USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 35
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BOYD, WILLIAM M. In the 1800 decade he commanded brigs Hope and Nautilus (Hallowell 1800), both of Wisc. An Argus item in 1807, said: 'The wreck of a ship having "Hope" of Wiscasset on her stern, one mast standing, no person on board, lumber floating out of the cabin windows, was seen off the W. end of Cape Sable.' In 1822 Captain Boyd deposed:
I saw her when she was new, and before she was rigged and having been long acquainted with the value of vessels, having built and been the owner of many, and according to the best of my judgement said Schooner Nabby [chap. iii], when she sailed from this port was fairly worth the sum of four thousand dollars, ... that at the time of the capture in 1800 the value of freight was eight dollars per hogshead.
Incidentally, that year seamen's wages were sixteen dollars per month; mates received twenty. Later Captain Boyd was president of the Wiscasset Whale Fishing Company.
Before 1800 a William Boyd was master of slp. Jenny of Wiscasset, and brigantine Independent; William Boyd jr. (relationship unknown) cap- tained brigs Done, Lion (Mt. Desert 1817), and ship Octavia; and in 1816, during a hurricane, a William Boyd was lost with the new Reaper. Thomas Boyd commanded brigs Eliza, Sophronia Dole and topsail sch. William McCobb.
COOK, FRANCIS. Collector of customs at Wiscasset, one of the first local acts of hostilities in the War of 1812 was his seizure and libeling of the British ship Clio. He was so desirous of aiding seamen that an excellent religious tract for mariners was printed and circulated at his own expense. The fol- lowing paragraph appeared in Poulson's American Daily Advertiser, Phila- delphia, April 10 1829:
Augusta [Me.], March 27.
Mr. Cook, the old and very respectable Collector of Wiscasset, who has been removed by General Jackson to make room for a foreigner, had his commission from George Washington, and is said to have been the only Collector remaining in office of Washington's appointment. Deacon Cook is a very worthy man, and has always been a faithful officer, for aught that we hear to the contrary. But Mr. McCrate huzzaed for General Jackson, and Mr. Cook did not.
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DELANO. In the 1790 decade Aaron had brig Betsey; Ephraim, member of Boston Marine Society, commanded ships Accepted Mason, Commerce and the Hazard; and Felix was master of a Liverpool trader, brig Three Sisters.
FRIZEL, BENJAMIN. In 1781 he commanded galley Reprisal (4 guns, 25 men). A master for many years, he advertised (Columbian Centinel, July 6 1791) his pilot boat for Sheepscot, Kennebec and Damariscotta waters 'where strangers who have heretofore, when falling in with that coast, been in danger, may receive the benefit of a pilot by night and by day.' Frizel lived in Pownalborough, sailed from Wiscasset, and was drowned at Liver- pool, Nov. 1795.
GROVES. In the wreck of brig Packet on Nantucket in 1828, Joseph was drowned. Early in 1856 Herbert S. Groves, skipper of coaster Imperial, sailed from Wiscasset and was not reported; crew, Joseph Groves, Moses Foye, and Samuel Tibbetts of B'bay.
KENNEDY. An early Sheepscot family, descendants lived at B'bay and Wisc. In 1792 William commanded a topsail schooner in Wisc .- W. I. trade, the Polly (Brunswick 1785). In November 1792 a master of that name was drowned, perhaps Wm. Kennedy of B'bay. In the same trade, Robert had topsail sch. Tryal (W'wich 1791). After 1788 James Kennedy lived at Wisc. He commanded brig Betsey, ships Nabby, Elizabeth (472 tons, figure- head and quarter galleries), Betsey (chap. ii); and was the first master of brigantine Jane, brig Belisarius and topsail sch. Ranger. James died probably before 1825.
QUIN, MICHAEL. A Marblehead sailor, he followed the sea from Wiscasset as mate of topsail sch. Minerva; newly built by David Murray and owned by him and the master, James Murray. Among the crew of eight was Robert Murray. Rum was loaded at Jamaica, and all went well until a hurricane arose and the storm-tossed vessel was overwhelmed and all hands except Quin were lost (Nov. 3 1800). The schooner, partly full of water and stores ruined, drifted hither and thither with wind and current. Four days later a ship fell in with the wreck and carried the perishing mate to Havana, where by assistance of the American consul and shipmasters he was returned home. In 1803 Captain Quin was admitted to Lincoln Lodge of Freemasons; he died at Wisc. in 1807, aged thirty-four.
SMITH, BENJAMIN F. Of Richmond, he married and lived at Wisc. He was the first master of brig Oriska (N'boro 1843). Early in 1846, returning from
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the W. I., she was wrecked on the beach near Chatham, Cape Cod. His next regular command was brig Francisco (chap. vii). After her second voyage to the. Pacific, Captain Smith did not return and in 1879 died at Portland, Oregon.
STINSON. As early as 1752 a James Stinsen was living in B'bay. For a year before June 1800, John Stinson captained ship Wiscasset; in the 1830 dec- ade ships Tamerlane and Sterling were commanded by David G. Stinson. The home port of the ships was Wiscasset.
TUCKER. About 1800 Richard Tucker had brig America. J. L. Tucker cap- tained the new ship Cynosure (Bath 1853). In 1855 Joseph Tucker com- manded ship Ellen Austin (Dama.), and later ship R. H. Tucker, owned by R. H. Tucker.
WADE, RICHARD H. Early in 1823 he, assisted by two whites and a slave, was instrumental in saving the crew of sch. Phoenix of Plymouth, North Carolina, on that coast. For valorous efforts in the storm all were lauded highly. In 1826 brig Sophronia Dole, owned by Enoch Dole, was con- manded by Captain Wade.
WOOD. The family and others were prominent in shipping; to describe adequately their various activities would require information not avail- able. In August 1811, General Abiel Wood died at Wiscasset.
Shipbuilding, as elsewhere on the Sheepscot, flourished at Wiscasset. In the 1820 decade the Tinkham shipyard was a leading industry of the town. Robert Trivett was the master-builder. He constructed a beautiful ship of 303 tons, with dimensions slightly exceeding 100 feet in length, twenty-six in beam and thirteen in depth, for Abiel W. Tinkham of Portland. The ship was launched in November 1824, and christened Henry Kneeland. The Eastern Argus said, "This is the third square-rigged vessel built and launched from the same yard under the direction of Spencer K. Tinkham, agent, and another will be immediately on the stocks.' A year later the fine brig Robert Trivett was launched from the yard. The Henry Kneeland's first register lists Joseph Weeks, of Portland, master and agent for William Porter of New York, the sole owner. Other commanders were Captains Barstow and John Brown Emerson. About 1850 the ship was at Ascension Island, a whaler. Vessels were turned out yearly and shipbuilding reached high water mark in the mid-'fifties. In 1857 Alexander Johnston jr. launched a small but superior brig named Aladdin, commanded by James
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Shortwell. During those palmy days Joseph W. Taggart did a thriving business at his sail loft near the custom house, and later continued his . trade at Boothbay.
VII
THE UPPER SHEEPSCOT
FROM the time of the first settlements the Sheepscot River, both above and below the falls, became a favorite location for shipbuilding. Timber was plentiful and easily floated to the shipyards. The names of early vessels constructed on these protected waters are more likely to be found in old English records than in America. Recent inquiries from the Cunard Line relative to the activities of a Daniel Brocklebank at Sheepscot Bay, or up river, indicate that he built vessels named Castor, Nestor and the Queen of Sheba. After the news of Lexington and Concord, it is said he sailed away in his last ship.
One of the early yards was at New Milford (now Alna), on the western bank of the river above the falls. Thereabouts John Averill was engaged in construction before 1800. Among his vessels was ship Africa, sold to Joseph Wood. In company with ship Tamerlane she sailed from Wiscasset in February 1826, for Savannah. After forty days the ship was listed 'miss- ing.' Tradition has it that the first night the Africa collided with a Bath brig and sank with all hands. Later Samuel Averill constructed vessels at Alna, probably in the same yard; one was brig Orleans, said to have been lost in the Gulf of Mexico without trace. The vessels of the Averills and other shipbuilders appear in Appendix II.
In the Sheepscot section of Newcastle there was a yard where Henry Cargill constructed a number of brigs and topsail schooners. In January 1873 the American Sentinel (Bath), said: 'Amarrah Curtis is to build a three-master of 400 tons at Sheepscot Bridge.' That year and at that place, schooner Annie P. Chase was constructed. Earlier Carney and Howard constructed a brig and topsail schooner there.
For many years after the War of 1812, the firm of Jotham Donnell and Oakes Rundlett was engaged in the construction of seaworthy topsail schooners. Not long before Mr. Rundlett's death, he launched the bark Mary T. Rundlett. Four years later, on an October night in 1849, she was wrecked on a reef off N. Caicos Island. The firm's yard seems to have been situated above the falls, in Alna. Farther up, the river bends to the west-
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ward; and on the northern bank, near the bridge leading to the village of Alna, there was a yard in 1855, doubtless utilized years before in construct- ing small craft.
Joseph and Charles Leighton also built vessels in Alna, perhaps just be- low the falls. Their construction was carried on mainly in the 1830 and 1840 decades. In 1834 Joseph constructed slp. Edward, under forty tons, followed by larger vessels. Earlier he had built the brig Dirigo, reported lost in 1854 on the reef of Cruz del Padre, Cuba. One of Charles's vessels, bark Emma, was lost under James Cook. Another shipbuilder at Alna, be- low the falls, was Dennett Weymouth. In 1851 he constructed a bark and his most important contribution to the American merchant marine was the King Philip, one of the last of the clipper ships.
One of the earliest Sheepscot shipyards was inland on protected Dyer's River, where the narrow stream bends and turns like an oxbow on its course to the Sheepscot. At this place, in the 1790 decade and to 1809, David Murray directed the construction of brigs and topsail schooners, also a small ship in 1807. In 1799 he launched the Minerva, credited to New Milford. As before related she was lost with James and Robert Mur- ray. He also constructed a brigantine and a topsail schooner, both named Betsey. The brigantine had two decks; the schooner was launched in October 1799, captained by John Murray. Illustrative of the expense at that time of constructing and rigging a topsail schooner of 130 tons, ready for sea the Betsey cost 1380 6, pounds and shillings. The important items were: 'Hull 800, Rigging 59 11, Cordage, Sails, and Anchors 427 18, Blocks and Irons 3 19, Maintopsail 30.'
Later construction at the yard was continued by Colonel Robert Murray. During his period of activity, about thirty years after the War of 1812, he built at least seven brigs, one named Fitzowen; a ship and topsail schooners. A launching was usually on the high tides of spring and fall. When ready for official measurements and registration at the custom house, the vessel was guided along the winding channel by guy lines running from her sides to men on the river banks. Sometimes it was necessary to buoy up ships to float them over the falls.
For information of those old shipyards and other facts, the writer wishes to acknowledge here his indebtedness to Mr. Joseph O. Hodgkins of Sheepscot. Captain Joseph Hodgkins, of this vicinity, died at Boothbay in 1806, aged twenty-seven. His obituary said: 'In him the public has lost a worthy citizen, his relatives a respectable member of his family, and the Unfortunate, one whose purse was always open to their relief.'
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One of the prominent shipmasters, of his native Newcastle, was John Holmes (1789-1859). When twenty-one he commanded the new brig Done and later ships Shamrock, Saint Mark, Congress and the new Ontario. One Holmes was the first master of the packet ship Washington Irving (N'castle 1845). Two years later Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essayist, em- barked in the ship on his second trip to England.
About 1819 Captain Holmes married Lucinda Curtis. Of their children, Seth Curtis (b.1820; d.1822); Arlitta M. (b.1821), became the wife of John G. Barstow; Augustus D. (b.1824), married Mary Perry of New Orleans; Lucinda C. (b.1827), was the wife of Jotham D. Clifford; John A. (b.1830), married Clara Cargill; and Emma C. (b. 1838), was the wife of W. Scott Curtis. The homestead was a large house on a knoll at the lower end of Dyer's Neck, in the Sheepscot section of Newcastle, later owned by Cap- tain Moses Chase, now by his descendants.
Augustus D. and John A. Holmes were shipmasters. In the 1850 decade Augustus commanded ship Ontario and the new Tamerlane, the second ship thus named. In 1858 John A. Holmes ended his sea life in ship Theresa. John G. Barstow, in 1846, was master of ship Sterling. Of other Barstow shipmasters, in 1849 Benjamin had ship Osceola of Newcastle; and in the 1850's George had ship Metropolitan of New York, and the new ship Odessa, built at Boothbay. Of the Curtis family, Christopher S. captained topsail sch. Alexander; and Captain Seth Curtis was lost with his brig, the Orleans.
VIII GEORGETOWN
AFTER Lexington and Concord in 1775, a Colonel Thompson, of George- town determined to attempt the capture of the King's ship Canceau, com- manded by Henry Mowat, then lying in Falmouth (now Portland). Ac- cordingly he fitted out two vessels, and on the night of May tenth landed upward of sixty men on the back side of a neck of land near the town. The next day Mowat and the ship's doctor were taking a walk on the neck and were seized by a detail of men, concealed near by. Mowat declared that if he were not released it would mean the destruction of the town. Meantime, 'Capt. Hog, who now commanded the Ship,' wrote Jedediah Preble, 'immediately dropped Springs on his Cables, She laying within Musket Shot of the Town, & swore if the Gentlemen were not released by
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Six oClock, he would fire on the town.' Two cannon were fired on the Canceau, which so alarmed the inhabitants that some wished to free the prisoners. After conferring, it was decided to grant Mowat permission to board his ship for the night, provided he would return ashore in the morning. He assented, but failed to keep his promise, giving as an excuse that he intended to come, but was afraid of being harmed.
It is probable that incident had some bearing on Mowat's subsequent burning of Falmouth, described briefly by Reuben Fogg in a note dated Scarborough, October 20 1775:
To His Excellency George Washington Esq, Commander in Chief of the American Troops.
Sr. I would Inform your Excellency that on tuesday the 17th Instant about five oclock after noon their was drawn up before the town of Fal- mouth two Ships, one Sloop & one armed Scooner of War and the 18th about Nine oclock in the Morning fird on the Town and in a Short time the town was set on fire by the Ships and by twelve or one oclock near three Quarters of the town was in flames. Some of the men from the Ships Land- ed and the Militia being Raisd for the defense of the Town drove them back to ye Ships.
BAKER, NEHEMIAH, b. at Yarmouth, Mass., 1807; m. Julia Ann Clary in 1834; d. at G'town in 1862. His last command, the Julia Baker, left her bones on the coast of Maine.
BERRY, JOHN, commanded Robin Hood, Burtel, Como, Harriet, Sultan and others; constructed by General Joseph Berry at the head of Robin Hood Cove.
BROWN, JOHN JR., served nearly fourteen months in 1776-1777 on armed brigantine Freedom, Captain John Clousten; reported taken in prize Wil- liam Barby; also in Freedom later under Benjamin Ober. Seaman Brown was twenty-seven years of age in 1780.
EMMONS, SEWARD P. (1825-1922). He was a native of Phippsburg, Maine, but carly moved to Georgetown where he first followed the sea as a boy of eleven with his father, Ezra W. Emmons, skipper of fishing vessels. After two years the lad went coasting, but developed a liking for square-riggers and determined to become a deep-water sailor. When fourteen, he was cabin boy of Hamburg, said to have been the first full-rigged ship built at Phippsburg. His first trans-Atlantic passage-to Liverpool-was in ship Gardiner, Captain Andrew Bradstreet, during which the youth fell over-
الس حابة
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board. He was a mariner who, as the saying is, 'came in the hawse hole,' and soon became mate of the new ship Elizabeth of Bath. His first com- - mand was schooner Argo. The Captain was now started on a long and suc- cessful career, commanding brig Ottoman, bark Howland in 1853, owned by John H. Pearson and Company, for whom he sailed until he took bark Ivanhoe in 1859. His next command, during the war, was ship John Pat- ten, in which he had occasion to dodge the Alabama in the South Atlantic. As he had been at sea almost continuously since boyhood days, he enjoyed the luxury of shore life at home for about two years.
The call of the sea was in his blood, however, and he was afloat again in 1868, when ship Japan was built for his command at Bath by G. F. and John Patten. A notable incident in his career was the burning of that fine ship on a passage from Liverpool for San Francisco. In August 1870, off Cape Horn, a slight odor of coal tar was noted which became so strong that a hatch was removed, but quickly replaced and calked down when fire was discovered in the coal cargo. As the days passed conditions became worse, then ship Matchless for San Francisco hove in sight and, observing a signal of distress, approached and took on board, after a hazardous trans- fer, twenty-two men. The rescuing master was Jolin Dawes of Cape Cod, who had the unusual distinction of having rescued five shipwrecked crews, and in one instance was awarded a medal of appreciation from the British government. He proceeded, but was relieved of the care of eighteen seamen by British bark Cecilia, which landed eleven in Valparaiso and seven at Conception. Captain Emmons and officers remained on Matchless.
Afterwards the Captain commanded Bath ships Bombay and, in 1877, the new Palestine in California trade via Cape Horn. In the 'eighties Palestine lay in San Francisco Bay for two years on account of dull freight rates, a loss to her owners in freight money and deterioration. On a pas- sage hence for Queenstown for orders she was reported a month overdue, but arrived after 167 days' passage, caused by head winds and heavy weather. The monotony of sea life on this long voyage was enlivened by the presence of the Captain's wife and youngest son, Seward E. Emmons, who was in 1934 a resident of Georgetown. Palestine was sold in 1888 and hailed from San Francisco; three years later, inbound with coal, she was lost on San Francisco bar.
After the sale Captain Emmons retired from the sea to his pleasant home on a hill in Georgetown, overlooking the Kennebec, where he was wont to watch incoming and outgoing vessels, for he never lost his interest in ship- ping. During his seafaring life of fifty-two years the Captain made forty-
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six trans-Atlantic passages, rounded Cape Horn seventeen times and Cape of Good Hope six times. He spent his declining years with his son George - at Lewiston, where he died at the advanced age of ninety-six. In person Captain Emmons was of slight physique, but active and energetic. He was a member of the Boston Marine Society.
Low. Francis, Herbert, Gilman and Warren Low were brothers and natives of Georgetown. The family home was on Low's Point, Robin Hood Cove, and recollections of youth were the vessels launched there. In 1853 Francis married Margery Ann, daughter of Nehemiah Baker, and succeeded him in command of the Julia Baker. Subsequently, as before related, Francis was captured and died in 'Castle Thunder' January 4 1865.
Herbert (1827-1904) captained the John Crooker (Bath 1866), a large fore-and-after built by Goss and Sawyer. About 1883 the David W. Hunt seems to have been his last sailing command; after that he entered the em- ploy of the Eastern Steamboat Company as master of Sasanoa and the Samoset, on the Bath-B'bay and islands run. Captain Low was active and of a nervous temperament. Warren Low commanded schooners Elizabeth de Hart and Ruth S. Hodgdon.
Gilman A. (1839-1919). His pioneering effort in establishing the first regular steamboat service between Bath and Boothbay has been mentioned elsewhere. Virtually commodore of the line, he was deservedly popular with patrons. At the close of the season in October 1881 a beautiful ebony cane, topped with a heavy gold head embossed with the figure of a squirrel and suitably engraved, was presented to him by his Squirrel Island friends and brother Masons. That and a handsome water pitcher used on the Spray, the Captain cherished as mementos of an active life. Of com- pact build and dark complexion, he dressed neatly in a well-fitting blue uniform. After the Civil War Captain Low purchased and lived in the late S. M. Reed's B'bay home the rest of his life.
ROWE. Some of this family settled in the District of Maine from Gloucester. In the 1790's John ran a Wiscasset-Boston packet sloop which touched at Georgetown. During the Civil War James I. served on the Commodore Jones, a small gunboat torpedoed in Virginia waters with the loss of half her crew. Moses B. (a. 1831-1902) was a well-known fishing skipper of Alice C. Fox, Humboldt, H. S. Rowe and the smaller N. A. Rowe, B'bay vessels; also the Elsie M. Smith, a superfine vessel of her type. Frank Rogers Rowe (a. 1853-1924) was an Eastern Steamboat Company master. He also owned and operated steamer Winter Harbor (Bath 1887), on the B'bay-Wisc. run.
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His son Clark D. succeeded him. Capt. Seth E. Rowe (1863-1937) followed the sea many years.
The following died at sea: Charles, son of Michael Fisher, on Bath brig Ann Maria, aged eighteen, 1824; James Hogan who fell from aloft to deck on brig Minerva, 1819; Lewis Powers, officer ship Grand Turk of Bath, drowned in Hampton Roads, aged twenty-two, 1826. Also of Georgetown or vicinity, Isaac Parker McCobb who d. Jan. 1858, aged twenty-five, the last survivor of bark Tonquin, Bath. All died at Havana of yellow fever.
IX BRISTOL
ASKINS, ROBERT. Near Barbados in April 1795, his Bristol sloop Sally was burned by a boat's crew from a French frigate. The Americans were im- prisoned at Saint Martin, but through intervention of fellow shipmasters were released and returned home via Saint Bartholomew. At Alna in 1827 died a Capt. Robert Askins, seventy-three; it was reported that he, as lieutenant of the galley Lincoln, with twelve men took possession of An- napolis Royal in the night, garrisoned by 200 men. The general acceptance of name Askins is now Erskine.
BOYD, COL. SAMUEL, of Bristol. His testimony, from the report of the Lincoln County commissioners in 1811, on disputed land claims in that county, follows:
He came to this country fifty-four years ago (1757) and resided one year in Fort at Pemaquid. Excepting at Booth Bay, there were but four settlers on east side of river. Testified that his father had been here in Col. Dunbar's day; that he was a single man and the Indians drove him away. He had heard his father say that Walpole and Harrington were both laid out by Col. Dunbar. When he lived in the Fort John North and his father were there. When the Indians drove him away, he lived in Brown's Cove.
Furthermore the report said: 'One fourth of the able bodied men of Bristol fell in the Revolutionary conflict either by land or sea.'
Apropos of this: one Samuel Boyd commanded in 1796 the Bristol schooner Two Friends. Early in the Revolution Capt. Caleb Turner was the local muster officer; and H. Hilton served on Tyrannicide, Captain Haraden.
GAMAGE, A. and M. In the last half of the nineteenth century the firm con-
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structed numerous fishing vessels at South Bristol, including Daylight, E. L. Willard, Jenny Lind, Orissa B. Kimball and the Vanguard.
" GOUDY, W. M., sixteen, son of Capt. Henry Goudy, homeward bound from Africa in 1885, was lost from bark White Cloud.
MILLER. Alden captained the new bark Jedo (N'boro 1848); Nichols Mil- ler owned sloop Ranger, impounded at B'bay in 1781 by Paul Reed; and Samuel commanded sloop Despatch, and the Dolphin, seized by the French.
MILLER, AUSTIN (1827-1908). A son of William and Nancy Miller, he made coasting trips at the age of nine. In his twenties he commanded ves- sels. In 1852 a bark was constructed for his command and named Martha Clark after his fiancée, who after the wedding accompanied him on the maiden voyage. The Captain sailed for Yates, Porterfield and Company of New York, former residents of Bristol, for several years in African trade. Another command was the bark Ibis. After the launching in the fall of 1860 by Austin and Hall, she sailed from the Damariscotta to Queenstown for orders, thence to London. Captain Miller was accompanied by his wife and little daughter Grace, who vividly recalls the voyage. and the Tower of London. On exhibition were wonderful wax works and Na- poleon's carriage, which she examined with childlike curiosity. The re- turn was to the Provinces. Austin left the Ibis to command a larger ship.
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