Page 22. MAINE COASTAL NEWS August 2011


Maritime History By Amos Boyd


In Canadian waters off the coast of Bridgeport, Nova Scotia, the sharp eyed crews of a returning fleet were quick to observe a large brigantine in the distance. The sight of such a vessel in these waters was unusual, and although she was under sail, she seemed to be adrift, her direction changing with the wind. As they neared the vessel, they could see no one on deck, and what was even stranger, the brigantine’s name had been removed; trouble was obvious. From the fishing fleet, small boats were put out, circling the brigantine, and when there were no answers to their inquiring shouts, the boats pulled alongside, the hard-handed fishermen ready to fight as they climbed onto the deck. The men found only an eerie silence; the sound of wind in the sails, the swish and splash of the water, and a foreboding sense of emptiness. Below decks, they found


THE BRIGANTINE OF GRAND MANAN


confusion and chaos, the vessel had been abandoned in a hurry. The captain’s cabin was a place of horror, the violence obvious, blood spattered everywhere although the captain had obviously been attacked and killed in his berth. Afterward, judging by the path of bloodstains, his shattered body had been dragged to the deck and thrown overboard. A thorough search followed, evidence of robbery was found; the chronometer and other valuables were missing, and when the men searched the hold, they learned an attempt had been made to scuttle the brigantine; holes had been bored in the hull of the vessel.


Shocked by the vicious murder of the captain of the brigantine and the obvious mutiny by its crew, the men returned to their fishing boats to report what they had seen. Volunteers, experienced seamen, boarded the abandoned vessel and sailed it to the nearest port, where the police were


GMORA UPDATE: Centreboard and Harraseeket


Continued from Page 8.


Cruising Class 1. Rita P, Randy Rice 2. Spirit, Jon Roberts 3. Tittavate, Steven Ribble 4. Southern Cross, Steven Hudson 5. Jubilee, Anita St. Onge


Showers, fickle winds challenge sailors at Harraseeket Regatta


SOUTH FREEPORT, 27 June — Sailors endured rain showers and fickle winds Saturday, as more than 20 boats competed in Harraseeket Yacht Club’s pursuit race in the waters of Casco Bay off South Freeport. The reverse-handicap format had slower-rated boats crossing the starting line first, with the faster boats following according to their handicap.


After the start off Moshier’s Island, northeasterly winds pushed boats out Broad Sound. After turning at the Whaleboat Gong, racers beat up the eastern shore of Whaleboat Island in diminishing winds as a favorable current pushed them toward Middle Bay and Upper Goose Island. As the 4 p.m. time limit approached, the Race Committee shortened the course and set up


a finish line at the green can off Upper Goose Island, allowing most of the competitors to cross the finish before time expired.


The top three finishers in their respective classes were:


Racing A:


1) Big Dog Party, Pete Price 2) Beagle, Nat Henshaw 3) Buzz, Richard Stevenson


Racing B:


1) White Hawk, Tim Tolford 2) Cats Paw, Butch Minson 3) Honalee, Dick Stevens


Cruising:


1) Rita P, Randy Rice 2) C-Cure, Hank Hepburn


The Gulf of Maine Ocean Racing Association is a not-for-profit, charitable corporation formed to act as an amateur athletic organization to promote yacht racing, including international yacht racing in the ocean waters of the Gulf of Maine.


NOAA Sets Fishing Quotas for Bluefin Tuna Continued from Page 11.


has been a leader at ICCAT in promoting quotas based on science and in urging the adoption of strong measures to help with the recovery of bluefin tuna and other fisheries. The General category, which includes commercial fishermen who use rod and reel, will receive 435 metric tons, nearly half the 2011 U.S. quota. Allocations for the other categories are as follows: Angling category (which includes recreational fishermen), 182 metric tons; purse seine fishermen, 171.8 metric tons; longline fishermen, 61 metric tons; harpoon fishermen, 36 metric tons; trap fishermen, 0.9 metric tons; and a reserve of 70.6 metric tons. The reserve is set aside for scientific research and to account for landings and dead discards.


The allocations account for potential discards of unintentionally caught bluefin tuna. Bluefin tuna are primarily discarded by longline fishermen who are targeting swordfish and other tunas. Although fishermen attempt to release fish alive, many discarded fish do not survive. The longline fishery was the only sector to receive reductions in its base quota to account for dead discards in advance of them actually


being caught. Data from the 2010 fishing season was used to estimate the discard amount.


“We are working closely with longline fishermen to reduce the amount of bluefin tuna that they catch unintentionally,” said Schwaab. “This spring, we began requiring longline fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico to use weak hooks to reduce the unintended bluefin catch while still allowing them to catch swordfish and yellowfin tuna.” The weak hook, a circular hook constructed of thin gauge wire, is designed to straighten when a large fish such as bluefin tuna is hooked, releasing it but holding on to smaller, lighter fish. After extensive scientific review, NOAA announced on May 27 that the Atlantic bluefin tuna currently do not warrant species protection under the Endangered Species Act. NOAA also committed to revisit this decision by early 2013, when more scientific information will be available. NOAA has also formally designated Atlantic bluefin tuna as a “species of concern” under the Endangered Species Act, placing the species on a watchlist for concerns about its status and threats to the species.


immediately notified. The brigantine was quickly identified as the ZERO owned and partially insured in Grand Manan, N.B. The ZERO had left Cow Bay, Cape Breton, carrying a cargo of coal for New York. The shattered and unrecognizable body of Captain Colon C. Benson of Grand Manan was never found.


After the ferocious murder of the captain, the crew had become frightened at what had been done and their knowledge of the crime. After throwing the captain’s body overboard, erasing the name of the brigantine, and boring holes in the hull, the crew of the ZERO expected the vessel to sink, removing all evidence, and hurriedly left the brigantine in that vessel’s small boat. They landed near a small fishing village on the Nova Scotia shore, where they explained their appearance by saying their vessel had been lost in a terrible storm, when the captain had been washed overboard. Many of the older men of the village were experienced seamen themselves, and the appearance and the story told by the strangers, created so much suspicion that the crew were taken to jail.


In the meantime, the details of the awful murder of Captain Benson and the desertion of her crew spread quickly throughout the maritime communities of Nova Scotia and the islands of New Brunswick. Police were on the alert everywhere. Detective policeman Hutt was the first to connect the suspicious landing of the jailed boat crew in Nova Scotia with the murder of Captain Benson and the abandoned Grand Manan brigantine. Hutt learned there had been a ship’s boy on the ZERO named Mark Howard, who had returned home to Winsor; Hutt located and arrested the boy, and took him to Halifax, where a trial was to be held. Several days later Hutt brought in the rest of the crew of the ZERO, John Douglas, the mate; Drowning, the cook-steward, the two German crewmen. The whole story came out at the trial, when the boy and the mate confessed to what they knew, giving full details of the attack and death of Captain Benson and the events that followed. The trouble had begun with some type of disagreement between the captain and the steward, after which the Captain threatened to discharge the steward when they reached port in New York. The steward had carried his stories and threats to the crew’s quarters, where the crew became drawn into the discussion and began to take sides. As the brigantine approached


American waters, the steward became more and more agitated, and it was whispered among the crew that the steward had committed some type of crime in New York and was afraid of being arrested on his arrival.


The brigantine’s mater and her crew had known of the steward’s plans to kill Captain Benson, and were aware that the steward, wielding an iron belaying pin, had entered the captain’s cabin to kill him. The steward struck the captain in the head with great violence and the badly injured captain begged for his life, saying he would change course and take the steward anywhere he close. The steward continued to attack viciously with the belaying pin even after the captain’s life seemed extinct and his body an unrecognizable mess of blood, flesh and broken bone.


Judgment at the trial was a difficult one; although the mate and the crew had full knowledge of the steward’s threats to kill Captain Benson, they did not participate in his murder. Mark Howard, the boy, was exonerated because of his age and because he had no real choice except to follow the action of the older men. The two German crewmen understood little English, and although they had thrown the captain’s body into the sea, they had not taken part in the murder, and were released.


The guilt of Downey the steward was obvious and he was convicted of murder. The mate, John Douglas, 2nd


in command of


the ZERO, was also judged guilty of murder. In his position as second in command, he was not a part of the crew itself, and his loyalty should have been to the captain. He was considered to have committed perjury, since he had full knowledge of the steward’s plan to kill Captain Benson and did nothing to prevent what became a terrible slaughter. On Grand Manan, Margaret Benson, the captain’s wife, soon was told of his awful death. The couple had no children; she suddenly become alone and a widow at the age of twenty-seven. It is interesting to note that she re-married three years later, and her life as a widow on Grand Manan changed radically after that.


Margaret Benson and Captain Daniel McLaughlin were married in Eastport, Maine on May 14, 1868, and she sailed with him on board the legendary clipper ship GLORY OF THE SEAS in the grain trade around Cape Horn from San Francisco to England during the 1870s and 1880s.


History from the Old Papers: Republican Journal 1907


7 November THE SUSAN STETSON


Capt. Bulmer and the Wrecked Crew in Bangor Wednesday HAD A PERILOUS TIME


Manned Pumps for 24 Hours and Had Hard Row of 18 Hours – The ALICE M. COLBURN Ashore


Capt. Bulmer and part of the crew of the schooner SUSAN STETSON, which sunk 50 miles southeast of Biddeford Pool Tuesday, pass through the city Wednesday afternoon en route to Bucksport. Capt. Bulmer and his men had a narrow escape from death and they feel that it was by only the greatest good fortune that they survived.


The STETSON, which hails from Bucksport, was bound from South Amboy to Kennebec with a cargo of coal. All went well until last Sunday when a storm came up and the STETSON was driven 50 miles offshore. Seams were started and the pumps were manned. After pumping 24 hours, the crew


was obliged to take to a small boat and after 18 hours of hard work in an open sea, the crew managed to reach the Fletcher’s neck lifesav- ing station. The STETSON sunk soon after it was deserted.


In an interview one of the shipwrecked mariners described their experiences as fol- lows:


“We left South Amboy a week ago Fri- day and had good wind and weather until last Sunday when a storm set in. We were blown 50 miles or more offshore. The vessel began to leak so badly that we had to man the pumps and we had to keep constantly at them in order to keep it afloat. By Monday night, the water had gained on us to such an extent that myself and the other members of the crew were nearly exhausted. Our wrist began to swell and there was nothing to do but to take to the boat.


“We put supplies and a compass aboard Continued on Page 24.


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