USA > Maine > Lincoln County > Wiscasset > Wiscasset in Pownalborough; a history of the shire town and the salient historical features of the territory between the Sheepscot and Kennebec rivers > Part 49
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The morning he left, a motley assemblage had gathered to see him off. Cap- tain Johnston with his daughter and aged sister stood on the broad stone step with Ned. His serving man, Samuel Young, an old sea dog twice captured by French privateers, held the new travelling bag well filled for the voyage. John Kingsbury and his brother, Rhodes, old boatswains of the second Stirling, each well scarred with the cruel smallpox, were also there, with many others who had fought in the War of 1812, all bearing the marks of hard usage during their eventful lives.
The stage drove to the door in charge of "Bover Joe," another well-known sample of the olden time, and his determined "Whoa!" not to be questioned, brought the whole concern to a quiet standstill.
Ned, hat in hand, took each by the hand for the last time, and with a good- sized piece of gold, "honestly come by," in his fist, with the help of the two Kingsburys, climbed to the "fore top" alongside "Bover," the captain thereof. The veteran Young passed up the bag on deck, with a bright dollar to the driver for passage money.
"Goodbye, Ned, keep a good anchor watch, my lad!"
"Aye, aye, sir; goodbye, God bless you, my first and best captain!"
The captain on re-entering his mansion muttered to himself, "He'll never find Cooper, I'm thinking."
But find him he did, "up country" and the following letter was the result of the find.
Cooperstown, March 4, 1843 Otsego Hall
DEAR SIR: To my great surprise I got a letter a few days since from Ned Myers, ac- quainting me not only with his own, but your existence and enquiring if I were his old shipmate in the Stirling. I answered him in the affirmative, giving him many little partic- ulars of our voyage that he seemed to have forgotten. He mentioned in his letter that you would be glad to have a line from me.
I was surprised to hear of your being alive though I know not why. I am fifty now, and remember I was eighteen the day we entered the Capes of the Delaware on our return passage. I thought you then about seven and twenty which will make you about sixty-four now.
I have seen a good deal since we parted in 1807; am married and have five children,
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Golden Horn, 1, 193 tons, built at Wiscasset by Henry Clark in 1854. George H. Wood, master.
The Othello, built in 1826-1827.
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The Tamerlane II, built in 1854-1855.
Ships and Pirates
four daughters and a son. I am now writing to you in what was my paternal residence, and on a table that was used by my grandfather. Here I live surrounded by memorials of my family, and am happy in my children, and here I should be very happy to see you, and to talk over old times.
Ned tells me he is religious and in Sailor's Snug Harbor. For the first there was abun- dant room, and I hope he is fortunate in the last. When I next go to town I shall endeavor to see him. I do not know whether I shall now get into Maine. We now think of spend- ing a few years in Germany to complete the education of my son, as soon as he quits col- lege here, which will be in eighteen months; but the future is at the disposal of Providence.
I suppose you know I have written some books. I should like to send you a set of all my sea stories, and if, in your answer, you will mention to whom they can be sent in New York, I shall see that they are forwarded.
If you happen to know what become of any of our people I should be glad to hear. I re- membered Spanish Joe, little Dan and Peter Simpson well. The latter was shipped in London, but the two first sailed from and returned to America with us.
Mrs. Cooper desires to be mentioned to you kindly. She was a Miss De Lancy, a daughter of a Major De Lancy, formerly of the British army; a granddaughter of a former English governor of New York, and a sister of the present bishop of western New York.
I remain, dear sir, very faithfully your old shipmate. J. FENIMORE COOPER
The books he so kindly offered his old shipmate were never received, be- cause Captain Johnston had no correspondent at New York whom he cared to trouble with them, very much to the regret of the family.11
The ship Stirling of Wiscasset, which sailed from Liverpool, May 26, 1819, with a cargo of salt, ran onto Bantam Rock (southwest of Damariscove ) at the entrance of the Sheepscot River on August eleventh, when going about seven knots. She floated off in ten or twelve minutes in a very leaky condition, with the loss of a part of her keel and some of the sheathing. She got into Wiscasset the next day and discharged her cargo.12
The Stirling was lost in 1819.
The Cleopatra
The ship Cleopatra was built at Wiscasset in 1807 by John Johnston, Sr., and his son Alexander Johnston, registered September twenty-fifth of that year
II. Note made by Alexander Johnston, Jr., of Wiscasset, September 15, 1883. "I owned all of Cooper's novels and sea tales up to Wyandote, but lost everything by the great fire in Wiscasset Oc- tober 8 & 9, 1866. The captain's solid-built, brass-bound writing-desk, the best spyglass, the bell- mouthed flint pistols with their dagger attachment-all his armory-sextant, charts, books and papers are now in my possession ; and they speak to me daily of many tales of other days."
12. From the Eastern Argus, August 12, 1819.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
and owned by the builders. She was 378.41 tons, measurement 110 feet long; 27 feet 9 inches wide; 13 feet 101/2 inches deep and the largest ship ever pre- viously built on the Sheepscot.
Capt. Jonathan E. Scott took command of her in the fall of 1807 and on a passage from London to St. Petersburg laden with English goods the Cleopatra was captured by a Danish gunboat under command of Lieutenant Trampe and taken in to Copenhagen and there sold as a prize (being condemned October 29, 1810) under the famous decrees of Milan and Berlin promulgated by Napoleon declaring the British Isles in a state of blockade and English goods and products and the vessels carrying the same made liable to such seizure. Captain Scott and his crew were returned to the English and sent home, they having lost their voyage and their pay.13
The Wiscasset custom house record of the fate of her papers reads: "Taken at Copenhagen with the vessel." It was through the courtesy of the American Consul, Edward M. Groth, who sent a representative to the State Archives who found the case listed in the Prize Court files, Case No. 254, that the papers including the sea letter were traced to America.
The delivery of all papers and documents pertaining to the seizure and con- demnation of American vessels was apparently made in accordance with a con- vention between the United States of America and Denmark on March 28, 1830. They were sent by special messenger, Dr. Jameson, to the Department of State at Washington, and there through the efforts of E. Wilder Spaulding the sea letter of the Cleopatra was found and photographed.
The Africa
The ship Africa, 320.20 tons, was built on the Sheepscot River at Newcastle, in 1810, by John Averill. She was purchased by Joseph Tinkham Wood, of Wiscasset, who at one time owned four ships which bore the names of Europe, Asia, America and Africa. The first three were used up or else lost in the service; the last named survived the War of 1812, and passed into the hands of John Johnston & Sons who bought the Africa in 1820, after the loss of the first Stirling.
For several years she was engaged in the cotton trade, carrying that product from southern ports to Liverpool, whence she brought return cargoes of iron, salt and copper, being then commanded by John Johnston, Jr. When the Africa arrived from Ireland under his command, July 5, 1820, she brought
13. Diary of Alexander Johnston.
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as passengers John Joy, a tailor, whose age as well as that of his wife Catherine, who accompanied him, was given as fifty years, and their daughter Hannah Joy, aged fourteen years.
One of the early commanders of the Africa was Capt. J. E. Scott, the same who was master of the Cleopatra at the time of her seizure by the Danes.
The A frica was finally struck at sea, presumably the first night after leaving Wiscasset in the vicinity of Cape Cod, by a brig belonging to Bath which was bound for Boston, and went down with all on board in December, 1825. At that time Captain Farnsworth of Waldoboro was master and Joseph Swett14 of Wiscasset was one of the mates, both of whom left families, and the majority of the crew belonged in Wiscasset and surrounding towns.
The Tamerlane
The ship Tamerlane, 357.04 tons, was built in 1824, by John Johnston & Sons. She was launched on Friday, sailed on Friday, and her first arrival was on Friday, in spite of which coincidence she was not foredoomed to bad luck.
The reason why she bore the name of the terrible Timur, who claimed descent from Khubla Khan, the Tartar conqueror of China, has never been revealed. She was not in the China trade, and as far as is known, never made a single voyage to the Orient. According to the Impost Book in the Collector's Office, District of Wiscasset, she was engaged wholly in the transatlantic trade between this port and Liverpool, from which place she brought home cargoes of salt, bar iron, crockery, coal, and "hampers of Earthen Ware."
Her first master was John Johnston, Jr.,15 who was succeeded ten years later by Zebediah Farnham. David G. Stinson was captain of the Tamerlane in 1837, and Sewall Albee the following year. In 1842, Charles Theobald was in com- mand, and Thomas Henderson was her master in 1 846.
The ship Tamerlane went ashore at Portland Light in June, 1834, during a terrific tempest but was gotten off without serious damage.
The Second Stirling
The second ship to bear the name of Stirling, called after the shire in North Britain from which the Johnstons came, was built at Wiscasset in 1833, and
14. The family records give the date of Joseph Swett's death as having occurred in January, 1826. The last entry of the Africa on the Impost Book of Wiscasset is November, 1825.
15. Charles Croker was a runaway on board the old ship Tamerlane. Captain Johnston tried to make something out of him, but, vagabond like, he deserted him also. He went to Memphis, Missouri, and lived there in 1826.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
registered 504 tons. She was built and owned by John Johnston & Sons, and Capt. Jack Johnston commanded her on her maiden voyage and until 1835 when he quit the sea forever and the command passed to Capt. Richard Haw- ley Tucker. He was succeeded in 1837 by Capt. Zebediah Farnham.
When the Stirling sailed for Liverpool in 1836, she had on board a crew of sixteen men, six of whom including Captain Tucker were from Wiscasset and its vicinity. Alexander Johnston, Jr. was making his first sea voyage; William Hilton (later postmaster at Bradford, New Hampshire) shipped as cabin boy; the brothers Rhodes and John Kingsbury were boatswains; and Benjamin Orchard16 of North Boothbay was mate.
The voyage over was uneventful, but when the Stirling was a few days out of Liverpool on her return to Savannah, smallpox in its most virulent form broke out and for seventy-two days they were shut up with that repulsive disease. All of the Wiscasset men were stricken with the malady and all of them recovered, but each one bore, in a greater or lesser degree, the marks of permanent disfigurement to his grave.
Half a century later in the diary of Alexander Johnston, Jr., under date of October 14, 1885, is:
Letter from my old friend Hilton of Bradford, a very kindly reminder of the days of our youth at school and at sea. To my surprise Benjamin Orchard is yet living, which makes three survivors out of the sixteen on board of the Stirling in 1836, during our small- pox voyage. I saw Mr. Orchard yesterday at his home in North Boothbay - 76 years old and blind for some years past. The terrible marks of his suffering during that loath- some voyage do not fade, and one never forgets the awful scene. . . .
Joseph Tucker, the son of the captain, joined us in May at Savannah just following our terrible experience with smallpox .. . an experience burnt into my memory and always vivid and appalling to look back upon to the end of my life.
Some slight realization of their abhorrent experience may be gained from the fact that when, fifty years later, Johnston wrote an authentic account of this voyage, the editors of the Portland newspaper, Elwell and Pickard, re- fused to print it because of its revolting details. That was before the days of tabloids.
16. His eldest son, Romanzo, aged twenty-six, together with William J. Lyon and Jeremiah Quimby were drowned at Small Point January 3, 1870. Their schooner went ashore and the dory in which they tried to escape capsized. They were all found on the beach in the morning.
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The Gondar
There are many of the older ones who remember the Queen of Sheba, probably the most impressive of all the Wiscasset figure-heads, which stood in the garden of Alexander Johnston for thirty years. She was given by him in the autumn of 1883 to Dr. A. J. Stedman of Georgetown, where she re- mained for nearly a score of years and was then sold and sent to Honolulu around the Horn in a Bath ship, since which time she seems to have utterly disappeared.
This heroic wooden image was originally the figurehead of the Gondar, a ship built in 1847, and owned by Alexander Johnston, William Glidden and Capt. J. G. Barstow, her commander.
The Gondar being named for the capital city of Abyssinia, the kingdom of Gondar or Amhara, very properly had this Queen of Sheba for her image. She apparently outlived the ship by three-quarters of a century.
Under command of Captain Barstow, the Gondar finished loading at Charleston, South Carolina, for Liverpool, England, on June 15, 1853. The cargo consisted of 1,800 bales of cotton and 375 barrels of rosin. That very night she mysteriously caught fire and burned to the water's edge, only the figure-head being saved.
The record of this fire as given in the Schirmer diary is under date of June 15, 1853:
Fire 10 o'clock P.M. Ship Gondar on Boyce's wharf was burning all night - burned to water's edge; she had in some 1 300 bales of cotton & 2 or 300 barrels of rosin, the vessel and cargo were sold, the former bought by Potter for $1320 also the cotton by him for $5.62 per Bale the rosin I believe was also bought by him. He had her pumped out and towed up to his Wharf, formerly Smith's Wharf.
And in The Courier of June 17, 1853, we find:
The destruction of this ship, and that portion of a cargo of Cotton and Naval Stores which she had on board, has been complete. All efforts to save either vessel or cargo were unavailing, and that portion of her hull which remained above water was still slowly burning last evening, twenty-four hours after the fire commenced. We have never wit- nessed so obstinate a conflict with that powerful element, as was presented on this occa- sion. Her cargo, as we mentioned in our issue of yesterday morning, consisted of about 1 800 bales of Cotton and 375 barrels of Rosin, all of which, with the exception of $ 1600 in the South Carolina Insurance Office, in this city, was insured in England, and the shipments were made by commercial houses of our city, principally on account of other parties. The origin of the fire cannot, we believe, be accounted for.
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Wiscasset in Pownalborough
The Second Tamerlane
The second Tamerlane was built by the Johnstons in 1854-1855. She, too, was a ship, more than twice the size of her predecessor, being 924 tons. Capt. John Holmes was her master and he was succeeded during the Civil War by Capt. Samuel Jackson. The latter was brought up by Capt. Richard H. Tucker and was for a time mate in one of his ships.
Captain Jackson as commander of the Tamerlane was in government employ until Captain Holmes resumed command, at which time he became mate of a steam propeller from Philadelphia to New Orleans.
The painting of the ship Tamerlane, formerly owned by Alexander John- ston, was a present to him from Capt. Samuel Jackson. It is now owned by Joseph Patrick Tucker.
So perfect was the proportion of the Tamerlane and so gracefully did she skim over the water, that when she entered the river the whole town flocked to the wharves to see her come through the Narrows into Wiscasset Harbor.
The Wallace
The last vessels built at Wiscasset village were: the ship Wallace in 1856, owned by the Johnstons; the brig Aladdin, in 1857, James Shortwell, master ; four yachts: the Sunnyside in 1858, the Idlewild II, Sunnyside and Twilight in 1865; three steamboats, stern-wheelers: the Wawenock, the Falcon and the Clarion, all built during the Civil War for war purposes, and all of them used on the North Carolina sounds and in the Potomac until peace came. These were the last vessels built at the Point, although schooners were built at Hobson's Island and ships were launched from Birch Point at a much later date.
The white oak frame for the Wallace came from Virginia and was purchased from George W. Lawrence who used to be Judge of Probate.
Capt. Asa T. Lane was master of the Wallace and Lewis Henry Hubbard was mate. In 1860, Edwin M. Smith, the son of Governor Smith, who fell at Fair Oaks, made a trip to Liverpool on the Wallace for his health.
The Wallace which bore the name of the ancient Scottish chieftain and patriot, William Wallace, had an appropriate figurehead of a Scotchman. This wooden image was given to Dr. Stedman of Georgetown, Maine, by Alexander Johnston, in 1883.
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Alliance, 524 tons, built in Kittery, Maine, in 1836. Belonged to Capt. Richard Hawley Tucker. Picture owned by his granddaughter Jane Armstrong Tucker.
Ellen Austin, one of the Tucker ships, built in 1854. Capt. Joseph Tucker, part owner.
Painting by D. McFarlane in 1857.
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Tucker Ships
Name
Built
Name
Built
Ship Alliance
1795
Ship Othello (2nd)
1855
Ship Jane
1812
Ship R. H. Tucker
1855
Ship Othello
1828
Ship Richard III
1855
Ontario
1840
Ship Mary Washington
1858
Ship Alliance (2nd)
1841
Bark Glacier
1864
Bark Zaida
before 1842
Brig Hiram Abiff
1864
Ship Canton
1842
Schooner Idlewild
1865
Ship Samoset
1847
Schooner Jenny Armstrong
1867
Ship Samoset (2nd)
Schooner Atlanta
1868
Schooner Charter Oak
1847
Ship Fannie Tucker
1875
Ship Franchise
1848
Schooner Air Propeller
1878
Ship Brother Jonathan
1853
Matilda
before 1875
Ship Ellen Austin
1854
The Southerner
The Othello
The first Wiscasset ship to bear the name Othello, a vessel of but 360 tons, was built in 1827 and was the first ship owned by Capt. Richard Hawley Tucker. It was his boast that "she earned a large amount of money for her owners and never cost the insurance company one dollar."
Her owner was her first captain. Ebenezer Colburn brought this vessel back from Havre, France, in ballast in the summer of 1834. He was succeeded by Thomas Saunders in 1835, who was in command when the Othello returned to her home port, September 14, 1838, bringing as supercargo three Wiscasset men, Edmund Dana, Richard Hawley Tucker and his son, Richard Holbrook Tucker, all of whom had made the voyage to Liverpool and return.
The following year the last named Tucker took command of the Othello when barely twenty-two years of age. When he arrived from Havre, Sep- tember II, 1839, his cargo was listed as consisting of "6,000 five Frank pieces," valued at $ 5,580.
Capt. Richard Holbrook Tucker took command of the Alliance in 1842 and the Othello was given to Sewall Albee, when she made another voyage to Havre in 1843. Capt. Joseph Tucker, a brother of Richard Holbrook Tucker, was master of the ship in 1845.
When the gold rush seized the country in 1849, the Othello sailed from Wiscasset for the last time. She was sent to San Francisco, where she was sold
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Ship Moultrie
1854
Bark Mary T. Rundlett
Wiscasset in Pownalborough
to a company which transformed the ship into a warehouse by cutting into her side a large doorway as she lay at the wharf, and thus the vessel gradually be- came incorporated into the wharf itself.
The accompanying illustration was taken from a painting of the Othello at Nantes, France, by H. Bourdon. The picture was presented to Capt. Richard Hawley Tucker in 1831, by some French passengers.
The Alliance
The ship Alliance of 524.69 tons, was built in Kittery, Maine, in 1836, by Samuel Badger for John Rice and John B. Haley of Portsmouth. Samuel Badger had his shipyard just below the present Memorial Bridge at Kittery. After a trip to Liverpool the vessel was sold in New York, and it is highly probable that Capt. R. H. Tucker bought the Alliance in 1841 from the New York parties.
Under the command of Captain Tucker the Alliance made several voyages to Liverpool and brought to Wiscasset a return cargo of salt.
The Samoset
The Samoset was the first of the Tucker ships to be built at Portsmouth by Fernald & Pettigrew. They began to build her in November, 1846, and she was launched July 12, 1847. She registered 560 tons. The Samoset was owned by Daniel Stone and Richard Holbrook Tucker. Her first voyage was made to Charleston in September, 1847, with Capt. Joseph Tucker in command. Capt. Abner Packard was master in 185 1 and Capt. John R. Greenough in 1858.
This vessel had a figure-head of a life-sized Indian.
The R. H. Tucker
The R. H. Tucker, the first ship to bear that name, was built in the shipyard of Tobey and Littlefield on Noble's Island in the harbor of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Her insurance policy was dated November 25, 1853, and she was launched late in the autumn of that year.
She was commanded by Capt. Joseph Tucker, who took her to England the following year. Her career was short-lived, however, for she was lost on her homeward passage off Portaferry, Ireland, October 27, 1854, after a collision with the English ship William Penn.
This disaster occurred off the entrance to Strangford Lough, near to St. Patrick's Rock, between Butter Paddy and Bally Quinton Point, south of the
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revolving light. As the weather at the time of the collision was thick and the seas were running high, no blame was attached to either captain. No lives were lost but the R. H. Tucker was a total wreck.
The Second R. H. Tucker
The second R. H. Tucker, a ship of 898 tons, was built in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, by Tobey and Littlefield for Richard H. Tucker of Wiscasset. Presumably the vessel was launched that year for she sailed November 27, 1857, for Charleston, South Carolina, with W. J. Clark, master.
In 1868 she was commanded by Richard Tucker Rundlett, the nephew of Captain Tucker, and sailed for Liverpool, England. On her return trip when heading for Tuskar lighthouse in St. George's channel, a light some distance to the northward was mistaken for Tuskar, and the vessel veering too sud- denly to starboard went ashore on a sand bank eight or ten miles off the coast, and foundered on Blackwater Banks off the Irish coast near Wexford.
Although the ship was a total loss everyone on board was saved by taking to the lifeboats. Captain Rundlett had with him his wife and baby daughter, then but a few months old.
Alfred Call of Wiscasset, who had made several voyages for the Tuckers, was also in the R. H. Tucker when she was lost and was the last man to leave the ship.
This vessel was the first and last command of Richard Tucker Rundlett, who subsequently held many town offices in this town, but he never again went to sea.
The Ellen Austin
The ship Ellen Austin, 1,812 tons, was built at Damariscotta in 1854. She was built by Austin & Hall and was owned by Grinnell, Minturn & Co. When she sailed on her maiden voyage from Damariscotta to Charleston, South Carolina, thence to Liverpool, Capt. Joseph Tucker was in command. Mrs. Tucker accompanied her husband on this voyage and it was the only voyage she ever made.
At one time Capt. A. J. Griffin was in command and later Captain Tucker was again in charge.
The accompanying picture is from a painting made by D. McFarlane in 1857, owned by J. P. Tucker the son of Captain Tucker.
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The Richard III
The full-rigged ship Richard III was built by Tobey & Littlefield at their shipyard on Noble's Island in Portsmouth Harbor for Capt. Richard Hol- brook Tucker and others. When the day of launching arrived, October 29, 1 8 59, no name had been chosen for the vessel. On that very morning a son had been born to Mrs. Tucker, the wife of the principal owner, and he was named Richard Hawley Tucker for his grandfather, who was still living, thus making the new arrival the third Richard in direct line in the Tucker family. It was this occurrence that led to the naming of the ship Richard III.
The ship's measurements were 175 feet in length, 34 feet beam, 23.6 feet in depth of hold and she registered 985 tons. The Richard III was a merchant- man of the first class and a good carrier. On her transatlantic voyages from Charleston, South Carolina, to Liverpool, she would take bags of sea island cotton and bales of upland cotton aggregating 4,000 bales, besides rice and naval stores. On her voyages around Cape Horn she would load 1,300 tons of coal, and during her later years as a coal drogher on the Pacific Coast she fre- quently carried 1,700 tons. From Wiscasset her freight was invariably of manufactured lumber, deals to Liverpool.
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