USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Freeport > Three centuries of Freeport, Maine > Part 5
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
When British forces captured Castine and invaded the Penobscot valley as far as Bangor alarm was felt in the western part of the Province. Freeport raised a company as her contri- bution to the defense of Portland.
Each year Freeport decorates the known graves of veterans of the War of 1812, but these are but a few compared with the total number deserving that honor, for the passing years have caused the final resting places of many of them to be forgotten.
The following is the roster of the company which was sent to Portland:
Captain E. Brewer's Company Under Lieutenant-Colonel J. E. Foxcroft's Regiment From September 10 to 24, 1814, Raised at Freeport Service at Portland
Captain E. Brewer Sergeant Simeon Jones
Lieutenant James Brewer
Corporal Gideon Edes
Ensign John Laurence Corporal Timothy Soule
Sergeant Thomas R. Dillingham Corporal Theodore Curtis
Sergeant John Dennison Corporal George Anderson
Sergeant Rufus Cushing
Musician George Hicks
Privates
Allen, Paul
Clark, Francis
Bartol, Samuel
Coffin, Thomas
Bennet, Andrew H.
Curtis, James
Blackstone, Samuel
Curtis, Samuel
Brown, Samuel Carver, Isaac
Curtis, Stephen
Davis, Saul
Chandler, Joel
Dennison, Caleb
Chandler, William
Deven, Francis
54
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
Fitz, Richard
Fogg, Abel
Rice, Calvin Rice, Rufus
Fogg, Saul Grant, Watts
Richardson, Joseph
Rogers, John
Holbrook, Reuben
Sanborn, Paul
Jordan, William
Small, Daniel
Kilby, Thomas
Soule, Barnabas
Knight, Abner
Soule, Cornelius
Libbey, Josiah
Soule, Daniel
Lincoln, Daniel
Soule, Emory
Mann, Andrew
Soule, Isaac
Marston, Daniel
Soule, James
McGray, Samuel
Soule, Joseph E.
McKenney, Jedediah
Staples, David
Merrill, Edward
Sylvester, Abner, Jr.
Mitchell, Ammi
Talbot, Simeon
Mitchell, Edward
Thoyts, Simeon
Mitchell, Joel
Townsend, William
Mitchell, Nathaniel
Tukesbury, Benjamin
Mitchell, Robert
Tuttle, William
Noyes, John
Ward, Nehemiah
Osgood, Silas
Webster, Benjamin
Paine, Charles
Witherspoon, Robert
XIII THE DASH
T HE War of 1812, as conducted on land was not a brilliant success. Until redeemed by the Battle of New Orleans and that after peace had been declared, this war involved the capture and burning of our capital and reverses in Canada. That the English were glad to end the struggle was due to suc- cesses gained by our sea forces. Our navy was small, but even though the ships of which it was composed made a great show- ing, the privateers must have been the most impelling force in bringing peace, for they emptied John Bull's pocketbook.
For some years before 1812 American sailors were hungry, for European wars and the Jeffersonian embargo had put most of them on shore. Their ships were tied up at the wharves or swinging idly in the streams and men and owners were des- perate. The vessels were, in many cases, small but speedy, for the Napoleonic wars developed a system of restrictions which made commerce chiefly blockade running and only the swiftest survived.
When war was declared Congress authorized the issue of let- ters of marque and reprisal, which locally were given out from the office of the Collector of the Port of Portland. Many Free- port men served on privateers but the one vessel in which we are interested was a topsail schooner christened the Dash. Port- land also claims her but the fact that she was built at Porter's Landing, by Freeport carpenters under Master James Brewer, for Porter Brothers, who were natives of Freeport and largely officered and manned by Freeport men gives us a claim that can hardly be denied.
Like many others of that time she was built primarily for blockade running. Her lines were unlike those of the usual merchant ship of her period, being more like the Burgess class of some years ago. There can be no question of this, for the model from which she was built has been preserved and now hangs on the wall of the Bartol Library. Before the Dash was built the custom had been to set up stem and stern frames and then to shape other frames by eye. For the Dash a model was made of pieces of board shaped to represent halves of frames, which were attached to a board and connected by rib bands.
56
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
Thus the shape was made apparent and the frames cut and beveled until the model attained the lines best calculated to give speed. The record of the Dash proves conclusively that her designers knew their business.
An undated newspaper clipping says that:
"While moving some old books in the Custom House the other day, Deputy Collector Farnsworth came across an in- teresting ancient document. It is the commission issued on the 18th of June, 1812 to the private armed brig Dash of Portland of about 223 tons burthen, and owned by Seward Porter and William Porter of Portland and Samuel Porter of Freeport 'in the State of Massachusetts, merchants.' The brig mounted three carriage guns and was navigated by thirty men. William Cammett was captain and George Bacon, lieutenant of the brig. The commission authorized Captain Cammett to 'Detain, seize and take all vessels and effects to whomsoever belonging, which shall be liable thereto according to the law of nations and the rights of the United States as a power at war, and to bring the same within some port of the United States in order that due proceedings may be had thereon.' This commission bears the signature of James Madison, President and that of James Munroe, Secretary of State."
A later attempt to locate this commission resulted in the con- clusion that it had been destroyed with some waste paper. However, the date, June 18, 1812, would prove that the Dash was one of the earliest privateers. In fact it was not until June 26 that Congress passed an act authorizing letters of marque and reprisal, although war had been declared some days pre- viously.
It is not unlikely that there is a mistake in the date given by the clipping just quoted for William Goold in Portland in the Past says that she was launched in 1813, rigged as a top- sail schooner and armed with a long thirty-two pivot gun and six broadside guns. The metamorphosis in her rig occurred after her first voyage under Captain Kelleran. Returning to her home port, the Dash was chased by an enemy vessel and spread so much sail that she sprung her foremast. In spite of this she escaped into shoal water and delivered her cargo of
Working model of the Dash, 1812
Trophies captured by the Dash
57
The Dash
coffee to the owners. In making repairs it was decided that the Dash could bear more head sail and the damaged mainmast was replaced with one suitable for an hermaphrodite brig. To bal- ance the increased sail area forward, a long sliding spar was fitted to the main boom, to which a "ring tail" was attached to be hoisted to the gaff when needed, thus increasing the main- sail one third. A longer main topmast with a gaff topsail to cor- respond also replaced the old ones. This rig changed the Dash into what was then known as a "long-legged brig."
Given a good breeze with her spread of sail the Dash could show speed superior to anything in her class. However, there was one drawback, the fouling of her bottom on a long voy- age, with the consequent reduction in speed. English cruisers were sheathed with copper to prevent this but there was no copper available here for that purpose. The available substi- tute was to cover the bottom with a mixture of soap and tallow. This could be conveniently done at the home port but as the mixture had to be applied at the end of each voyage in the West Indies it was necessary to careen the vessel for that purpose.
Captain Kelleran also commanded on the second voyage, which took the Dash to Port-au-Prince where she arrived Octo- ber 1, 1813. After discharging her cargo, probably lumber, she was careened and payed over with the usual soap and tallow. The return cargo consisted of coffee and logwood for the owners and five hundred and fifty bags of coffee as freight. Rather heavily laden she started for Portland on October 17. On the thirty-first an English brig chased her, compel- ling her captain to throw overboard four hundred bags of coffee, the spare spars and two of the guns. As the chase still continued on the third of November, one hundred and twenty- two more bags went overboard, along with twelve guns of which ten were wooden. Originally the Dash was pierced for sixteen guns but to save weight and still give the impression that she was rather heavily armed, ten of these were made of wood. She also carried a thirty-two pound pivot gun, so that after lightening ship she still had three guns left. The decreased load put the Dash into proper sailing trim, so that two days later she saw the last of the enemy brig. Her troubles were not yet over for the next day she was chased by a seventy-four gun ship and a brig. However, her superior speed enabled her to give both
58
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
the slip and she arrived in Portland on November 5, with the owners' cargo intact.
At first the coffee was taken to Gorham village because of fear of attack on Portland by a British squadron then off the coast, but unfortunately it was returned and stored in the Porter warehouse on Union Wharf. On January 22, 1814, the entire block of wooden stores on this wharf burned and the Porters lost not only this coffee, worth a dollar a pound, but also complete rigging for two new vessels and all without in- surance.
In the meantime the Dash had again sailed for Port-au-Prince under the same commander. She left in a thick snowstorm, which the next day, December 14, developed a hard gale, with snow and sleet. The last day of the year found her again at Port-au-Prince, where the cargo was unloaded and the usual soap and tallow applied. The cargo this time was thirty thousand pounds of coffee and the sailing date January 16, 1814. In company with the schooner Flash of New York, Captain Kelleran left the harbor but upon sighting an English frigate returned to Port-au-Prince the same day. Knowing what to expect, for the British commanders disregarded the laws of nations, the two Yankee craft hauled alongside of each other and kept all hands at quarters all night, to be ready to repel attacks from the frigate's boats. Nothing developed that night but the frigate's commander made threats the next day, in response to which the armed schooner Chauncey, also of New York, hauled alongside and the three were lashed together in the form of a cross, in order to be able to fire in all directions in case of attack, which would probably be from the frigate's boats. The commander of the frigate, which proved to be the Leonidas, decided that a possible victory would cost too dearly and sailed away, allowing the three allies to go on their way without molestation. The Dash arrived at her home port on February 15. This cruise ended the connection of Captain Kelleran with the Dash and the next voyage opened another chapter in her history.
Hitherto the Dash had been a merchantman, relying upon her speed to escape the enemy and using her armament only as a last resort. Now begins her career as a privateer. No doubt the correct date of her commission was June 18, 1814, since Captain
59
The Dash
Kelleran brought her into port on February 15 and the Port- land Gazette reported her arrival under Captain William Cam- mett on July 11. Before going into commission the remaining small guns of her battery were removed and two eighteen pounders substituted. The long thirty-two pivot gun was re- tained. These constituted the three carriage guns mentioned in the commission. We do not know how many Freeport men were in the crew but George Bacon was lieutenant.
Captain Cammett sailed to the south of Bermuda where he encountered a British man-of-war. This the Dash easily out- sailed and put into Wilmington, North Carolina. Here it be- came necessary to apply the usual mixture to the brig's bottom. While purchasing the materials, Captain Cammett had his at- tention called to a quantity of crude plumbago which the mer- chant had in stock. A supply of this was secured and added to the customary soap and tallow. As was expected, the new in- gredient increased the brig's speed and fortunately, for the home trip called for all of which she was capable.
Owing to the risks of transportation the storehouses of Wilmington were full of merchandise which could be pur- chased at very low prices. Captain Cammett saw a chance to make a dollar and took fifteen hundred barrels of flour at four dollars a barrel and twenty-four hogsheads of tobacco at three cents a pound. In addition there were one hundred and forty barrels of tar, fifty tierces of rice and four thousand Carolina reeds. Thus laden the Dash sailed for Portland. The newspaper account of her arrival says "she was repeatedly chased by Bri- tish cruisers and escaped only by superior sailing, after throw- ing overboard part of her cargo." The new guns came into play for one of the pursuers was beaten off by them.
It had been a bad year for the owners, Porter Brothers, for the fire in January had destroyed a cargo of coffee and the rig- ging for two vessels without insurance. Before her arrival it was decided to sell the Dash at auction and apply the proceeds to the firm's debts. But the flour which had cost four dollars sold for fifteen and the tobacco at three cents per pound brought fifteen cents, while the remainder of the cargo brought corre- sponding prices, thus satisfying all creditors and leaving the Dash in the owners' possession. As Captain Seward Porter put it "One Dash at John Bull saved our bacon."
60
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
One can hardly blame the Porters for wishing to repeat the Wilmington voyage but circumstances rendered this impossi- ble. The next cruise was uneventful until August 21, when the Dash was in sight of the island of Bermuda. Two sail were sighted and chased. They proved to be a sloop and a ship. In early evening the sloop was overtaken and boarded. She was the Emily of Charleston which H. M. S. Lacedemonian had cap- tured. After a prize crew had been put aboard the chase of the ship was resumed. When she was overtaken the vessel, the Five Sisters, hauled down her colors. The prize was bound from
Dash in Pursuit of ship Five Sisters
Jamaica to Bermuda with a cargo of rum and had about thirty passengers on board. These were about to sit down to dinner when Captain Cammett went aboard. As it was considered dangerous to leave such a large number of unknown persons on board the prize they were transferred to the Dash and had their dinner there. The boarding party found that the English cap- tain was drunk, perhaps a natural result of so much spirit in the cargo. At any rate when it came time to return the passengers to the prize they protested and wished to be protected against their own captain. To satisfy them the captain was made pris- oner and the English prize master of the sloop put in command over him. Then the Five Sisters was allowed to proceed to Ber- muda, but not until her cargo had been transferred to the Dash. In order to make room two hundred barrels of beef, the en- tire cargo of the brig had to be thrown overboard. The rum oc-
61
The Dash
cupied so much room that a part of it had to be placed on the deck. The United States Marshal's libel of the cargo of the Five Sisters lists one hundred seventy puncheons of rum, twenty bags of cocoa and one barrel of merchandise. Captain Cammett, years after said that there was $6000 in specie on board the prize, which we cannot believe was allowed to remain there, although it is not mentioned in the libel. The fact is that privateers probably considered cash as a perquisite for in almost every case none is mentioned.
When she left the vicinity of Bermuda the Dash was not only heavily laden beyond her best sailing trim but as an additional handicap had her deck littered with stacks of rum puncheons to such an amount that at least one of the guns could not be worked. When the brig was within sight of the headlands of Portland an enemy frigate and schooner sighted her and took up the chase. The Dash outsailed the frigate but the schooner gained on her. Since the cargo was too valuable to be thrown overboard, there was but one thing to do and that was to fight. The two available guns were shotted and the men armed with the determination to come to close quarters and board. When ready the brig luffed and fired a round shot which passed un- comfortably near the schooner. Much to the surprise of all the schooner tacked ship and got out her sweeps, making every ef- fort to get away. The Dash also got out her sweeps, which frightened the enemy still more but instead of pursuing made for her home port.
September 3 the Dash arrived in Portland and found the town alarmed by the prospect of an attack by a British squad- ron which was cruising in the vicinity. No chance was taken for the safety of the cargo which was taken to Saccarappa and sold at auction. The rum brought $2.50 a gallon. Since the punch- eons each contained at least one hundred gallons it may be seen that the voyage was a profitable one.
This voyage ended the connection of Captain Cammett with the Dash, for the Porters had built at Porter's Landing a larger brig, rigged in every way similar to the Dash, but de- signed to be a heavily armed privateer, which he was to com- mand. George Bacon of Freeport who had been first lieutenant was promoted to captain in place of Captain Cammett. He also cleared for Wilmington but did not arrive there. The voyage
62
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine
began September 13 and on the twenty-ninth a schooner from Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, was captured and sent in. On the third of October, an English brig from Tobago was taken. This ship was laden with rum for which cargo the Dash ex- changed her ballast and permitted the brig with her officers and crew to go on their way. After a few days spent in Wiscasset the Dash spoke a sloop which had been captured by the tender of the British ship-of-war Feureuse, which was cruising in the vicinity. The same day a sail was sighted which proved to be the Thinks-I-to-myself, tender to the Feureuse. Upon order she hove to and with a prize master and crew on board was con- voyed into Portland.
Each return of the Dash to Portland after running the block- ade had brought valuable cargoes and during her career as a privateer some nine prizes had been captured without the loss of a man or an injury from the shots of the enemy. Sailors be- lieve there are lucky ships and are as firmly convinced that others are unlucky. The Constitution and the Enterprise were both considered lucky in their time and now the Dash was add- ed to the list. The best young sailors of the vicinity were anx- ious to serve on her, so that her crew was the pick of the region. John Porter, the eighth of the eleven Porter boys, who had just returned from Europe in one of their ships was now given com- mand. The Dash's luck still held for the seventh day out, No- vember 16, she captured the schooner Polly from Halifax, bound to Martinique laden with lumber and fish. The next day another schooner of the same class was captured and sent to Portland. On the twelfth of December the Dash retook the letter of marque schooner Armistice of New York, prize of the English frigate Pactolus. A week later she captured a sloop bound to Bermuda and the next day an English brig laden with rum and sugar. The last prize of the cruise was the brig Mary Ann of St. John, which was allowed to proceed after a cask of shrub and a cask of lime juice had been removed. Port- land was reached on January 4, 1815, and the Dash remained there for nearly two weeks to refit.
On the next cruise, two other Porters, Ebenezer and Jere- miah, served as lieutenants and as before the crew was the best obtainable. Captain John Porter, who had been married but a few months, was so reluctant to leave that the Dash had been
63
The Dash
standing up and down the harbor for some time before he ap- peared. When he was on board, the brig in company with the privateer schooner Champlain sailed out of the harbor. The lat- ter kept her company until the second day when a gale sprang up. Because of shoaling water the Champlain's captain changed her course but the Dash kept on her way into the storm and out of man's knowledge forever, for not the slightest trace of her has ever been found. It is supposed that Captain Porter under- estimated the speed of his vessel and was lost on the dreaded Georges Banks. The Porters and the numerous relatives and friends of the crew were loath to give up hope. Seward Porter wrote in May "John, Ebenezer and Jeremiah have been out in the Dash upwards of four months and have not been heard from."
The loss of sixty young men in such a mysterious way was a shock to all and finally the legend evolved that when a dear one of any of the sixty came to die a phantom ship sailed in from the sea and bore the departing one into the beyond.
A local poetess, Eliza Dennison King, wrote of this legend:
On the island beach our camp fire burned And the evening star in the west shone bright And we begged of the Captain to tell us a tale To while the hours of the summer night.
But he pointed away in the evening mist Where the sails of a ship we could dimly see And he said, "Tho' there's never a breath of wind, She is coming to port, it seems to me."
"You have heard of the ship that sails the bay, With night for helmsman and death in tow, And that glides to sea as he comes ashore And speeds on his errand of woe.
It was in the year of Eighteen-Twelve They launched the Dash from a Freeport yard, She sails the bay as the Dead Ship now, You have heard her doom from the Quaker bard.
She was manned by a crew of gallant lads As ever a vessel's deck had trod,
64
Three Centuries of Freeport, Maine A score and a hundred of them all - And their fate is known to none but God.
They all belonged to the towns around, There were brothers and cousins and comrades, too,
Full armed and equipped they put to sea, And the skies were never a softer blue.
But weeks and months and years sped on, And hearts grew hopeless and cheeks grew pale, And eyes are dim that have watched so long To catch a glimpse of her home bound sail.
But when any of those who loved the lads Are ready to slip their moorings here And sail away to the unknown port You will see the Dead Ship gliding near.
And the ship and the life go out with the tide," And the Captain paused for awhile, then said "They are most all gone and the Dead Ship soon Will come no more for the souls of the dead."
It has been reported that there were sixteen Freeport men in the crew of the Dash when she was lost and of these we have the names of John, Ebenezer and Jeremiah Porter, John Ben- nett, Dennis Sylvester, William Pote and Eliphaz Soule. If there were sixteen, so large a proportion of the crew would cause the words of Whittier to apply particularly to Freeport:
The ghost of what was once a ship Is sailing up the bay Some home amid yon birchen trees Shall drape its door with woe; And slowly where the dead ship sails, The burial boat shall row.
From Wolf's Neck and from Flying Point, From island and from main, From sheltered cove and tided creek, Shall glide the funeral train.
But we of 1939 shall look in vain for the death ship, for none who knew the men of the Dash are alive today nor have they been for nearly half a century.
XIV MAINE BALLADS
A HUNDRED years ago nearly every one could recite or sing at least one ballad which had been inspired by some out-of- the-ordinary happening. A few of these ballads have been preserved and now and then one of them appears in print. Waterville has a mournful recital of the murder of a promi- nent physician beginning:
O! V. P. Coolidge how could you So dark a deed of murder do?
There is also one telling of the murder in Topsham of Elisha Wilson by Thomas Thorn. The first stanza, sung to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne," follows:
Ye friends of grieving mourners weep O'er Wilson's aw ful doom; By cruel hands he's laid to sleep Beneath the silent tomb.
Another and older one relates a tragedy which deeply con- cerned Freeport people. Although this happened many years ago it is still talked about today. Death by drowning was not uncommon in a town where so large a proportion of the inhabi- tants followed the sea, but in this instance the circumstances were exceptional.
The ballad itself tells the story in the style of our great-great- grandfathers:
Lines on the death of Samuel Aderton, Thomas Curtis and Jacob Brown of Freeport; Benjamin Hodgkins of Lewiston; and Daniel Davis of Pejepscot; who were lost near Strout Point, at the mouth of the Harraseeket River, on the night of the eleventh of March, 1815. Composed by a brother:
Come let all mirth and pleasure cease, While I the mournful tale rehearse, Of five brave seamen lost; No more will they, once bold and brave, Stem troubles on this world's wide wave, Their souls we trust are'loft.
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.