USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 30
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For a time Freeman worked in a Portland shipyard, later for Stephen Sargent at East Deering. There the youthful shipwright enjoyed the com- panionship of boyhood friends, Edward and Oscar Sargent, who also worked in the shipyard. One of their vessels constructed thereabouts was Tookolita, a fine fishing and fruiting schooner which Freeman later com- manded.
He returned to the sea for a livelihood and late in the 'sixties com- manded the Frank Barker in bank fishing, also coaster Deborah Jones. The usual vicissitudes of a fishing and coasting skipper were encountered; on the whole the young man prospered and began to think of marriage. Pretty Elizabeth Blair had taken his fancy sometime before, and in 1868 they were married. With a sailor's ardor it was somewhat of an elopement. All turned out happily, however, and two children were born in the early seventies, Fullerton P. and Kate Leslie Reed. Fruiting trips in Tookolita proved profitable, and in 1873 he built the square house topped with a square cupola still standing on Oak Street. A year later their third child, Elizabeth Freeman Reed, was born there. Then came a heart-rendering blow in the death of his wife, leaving three motherless children. The baby was left with friends, Capt. James McCobb and wife. He was keeper of Burnt Island light, and there the child remained for four years.
Captain Reed continued at sea in W. I trade in schooners Tookolita and Starlight. When the three-masted sch. Samuel P. Hitchcock was con- structed for his command by Adams and Hitchcock of Bath, the master's interest was paid for with money obtained from the sale of Wylie's Point, where Saint Andrew's hospital now stands. Then (1879) on a visit home, a
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rare event, the Captain visited his little daughter on Burnt Island. She neither knew nor spoke to him. The unhappy father took her to the main- . land to be reared with her brother and sister. In fog and sunshine the child imbibed from the salt air a love of the sea, and with the blood of genera- tions of maritime ancestors in her veins proved a good sailor on voyages with her father.
The first trip of the Hitchcock was from Wiscasset to Mobile, where Captain Reed found the Jefferson Borden in port and met Captain Patter- son, who at one time quelled a notable mutiny on her. After Freeman's last command, the James S. Lowell, was launched, the vessel went to the eastward and off Ocean Point grazed a submerged reef. A small boy on board innocently inquired if the ship hurt the rock. Another childish incident occurred on a calm moonlight night while the Lowell was riding quietly at anchor in Vineyard Haven. There the Jacob M. Haskell drifted against the Lowell with considerable force. Aroused by the crash a boy, son of the Haskell's master, ran on deck and excitedly called: 'Lick 'em, Papa, lick 'em.' Captain Reed's sea-life is described further in accounts of schooners Starlight and James S. Lowell.
The Captain was a kind and indulgent parent, interested in his children and their education. He was generous in support of the Second Congrega- tional Church and civic matters, instrumental in raising a fund to repair the old Congregational Church at the Centre, to renovate the old ceme- tery and to build the dam at West Harbor. This made a fresh-water pond of Campbell's Cove, used extensively fifty years ago in shipping ice to southern ports. In politics Captain Reed was a stanch Republican. In boyhood days (1884) the writer recalls the large American flag with 'Blaine and Logan' suspended between the Captain's house and Doctor Blossom's. Four years later the 'Harrison and Morton' banner was more successful. At the Reed home a little coterie of shipmasters and Free- masons (he was a member of Seaside Lodge) would assemble and discuss old times and voyages to Buenos Ayres in a room adorned with tropical shells, coral, specimens of scorpions, tarantulas and a deadly viper pre- served in alcohol. The bottled goods aroused both curiosity and horror in children.
News of the loss of the Lowell and Capt. Freeman K. Reed at sea came to the quiet village on the coast as a shock to the entire community, where he was regarded highly as a Christian gentleman and citizen. His was the hard life at sea in the old days, and as one who gave pleasure to many, he deserved a kinder fate. The writer remembers him as a large tall man with
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blue eyes and a bald head. In youth his hair was light and curly, which with blue eyes appear to be hereditary traits in descendants of pioneer . Andrew Reed.
William (1845-1932) was born at the family homestead. A mere boy in '61; he enlisted in a Maine regiment, Army of the Potomac, but was trans- ferred to the navy and saw service on a Mississippi River gunboat. Malarial fever incapacitated him for duty and he was furloughed home. His life work lay upon the sea, first in fishing as skipper of pinky Mary, Frank Barker and the Mystic Tie, next in coasting with the Robert D. Rhodes. Other commands: Daylight, Midnight, H. A. de Witt, S. P. Hitchcock, and his last vessel was the B. W. Morse (Bath). The last three were three- masters employed in carrying ice, frequently returning from Jacksonville with hard pine lumber. At times William would ship as chief officer for his brother Freeman. In his retirement Captain William had a pleasure sloop, Idle Hour. Among shore activities he served as deputy collector of customs. His home was on Linekin's Neck, later at Rockport, where Wil- liam died. His son Foster kept the near-by lighthouse.
REED, GEORGE (1797-1876). Prominent in his day, he commanded top- sail schooners Illuminator, Envoy and the old Washington, on which he had sailed in youth with his father, Captain David (1772-1825). In 1836 Captain George and Warren Reed recovered the drowned body of a sailor, Silas Lee Reed, and buried it in Philadelphia. Of two sons, one born in 1831 was probably the George Reed who was mate of ships Island Queen and Hydra, in China trade; Benjamin Sewall (1834-1907) was master of a brig detained in a Southern port at outbreak of war in '61. He himself es- caped. Benjamin enlisted in the navy, served as gunner's mate on sloop of war Cumberland in the famous action with the Merrimac and stood by his gun as the ship sank, carrying down many brave souls. As water rose to the heated gundeck, Benjamin plunged through the open port into the sea. In about two hours he was rescued, but immersion in his overheated condition caused deafness. 'No ship,' said a participant, 'was ever fought more gallantly.'
After the war Benjamin made fishing trips in the Lettie S. Reed, and commanded the fisherman Challenge. Two sons were seafarers: Benja- min (a.1866-1891), mate of sch. Richmond, was drowned at Perth Amboy; Simeon (a.1868-1889) sickened of fever on Capt. Thomas Harris's vessel, returned home and died.
REED, GEORGE B. (1811-1882), WARREN and CHARLES. They were brothers,
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and the first two operated a fishery which employed pinky Legislature, Silver Lake, Lucy Ann and the George W. Reed. Warren (1815-1899) commanded Legislature, the G. W. Reed, and was either owner or master of the lumber-laden sch. Hannah D. when (1883) she was abandoned off shore. Charles (1826-1904) sailed for his older brothers as master of Silver Lake and others. Charles Sumner Reed, son of Charles, was the first master of James Poole's Caroline Vought and also had the fisherman Ches- ter R. Lawrence (Essex).
REED, GEORGE M. and OLIVER. They were brothers and skilful fishing masters. George (b.1833) lived and died in G'ter. Commands: Ella May, G. G. Kidder, Mabel Kenniston and others. The Kidder was built locally but hailed from G'ter. In the fall of 1874 she was lost with all hands on Georges. The Mabel Kenniston, a fine Bath-built vessel of the 'eighties, rescued the crew of British sch. Blizzard, nearly lost on Georges, and towed her in.
Oliver G. (1850-1934) first went fishing at fourteen in pinky Albatross, William Miller, skipper; his second trip was to the Western Banks on pinky Only Son, dismasted as related in the sketch of her master, L. Mc- Clintock. During a long fishing career Captain Reed commanded an ex- traordinary number of vessels ranging from forty to 100 tons. Sailing twenty-two years for S. Nickerson and Sons, he successively commanded the Mary S. Wonson, Antelope, Dorado, Mary J. Elliot, Perine, Magnolia, Cynosure, Cora Louise, Frank G. Rich, Carlton Bell and the Bertha D. Nickerson. Later he captained the Charlotte Brown, Freddie A. Higgins, Freddie W. Alton, W. C. Pendleton, Sarah E. Smith, D. L. Sturgis, Niger, Triton, W. T. Emerson, Addie M. Story, Arrow, Twilight, Eliza Jane and the Corporal Trim.
Anent these vessels, late in 1879 he lost the Antelope, B'bay for Boston, which foundered without loss of life. With the Mary J. Elliot Oliver res- cued the crew of the Mary and George of Saint John, capsized by a squall on a shoal called Muscle. Twenty years later the rescued master tied up alongside Reed's vessel, to their mutual astonishment. The Carlton Bell and the Dorado were sold. The former became a Cape Verde Islands packet; Dorado was lost on the Sisters, Portsmouth; Magnolia had a like fate on Fisherman's Island and the Cora Louise sank with all hands.
Oliver G. Reed's active career ended about 1920, when he took the new yacht Ruma from Wiscasset to New York for delivery to L. C. Smith of typewriter fame. The Captain was a large, forceful appearing man who re-
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tained his mental faculties to the last. To his retentive memory credit is given herewith for information relating to the fisheries.
REED, JOHN 3d (1805-1879). He lived at Pleasant Cove, and in coasting and W. I. trade commanded topsail schooners Mary Adams, John Adams, Westport, brigs Only Son and the E. A. Reed, named after a son. Another son, Benjamin P. (1833-1869), was with his father in the Westport; was mate of the Frank Palmer when (1868) Capt. John Wylie met death on board, brought the vessel home, and the same year captained the L. W. Gibbs. His brothers, James and Eugene, were shipmasters.
James (1830-1873) began his career in B'bay vessels, later sailing from Dama. One of his first commands was brig Tangent; his last was bark Adelaide Norris (Dama. 1863). In the summer of 1866 the Norris and the Gan-Eden sailed in company from Havana to New York, thence the former sailed for New Orleans, but stranded near Cape Florida. The wreckers who assisted the bark off presented a bill for $15,000; the sum paid was not stated. Early in 1873 the American Sentinel (Bath) stated: 'The firm of Austin and Hall is framing a large ship to be built next summer at Dama- riscotta, to be commanded by Capt. James Reed of Newcastle.' But death intervened; while the Adelaide Norris was in Rio Janeiro Captain Reed died of yellow fever. The first officer, his son, was with him at the end.
Eugene A. (1850-1893) was born in the golden days of the California trade, and thither in early manhood he made his way. In the early 'seven- ties he was quartermaster of coastwise steamer California, whose crew in- cluded a brother, probably John E. Reed, and 'Jeff' Blossom. Eugene re- turned home to sail for R. Lewis and Company. He commanded barken- tine Henry Warner (E. Deering 1879) and on a trip to S. A., early in 1880, his second mate, Stanford Jones of E. B'bay, was lost from the vessel's bowsprit. Reed was known as a 'driver' and venturesome in carrying sail. In 1884 he was reported to have driven the barkentine from Portland to Buenos Ayres (perhaps Montevideo) in thirty-nine days. In 1891 the Warner was lost in Trout Cove, near Digby, N. S. Another fast passage was in the bark Ella (E. Deering 1869) to Bahia Blanca, far south of Buenos Ayres. She had good despatch, touched at Turks Islands for salt, and com- pleted the round voyage in the remarkable time of four months, ten days. Later Reed purchased Capt. A. Montgomery's interest in the bark Charles R. Lewis with which, as related, Eugene was lost.
REED, LEVI (1803-1885). He was a native of W'wich, son of George and Sarah S. Reed, daughter of Levi Shattuck of W'port. In 1856 Reed lived
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near a cove of the Damariscotta, and thereabouts constructed the fishing vessels Light of Home, Morning Light and the Young Sultan. His sons, John P. and Levi S., were fishing skippers; John was the first master of the Morning Light.
REED, MITCHELL and CHARLES W. They were sons of Robert Reed (1796- 1864), skipper of pinky Defiance. Mitchell (1837-1918) was assistant cook on a fishing vessel at nine, and skipper of a small one when seventeen. After 1859 he commanded the A. I. Franklin, P. G. Maddocks, Anna M. Nash, Annie Freeman, the new O. M. Marrett, and the three-masters Norman and B. R. Woodside, managed by Adams and Hitchcock of Bath. Later Mitchell had the four-masters Frank T. Stinson and Geo. E. Wal- cott. The three- and four-masted schooners were constructed at Bath (1877-1890). An article says:
One of the most famous derelicts known to seafaring men, was the schooner B. R. Woodside. She was forsaken by officers and men some hun- dred of miles east of Savannah. At once she headed straight for Europe, but when she neared the Canaries, veered about and drifted back to with- in twenty miles of her starting point. She then meandered slowly back down the coast of Florida and then went zigzagging again across the Atlantic. During her career she was sighted by no less than forty captains of ships in all parts of the Atlantic. .. . At last she was picked up and towed to Abaco, New Providence.
Mitchell's last active command was the large William C. Carnegie, com- structed by Percy and Small of Bath, and managed by J. S. Winslow of Portland. The day set for the launching was extremely hot, grease melted on the ways, the vessel failed to move and left a large party on deck swelter- ing under a summer sun. Later she was launched successfully. About 1911 the Carnegie sailed from Delaware Bay with coal for the North, and on ap- proaching the south side of Long Island at midnight should have tacked off shore, but delayed till three A.M. and stranded. One or more of the mates had been masters; 'There were too many of them on board for good management,' said the Captain's son, Cyrus M. Reed. The loss of this fine five-masted schooner was a heavy blow to Captain Reed, for he had taken great pride in her.
Charles W. (1843-1878) followed in the footsteps of his elder brother, first in fishing, later in W. I. trade. A master in his twenties, he commanded the P. G. Maddocks, Deborah Jones (N. J., 1856), and the E. K. Dresser, built for his command at the Sargent yard (not by S. Sargent).
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On a bleak day in late September of 1878 a boy of ten watched from an eminence a trim, outbound fore-and-after pass Dogfish Head. Subsequently came the sad report of 'Missing Vessel'; the mystery and memory of which remained through life. The schooner was the Annie Freeman, Capt. Charles W. Reed. She had loaded at Wiscasset, rounded the cape and put in at Boothbay, the home of her master, mate Harry Apps and two of her crew of five. She sailed for Baracoa, passed Damariscove, stood out to sea and thereafter came neither word nor trace.
REED, SAMUEL MILLER (1816-1865). Born during a March storm, he en- countered them for years and finally perished in one. Nothing is known of his youth; it is said he began in the fishing vessels and later rounded the world in sail. In the early 'forties he was mate of topsail schooners Mary Adams and Texas and skipper of fisherman Morning Star. Samuel was half and later sole owner of Brilliant, a long-lived vessel, which in May 1846, on Isle of Sable Bank, came in contact with a British ship. He put in at Halifax and refitted. His later career may be followed in the accounts of brigs Mazatlan, Havana and the barks Gan-Eden and Dresden; and in shipping he was associated with Allen Lewis, James Bliss and G. W. Kendall.
Captain Reed married Matilda Jane Hodgdon (1827-1863), and they first lived in a cottage at Mill Cove built for his bride about 1845. In the dull days of Civil War shipping, Samuel employed Edward B. Sargent to construct a fine house on Oak Street (now the Colby house), but his wife died soon after moving into their new home. Several children died in in- fancy and youth. A masterly man and often called Miller Reed, 'He had a look,' related an old sea dog, 'as if he meant it.' Many of the old ship- masters were reserved at sea; it was otherwise at home and the Captain, as family letters bear witness, cherished his wife and children. In person he was of medium build with dark brown hair and blue eyes. In the old cemetery at the head of White's Cove a fine slate stone was erected in memory of the Captain, but about 1930 it was removed by some miserable miscreant.
Of other Reeds, Albert N. (1832-1908) was a 'Forty-Niner in brig G. IV. Kendall, and in 1883 was secretary of the B'bay Marine Railway; Benja- niin, before and after the War of 1812, was master of slp. Industry (Bath), and owner of pinkies Allen and Concord; David, taken from the America, died in Dartmoor prison, England, 1813; Henry (1792-1873) sailed with Capt. W. S. Emerson in sch. Extio and captained small craft; Llewellyn
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(1819-1880), son of Henry, was a G'ter mariner who in 1846 married Sarah Hodgkins of G'ter; Irving W. (1860-1935), son of Rufus and Eleanor (Harding) Reed, with shop and ways on eastern side of harbor, was a favorably known yacht builder; John and Joseph, between the years 1805 and 1815, were impressed or captured from Wisc. vessels; Thomas (a.1827- 1850) died in Marine Hospital, Chelsea, Mass., and in 1875 a Reed com- manded sch. David G. Adams.
SARGENT, ISAAC and FRANCIS. Brothers, born in 1806 and 1808, they fol- lowed fishing from Lobster Cove; Isaac was skipper of the Resolution (B'bay); and Francis had pinky Emily, for Benj. Harris, and the Union. Will Sargent, a relative, sailed for John McClintock in the Montebello and the Kate McClintock; was in charge when a hand, misjudging a light- house for a vessel's light, caused the loss of Montebello; and later had the Mattie Dyer, Fannie Spurling and perhaps the Elizabeth Smith. In recent years he died at about eighty.
SARGENT, STEPHEN (b.1806). In early manhood he commanded vessels; his decision to abandon his shipyard to become master-builder for R. Lewis and Co. was a loss to his native town of B'bay. In 1885 he was living at E. Deering, Maine.
SAWYER, SAMUEL, SIMEON and STEPHEN. They were brothers and sea-cap- tains. In the 1830's Samuel commanded sch. Traveller (Duxbury), a decade later sch. Buena Vista, and in 1849 the new topsail sch. Charlie and Willie. In June 1851 Samuel Sawyer jr., aged twenty-three was lost overboard from sch. New Globe, Georgia to Boston. Simeon was master of topsail sch. Gleaner, whose crew on a Cuban trip in 1846 included mate Daniel Brown and John M. Sawyer, aged fifteen (lost at sea in 1865); and the first commander of the Frederick Reed, bark Cuba and brig J. M. Sawyer (Dama. 1854).
Stephen (a.1795-1849) commanded brig Abigail, topsail schooners Eliza- beth, Fellowship, Meridian, Melville, and brig Helen of Wisc. The first three were B'bay-built for his command. His son, William M. (b.1838), coasted in slp. Telumah, Cottage, and the Tyrone, in which at Monhegan he rode out the memorable gale of 1869. About 1885, with the George Al- bert, William engaged in wrecking; selling spars, sails and fittings from his ship-chandlery on the site of the old John Murray McFarland wharf. Numerous vessels, including the D. L. Sturgis, said to have been a slaver, left their bones in 'Bill Sawyer's graveyard' at Mill Cove. Later a son, William E., skipper of Frolic, Rosie E. and the Sarah Jane, continued the
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business, but now (1937), aged seventy-three, he handles mostly antiques. His brother, Melvin D. Sawyer (1865-1910), had the Triton and others.
SEAVEY. In 1867 Stephen was master of the Lydia Ann. Granville J. (b.1831) was skipper of Blooming Rose and followed sailmaking; and his son, Herbert J. (1876; d. young), commanded the four-masted Henry Sut- ton (Conn. 1879).
John S. (1853-1924). A native of Saint George, he came to B'bay to sail in John McClintock's vessels. While steering Montebello at night the youth mistook Cape Sable light for one on a vessel and unfortunately changed the course toward the light. Thus Montebello was lost. Despite this inauspicious beginning, John was good at hand-line fishing and rose to a captaincy at twenty. He had Cynosure, H. S. Rowe, Elizabeth Smith, Solitaire, Caroline Vought, Abbie E. Deering, Margaret Smith and the Maud S., also the G'ter fishermen Monarch, Arthur James, Mattie T. Dyer, James Mather, Marshall L. Adams; and his last vessel was the Mary F. Curtis. John followed Eben Lewis in the Natalie B. Nickerson, cut down and sunk off South Shoal lightship by a steamship. Seavey himself, it is said, was saved by a large dog. For a half-century he was a successful fisher- man, most of the time as master. One year he went mate of Wanamaker's steam yacht Waturus. In person the Captain was a tall slender man with a prominent nose.
SHERLOCK, JOSEPH G. In 1873 he took command of the new Mary E. Doug- lass, and evidently continued in her, for during the summer of 1875, while the schooner was at Para, four of the crew and Captain Sherlock died of fever. After drifting ashore in the fall of 1887, an abandoned derelict, the Douglass left her bones on low-lying Abaco, W. I.
SHERMAN. Joseph (b.1780) and George had nephews named Joseph and Stinson Sherman; it was probably the elder Joseph who had the Wisc. sch. Angler, and nephew Joseph the pinky Abigail (B'bay). In the 1830's Stin- son (b.1810) was skipper of pinky Six Brothers and the Challenge of W'port. In 1829 George commanded sch. Eagle of Wisc., was the first master of topsail sch. Fama, had fishing craft April Flower, Banner and was sole owner of the new Elizabeth (B'bay). His eldest son, Bradford B. (b.1840), called 'a smart relieving Captain,' was mate of fruiters, com- manded the Stephen G. Pinkham and probably the Victor Puig.
SMITH, SEBA (1767-1831) operated pinky Rising States and others in bank fishing, from a stand at the west harbor of B'bay. Of his sons, Marshal
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(1798-1867) owned shipping property, was active in civic affairs and a useful citizen; Suel, sailor on ship Tamerlane of Wisc., died at sea in his twenties (July 1827); Stevens (1810-1864) followed fishing and for a time was light keeper at Hendrick's Head. Elizabeth Oakes Smith, quoted in the article on sea serpents, was the wife of Seba Smith jr. (1792-1868). He was editor of the Portland Daily Courier and contributed humorous letters on politics signed Major Jack Downing, which became very popu- lar and were widely imitated. His wife also was inclined to literature, and she passed much of her time at Boothbay. Silas Smith (1825-1883), son of Marshal, followed the sea in youthful days, wrote an excellent account of his voyage around Cape Horn in brig G. W. Kendall (q.v), and, like his father before him, was a good citizen and Freemason.
SOUTHARD, JOHN. In the Penobscot expedition John Serote served from B'bay. It is said he changed his name to Southward, or Southard. Both ap- pear in old records. Anyway, after the war John lived at Back River and was half-owner and master of an early built schooner named Sally, and later had slp. Franklin, built at Dover; whence historian Greene inti- mates he came from. Furthermore, Mr. Greene lists his youngest child as Jefferson, probably Thomas Jefferson (since he was born during the ad- ministration of the President of that name), and the subject of the follow- ing sketch:
Thomas J. (1808-1896). He was a native of B'bay, but in 1829 the family moved to Richmond. There, despite lowly parentage and lack of early education, by rugged individualism he achieved success as one of the foremost shipbuilders of Maine. As a mere boy Thomas shipped as cook on a vessel, next before the mast on a coaster, and early manifested ambi- tion and determination. In time this brought its reward in esteem and wealth. At Richmond he learned blacksmithing and ship-joinery, and be- fore thirty obtained a foothold in shipbuilding by making iron work for vessels.
Thomas studied drafting and established a shipyard of his own, in which undertaking he was signally successful. His first vessel was a coaster named Texas, in 1845 brig Orion was launched and yearly the yard turned out well-built ships. The stranding in 1859 of the new Nellie Southard on Grand Manan caused the builder a heavy financial loss. He owned three- fourths of the ship, and little was realized from the wreck. In later con- struction the shipbuilder had the assistance of a son, member of the firm; a few of their vessels appear in the Appendix. When the ships sailed the
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