USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 33
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PIERCE'S COVE, SOUTHPORT
JOSEPH EMERSON
JOHN BROWN EMERSON
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
BURNHAM. Joseph owned largely in the new brig Sarah Elizabeth (N'boro 1830), commanded by Charles T. Burnham, who later had the new bark Henry Newall (N'boro 1839). Capt. Daniel Burnham (1805-1878) also hailed from Edge. E. S. Burnham lived on Fisherman's Island. On an April night in 1881, the British sch. Jasper, seeking haven in B'bay from a snowstorm, ran upon the Hypocrites. At low tide the crew landed on the ledge and next day Burnham discovered their predicament and rescued them.
CHASE. This family seems to have been the most prominent that Edge. furnished to the American merchant marine. Ebenezer (a. 1765-1855) was either a sea-captain or a shipbuilder, perhaps both. All seven sons followed the sea. The eldest, Andrew (1794-1818), from lack of suitable food on a long voyage, died after arrival home.
John (1797-1874) began early, and among his first commands was sch. Corinthian of Wisc. Early in 1848 he sailed from the Sheepscot, bound to Apalachicola, in the new bark Chase, constructed and owned largely by the family; and was also first master of ship Chicago, built on the east side of Davis Island by Walter Chadbourne, who failed because of her high cost of construction. At the launching, or sailing, a tipsy sailor was so elated that he plunged overboard, but the cold water of a wintry day quickly sub- dued his hilarious condition. The maiden voyage to Mobile began in com- pany with the new ship Tamerlane. With occasional trips to New Bruns- wick for deals, Captain John engaged in cotton trade from Southern ports to Liverpool. Sailing thence in 1856 in heavy March gales, she carried away bowsprit and foretopsail-yard, arriving at Sandy Hook with sails torn to ribbons. The Chicago saw hard service, did good work and earned money for her owners.
A shipping firm for which Captain John sailed was Walsh, Carver and Chase of New York, of which a brother was a partner. After a long and suc- cessful career in various ships John, having escaped the perils of the sea, was overseeing the erection of a derrick near his home when. a chain parted, killing him instantly. The pleasant old home of the Captain, with mementos of foreign climes and oil paintings of ships Lion and Marcia C. Day, was destroyed by fire years ago.
Two of his daughters married sea-captains: Ellen T. married David Cate in New York (1857), then master of ship Black Sea; and Mary was the wife of Albert Ryan, who commanded ship Lion and the Chicago on her last voyage. In 1862 she sailed from New York with coal for Acapulco
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and San Francisco, took fire, burned to the water's edge and foundered. Captain Ryan and crew were saved in the boats.
Ebenezer (1802-1892) was skipper of the fishing craft Dolphin, Gold Hunter and the Ellen. His son, Thomas (a.1847-a.1923), when fifteen rounded Cape Horn to San Francisco in ship Success, Capt. Enoch Chase. Later Thomas was mate of barks Annie P. and Jonathan Chase, and master of coasters Coquette and Niger. His brother, Eben 3d, a farmer of fine character now (1937, ae. 87) lives in his father's old home at the 'Cross.'
James (1809-1893) early commanded schooners Mary and Morning Star and brig Helen. He sailed for Nesmith and Sons, in W. I. trade, and had the brigs Ava, Arcadian, Hesperus, Ada, and among others the large ship City of Brooklyn (Greenpoint, N. Y. 1854) was his most important com- mand. Inbound to New York early in 1863, she collided at night with bark Hannibal, without serious damage. The ship, owned principally by Nesmith and Sons, eventually was sold foreign. In person Captain James was stocky, of great activity and, remarkable among seafarers, neither smoked nor drank.
Of his four children, the only son, George Washington Chase, was lost at sea. With other ships, it is said, he was about to enter Havana when a hurricane arose and wrecked them. The true version is probably this: In 1875 the Nettie Chase, a new vessel commanded by a Chase, put to sea from the island of Navassa just before a September hurricane. Later re- ported missing, it was thought she capsized and foundered with all hands.
Jonathan (1811-1863) in his twenties commanded topsail schooners Azula, Morning Star and later bark Jonathan Chase. In 1848 the master of the new ship Onward was Captain Jonathan Chase, and in the 1850's he commanded the new ships Progress and Marcia C. Day. Jonathan owned shares in a number of vessels, including brig Sterling, and was interested in shipbuilding. He was the principal owner of sch. Yosemite, built at the Day shipyard by his son, Jonatlıan Herbert Chase. The master was also a Chase.
Another son, Charles A. Chase, commanded ship Radiant (Boston 1868), later lost on a reef in the Straits of Singapore. His last command was the new ship Voyager. After several trips in Atlantic and Pacific trade, she sailed from New York early in 1878 and disappeared; no tidings. Cap- tain Chase's mate of the ill-fated Voyager was his cousin Joseph, son of Capt. John Chase.
Enoch (1813-1892) was a master at twenty-one. In 1837 he had the brig Sterling; later brig Damascus of New York, and homeward bound from
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Cronstadt rescued the crew of a Norwegian bark. In appreciation they gave him a silver goblet with the likeness of the brig engraved thereon, now highly prized by descendants. At the close of the year 1846 Enoch voyaged to Havana in the new Wisc. brig Logan, reported wrecked in the Gulf Stream in 1849; and soon after took command of brig G. W. Kendall and sailed for California. Other commands were barks Annie P. and Jona- than Chase and ship Progress.
In December 1857 the good ship Success was launched for command of Captain Enoch. The managing owners were Walsh and Carver of New York; her home port was Damariscotta. In the spring of 1862 the ship ar- rived in Boston from Liverpool with loss of sails, jib boom, cutwater and the deck house stove by heavy seas, westerly gales having prevailed most of the passage. Two years later she was in San Francisco, to sail for New York. In 1865 the Success arrived home from Callao; Capt. F. Chase re- ported heavy weather from Western Isles and that in January his third officer, Daniel Foster, had been lost overboard.
In 1872 Captain Enoch took the ship Marcia C. Day, late Capt. J. H. Chase, and employed her in trans-Atlantic barrel-oil trade. New Year's Day, in 1876, the ship arrived in New Orleans, thirty-eight days from Antwerp. Also in port was the L. B. Gillchrest, Capt. John Emerson. Both ships loaded cotton for Havre, and the log of the Gillchrest, March 24th, records: 'At noon our ship and ship Marcia C. Day started down river in tow of steamer Calhoun, but there being a strong breeze up river we came to anchor near Nine Mile Point.' On proceeding the bar was blocked by a steamship aground, and the ships anchored at Pilottown. Finally: 'The tow- boats Ecuador and Leviathan put us over the bar, also the Marcia C. Day, and anchored us outside. Moderate gale from the southeast and very rough (28th). At 6 A.M. got anchor and proceeded to sea in company with M. C. Day. The latter outsails slightly.'
Mate Emerson wrote from Havre: 'We had a fine passage over of thirty- two days, beating all the ships in company. There are two ships going to Boothbay from here for orders, Captain Chase of Edgecomb, in the Marcia C. Day, and the Success. One sailed a week ago and the other will sail about the time we do. We finished discharging [the Gillchrest] to-day and will be- gin to ballast to-morrow for Rockland for orders.'
The Marcia C. Day was Enoch Chase's last ship; he was succeeded by Capt. Charles Cate, and retired to his pleasant home, now known as the Marie Antoinette house. He sailed for Nesmith and Sons, later for Walsh,
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Carver and Chase. A successful shipmaster, his vessels met with few serious mishaps during a long career at sea; but two men were lost on sailing from port in a storm, a sad and common occurrence in those days. In person Captain Enoch Chase was a large man, light complexioned.
His daughter Jane married Captain Charles, son of David Cate, and after her death Charles married her sister, Alice Kate Chase, in California. The wedding trip (1885-1886) was in the bark Edwin Reed of Waldoboro, from San Francisco to Hong Kong, to Cardiff to load coal for the Philip- pines; thence homeward via Cape of Good Hope and Saint Helena to New York. Another daughter, Mrs. Ida Chase Kenniston, now (1938, ae. 94) lives at Boothbay Harbor.
Moses (1815-1898), youngest of the seven Chase brothers, followed the sea from youth; in the 1840's he commanded brig Ava and ship Zaretan of Damariscotta; and while living in Brooklyn had New York ships. He also engaged in shipbuilding at Sheepscot bridge, and constructed bark Annie P. and sch. Annie P. Chase, the last vessel built there. In those ac- tivities Moses had a successful career of forty years, and for the times was considered a wealthy man. In 1845 he married Susan E. Clifford. Children: Annie P. (b.1848), Sunie (b.1850), Roscoe (b.1852). The old homestead lies on a knoll at the lower end of Dyer's Neck, in the Sheepscot section of Newcastle.
John Howard and Fessenden, sons of John Chase, profited by their father's experience and advice; both were able shipmasters. John H. (1828-1872) was long identified with the Marcia C. Day. He married Eunice Schoff, who accompanied him on many voyages; and in Havre, about 1866, the Captain had a model of his ship made, now owned by a relative of his wife, Mr. Herman Parker. While in Havana in December 1872, both Captain Chase and wife contracted yellow fever and died; they left a little daughter under five years of age. Captain Cate was ap- pointed guardian of the orphan, who lived in Edge. until fourteen, and later became Mrs. Edith M. Ledyard, of Bath.
Fessenden (1829-1914). His recital of sea life, to a relative, follows:
In 1846 I started out for a sea-life joining the topsail schooner Corin- thian coasting between the Kennebec, Boston and Sound ports. In 1847 coasted in the old topsail schooner Caspian. The same year shipped be- fore the mast in bark Chase in the Mediterranean and West Indian trade. In 1849 made one coastwise trip in brig G. W. Kendall. In 1850 made one voyage before the mast in ship Taretan sailing from Providence to Havana, thence to Cowes and Bristol, England, and returned to New York. In 1851
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THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
shipped as second mate on ship American of Wiscasset, and sailed from New York to Cuba and back with a full cargo of sugar in twenty-nine days. Thence to Bic Island and London where we visited the World's Fair - in Crystal Palace. Thence to Savannah. In 1852 shipped as first mate of bark Chase and remained three years in her making North Atlantic voy- ages. In 1856 made one New York to Liverpool voyage and back in ship Chicago as first mate.
In 1857 took command of bark Henry Warren of Bath, in Houghton Brothers employ and sailed from Bath for Havana December 19, 1857. I remained in this vessel making several successful voyages until August 1859. In September 1859 took charge of ship Ironsides of New York. This ship was built by Johnson Rideout of Bath, in the old shipyard where the New England is now. I remained in this ship until July 1863, and then took charge of the new ship Melrose, built by John Taylor of East Boston, and sailed to New York, arriving there in August. In October of 1863 took charge of ship Success and sailed from New York for San Francisco with a freight list amounting to $46,500, good for a ship of 1200 tons. From San Francisco we went to Callao, Chincha Islands and London, and returned to New York in June 1865. Leaving the Success in New York, I took charge of ship General Butler of Bath, then in London and sailed for Melbourne in December 1865, making many voyages into Pacific and Atlantic ports. Left the General Butler in New York, where she was sold. In October 1872 took charge of ship Pleiades of Bath, then in Hamburg and remained in charge of her making many voyages into Pacific and Atlantic ports; leav- ing deep waters and square-riggers for good in September of 1881.
At the outbreak of the Civil War Ironsides was in New Orleans loading cotton along with other Northern vessels. Some of those all loaded got away, but Ironsides was delayed until long after Fort Sumter fell; first the loading was delayed, then Southern sympathizers set the ship afire and so much damage was done that the cargo had to be unloaded, the ship re- paired and refitted. Meantime plans had been drawn for converting the ship into a Confederate war vessel. In spite of that, the work of refitting and loading was hurried through and papers secured clearing the ship from New Orleans.
The trip down the river was planned to cross the bar at daylight. Two river steamers were sent down to the mouth of the river, however, to cap- ture the ship there. They were anchored one on each side of the channel. Both hailed as the ship sailed between them before a fresh breeze, the tug- boat which had brought her down having cast off just above the last bend of the river. The boats had allowed steam to get low over night and we got by without damage and got half an hour's start while they were getting up steam again. With a fresh breeze the ship was able to keep ahead of its
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pursuers for about twenty miles. Then the breeze began to give out and the boats began to close in, but a United States man-of-war was sighted. and they had to give up and run for port to save themselves. The Iron- sides was the last Northern cotton ship out of New Orleans. On her ar- rival in New York the story was not believed until New Orleans news- papers and other convincing proofs were furnished.
Later, when Captain Chase was in England, he looked for and reported on privateers which were being fitted out. He was offered a commission in the United States navy in recognition of his services, but declined it out of consideration for and on advice of the owners of his ship.
The finely modeled Marcia C. Day was constructed of the best materials and finished in a superior manner by Joseph Day, a highly esteemed ship- builder of Damariscotta, who died soon after the launching in May 1853. The ship was commanded first by Jonathan Chase; the maiden trip was to Saint John to load deals. She hailed first from Damariscotta, later from New York, under Capt. Charles Cate and others. After some of her cargo had been thrown overboard during a severe storm in December 1853, the ship arrived in Havre, and with occasional deviations as freights offered, was employed for years in New Orleans-European cotton trade. In January 1861 she cleared New Orleans with 3000 bales of cotton, fortunate to get away before the ensuing war closed the port. On an eastward Atlantic pas- sage under a Captain Ross in 1879, the Marcia C. Day encountered heavy weather, and head seas stove and swept away her bulwarks, but survived until February 1888, when she stranded off Arromanches, westwardly bound from Rouen. The ship was dismantled and sold.
CLIFFORD, JOTHAM D. A native of Edgecomb, in 1841 he settled near Sheep- cot bridge as a merchant-shipbuilder; had brig Rainbow constructed at the Murray shipyard on Dyer's River, and in association with Capt. Moses Chase built bark Emma. Thrice married, Jotham's first wife was Lucinda C., daughter of Capt. John Holmes. Rebecca and Woodbridge Clifford were related to Jotham and took shares in his vessels. She married Capt. John Land, the first master of the famous clipper ship Rainbow. Wood- bridge constructed at Edge. in 1838 sch. Adeline and later bark Thales.
Of other Cliffords, Andrew (b.a.1821) was mate with Capt. James Chase in brig Ava, and in 1854 commanded brig May Queen of Damariscotta; Anson, and Joseph D. (a.1827-1849), son of William, were lost with the Nancy (vide F. Trask); Benjamin F. (perhaps not of Edge.) in 1859 cap- tained bark Howland (Camden 1845); Jerry in 1848 was master of pink
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Union of B'bay; Joseph was skipper of pinky Yankee (Edge. 1818) in 1823; and in custom-house records William and William Clifford jr. appear; one died in 1819. Their commands included !the Polly (Edge.), topsail schooners Apollo, Industry and the Hester.
CLOUGH, STEPHEN. He owned a master's interest in brig Rambler (Bath 1785), and in association with Capt. Joseph Decker was interested in lum- ber trade. After his death in 1792, Clough purchased the home of his late associate, situated near the 'Narrows' on Jeremy Squam. In 1838 the house was ferried across to the mainland, hauled by a large number of oxen to its present site overlooking the 'Eddy' and now is known as the Marie An- toinette house.
Captain Clough partly owned and commanded a small ship of 211 tons, the Sally (Bris. 1791). On May 7 1792 the Boston Gazette said: 'Ship Sally, Clough, of Boston, in coming out of Liverpool, got on shore, sprung a leak and was obliged to put back.' Later she entered Boston. Capt. John Wilson had the ship for a time and in Boston, because of a change of ownership, the Sally's register was cancelled July 3 1793. Under a new register, the ship is thought to have sailed for France with a cargo of lumber, and that the son of the managing owner was on board. It is said and believed that Captain Clough and the principal owner were in collusion with French royalists to rescue their Queen and send her to America in the Sally. About 1820, according to historian Rufus K. Sewall, a story was prevalent in Edgecomb as follows:
That Captain Clough's ship was in France, and at the time Marie An- toinette was arrested by the revolutionary mob; that the royal belongings had been carried on board Clough's vessel for the Queen's use; and that she, being seized and beheaded on the eve of sailing, the royal parcels were left on board and brought away.
Many years later a fragment of white cloth was found in the old Clough house, marked, 'This was taken from the dress which Marie Antoinette wore at her execution, by an eye witness, Captain Stephen Clough.' Color is lent to the statement because Lamartine recorded that the Queen was executed in a white death robe (October 1793).
Talleyrand was friendly to the Queen, and early in 1794 landed at a Wiscasset wharf: Mr. Sewall plausibly contends the French statesman came in Clough's ship on her homeward passage. It was said Stephen Clough died in the Mississippi River region.
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CUNNINGHAM. Of masters active in the 1790 decade, Alexander commanded ship Nabby, sch. Hero and brig Enterprise. He lived at N'castle. Ruglas had slp. Fox, and the Edge .- built schooners Polly and William. Samuel was master of sloops Clarissa and Rosanna, new sch. Nabby and brig En- terprise. Thomas had the Hero and brigantine Friendship of Wisc.
Thomas 2d captained topsail schooners Illuminator, Louisa, brigs Tidal, Helen and perhaps the Betsey. Captain Hilton lost the Betsey and his life by pirates; the brig was replaced by Henry Cargill with a second Betsey, commanded by Thomas Cunningham 2d.
DECKER, JOSEPH. He lived on the upper end of Jeremy Squam near the entrance, called Decker's Narrows, which opens up the harbor of Wiscas- set. Joseph acquired possession as early as 1772, and two years later built a house later owned by Stephen Clough. Joseph died late in 1792. In 1781 Joseph Decker of Edgecomb, Anna Decker, widow, and two others, owners of slp. Sally of ninety-five tons burden, valued at 700 pounds, sued Capt. Paul Reed of B'bay, for seizure of the vessel, an act in the public interest.
In 1802 another Joseph Decker commanded brig America; in 1805 brig White Oak arrived in Boston and reported: 'On 24th August ... sighted a wreck two miles distant, it being calm got out the long boat and found it to be the schooner Ranger of Wiscasset, Capt. Joseph Decker, fifteen days out to the West Indies. Crew, except one, saved.'
Of other Deckers, John C. captained topsail schooners Benevolence, Hannah and the Rainbow (Bowdoinham 1795). In the fall of 1800 the Hannah arrived at Wiscasset from Martinique; he reported seven Ameri- can vessels there. In the severe December storm of 1839 at G'ter, the Wisc. sch. Sally was wrecked on the reef of Norman's Woe, the time and scene of Longfellow's ballad. Hartley and Isaac Decker, seamen, were drowned.
DODGE. In 1800 marine news said, 'The fast sailing brig Neptune, Asa Dodge, Master, will sail from Wiscasset the first of June and return to Boston.' In wintertime of 1840 coaster Abigail, Capt. Solomon Dodge, sailed from Bath and disappeared. Her crew of three included John Gove of B'bay. In 1849 Thomas Dodge owned and captained the new sch. Cali- fornia (B'bay). Samuel M. Dodge, elsewhere noticed, died of yellow fever in 1858. A promising sea-captain, his untimely death was mourned sin- cerely. The year before he had married Orra E. McCobb of B'bay.
EMERSON. Among the grandsons of Colonel Edward Emerson were An- drew, Edward, Samuel, Joseph and John Brown Emerson. The first two
SHIP 'ELIZA MC NEIL OF THOMASTON OFF CAPE HORN
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were sons of Joseph Emerson; the last three were natives of Edgecomb, sons of William and brothers of Capt. Wm. S. Emerson of B'bay. Captain Andrew (1820-1847), sailor on the Texas, later was lost at sea; Edward (1823-1893), tall and dark, married Sarah Holbrook of Wiscasset, whence he followed the sea with Captain Toothacher in sch. Edward; and Samuel (1799-1821), mate of a vessel, died at sea.
EMERSON, JOHN BROWN (1805-1870). Of commands two only are known, brig Lexington and ship Henry Kneeland. He commanded a Liverpool packet, and it is a family tradition that Ralph Waldo Emerson crossed the Atlantic on a ship of which John was either master or mate. The Captain was well versed in navigation and mathematics. He had noticed that steam paddle wheels were not so serviceable and effective on seagoing ships as on inland waters, and perhaps this led to his invention of 'a spiral propelling wheel.' With the assistance of his brother Thomas, it was tried out in the vicinity of B'bay on a small boat. Satisfied of its feasibility, John obtained letters patent, signed by President Andrew Jackson in 1834, 'for certain improvements in the steam engine, and in the mode of propelling there- with, either vessels on the water or carriages on the land.' His patent rights included the application of a revolving vertical shaft to turn a capstan on the deck of a ship, but the model and drawings in the Patent Office were destroyed by fire in 1836; the original model of the wheel remained in B'bay for years, a plaything for children until broken up.
In 1849 Charles Robinson, of the parish of New Orleans, deposed in part:
That in the fall of 1835 he first became acquainted with Captain Emer- son, at that time in command of the ship Henry Kneeland of New York; that in the fall of 1836 Captain Emerson returned to New Orleans, at which time he engaged deponent to construct a model of a ship, into which Emerson inserted a spiral propelling wheel, constructed in conformity with his letters-patent, and placed the same in the Merchants' Exchange, thence removed it to the ship-yard of Harrod, Emerson & Robinson, on the opposite side of the Mississippi River, Benjamin Harrod, the said J. B. Emerson, and deponent having formed a copartnership in the ship-wright business; and that the model continued to be exhibited at the ship-yard until early in 1844, when it was sent by Emerson to the Patent Office at Washington.
Furthermore, that shortly after the copartnership was formed, the said John B. Emerson purchased a steam-engine and commenced the construc- tion of a boat, which he completed in about two years, applied his patent wheel, and set it in operation on the Mississippi River.
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THE EMERSON PROPELLER
SURE DISPATCH !
119 Days' Passage !
119 Days' Passage !
CHEAPEST FREIGHT ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA.
Sutton & Co.'s Dispatch Line for San Francisco Salling Positively as Advertised ! Su The Superior A : First-Class Clipper Ship
ELIZA MCNEIL,
J. B. EMERSON, Master, Is Receiving her Cargo at Pier 19, East River,
And will Finish Loading in 5 or @ Days.
Shippers having Engagements, will please send their Freight IMMEDIATELY ALONGSIDE.
JOHN ROSENFELD, Consignee in San Francisco. SUTTON & CO., 82 South St., opp. Pier 19, E. R.
SHIPPING CARD ADVERTISING THE 'ELIZA MC NEIL'
THE
BOSTON
LIN E OF PACKETS
TO FOLLOW THE "MARGARET." The Splendid First-class American Ship
"L. B. GILLCHREST," CAPTAIN J. B. EMERSON, 1157 TONS REGISTER Classcd 3/3 L 1.1. for 9 years in Veritas; coppor fastowed and coppered, and is a Ural-rate couveyance. LOADING BERTH VICTORIA DOCK.
For Termix of Freight, &e , apply to GEORGE WARREN & CO Fewrick Chambers, Liverpool.
SHIPPING CARD ADVERTISING THE 'L. B. GILLCHREST'
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