USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Freeport > Three centuries of Freeport, Maine > Part 11
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Another Soule yard, established a few years later than that at Porter's Landing, was at Strout's Point, now South Freeport. This was the largest yard in Freeport and one of the largest on the coast of Maine. The firm name was Soule Brothers and the partners were Enos, Henchman S. and Clement H. Soule. At first, at least one of the brothers was always at sea in command of a ship, but later all remained on shore, managing their fleet and building new craft to add to its increasing numbers. Com- manders for the ships were in many cases sons and nephews of the Soules.
The Tam O'Shanter in the Soule Yard
- - -...
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Shipbuilding in Freeport
During the period 1839 to 1869, the following vessels were built:
Bark Ella, 299 tons, 1839 Don Juan, 645 tons, 1841 Ship Haidee, 655 tons Brig Venus, 198 tons, 1846 Ship Lydia, 543 tons, 1846 Ship Arthur, 579 tons, 1847 Bark Glen, 287 tons, 1848 Ship Tam O'Shanter, 977 tons, 1850 Ship Souter Jonny(?) 698 tons, 1851 Ship Uncle Toby, 1,144 tons, 1853 Bark Corporal Trim, 463 tons, 1854 Bark Adjusta, 495 tons, 1853 Ship Superior, 1,240 tons, 1854 Ship Sentinel, 929 tons, 1854 Ship Harraseeket, 1,082 tons, 1856 Ship Yorick, 1,287 tons, 1857 Ship LaFayette, 1,160 tons, 1858 Ship Southerner, 1,044 tons, 1859 Ship H. S. Soule, 977 tons, 1861 Ship C. H. Soule, 977 tons, 1853 Ship Uncle Toby, 1,005 tons, 1866 Schr. Nellie True, 295 tons, 1867 Schr. Teaser, 137 tons, 1867.
Captain Enos Soule died in 1869 and as he was the last of the original firm his son Captain Enos C. Soule succeeded him in management of the shipping. Since 1860 the latter had been in charge of the yard. Captain Enos C. Soule went to sea at the age of seventeen and became master at twenty-six, sailing in some of the finest of the Soule ships. Under his management the yards launched the following ships:
Ship Enos Soule, 1,518 tons, 1869 Ship Lucille, 1,394 tons, 1874 Ship Tam O'Shanter, 2nd of name, 1,602 tons, 1875 Ship San Joaquin, 1,630 tons, 1876 Ship Sintram, 1,673 tons, 1877 Ship Paraminta, 1,573 tons, 1879
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
In 1879 this yard ceased production, for it was seen that iron and steel would replace wood in ship construction.
When destructive submarines threatened transportation during the World War, our government evolved the plans of a standard wooden steamer, known as the Ferris Type and re- vived wooden shipbuilding in order to produce this type in large numbers. The Soule yard was one of those which re- opened to build these steamers and called back all experienced ship workers who were available. The Freeport Shipbuilding Company which operated, was made up of Captain Julius S. Soule, son of Captain Enos C. Soule and five of the latter's grandsons with George Leawood as master builder.
The Nemassa, the first steamer completed, sank in Baltimore Harbor when on her maiden voyage to Italy. By mistake her water valves were left open and disaster followed.
The Harraseeket was launched May 29, 1919. Her dimensions were 281.6 feet in length, 46 feet beam and she was of 3,500 tons.
Another Ferris Type hull, under construction when the war was over was converted into a five masted schooner and launched on December 11, 1920. She was christened the Sin- tram, in honor of the next to the last ship launched by the elder Soules. Her career was short, for within a year after launching she was in collision with the tank steamer David McKelvey and sank. The Freeport Shipbuilding Company continued build- ing for some time, having obtained a contract for six small steamers of the type known as rum chasers, designed for inter- cepting liquor smugglers during prohibition days. Later some fishing boats and yachts were built and then the yard closed, perhaps for the last time.
Up the Harraseeket from South Freeport was the yard of Captain Enoch Talbot, who built up to 1860. The best known of his ships were:
Ship Georgia, 448 tons, 1848 Ship Samuel Fales, 800 tons, 1853
Bark Occident, 208 tons, 1855 Ship Kentuckian, 1,049 tons, 1857
Bark Enoch Talbot, 1,042 tons, 1857
Bark P. C. Merryman, 922 tons, 1860
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Shipbuilding in Freeport
Nearly a mile below Porter's Landing on the road to South Freeport is a side road with "Cushing-Briggs" on the guidepost. This road leads to the former yard of Briggs & Cushing. Their yard was in operation from 1855 to 1880, first as Briggs & Means, then Cushing, Briggs & Means and finally as Briggs & Cushing. This firm both built and managed the craft they launched. The largest ship built in Freeport, the John A. Briggs, was launched here in 1878. All of the Briggs & Cushing vessels were constructed under one Master George Anderson, of whom something is told in another part of this volume.
A list of craft from this yard includes:
Ship Resolute, 745 tons, 1856 Ship Oasis, 679 tons, 1856 Ship C. M. Davis, 943 tons, 1859 Bark Norwegian, 900 tons, 1861 Bark Jennie Prince, 953 tons, 1864 Bark Gen. Fairchild, 1,100 tons, 1866 Ship Jairus B. Lincoln, 1,814 tons, 1869
Bark Oasis, 1,105 tons, 1871 Ship John De Costa, 1,753 tons, 1876 Ship John A. Briggs, 2,110 tons, 1878 Ship Wilna, 1,483 tons, 1880
Gershom and Charles Bliss began building in a yard be- tween the Talbot yard and South Freeport about 1860. Later the firm was known as Charles Bliss & Company. The output was chiefly fishing schooners, but larger craft were also built. These latter were barks and brigs as follows:
Bark Orsina, 604 tons, 1863 Bark Chalmette, 849 tons, 1865 Bark Melville, 924 tons, 1866 Bark Jennie S. Baker, 1,039 tons, 1869 Brig Essex, 275 tons, 1855 Brig San Jacinto, 489 tons, 1870 Brig Sarah Hobart, 453 tons, 1864.
XXII HOW A WOODEN SHIP WAS BUILT
S® INCE the building of wooden ships was for many years Free- port's main industry and because the last of the old type was launched so many years ago that the methods of con- struction employed are practically forgotten, it will not be amiss to tell how the old masters planned and set up their craft.
First, there was the matter of timbers. For many years Maine forests supplied these and even after vessels became so large that the longest and thickest sticks must be obtained elsewhere, a large part still came from lumber cut in this state. The ribs which were curved, were made from crooked trunks which an experienced ship foreman chose in the woods and were hewn in the yard to the exact shapes desired. The knees or angular timbers which braced the other parts of the frame were made from stumps and roots of the hackmatack or larch (a tree grow- ing in wet places), by shaping them with the broad-ax. This tool was more like the conventional hatchet but had a bit six or more inches in length and a handle bent rather sharply to one side a short distance beyond the head. So expert were the ship carpenters of early Freeport, that when it came to building a home, instead of hauling logs to the mill to be sawed for a frame, they shaped all of them at home, even to the three by four studding, a fact that examination of any of the houses built in shipbuilding days will confirm.
The shipyards were on tidewater, with a bulkhead built above the highest water, to hold the filling which formed the surface of the yard. This part of the surface prepared for the ship was made to slope down to a slip made in the bulkhead so that the stern end of the keel was about on a level with the water. On this slanting surface logs flattened on one side were laid with the flat side up at a distance of about eight feet apart and at right angles to the direction of the keel. Upon these logs, blockings were placed as a support to the keel and the first tim- ber of the new ship put in place. The blockings were high enough to allow the carpenters ample space in which to work on the under side of the ship. When the keel was in place the stern frame was raised and the ribs put in place. These were made of the curved pieces which had been hewn and were as-
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How a Wooden Ship was Built
sembled upon a framing stage and fastened together by oak pins or "trunnells," each rib forming a unit reaching from the deck down to the keel and up the other side. These were placed astride of the keel and at a slight angle from a plumb line, so as to be at a right angle to the slant of the keel. When the ribs and stem were in place rib bands of plank were temporarily spiked along to hold them in place until the planking was done. At the same time shores were erected between the curve of the ribs and the bed logs, to prevent any distortion due to the weight of the timbers.
Next, timbers a foot or more square were placed above the keel and on the ribs or frames and bolted to both by iron rods, forming a strong backbone or keelson for the entire frame.
Thick planks were then bolted to the inner sides of the frames to form the ceiling of the vessel, an inner coating heav- ier than the outside and much thicker where the deck beams were to rest. When this was complete, the most skillful of the workmen went over the outside of the frames or ribs with adzes and worked them down to conform to the lines of a model a few feet in length which had been constructed as a pattern for the completed ship. Mentally to magnify this model and reproduce it in the frames of a ship fifty or a hundred times larger was one of the miracles wrought by these adzmen.
After finishing came the planking of the outside. The plank- ers were picked men, for dexterity must be combined with strength. The planks must be taken hot from the steam box and twisted and curved until they fitted against the ribs and adjoining planks to form close joints. This work was especially difficult at the bow and stern where the curves were sharp. To secure these planks in place, wooden pins, spelled "tree nails" and pronounced "trunnells" were used. Below the water line these were of locust wood and above that of oak.
When the planks were in place caulkers made the joints watertight by driving oakum into them with caulking tools and mallets and painters sealed the wood with several coats of paint. While this last was being done the decks were laid, the cabin and forecastle built, rails, pumps and windlass placed and masts stepped. This completed the construction which was ordinarily done on land, so that when all was set in place the ship was ready to be launched. Ways were constructed by plac-
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
ing blockings on the bed logs to support long timbers, thus forming a track extending under the hull to the water's edge. These ways were covered with large quantities of a lubricating substance made of beef fat, soap and flaxseed. Upon the ways were placed other timbers, flanged on the inside to keep the vessel from sliding sidewise and between these last and the vessel's bottom a solid mass of timbers and planks was in- serted. Wedges were placed between the plank which touched the bottom of the vessel and that just below, so that when they were driven in the weight of the structure would be shifted from the keel blocks to the "carriage," as the built-up mass above the ways was called.
Driving these wedges was postponed until the day of the launching, which was chosen because of a high run of tides. A half hour before high tide on that day the sound of hammers driving wedges would begin. When all were driven, shores and spurs were knocked away and the carpenters began splitting the heavy blocks on which the keel had rested during construc- tion. Working in pairs, one on either side, these men pro- gressed from the stern toward the bow until enough blocks were removed to permit the weight of the vessel to start it on its way to the water. When the craft was in the water the parts which made up the "carriage" began to float and had to be gathered in by boats for future use.
Some device to check the momentum of the vessel was em- ployed when the depth of water in front of the shipyard rendered it necessary. One of these was to attach a hawser to some firmly placed object on shore and then lash bights or loops in the rope so that as each broke away it would check some of the speed until at last control could be easily obtained. An anchor was always made ready for instant casting to pre- vent accidents.
Newspapers of the time have given us an account of the launching of the largest ship ever built in Freeport, the John A. Briggs. She was built in the Briggs and Cushing Yards by Master George Anderson and launched September, 1878. People came from all over the state to see the event. The Gov- ernor with his staff participated and among the notables was James A. Garfield, who four years later died, the second of our martyred Presidents. A native of the middle west, Mr. Garfield
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How a Wooden Ship was Built
had never seen a launching and as a speaking engagement called him to the vicinity he took the opportunity to witness this, which was one of the last in Freeport up to the time of the World War. No doubt Mr. Garfield would have been the main attraction, if those in attendance could have known what was to happen to him in the next four years.
It is estimated that seven thousand people were on the shores of the Harraseeket River that day. Excursions were run, the schools of Freeport and surrounding towns were closed and even the stores put up their shutters and owners and clerks alike took a holiday. Lemonade was made by the hogshead and there was food for every one. Every noisemaker that was portable was brought and the whistles of the donkey engines sounded as the big ship left the ways. Music was provided by the Freeport Band and the well-known Chandler's Band of Portland. The day was perfect and the actual launching went off without a hitch. The three-masted ship was carried across to the shoals of Wolf's Neck by the momentum of her slide down the ways and after the launching party had been taken off in small boats, sailed away to Portland.
The John A. Briggs as a ship sailed over all the oceans, but like many of the Maine-built craft, outlived the use for sailing ships, because of her excellent construction. She was finally converted into a coal barge and was lost at sea, near Seaside Park, New Jersey, in December, 1909, with the loss of her en- tire crew of seven men.
A local poetess, Mrs. Joanna Soule, celebrated the event by writing a poem which we reproduce in full as follows:
Oh, Harraseeket, how fair the sight Ye saw on your gala day Your waters were specked with sails so white Of the tiny yachts that floated light In the breezes of Casco Bay
What mystic impulse impels the throng In hurrying masses to jostle along From isles and inland towns? They come, they come from shore and sea - To swell old Freeport's jubilee To share in her renown -
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine Lo, Forest City's steamers come Her myriads leave no standing room On upper deck or lower Their cabins each live freight display As they steam along the watery way, Nearing our moss fringed shore
What is the grand magnetic cause That prompts our busy world to pause And thus to congregate around This monster creature framed of wood? Of old Freeport's pride Praise abroad will sound
The John A. Briggs, the good ship's name Historic now and known to fame Her masts tower upward to the skies Quiet, in repose the great ship lies As if pomp and pageant she descried.
Now, now, the noisy hammers ring, Their colors wide they gaily fling And the ship to the water glides. The bands strike up a stirring air The people shout, the thousands there Rise up with bated breath
Majestic was her movement, slow, Graceful the dip of her shining bow As she parts the waves beneath, Our interest in the good ship grew, Took in the captain and the crew, And may favoring gales forevermore Waft them in safety from shore to shore, And when earthly voyagings all are passed Safe anchorage be found in Heaven at last.
Captain Rufus Soule Randall, part owner and first com- mander of the John A. Briggs, was one of Freeport's well-known captains. His early experience was gained in packets sailing from Mast Landing but at the age of twenty he was made sec- ond mate of the ship Forest State under Captain Pollister.
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How a Wooden Ship was Built
By 1857 he was in command of the bark New Empire and when bound for Boston with a cargo of cotton he was overtaken by the great gale of that year. At this particular time the govern- ment was building the Minot Ledge lighthouse and the New Empire crashed against this structure thereby demolishing it but the bark itself remained afloat and after repairs resumed her sailing.
While in command of the Ella and Annie a part of the crew mutinied. The officers armed themselves but in subduing the men Captain Randall received three knife wounds one of which grazed the jugular vein. The affair occurred a few hours out of Portland and was incited by a stowaway who wished to go to Savannah.
From 1871 to 1879 Captain Randall commanded the bark Oasis of which he was part owner. During this command no life was lost on the vessel, she met with no disaster and was a con- sistent profit maker.
It is said that Captain Randall made fifty voyages in all and encircled the world several times.
To those of the older folk of Freeport the name, Master Anderson, brings memories of an elderly man living on Bow Street, in the second house on the left after passing the abrupt turn, when leaving the centre which gives the street its name. Among shipbuilders of the palmy days of wooden vessels George Anderson was the leading master builder of the region, whose methods, plans and opinions were deferred to by other masters of his craft. The ships that he built have long since passed to Davy Jones's Locker, or to the port where good ships go when their time comes. Although the firm for whom he built, Briggs and Cushing, launched their last ship in 1880, or fifty-nine years ago, due to the strength built into them by Master Anderson some of these craft after their sailing days were over were converted into barges. These were towed up and down the coast, carrying coal until comparatively recent days. An inglorious end for a beautiful thing like a ship, but a tribute to the skill of George Anderson and his associates.
George Anderson was born on Flying Point in 1818, the son of George R. Anderson. The elder George was the son of Jane Means Anderson, one of the survivors of the Means Massacre, who married Joseph Anderson and lived on what for many
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
years has been known as the Frank True place. In early life George Anderson prepared for his future career by cutting ship timber, helping build sloops and small craft in his home town. According to a book in which he made notes, he was em- ployed in ship construction for long periods at Belfast, Maine, and other places. The book contains profiles of boats that he worked on and details for parts of masts. Evidently as a young man he made a close study of all that related to the construc- tion of ships, thereby preparing himself for his future responsi- bilities. His first ship was built in the yard of Enoch Talbot in 1867 and named for the owner. Further light is thrown upon the secret of his success by other pages of this same book, for it seems that he was not content with learning to build ships but rounded out his education by learning to sail them as well. This is told by a page devoted to a voyage made by him in 1845, during which he visited the West Indies, the English Channel, Denmark and Russia. The spelling is as he wrote it and may be phonetic, for Rusia (pronounced Roosia) is the pronunciation which people of his time gave to the country once called Russia.
The following is an account of moneys drawn by George Anderson in 1845 on a voyage with Captain Robert M. Means:
Cash in Havannh
$ 4.25
Cash in Trinidad
1.00
Cash in Turk's Island
.50
Cash in isle of White
2.00
Cash in Denmark
1.00
Cash in Crownstat Rusia
5.00
$13.75
Another page contained names of places nearer home, which, seemingly had been visited by him:
Boston
Prospect
Barnstable
Fribirg
Poland
Cansor Falmouth
Scarbrour
Castine
Topsom Cons Capes (?)
Portsmouth
Thomaston Belfast Troy
Farmington
Swanzy
Freeport
Turner Saco
Brunswick
Cronwallis
Portland
Sumerset
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How a Wooden Ship was Built
These are towns and cities in Maine, New Hampshire, Massa- chusetts and probably some of the Provinces, but New York is not on the list. Perhaps he did go there but it must be remem- bered that in his time Maine ships were in every sea and went from their home ports directly to foreign countries and New York was relatively far less important than it is today. Master Anderson died in February, 1901.
An interesting picture of his masterpiece, the John A. Briggs, is in the Bartol Library. It was painted by Mrs. Lithgow Ander- son, a daughter-in-law of the builder and presented by another daughter-in-law, Mrs. George W. Anderson.
In the good old days of American shipping a figurehead was an essential part of every well-found vessel. Many of these fig- ureheads were really statues of artistic merit, as is shown by those specimens extant in museums or private collections. Thousands of others were destroyed in wrecks or in disman- tling condemned hulks and thereby choice examples of the carver's art may have been lost.
Even the artists are now but a tradition and remembered only as old men by people who are today elderly themselves.
Freeport's best figurehead carver was Emery Jones, who had his residence and shop around the corner from the stone post where the road turns down to South Freeport. The shop was an old schoolhouse which he had made over to suit his purposes. Here he carved figureheads, name boards, stars, eagles and the many ornaments which the fancy of the builder or owner placed upon the ships of his time. Even after figureheads went out of style, he provided the other items of ship carving re- quired by the shipyards of a region extending from Falmouth to Harpswell. Many of his days found him driving to Falmouth to superintend the placing of some of his work there and then in the afternoon making a trip to Harpswell upon the same errand. To drive a horse that distance in one day is a difficult task not appreciated in these days of the automobile, but to do the driving and then add to it the placing of his carvings was considerable of a day's work, even for those hardworking times.
Unfortunately, it appears that there are few authentic speci- mens of Emery Jones's work in existence. The head of the George Skolfield, built by Skolfield Brothers in Harpswell in 1870 is now in the Mariner's Museum in Williamsburg and
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Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
there may be others of which we have not heard. One of the carver's old friends, now ninety-six years of age coveted a beau- tiful eagle which was in the shop but that, too, has been lost and may be in the hands of some one who knows nothing of its origin. It is said that he did the carving for the barkentine Pay- son Tucker, built in Portland in 1883. Payson Tucker was an official of the Maine Central Railroad. Perhaps it would be safe to say that for many years he was the Maine Central. There is so much of truth in this statement that when standard time was put into operation many called it "Payson Tucker's Time." No doubt standard time was the answer to the railroad man's prayer, for it was inconvenient, to say the least, to find each town with a different time, as was the case with local time. Quite appropriately, after carving a bust of Payson Tucker for the figurehead of this barkentine, Mr. Jones made a representa- tion of a railroad, complete with roadbed, train, telegraph poles and all for the sternboard.
Emery Jones was born in Pownal in 1827 and died in Free- port in 1908. At the age of ten he was carrying mail on horse- back from Pownal to North Pownal and in his last years he also carried mail, but this time from Freeport to South Free- port. His wife, born Eunice Merrill, was the daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, Jacob Merrill of Falmouth, who was seventy-three at the time of her birth, in 1827. She was one of the last, if not the last, of the real Daughters of the Revolution, in Maine.
XXIII TALES OF THE SEA
J OSEPH PORTER was the oldest of thirteen children, of whom eleven were sons, of Seward Porter who arrived at Porter's Landing about 1782. Following the custom of those times he went to sea at an early age and in 1811 was master of the Eliza Ann, which as the Eliza was built in Salem in 1794 and made a round trip to India in nine months. In 1812, at the age of thirty-four he was master of the America, one of the Porter vessels. At the outbreak of the war he was at Archangel, Russia, where he made many friends during his enforced stay for the period of the war. Among the family papers are letters which he had received from associates of his exile. The writers were Englishmen, possibly members of Joseph Porter's Masonic Lodge, for the latter was made a Mason in Liverpool, Eng- land, in 1807, in Lodge Number 276 Aspinwalls, Richmond Street, later Ancient Union Lodge Number 203.
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