USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 3
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
PIRACY
During Queen Anne's War Port Royal (now Annapolis), in French hands harbored and fitted out corsairs to prey on Colonial vessels. The Boston News-Letter cites two incidents: Off Cape Sable in 1707 a privateer captured the Boston brig Sara, not without resistance, and sent the prisoners to France. The other incident occurred in 1711, when a fishing shallop at anchor near Monhegan was seized by a sloop with forty Frenchmen, who stripped the boat and robbed its crew. Re- leased, they arrived in the shallop at 'Casko Fort' on Casco Bay.
For over a century pillage and piracy prevailed, and about 1821 be- came so general in the West Indies that the Government detailed war- ships to suppress it. One was the Enterprise, noted for its victory near Boothbay. Vigorous and stern measures nearly exterminated the pica- roons. Perhaps the most infamous one of that decade was Charles Gibbs who, before turning pirate, kept on Anne Street, near the Bos- ton waterfront, a 'drunkery' called the Tin Pot. Acting on the theory that 'dead men tell no tales,' he is said to have been largely responsible
21
EARLY SHIPWRECKS-PIRACY -SEA SERPENTS
for the destruction in West Indian waters of twenty vessels with their entire crews. Gibbs was caught, tried in New York, and hanged in 1831.
To some extent local shipping suffered with the rest. In the fall of 1824 the brig Betsey, Ellis Hilton master, sailed from Wiscasset and was wrecked in a storm, all escaping to a desolate cay, where they were brutally murdered by pirates. Second mate John Collins freed his bonds, swam ashore from a boat, and after much suffering and priva- tion reached Cuba. He returned home with the fearful tale, and later wrote an interesting account of his experience.
In the early 'twenties inhabitants along the shores of the Sheepscot were annoyed by a predatory band who made their headquarters on the islands near the mouth of the river. The story is told that one of them was caught and punished in a unique way by being forced to sit in his canoe and eat the stolen pork and molasses until deathly sick, then he was permitted to drift down river. Their acts culminated in December of 1825, when the Belfast sloop Siren drove ashore on Cape Newagen and was rifled by the natives. About that time a cache con- cealed in the woods was uncovered at the Cape containing plunder identified as taken from a grist mill and the pinky Resolution. This was traced to the perpetrators, and thereafter the plundering ceased.
While this can hardly be called piracy, there was a serious offense in 1879 when the Oregon, a former Boothbay-Portland packet, came into the possession of a gang of thieves who committed depredations all along the coast. In October they were arrested and lodged in Wiscasset jail; the schooner was seized by deputy collector Sawyer of Boothbay.
Many stories of pirates and pirates' gold cluster about the countless inlets and harbors of the Maine coast, and the Boothbay region has its share. As early as 1645 Damariscove was in use as a fishing station and later, in May 1717, the Boston News-Letter quotes an item from Pis- cataqua, reading:
Fishermen tell us that the pirate sloop of 8 guns left Richmond's Island last Lord's day and others tell us both the pirate sloops are together at Damerell's cove careening and that one of them has about go men on board.
The island of Monhegan is the scene of the following account pub- lished in the Maine Monthly Magazine, July 1836:
£
22
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
I had a deal of conversation with an old patriarch named Trefethren. He was intelligent and affable, possessing a fund of humor and deeply im- bued with the prevailing superstitions of the fishermen and islanders of our coast. ... During my short stop on the island I happened to mention the subject of money digging and he related to me a story of which I give you the substance:
'Many years since two strangers arrived at the island and strolled about here for some days apparently without any particular object in view, other than fishing for cunners off the rocks. After some time they called on me and requested a private conversation. They stated that they were from the interior of Vermont and exhibited a paper which they said had been found among some old family documents and which they had every reason to believe was authentic. The document in question stated that on the Island of Monhegan on the coast of the District of Maine a remarkable rock would be found on the sandy beach, lone and far from any rock or ledge. At a given distance from this rock and at a given direction, money would be found by anyone who would dig; observing the spells and in- cantations in such spells made and provided. They had measured tlie dis- . tance and ascertained that the spot designated was in the vicinity of my house and they had called to request permission to dig for the treasure. I tried to dissuade them by ridicule and argument, but in vain; their faith in the document in their possession was too firmly established; and as to the goblin who guarded the hidden gold, they feared him not, and nothing would afford them greater pleasure than an encounter with the spirit of gold. I gave my consent to their request provided only that they should re- munerate me for whatever damage should be done to my property in the delving operation. The next night at midnight was appointed for the trial. Despite the bold front that they had assumed, I found that, as the time drew near, they seemed to have some apprehension of the danger to be encountered and had frequent recourses to the brandy bottle to keep up their courage.
'At midnight after sundry mysterious ceremonies and incantations, they commenced their work. After digging a short time, their delving instru- ments struck against a hard substance, when one of them uttered an excla- mation and at the same instant, as one of them affirmed, the earth about the pit was violently shaken; one of the treasure seekers fell insensible, and the other scrambled from the pit and fled to my house. On arriving there he related in an incoherent manner what had befallen them and con-
23
EARLY SHIPWRECKS-PIRACY-SEA SERPENTS
cluded by saying that he believed that his companion had been murdered by the goblins. However unwilling I might have been to disturb the quiet of this spirit of evil, I was still more unwilling to leave a fellow creature to perish in the pit which his own cupidity had formed and after some per- suasion I prevailed upon the terror-stricken wretch to accompany me to the scene of his labor. Arriving there we found the man lying on his face in the bottom of the pit, to all appearances dead, but upon lifting him out, he slowly recovered and it was found that he had received a severe bruise on the head. On examining the pit it was found that a stone had rolled into it, after having been thrown out, which probably struck the digger and occasioned the hurt. They recommenced their work and before morning the object of their search was secured, and a few days after they left the island and have never been heard of more by the inhabitants of Mon- hegan.
' "But," said I, as the old man concluded the tale, "did they really find the pirate money?" "They found that pot," said he, pointing to an old jar which stood on a shelf in the room where he sat. "Whether that would be buried in such a place for nothing, judge for yourself."
'I made some inquiries respecting the old veteran, and found that it was generally believed that the money-diggers gathered a handsome harvest under ground, and that he shared in their good fortune, as after the ad- venture, he seemed to be better supplied with money, and soon after pur- chased one of those pretty little green-painted pink-sterned schooners which are always to be found on our coast, or anywhere else where codfish and mackerel are to be found; and which are the veriest sea ducks afloat, it being as much impossible to capsize or swamp one of them as to sink the fast-anchored island where they most do congregate.'
In 1794 Henry Trefethren was part owner and master of the schooner Betsey, one of thirty-eight vessels seized by the French that year. About 1804 he and one Starling are said to have owned Mon- hegan, and the former is thought to have constructed the old square Trefethren house still standing. In the early 'nineties it contained oil portraits of Squire Trefethren and his wife, with eyes which appeared to follow one.
24
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
The Pirate's Call
There's a prize upon the deep, boys. There's gold in the gathering gale; Then to your posts quick leap, boys, And nimbly spread all sail.
See, see, she heavily ploughs, boys, With the weight of her costly freight;
Pour in upon her bow, boys, We'll soon make her cargo light-Awake!
Huzza! our broadside tells, boys, Her flags and her mainmast lowers, And the wild despairing yell, boys, Proclaim that the victory's ours.
Quick, sound the bugle loud, boys, Board! hearties, bold and free! The ocean shall be their shroud, boys, And their bark our prize shall be. -PHILIP J. COZANS.
SEA SERPENTS
Any account of old shipping without mention of the sea serpent seems incomplete, and Boothbay has an incident of its own. Before the Revolution a sea snake was seen by the master, Kent, of a coasting sloop; and a reputable and intelligent sea-captain named Crabtree, who lived on an island in Penobscot Bay, deposed that he had heard people there speak of seeing a large sea serpent at different times, and that in 1778 he himself saw one lying at rest on the water within 500 feet of the shore, which he judged to be 100 feet in length and three feet in diameter. The next year George Little, commander of an armed vessel, saw a sea serpent estimated to be at least fifty feet long far off in Broad Bay (east of Seguin and west of Penobscot Bay). After a pro- longed absence from these waters his snakeship reappeared in June 1831, as recorded in the Boston Daily Commercial Gazette:
This monster made his first appearance this season at Boothbay on Sunday last. He was seen again on Tuesday by two gentlemen at a dis-
г
25
EARLY SHIPWRECKS-PIRACY-SEA SERPENTS
tance of about sixty feet, and afterwards by ten or twelve citizens of Booth- bay, as he passed and repassed several times about 150 feet distant from · them. He is described by the editor of the Wiscasset Journal, who was on the spot, as from 150 to 200 feet in length, of a brown color on the back, and a yellow brown on the belly. He moved with an undulating motion like that of a leech, or blood sucker, which gave to his back the appearance of the bumps described by those who have previously seen him.
In this connection Mr. John Blair in his old age stated that his father, Benjamin Blair, and a Mr. Campbell, while rowing across the harbor of Boothbay, sighted a sea monster which looked above water like a row of kegs or barrels. They put about and rowed for the shore. They had a large hook made and baited with a quarter of beef, attached the hook by chain to a barrel buoy; then anchored the buoy. They caught nothing, but the monster was about the harbor for three days.
Years later Elizabeth Oakes Smith wrote an account of it well worth quoting:
On the eastern shores of Maine is a well-known and beautiful harbor called Booth Bay, and while we were colonies of Britain designated as Townsend Harbor, from Lord Townshend, who projected there a great city. The inhabitants of this wild and picturesque region are engaged in the fisheries and have all the characteristics of this class of people-quick, dar- ing and intelligent in all nautical matters-slow, cautious and suspicious in their intercourse with 'land lubbers.'
Off the harbor is a little island on which is a lighthouse known as Burnt Island Light. In the first years of my marriage I not infrequently visited this region and was never tired of wandering about the rocky coast, gathering shells and mosses, listening to the roar of ocean and the melancholy cry of sea-birds. Burnt Island is small-not more than half a mile across -a high bluff but covered with a rich green grass (enough to yield support to the cow of the keeper). I often went to the Light, taking my baby with me and passed a whole day with the family of the keeper regaled with shortcakes and strawberries and cream. They were a simple pious family and always gave me a warm welcome. There was on the landward side of the island a small cove which I, in my childlikeness called Fairy Cove-so crescent- like and lovely was its form. Two miniature capes extended from the land, leaving between a semicircle of beach hard and white as marble, over which flowed the crystal waves. Here was our favorite bathing ground. Mr.
26
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Chandler, the keeper, used to go out in his wherry to fish, and in good weather to row himself up to the village for the newspaper, family stores, etc., leaving his somewhat delicate wife and her two children alone on the island.
The strawberries were all gone, and the clear autumn days gave pre- monition of frost and winter and admonished us of the necessity of a re- turn to the city. When I paid my last visit to the family at Burnt Island, I found them in a great state of excitement, and full of regret that I had not gone the day before. 'But yesterday we had such an adventure.' I was at once an eager listener and they went on to tell me how Mr. Chandler seeing a school of mackerel had taken his wherry and gone out 'a-fishing' where he had had wonderful success. During his absence the children, of three and five years old, went down to Fairy Cove to sail their boats, the tide being at ebb. Suddenly, said Mrs. Chandler: 'Back they came, their eyes big as saucers, screaming, "Mother, Mother, there's the biggest eel you ever see in your life, got into the Cove." I clapped on my shawl and run after them and there sure enough was an eel-only 'twas a snake, for it hadn't a sign of fin from head to tail. It seemed to be asleep, for it did not move, and I went down both "pints" and got a good look at him-keeping the children back, for I didn't know but he might of a sudden snap one or the other of them. He was so long that his head lay on one pint, while his tail was at the other-thirty feet and nothing less. He staid there and I watched him till the ebb tide made him touch ground, and then he started and wrig- gled and snapped himself about till he got afloat, and stood off to sea, car- rying his head above water.'
This was unquestionably a young serpent and I only regretted at the time that no attempt had been made to arouse him to some demonstration. Mrs. Chandler declared she 'expected every moment he would come on shore, and there was no telling what he would do.' The fishermen of the coast of Maine often speak of having encountered these creatures. The years marked by their presence are sure to be deficient in the mackerel 'catch' as that species of fish seem to be a favorite food with them. Com- modore Preble, in one of his letters, speaks of having seen a monster of the kind.
I have often heard my husband's sister and brothers speak of a similar incident. One morning the former rose quite early, before the sun was up, and having an eye for the picturesque, stood watching the fleecy clouds disperse themselves before the rising beams, and the white gulls as they wheeled and dipped into the water and careened in the soft air. She ob-
27
EARLY SHIPWRECKS-PIRACY -SEA SERPENTS
served the water was dimpled with mackerel, which seemed to press into the harbor in great numbers while in the distance was a long, dark object · which slowly made its way inward. She supposed this at first to be a log, but, presently, she saw the mackerel leap and jump from the water as if from the pursuit of some foe. Procuring a spy-glass she instantly saw it was no log, but an immense creature, making its way in the wake of the fish, and its undulations presenting the appearance of a long row of floating corks. The slant rays of the sun began to glitter upon its back as her brother came and took the glass from her hand, but they were not alone; the inhabitants of the 'East and West Harbor' had seen the same thing and the entire population thronged the shore. 'The sea-serpent! The sea-serpent!' passed from mouth to mouth, and all eyes were intent beholding his ap- proach. Steadily he came on, volume on volume, sometimes his head lying flat upon the surface of the water-sometimes he would dash forward lift- ing it several feet in the air, and then, for a space, he would press against the waves and come on with a majestic movement like a ship, which, in sailor phrase, 'carries a white bone in her mouth.' All had a free sight of the creature which soon neared the shore. Sister Ann ran down a promon- tory at the base of which the water was bold, followed by many young girls of the place. Seeing this, the serpent came directly to the base of the rock, and she could see his head of a dark brown, nearly black color rough with what seemed to be barnacles or scales. His eyes were large, prominent and like those of an ox. The head was much larger than that of a horse. As he lay quiet the appearance of humps disappeared, but were apparent as he moved. Crowds watched him for half an hour in this way, when sud- denly he lifted himself five or six feet from the water and made as if he would take one of those Iphigenias from the rock. It may well be supposed the girls scattered in great terror, while a general cry was raised by the on- lookers. There was a sturdy blacksmith of the place who was bent on a nearer inspection. His name was Webster and he launched his wherry and began to paddle softly toward him, when he lifted his head, seemed to listen, and then darted in the direction of the devoted blacksmith, who pulled might and main to the shore amid the cheers and jeers of his neighbors who had not been well pleased with his foolhardy temerity. The man declared he could feel his breath over his shoulder. Seeing the man was beyond his reach, the monster turned upon the mackerel and for a while kept them spinning in the air. After amusing himself in the harbor for several hours he went out to sea with the ebb tide. He was estimated to be at least one hundred feet in length.
28
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Anent this or another occasion that summer (1831), a facetious news- paper item stated:
This animal seems to be peculiar to Boothbay Harbor and no wonder, for it is a pleasant harbor and one of the finest watering places on the coast of Maine. His Snakeship paid another visit there on Sunday before last, we are informed by Capt. Walden of the U. S. revenue cutter Detec- tor. The cutter was at anchor in the harbor and the officers and crew all had a fair view of the Leviathan of the Deep as he boomed along in the neighborhood of the lighthouse. They judged him to be over one hundred feet long. They sent a boat to reconnoitre it, but his snakeship marched off with as much dignity as a bashaw with three tails. Whether he was at- tempting to smuggle something ashore in that neighborhood and felt a little shy of the cutter's long lines, or whether he was fearful that the U. S. Boys might take him to Washington and compel him to beard the lion in his den, could not be certainly ascertained.
CHAPTER III
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
T r THE French spoliation claims arose from the depredations of that nation on our vessels and cargoes engaged in foreign commerce, generally in the West Indies. After the execution of Louis XVI in January 1793, France's old friendship for America lapsed; the French Directory, aware of Washington's policy of avoiding entangling al- liances and our small navy, perhaps considered America could serve their purpose better as a neutral than as an ally in the European wars. On the pretext of our supplying foodstuffs to the enemy, France vio- lated our neutrality with impunity for several years; a course which England also followed to a lesser extent. French and Spanish picaroons in the West Indies soon took advantage of the situation for piratical attacks on American shipping, a practice connived at by both nations.
American tonnage amounted to 438,863 in 1795, of which over 4000 tons were engaged in whaling. Despite marine losses and captures there was a gradual increase to 667,107 tons in 1800 .* One of the leading seaports of this era was Wiscasset, with its commodious landlocked harbor free from ice in wintertime. There numerous vessels loaded dry fish, candles, soap, lumber, shingles, hoops and shooks for West Indian ports. Cargoes were shipped in the nature of a venture and disposed of by the master on the owner's account; he, as agent, placed the proceeds to the credit of the vessel's owners and invested them in a cargo for the return voyage. Between 1792 and July 31 1801, about 1700 American vessels of light tonnage and of an average value of nine thousand dol- lars, usually laden with provisions below and lumber on deck, were captured by French armed ships. About two-thirds of the prizes with their cargoes were condemned.
The principal place where their cruisers harbored and fitted out was the French island of Guadeloupe, in reality two islands, Basse-Terre and Grande-Terre, separated by a narrow channel. The former is volcanic, and its almost mile-high peak formed a good landfall for early navigators. There was located the chief town with an indifferent harbor. Grande-Terre, the eastward isle, is generally low and of coral
* Another estimate gives tonnage as 747,964 in 1795; 972,492 in 1800.
TV
1
30
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
formation. To this port the prizes were sent, and here about one-half of the condemnations occurred and crews were imprisoned. Toward the end of the four-year rule of the French Directory, from the fall of 1795 to that of 1799, the island was governed by General Desfournaux, who was especially severe in his treatment of American mariners; but in 1798 the schooner Hannah arrived at Norfolk from Antigua, the master reporting:
Three days before sailing (Oct. 16) forty American prisoners, about twenty of whom were masters and mates, arrived there (Antigua) from Guadeloupe in a cartel. It seems they were liberated on parole in conse- quence of despatches brought to Guadeloupe by a French frigate and that they all have got passage home.
About that time the Governor also released three hundred seamen and sent them to the United States in the cartel Retaliation.
On account of these numerous and unjustified seizures and out- rageous treatments of crews, public sentiment in America turned against its former ally, and in July 1798, following the abrogation of treaties with France, President John Adams ordered our cruisers to seize French merchantmen and attack their naval vessels. While war was not actually declared, nevertheless about eighty French vessels were captured, including the frigate L' Insurgente by the Constella- tion and Le Berceau by the Boston. Before the latter engagement, how- ever, the Constellation fought a desperate action with the Vengeance and, although not captured, the latter suffered heavy casualties. In the winter of 1800-01 the small frigate John Adams put in at Charleston after a successful cruise in the West Indies, but the undeclared naval war ended with a treaty of peace signed and ratified by the Senate in February 1801. France sued for peace, 'yet the French archives show that peace overtures were made before they knew of such battles as the Constellation and L' Insurgente.' Consequently peace was under con- sideration for some time.
In a number of instances American mariners adroitly managed to retake their vessels, as in the following incident: William Clifford jr., master of the Wiscasset schooner Apollo, in company with the schooner Venus of Kennebunk, Captain Benjamin Lassell, were both over-
31
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
hauled and captured by a French armed schooner from Santo Do- mingo, manned by ninety-five men. With the exception of the master . and a Mr. Trask, the Apollo's men were taken aboard the privateer and replaced with a prize-master and crew of five; the Venus likewise, the privateer resuming her cruise. The next day Captain Clifford ob- serving the prize-master's pistols and cutlass on the binnacle and that his attention was distracted, instantly seized the opportunity, handed the pistols down the companionway to Trask and armed with the cut- lass ordered the man at the helm to put it hard down. The Frenchman sprang for his weapons and missing them, called to the Venus asking her men to shoot the Americans, but was obliged to countermand the request when Clifford ordered Trask to kill him instantly, if he did not comply. While Clifford guarded the two men aft, Trask drove the crew forward down the fore-scuttle, where they were confined in the hold.
The Apollo kept away from the Venus, and in a few days fell in with an American vessel bound for Jamaica, to which two Frenchmen were transferred, Captain Clifford proceeding safely to Wiscasset in March 1799. The prisoners were lodged in jail, the master at the home of the Federal marshal, but animus toward the French ran high at that time and enraged citizens threatened to burn the marshal's house unless the master was imprisoned with the others. Although suffering from frost- bite he was confined.
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.