December 2012 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 7. Coastal Stories from Downeast
carry herring. He then had an opportunity to sell her in Portland. He had Dad and Ralph Wilcox, who went as engineer with him on his smack Aerolite for years, take the H. A. Johnson to Portland for him. She had two engines and Papa told Dad and Ralph to have both engines wide open when they came up the harbor. He wanted her to look her best at top speed. So, they came in through the Passage and on up Portland Harbor. But, before they got up the harbor to where they were going the big (main) engine stopped and they couldnʼt get her going. So, they came in on the little engine that had a shaft log out through the bilge, at much less than fl ank speed...
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COMPRESSED AIR The Fairbanks Morse crude oil engine in Papaʼs smack, Aerolite, was started by compressed air. The compressor ran off the engine and fi lled an air tank and that compressed air would crank the engine to start her. Papa had part of a load of lobsters aboard the smack and they were going to another location so of course had to have the engine started. To their dismay they found that the compressed air tank had lost its air and they couldnʼt get the engine started. With a part of a load of lobsters in the well she couldnʼt lay idle very long without endangering the lobsters, as they need circulation to survive. A real problem... It turned out that the Maine Seacoast
Mission vessel Sunbeam was in the Reach and they came alongside and ran a hose and used their compressed air to start the Aeroliteʼs engine. Papa was very grateful, and wrote the Mission a letter of thanks, and I wouldnʼt be surprised if he included a donation.
Papa made a model schooner, which was 6 feet from her keel to the top of her
mainmast, and she was fully rigged with blocks and all. The Pettit Paint Company took the model to the Boat Show in New York City, and when she was returned home she was in an open sided wooden crate. As a little boy I used to stand there in Papaʼs building down by the shore and study that beautiful model, an exquisite piece of work. I never heard him say why, but I think it was because of the Sunbeamʼs help that he donated that model to the Maine Seacoast Mission.
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DECK LOAD Back in the days when Canadian dry boats were bringing in thou- sands of pounds of lobsters in wooden crates from Grand Manan, New Brunswick, to our wharf to be strung and fl oated and trans- ported in our trucks we handled hundreds of crates, full or empty. The Helsheron had brought in a load of lobsters and was being loaded with empty crates to take back to Grand Manan, a four or fi ve hour trip. It was a pretty day and a good chance, so we kept piling them on. Finally, the crates were so high on deck that the skipper couldnʼt see out over them. I remember seeing him standing in the pilothouse door with one foot in the doorway and the other out on the rail, reaching back in steering, looking forward by the side of the crates as he got underway for home.
* * * * * DISABLED The lobster smack Aer-
olite was on her way to deliver a load of lobsters from Nova Scotia to Portland or Boston, or a similar trip. Papa had Ralph Wilcox and Dad with him. The Fairbanks Morse crude oil (C-O) engine had made that trip and similar ones many times. As they made their way steadily to the westʼard they had no idea that this would be the engineʼs
last trip. They were off Petit Manan Light when suddenly the crankshaft in the engine broke. They had no radio or other electronic communication capability. They put up the American fl ag upside down, which is legal to designate an emer- gency, and is a distress signal. Then they put the dory overboard and Ralph and Dad got into the dory and started to row the miles between the disabled smack and Petit Manan Light. The keeper was a man from Beals. They knew he had a telephone to the mainland and that they could call the Coast Guard for a tow.
Meanwhile, the disabled smack was out to sea so the motion of the seas would provide circulation for the lobsters in her well. They landed on the island, secured the dory, and walked up to the keeperʼs house. Now letʼs say it was evening by this time, as I believe it was. The keeper was sitting in the kitchen, alone, and he thought he was all alone on the island. All at once two men appeared at his door! It nearly scared the daylights out of him! Of course they all knew each other so everything settled down quickly. The Coast Guard was called. Dad
and Ralph rowed back to the smack. Their tow arrived and towed her in, I think to Port- land, where she would have been unloaded. In Portland Papa bought a D13000 Caterpillar diesel and that engine was in the smack when he sold her.
The Caterpillar had a very small starting engine mounted on the side, and that little engine was gasoline powered and hand cranked. The Cat had a great sound, piped off directly with no silencer. * * * * *
MAN OVERBOARD Obed Peabody was captain of the Consolidated smack Grace M. Cribby after Dad and another man had her. The Cribby had a pod stern (a double ender) and sheʼd handle very well in reverse. Obed (Bub) and crew were offshore steaming at cruising speed and one of his two crewmen fell overboard. Either Bub or the other crewman saw him go over the side so immediately the rescue began. Rather than doing the prescribed Man Overboard maneuver, Bub quickly reversed the engine and backed the smack right back in her wake
Continued on Page 8.
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