USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Boothbay > The shipping days of old Boothbay from the revolution to the world war : with mention of adjacent towns > Part 4
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
An extract from the log book of the U. S. schooner Enterprise relates a similar instance occurring in 1800. It reads:
Jan. 10th. Boarded the American brig Polly of Wiscasset; took 6 prisoners out of her near Martinique. She was taken by a French privateer of 8 guns who put on board 8 men to navigate her to Guadeloupe, leaving on board the Polly the captain, a man and a boy, who retook her after an obstinate fight with the Frenchmen, killed 2 and disabled the rest. Sent an officer and twelve men on board the Polly, at the same time, to assist in anchoring her in Saint Pierre. Jan. 24th. Boarded and recaptured the brig Androscoggin of Topsham, bound for Jamaica, 6 days in possession of the French, taken by the La Union, Topaz, master.
There was a dissimilar incident soon after when the Three Sisters, Decker, Saint Thomas for Wiscasset, was captured by a French priva- teer, but released on condition of taking home twenty-two captured
32
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
seamen. As the French supplied no stores, rations became scarce until provisioned by the American ship Juno. Decker afterwards spoke the 14-gun brig Pickering, lost that fall, giving information of the priva- teer, which had captured eight vessels.
By a preliminary convention or treaty with France in September 1800, the United States assumed the damage caused by French depre- dations under spoliation claims. France readily admitted her respon- sibility and proposed several ways of settlement, countering with and urging a greater claim of her own against America. Negotiations dragged along unsatisfactorily for some time; finally France proposed that the two claims be equalized and mutually released which, it is said, was accepted by a full Senate vote. In 1831 a convention arranged for claims incurred during the Napoleonic wars, which provided that 'the French government in order to liberate itself completely from all the reclamations preferred against it by citizens of the United States for unlawful seizures, captures ... or destruction of their vessels, cargoes, or other property, engage to pay a sum of 25,000,000 francs,' but al- though the convention was ratified France, as in the case of the World War settlement, balked at paying her just obligations. Andrew Jack- son was President at the time and, figuratively speaking, waved his sword and almost threatened war. Clinging to the money as long as pos- sible, eventually France settled without interest.
Mention has been made of Wiscasset, situated about thirteen miles from the ocean, approached by an inlet of the sea called Sheepscot River, which varies greatly in width, but perhaps averages a third of a mile. Near the mouth at Hendrick's Head the stream deepens to thirty fathoms or more, and narrows at the entrance of the fine harbor to about a thousand feet. The following accounts describe depredations affecting the owners and crews of vessels sailing from this locality:
The Columbus was a topsail schooner constructed on the upper Sheepscot in 1795. A few years later, while homeward bound from Bar- bados, she was seized illegally by a French privateer. James Fullerton was in command. After an examination of the master's papers the schooner was ordered to the island of Guadeloupe. The cargo, valued at ten thousand dollars, was condemned and confiscated by order of the Admiralty Court there. The owners, Moses Carlton, Henry Hodge
٠٠
33
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
and William Sawyer, suffered a total loss of sixteen thousand dollars. Thus despoiled, the Columbus was released and, with no proceeds to purchase a return cargo, the vessel sailed in ballast for Wiscasset.
In March of 1800 the schooner, from Wiscasset for Antigua, was cap- tured again by a French privateer. While they were plundering the vessel, an English ship of superior force hove in sight and putting the Frenchman to flight, recaptured the Columbus. A prize-crew was thrown on board, and she was taken to Saint John, the chief town of English Antigua, the most important of the Leeward group of islands in contrast to the Windward Islands. The names refer to the prevailing trade wind. Since the Columbus, although in her port of destination, was condemned to pay costs of recapture and salvage, thereby causing the owners an additional loss of ten thousand dollars; the Americans fared no better at the hands of the English than with the French.
The seizure of the topsail schooner Dolphin, owned by Ebenezer and John Gove of Edgecomb, was another case of French and English annoyance to the early maritime commerce of the Boothbay region. In the fall of 1796 the vessel sailed from Wiscasset on a West Indian trading voyage, commanded by Thomas Gove. During the winter she touched at Martinico (as Martinique was then called) and sailed with the pro- ducts of the island for Savannah. A fortnight out of the latter port in March 1797, bound to Saint Bartholomew with an assorted cargo of lumber, rice and so forth, a suspicious sail was sighted which the master endeavored to avoid in vain. It proved to be a French privateer schoon- er of two guns named Serene .* No resistance was made. Sixty leagues to the eastward of Antigua and flying American colors the Dolphin was boarded and the ship's papers inspected. No reason was given for the overt act other than that the French were in want of such a cargo at Guadeloupe and would give more than the master could obtain at Saint Bartholomew, that they would pay in sugar and coffee and that the vessel would not be a prize.
Under a prize-crew of six the Dolphin was ordered to Guadeloupe, but the following morning the American schooner and all hands were captured by the British warship Roebuck, Captain Burrows, and carried to Saint John, Antigua. There the Dolphin was libeled by the
* Serene. So given in the old records.
.
34
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Vice-Admiralty Court and adjudged in May to pay the sum of 427 pounds sterling to the recaptors and also the cost of legal proceedings.
The losses from captures by English cruisers in the years 1793 and 1794 exceeded $10,000,000. In 1836 Mr. John Trumbull, commis- sioner for liquidating American claims, wrote that they were allowed and paid in London.
The Favorite, a newly constructed and well found topsail schooner later valued at $5500 by John M. McFarland, was owned by William Melcher, George and Benjainin Barstow, all of Newcastle, Elisha Hatch of Bristol, John McCobb and William Maxwell Reed of Booth- bay, the home port of the vessel. The crew consisted of Nathaniel Montgomery, David R. Adams, Samuel Murray and a cabin-boy, all of Boothbay, and perhaps one or two more whose names do not appear in the record. The men shipped at eighteen dollars per month and the master, William M. Reed, received thirty. Early in 1798 the schooner lay at McFarland's wharf loading lumber and fish, and soon sailed from Boothbay for the West Indies.
In March the Favorite arrived at Barbados, where the cargo was sold. Sugar and rum valued at several thousand dollars, one half owned and consigned to Nathaniel Curtis and John M. McFarland, made up the return cargo. She sailed for home and on the second day out was cap- tured by the French privateer brig L'Aigle, commanded by Jean Bap- tiste Mallet, who took off the mate and crew and left Captain Reed and the cabin-boy confined on board. A prize-master and crew of six took the schooner to Saint John, Puerto Rico, where they arrived the last day of the month.
In a few days Captain Reed, who had been despoiled of the ship's im- portant papers, was allowed to go on shore. The cabin and his sea-chest were plundered of cash and wearing apparel, thus leaving him desti- tute in a foreign land. The schooner was stripped of everything they could sell and, before any legal act of condemnation, the cargo was sold and shipped to Philadelphia. In vain Reed remonstrated. A Connecti- cut shipmaster, Thomas Scott, happened to be in port and was per- suaded by Reed to sail for Philadelphia to recover the stolen cargo, but Scott's vessel fell into the hands of the enemy, and the papers, manifests and bill-of-sale, entrusted to him to identify it, were lost.
35
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
At Santo Domingo in April the Favorite and the cargo were con- demned by the Provisionary Tribunal under the clause that:
The State of Vessels with respect to their being Neutral Enemies shall be determined by their Cargoes, wherefore every Vessel found at Sea loaded wholly with Merchandise, the Produce of England or of her Colonies, shall be declared Good Prize, whoever shall be the Owner of such Provisions or Merchandise.
1770856
Captain Reed was furnished with a Spanish copy of the legal pro- ceedings, translated in Philadelphia whither he went via Wilmington, North Carolina, and in the fall reached home. His crew, compelled to remain on L' Aigle, were fortunate because the privateer brig was cap- tured by an English frigate, taken to Antigua and the Americans lib- erated. Thence they shipped in north-bound vessels, Montgomery to Wiscasset, Adams and Murray to New London and thence home in June.
Since the seizure and condemnation of this American vessel was illegal, a claim for indemnity was filed in Washington. In 1824 the owners were awarded the sum of over seven thousand dollars on this valid claim, of which Elisha Hatch received the maximum and Na- thaniel Curtis the minimum amount.
The brigantine or maintopsail brig Betsey was Bristol-built for Boothbay parties and Timothy Brooks, wharfinger, of Salem. Other owners were Paul and William M. Reed, Andrew McFarland, mar- iners, and John McFarland, merchant. Paul Reed was master. After the autumnal launching the vessel was taken to Boothbay and meas- ured by Robert Reed, who gave her dimensions as '79 feet in length, 23 feet in breadth with a depth of 9 feet, 3 inches.' Her Wiscasset regis- try (November 1795) of 146 and 11/95 tons, with dimensions, corre- sponds exactly with one later issued at Portsmouth. The vessel had no ornate figurehead and galleries, frequently seen in the larger ships of the period. Her stern was square and plain. Within three months the Betsey passed into the hands of Portsmouth parties, thereafter her hail- ing port. The letter of instructions given her last master under the American flag follows:
36
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
Capt. George R. Turner,
Portsmouth, N. H. 19th Feb. 1798
Sir, You being appointed Master of the Brig Betsey our orders are that you proceed to Laguyra and on your arrival if you find the markets will suit - to say -6 Dolls per Quint. for your Fish, four Dolls p M. for Lumber and other Articles of the Cargo in proportion you will dispose of it and invest the net proceeds in produce such as Cofee, Cocoa, Sugars, Hides and such articles as you think will best answer our Markets and make all despatch for this Port. You are to have five p. Commission of Sales of the Cargo, Ten Dollars per Month Wages, privilege as customary. Should any freight offer you have liberty to take it, but take no property on board but American property.
Wishing you a prosperous Voyage & safe Return, We are your obt. Servts. Jacob Sheafe Geo. Turner.
The Betsey sailed deeply laden with a cargo of lumber, salted beef, dried fish, butter and cheese. On the passage she escaped capture by two privateers by skilful sailing and, since the brig had wooden or so- called Quaker guns, she had the appearance of an armed vessel. The brig touched at Tobago, a large mountainous island to the northeast of Trinidad, but found the market very low and fish not admitted in Grenada. A part of the lumber, however, was disposed of at a fair price. The Betsey proceeded to Trinidad where the rest of the cargo was dis- charged and sold. With the proceeds Captain Turner bought a return cargo of sugar and molasses. On a Sunday morning in April the anchor was hove up, sail made and the brig departed from Port of Spain, cap- tured the year before by the English. The weather was pleasant, the sea smooth and everything appeared auspicious for the homeward pas- sage when their apparent good fortune suddenly changed. What hap- pened a fortnight out is best told in the words of Captain Turner:
Finding it impossible to fetch the Moro passage was obliged to bear away to go under the lee of Hispaniola, but meeting with Calms and Head Winds thought it dangerous to continue beating in the bite Liogane on account of the many Privateers Cruising there, thought better for the safety of the Ves- sel to bear away and take advantage of the Jamaica Fleet which was to sail about the middle of may, in consideration of which, on fryday, the fourth of may, about eight o'clock in the evening we bore away and at daylight the
37
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
next morning made the east end of the Island of Jamaica bearing South from us.
At nine A.M. on Saturday, the 5th of may, saw a sail to the southward making after us upon which we strove to get into Porto Antonio, but having very little wind She, by the help of her oars, came up with us before we could get into the land. At two P.M. gave us a Gun and hoisted English Colours upon which I hoisted my Colours and hove to for her. At three P.M. She came alongside and ordered me to hoist out a boat and come on board which I accordingly did and found her to be a French Privateer called the Pourvoyeuse of twelve Guns, Commanded by Pierre Olanyer and after ex- amining my Papers the Captain sent a Prize-Master and six hands on board to take charge of her with the Brig's papers and a Copy of her Commission.
In his report, translated from the French, Captain Olanyer wrote:
The island of Jamaica distant eight leagues I perceived about nine o'clock in the morning a sail to which we gave chase and after coming up with her and boarding her I found by her papers that she was the American brig Betsey of Portsmouth, Captain George Turner, which sailed from Trinidad, an island conquered by the English, having on board a cargo of sugar embarked there, wherefore we took possession of her, putting on board Joseph Renouz for prize-master and five other men of the crew with orders to conduct the vessel into one of the Ports of the Republic.
Late in May the two vessels arrived in Havana where Turner, who had been detained on the privateer, was allowed his liberty. He ap- plied to the American consul, Daniel Hawley, for advice and redress. A sworn deposition of the seizure of the Betsey, filed with the consul, was brought to the attention of the Spanish authorities in vain, for they were in sympathy with the French. However, if the master would pay a fine of $4000 they agreed to restore his brig, but his endeavor to raise that amount proved unsuccessful.
On the ground that the Betsey was found at sea with English mer- chandise and produce on board, she was condemned as a prize of war by judges sitting at Cape François. Before actually condemned, how- ever, the cargo was sold and shipped to Charleston. Meantime the mate of the brig had worked his way thither and, at Turner's request, en- tered a protest against its sale there. This the mate did, probably unsuc-
manimi
£
.
38
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
cessfully, for in 1823 Daniel Webster, then a member of Congress, was interested in a claim of the owners of the Betsey against the United States.
In December of 1848 a vessel of 525 tons, named in honor of a Port- land sea-captain recently deceased, was launched at Cape Elizabeth. The ship was named George Turner.
The Townsend, of almost ninety-eight tons, was built in 1796 at Newcastle. The sloop was about eighty feet in length and over twenty- one in beam. She hailed from Boothbay and took her name, of course, from the old name of the town, where the vessel was owned by Joseph Campbell, Ephraim McFarland and William McCobb. The career of the Townsend under the American flag covered two years and ended in her capture by the French. On this last voyage the cargo manifest, owned in thirds by the three men, states it consisted of:
74,367 feet of boards 47,000 shingles 1. pr. M. 4,600 staves
at $6.83 pr. M.
9. 40 quintals codfish " 2.
Ten quintals of codfish belonged to the crew to be disposed of for their own account. The crew list reads as follows:
Time of entry. 1798. August - Daniel Campbell
Men's names. Quality. Wages pr. mo.
Master $-
25 Daniel Fegan
Mate 30.
25 Samuel King
Seaman
21.
66
22 Joseph Kennedy
Seaman
19
Isaac Garrish
Seaman 20.
25 30
Nathaniel Gurrel
Cook
10.
With the sloop loaded and ready for sea the following letter of in- structions was given to the master:
Capt. Daniel Campbell,
Boothbay, 29 August 1798.
Master of Sloop Townsend.
You are hereby directed to proceed with said sloop and the cargo now on board to Antigua in the West Indies, or to any other island or place
الـ
39
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
not prohibited by the laws of the United States, and where it may appear most [advantageous] for the owners and freighters of said sloop, and return to this place with the proceeds of the cargo as soon as may be.
Wm. McCobb Joseph Campbell
Sail was made at Boothbay, and they had almost reached their desti- nation in the Leeward Islands when the sloop was overhauled, in 17º north latitude, longitude 61° west, and seized by the French privateer Pelletier. The prize-master, William Étier, took the sloop to the island of Guadeloupe where the American sailors were liberated; Captain Campbell was imprisoned. Three days later he was summoned to court to show cause why his sloop and cargo should not be confiscated as 'a good prize.' The judges stated the vessel lacked cargo papers and stressed the fact that she had no rôle d'équipage required by French maritime law. To this Campbell replied that no French blanks were available at the time he sailed, but that he carried the shipping papers required by the laws of his country. Although the charges were trivial and the reasons flimsy, nevertheless the sloop was condemned sum- marily and the cargo confiscated. The master was remanded to jail. There he remained for over three months; then, in January of 1799, he was freed and with a friendly shipmaster sailed for the States and in the course of a month reached Wiscasset.
The seizure formed one of those unsatisfactory French spoliation claims, prolonged through the years. The United States Court of Claims, in a decision filed in 1908, decreed that the condemnation was illegal and litigants were paid claims aggregating $5600.
The Six Sisters was a duly registered American ship hailing from Wiscasset, owned by Henry Hodge with exception of a one-third share controlled by the master, Daniel Baker. On a peaceful trading voyage she sailed from Wiscasset for Liverpool, and in December 1798 was seized on the high seas by a French privateer. Under a prize-master and crew instructed to take the Six Sisters to Bordeaux a sail was sighted and to lighten ship cargo was thrown overboard by order of the French master. However, she was captured by an English frigate and taken to Falmouth, England, where the American ship was condemned to pay
i
40
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
salvage amounting to 2128 pounds sterling. Unjust and illegal, the seizure formed a valid claim against France. Afterward she hailed from Baltimore.
The Hazard, a topsail schooner of over 100 tons burden, was launched at Bristol late in 1794. Soon after she was taken to Boston for charter by Thomas Moore, who carried on extensive shipping interests at the North End with Boothbay and Wiscasset. The vessel hailed from the river port, and from there or Boothbay the vessel, commanded by James Campbell, sailed on a commercial voyage bound to Martinique. Thirty days out and nearing the destination the schooner was captured by the French privateer Général Masséna, Franque Darrière, com- mander, and taken to Port Liberty in the island of Guadeloupe (Janu- ary 1800).
On a charge by the French court 'that the master of the vessel in question had neither invoice nor bill of lading and that he had no rôle d'équipage' the Hazard and cargo were condemned. Although the schooner was valued at the modest sum of $5000, neither the owners nor their heirs seem to have been reimbursed for the seizure and spolia- tion of an American vessel.
In summer time of the closing year of the eighteenth century there was lying on the broad bosom of the harbor of Wiscasset an old-time topsail schooner, called the Nabby. At this stage in the development of the maritime interests of this country the names Betsey, Polly, Sally, Nancy and Nabby were favorite ones for vessels.
Now let us try to visualize the vessel as she lay at anchor in the calm of an August day, the sun beating down on deck, her mainsail idly swinging to and fro as a slight puff of air now and then stirred it. The cargo had been stowed, the schooner cleared at the custom house and hauled out in the stream to await a favoring wind and the turn of the tide to go down river and out to sea, for the Nabby was bound on a voyage to the British island of Tortola in the West Indies.
The custom-house records state: 'The vessel was built at New Mil- ford in the year 1795, has one deck and two masts . .. and measures ninety-two and 86/95 tons.' From the description of a contempo- raneous schooner of the same tonnage, it is probable the Nabby had a
i
41
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS
small quarter-deck, a wide yellow stripe on the sides running from stem to stern with a few black painted ports and a white stern with either green painted curtains or real windows. The hull doubtless was painted black with a red bottom and unlike the schooner of to-day, she carried a square topsail and topgallantsail on the foremast. The owners of this picturesque craft were Moses Carlton and Timothy Woodman, the former owning three-fourths of the vessel.
The Nabby was commanded by Captain James Clifford with Alex- ander Reed, aged twenty-one, as mate; the others, all Lincoln County men, were John Gove, the cook, Andrew Tilton, Joshua Frizzle (per- haps Frizzell) and Joseph Perkins. The last was about twenty-four and, like most lads of that time and place, had followed the sea from youth, thus attaining self-confidence; and furthermore he was assertive and not afraid to speak his mind when occasion warranted, as will be seen. A sea-captain of that period has left a written record that Perkins 'was called a smart and honest man.'
Finally the wind came into the north. The schooner got under way and went down the beautiful Sheepscot River channel between banks covered with lofty trees, the green of spruce and pine contrasting pleas- ingly with intermingled white birches. Here and there great gray ledges amid the foliage stand, as then, like a fortalice of rock. As the voyagers neared Hendrick's Head, where the lighthouse now stands, a breeze fanned the more open water and they stood out to sea, taking their departure from Seguin light, established the same year the Nabby was built and one of the earliest stations on the coast. On the passage the great equinoctial gale of September 1800 was encountered in which the American cruiser Pickering was lost in the West Indies, but the stanchly built seventy-foot schooner rode out the gale and arrived safely.
The cargo of 70,000 feet of boards, 8000 staves and 66,000 shingles was discharged at Tortola, and rum, sugar and coffee loaded. The Nabby was ready for sea in November. On sailing Captain Clifford was aware of the possibilty of capture, as stated in an American news- paper of July 1800, thus:
42
THE SHIPPING DAYS OF OLD BOOTHBAY
By accounts from all quarters the French pirates have abundantly in- creased of late both in number and mischief; but as our cruisers are ordered out, we hope soon to hear a good account of many of the pirates, and their prizes.
On Sunday, the ninth, when about a day's sail from Tortola, a vessel was sighted to windward. A man was ordered aloft and reported that apparently she was an armed schooner bearing down toward them. The Nabby was put before the wind and all sail crowded on and wetted down to avoid her, but all to no purpose, as the deeply-laden mer- chant vessel was outsailed. Soon the privateer-for such she proved to be-was near enough to be seen distinctly with her ports showing ten guns and her deck full of men and, as she slowly forged ahead, a shot was fired across the Nabby's bows, French colors hoisted and the fore- topsail brailed up. A boat was lowered, manned and the Nabby, which had been hove to as resistance was useless, boarded by a hard looking crew under a French officer, who demanded the ship's papers and, after warning Captain Clifford to remain in the wind, returned to the pri- vateer. After some delay the Nabby was reboarded, and Captain Clif- ford was informed that his vessel was claimed as a prize, as coming from an English island with its products on board.
A prize-crew was placed on board, who immediately ransacked the quarters of the crew and robbed the cabin of three hundred dollars in specie, the mate's quadrant and the master's chest and clothes. Captain Clifford was indignant and, in no uncertain tone, denounced them as a set of picaroons, but to no avail. The Americans were ordered into the boat and taken to the privateer, which convoyed the Nabby to a Spanish port.
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.