waterford, ports in the British Isles, visited the Mediterranean, returned home with coal from Cardiff, and in May of 1858 arrived in New York from Bordeaux.
Then and there John B. Emerson took command, retained first of- ficer D. C. Sparks, of Phippsburg, and sailed with general cargo to Sombrero, a small low-lying island in the West Indies, resembling a Mexican hat or sombrero. He crossed to London and Bristol, then to New York, New Orleans and in 1859 to Boston. Beating by Highland light into the bay against a blustering March wind the new Maine-built ship Elizabeth, Captain Tobias Lord, wrecked at Scituate in a snow- storm, was visible. She had sailed from New Orleans a week before the bark, which made the run from Pass a l' Outre in twenty days.
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