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Page 8. MAINE COASTAL NEWS December 2012 Coastal Stories from Downeast Continued from Page 7.


to where the man was in the ocean, at the surface. They proceeded to haul him aboard and he was fi ne. He and Bub and their wives attended our church in Beals. * * * * *


ROGUE WAVE Probably you all have heard of rogue waves, and possibly some reading this have experienced them. Dad was crossing the Bay of Fundy in rough weather in the Arthur S. Woodward . The smack was 60 feet long and 16 feet wide, with, of course, the well midships, and she was very heavily built. That is to say she was rugged and very able. Suddenly, without warning, an enormous sea hit the smack, a much bigger sea than she was already en- countering and handling well. That big sea fi lled her waist with water and rolled her down almost on her beam ends. There was too much water for her scuppers to drain all at once as she rolled down. She went down on her side so far that Dad said he thought for an instant she wasnʼt going to right herself, but thought she might roll over. She did come back up and survived the hit of the rogue wave. The wave washed the rubber tire fenders, the coiled mooring lines, and heavy wire baskets off the stern. That was a close call in a very able ves- sel because of a big rogue wave seemingly out of nowhere.


Research is being done in various parts


of the worldʼs oceans in attempts to deter- mine the cause(s) and predictability of rogue waves.


* * * * *


TORCHING An early method of starting crude oil diesel engines was to light a torch soaked in oil and put the fl ame into the port in the side of the engine, and thanks to magic-like attributes of chemistry and physics produce a controlled explosion in the engine that would cause her to start. We have already discussed air starting the crude oil engines, a method carried on


for years and was also used in over the road truck diesels, etc. The lobster smack Silas McLoon had a big C-O engine. That engine was very heavy. The Silas was about 56 feet long with a pod stern. She was a very pretty smack with a beautiful pilothouse, even though that engine loaded her so that she had about a foot or a little more of freeboard up to her deck abreast the pilothouse. She was one of the McLoon fl eet of well smacks out of Rockland. We had one of her sister ships for a while, the Pauline McLoon. The Silas came down to our place to load lobsters, and, as a boy, of course I did what I typically did. I went aboard of her and checked things out, particularly ob- serving her engine room. When she had her lobsters aboard the engineer torched that big old C-O and got her going. Capʼn Sid gave the ahead bell and I think the jingler (fast) too, and I remember seeing him standing in the pilothouse with his head about to the top of it, with the wheel rolled down so she was swinging hard to port to go out into the Reach and on to Rockland. She was getting up speed and as she turned that kind of smooth water surface in her wake from her bow and hull with her stern swinging away was evident.


Seeing that smack get underway and hearing her C-O engine thumping was really a great experience.


* * * * *


SUNK The Aerolite was in Boston with a trip of lobsters. This may have been one of the real long trips all the way from Sambro (near Halifax), Nova Scotia. It took the smack 48 hours to make the trip from Sambro to Boston. In any case, They were unloading in Boston and had the one side of the well bailed out. You remember that in a well smack you canʼt leave the lobsters with- out water circulation for very long or theyʼll smother and die. So, when youʼve bailed half of them out you get underway and go out and “sail the lobsters”. This means running the smack at a good speed and making turns


2012 LOBSTER BOAT RACE CD


and circles through her wake, etc., to give the lobsters a good dose of aerated sea water. On this particular day Papa and crew had half of the lobsters out and they were sailing the remainder in Boston Harbor when there was an accident. There was a collision between a barge and the smack. The barge was on a cable, being towed by a tug. The barge struck the smack forward of the fore-rigging and stove her in. The smack immediately began to sink and was sinking rapidly. Ralph Wilcox, the engineer, escaped from the engineroom, and I believe Papa and another crewman went out through pilothouse windows. All aboard escaped safely but the smack was sunk there in Bos- ton Harbor near the Fish Pier. A lighter (big barge with a crane) was engaged to raise her. She was successfully strapped by a diver and she was lifted and landed on the barge. She was patched up with canvas and Papa and crew came home in her. I suppose the engine had to be ser- viced in Boston, but she ran and was fi ne. Papa took the smack to Dennysville, ME, where she was built, and had her repaired. The engine burned crude oil, heavy


thick stuff, and the oil had leaked into the smack, into the bedding in the bunks, and pretty much all around, so a big cleanup was necessary. Papa brought the oil soaked bedding home to get washed. I remember hearing Mama tell about the oily mess she had to wash, which of course, she did. Now remember, boys and girls, this was around the later 1930s and washing ma- chines were a tub with an agitator to swirl the clothes around, and a wringer of two rollers mounted on the tub. The washed clothes were lifted out of the tub and passed through the ringer into a big washtub of rinse water.


Then they were rung out again. When the excess water was out of the fabric the pieces had to be hung on clothes lines, whether outdoors or indoors, to air dry. Yep, you got it, no electric dryers. It was this process that Mom had to use to wash and dry the bedding from the smack. The Aerolite came back from her sink- ing and lived to make many more trips, and, to fi nally become a dragger in Provincetown, MA.


* * * * * VAPOR FLYING MASTHEAD


HIGH You likely are familiar with vapor on the water in the winter if you live on or have visited the Maine coast. Some people call it sea smoke. Vapor forms when the very cold air is above the warmer water. But hold a turn, everybody! We remember from studying physical science that vapor is invisible, being in the gaseous state. So what are we seeing when we see “vapor”? When we see “vapor” we are actually seeing tiny water droplets suspended in the air, droplets that have condensed from the vapor that has evaporated from the sea water. When cold air blows over the warmer water the gaseous vapor turns into condensed little droplets and we get the fog-like condition called vapor. In higher latitudes it is also called arctic smoke. Weʼll call it vapor. On really cold days you can get vapor


fl ying from the water surface to high above the water surface, and that higher deep va- por is described as “fl ying masthead high”. Thatʼs not a good thing in which to navigate. On this particular day the vapor was fl y- ing masthead high and Dad was on his way to Hancock, ME, with a load of lobsters in the


Continued on Page 20.


MAINE MARITIME MUSEUM 50 Years in the Making – 200 Years of Maine History


Ahead Full at 50 Opens Saturday, November 10


MMM shows its best of the best. More than 150 artifacts, models, paintings and documents from the Museum’s collection have been selected for this 50th Anniversary exhibit – objects that are special because of their historical importance, their beauty or because of the story behind the object – many never previously exhibited.


About 1,800 photographs from all eleven 2012 lobster boat races. $12.50, which includes postage.


To order send to: Maine Coastal News, P.O. Box 710, Winterport, ME, 04496 or call (207) 223-8846 and charge to your credit card.


Maine & the Sea KUSTOM STEEL


The exhibit catalog for Ahead Full at 50 contains all the exhibit objects arranged in chronological order of their acquisition by the Museum, photographed in full-color and accompanied by the story behind each object. Written by Senior Curator Nathan Lipfert and Museum Founder/Trustee Emeritus Charles E. Burden, with forward by Maine State Historian Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.


Available online or at the MMM Museum Store after November 9. On view through May 26, 2013.


Celebrating 50 Years of Preserving Maine’s Maritime Heritage


Looking to have metal work done at a reasonable cost? Welding a specialty!


Also marina slips with lots of parking and storage available. Call: (207) 991-1953


South Main Street, Brewer, Maine 04412 Exhibit Sponsors:


Anonymous Foundation Walt and Betsy Cantrell Davenport Trust Fund


General Dynamics Bath Iron Works John H. Staples


Ingrid and Henry Thomas Elena D. Vandervoort David and Sandy Weiss


243Washington Street • Bath, Maine • 207-443-1316 • www.MaineMaritimeMuseum.org


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