Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS January 2014 delays.”


HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s 18 January 1906


“Then taken all in all you believe the prospect for Bath yards is as good or better than it was in 1905, do you?” was asked. “Yes fully as good and I think the close of the year will show up better,” was the answer.


Gardiner G. Deering was the next builder interviewed. Mr. Deering by the way builds vessels for himself and at their completion sells them off in pieces doing little or no real contract work. He is one of the oldest builders in the business and nearly always has something in the way of a big one on the stocks. He began building nearly a year ago and his frame is now in the yard, all standing, but owing to the non arrival of hard pine, for ceiling and planking, not a chip has fl own in the yard for a number of weeks. Regarding the scarcity of hard pine Mr. Deering said: “Yes, I have been subjected to a considerable delay in not securing my hard pine. I traded for it seven months ago and not a stick has shown up yet but I am looking for it now very soon as I have received word that it is to be shipped at once. As soon as it arrives I shall go on with my work.” “What has caused this delay, Mr. Deering?” was asked. “Well, they tell me that the drought in the South last year prevented them from getting the logs to the mills. Then there was one of the big mills burned and that meant quite a drawback. As a rule two months is about all of the time required to secure a cargo but this trip I have been more than three times that.”


“What are the prospects for the coming 12 months?” was asked. “I don’t know as I can tell you, but I guess they are fully as good as they were a year ago if not better. I understand that Percy & Small will commence on their big six-master in March or April and no doubt the other yards will get contracts. I shall fi nish mine up as soon as the stock arrives. “Whether I shall build another or not I have not determined. It depends upon circumstances and I can tell better when I get this one overboard but I should not be surprised if I put up another if everything looks right.”


Percy & Small who build some of the


largest and fi nest of the present day ocean carriers for themselves and for the fi rm of J. S. Winslow & Co. of Portland, say that things have looked rather blue in the past but that they are hoping for something better, that they will commence work on the six master in March and that they are fi guring out occasional contracts which are submitted to them.


The Sewall iron shipbuilding plant has been idle for a number of years but it is a known fact that the fi rm has the plans for two large vessels and Bath lives in hopes that they will decide to construct them during the coming year. It is generally believed that should Congress take some favorable action toward stimulating building that the Sewalls would “get busy” at once and things would hum at their yard. Of late there has been little or nothing to encourage them for they build ships and square rigged craft although they did build one steel schooner, the KINEO, which was launched a number of years ago. Harry B. Sawyer of the Kelley Spear Co., said that the hard pine situation is one which has caused the builders to do some thinking and has bothered some of them to a considerably extent. At the present time his fi rm is using Oregon fi r, for ceiling and planking the craft under construction at its yard. Regarding the prospects for 1906 Mr. Sawyer said that he could not see that they differ materially from the condition of things existing a year ago.


12 Persons Lost at Sea?


Karl Sumner Claims He is Sole Survivor of Wreck of ROBERT H. STEVENSON. Savannah, Georgia, January 18 – Adrift on a gang plank from 9 o’clock last Saturday morning until 5 o’clock Monday afternoon, without food or water, Karl Sumner, the only known surviving member of a party of 13 people aboard the four-masted schooner ROBERT H. STEVENSON, was picked up by the German steamer EUROPA, bound from Philadelphia for Savannah, Monday afternoon, in latitude 34 58, longitude 75 52 west and brought to Savannah Wednesday. Beside the ship’s crew there were four women aboard, the wife of the captain, two relatives and a colored servant, all going to Havana on a pleasure trip.


The STEVENSON loaded with coal, sailed from Philadelphia, January 8 for Havana. Capt. Higbee was in charge with First Mate Lewis.


Sumner says the schooner grounded on Diamond shoals. All save four seamen himself included, took to the boats, one boat being smashed and the fi rst mate and two men being drowned. This he witnessed. He thinks the others capsized. Two of the men who remained with the schooner left on a raft, he left on the gangplank, and the fourth man remained. Several ships passed Sumner at a distance before he was picked up weak from cold, hunger and thirst by a boat from the EUROPA. He thinks he was the sole survivor.


The schooner was 1056 tons register and owned in Boston.


* * * * *


Was Built in Bath in 1902. Boston, January 18. – The four-masted schooner ROBERT H. STEVENSON lost off Diamond Shoals last Saturday, was owned in this city by a shipping syndicate, Edwin P. Boggs, a wholesale grocer of Commercial street, was the managing owner of the vessel.


First Mate Lewis, who is said to have been lost, was a resident of East Boston. The STEVENSON was built at Bath, Maine in 1902, and was considered one of the fi nest vessels in the New England coastwise fl eet.


19 January 1906 Brig Wrecked on Seal Island The brig ATALANTA, is ashore on Seal island, a total wreck. The brig was bound from St. John, N. B., for New York, with a million and a half of laths. The ATALANTA left Rockland harbor


early Wednesday morning. There was a strong breeze blowing and the sea was rough and choppy outside. The brig made her way with diffi culty outside of the harbor and when off No Man’s Land, near Matinicus, struck on a sunken ledge. The ATALANTA was dismasted so great was the force with which she struck the rock and it was with diffi culty that Capt. Corset and the crew of six men were able to get ashore in boats. The dismasted brig fi nally drifted ashore on Seal Island, where she now lies.


Part of the cargo of laths will be saved, but the brig is a total loss. The ATALANTA was built at Port Jefferson, New York, and is of 370 gross and 320 net tons. She is owned in St. John, N. B., and valued at about $7,000 and insured.


Capt. Buttman of the steamer W. G. BUTMAN sighted the ATALANTA in her perilous position and taking a crew of fi shermen from Matinicus went to the rescue of the brig. Before Capt. Butman could reach the vessel she had come off the rock and gone


ashore on Seal Island. The master, Capt. W. W. Corset, remained by the brig in order to ascertain what could be saved of the vessel’s cargo and messages to the owners informing them of the disaster were taken to Rockland by Capt. Butman.


* * * * *


Believes He Struck a Wreck Capt. Covert of the Brig ATALANTA Lost on Matinicus May Lodge a Protest Rockland, January 19. Capt. W. W. Covert of the brig


ATALANTA, wrecked on Seal Island Wednesday, arrived here Friday from Matinicus isle and reported the craft already has begun to go to pieces. He believes she ran onto an old wreck instead of a submerged ledge as at fi rst supposed, as logs and large pieces of timber came up alongside the brig when she fl oated and drifted onto Seal Island.


There is little hope of saving even


the cargo. The members of the crew are domiciled in a fi sherman’s camp on Matinicus isle, watching the wreck. A survey will be called and a protest noted. The ATALANTA was bound from St. John, N. B., to New York with a cargo of 1,500,000 laths.


28 February 1906 Bangor Vessel Driven Ashore The IZETTA, Capt. Trim, Gets into Trouble Near Cottage City Cargo of Coal for Belfast


The Craft is Owned by F. W. Ayer & Co. and is about 200 Tons Burden – Will Probably be Floated


Vineyard Haven, Massachusetts,


February 28. – The Bangor, Maine, schooner IZETTA, Capt. Trim, from Delaware for Belfast with coal, was discovered ashore Wednesday, near Highland wharf, off Cottage City. The sea was too rough for any communication between the vessel and shore, but it was thought the craft was not leaking and would be pulled off in safety when the weather moderated. The IZETTA sailed from this port on


with a westerly wind, but Tuesday the wind shifted to the eastward and the schooner started to return, to this harbor. During the night, however, the wind backed into the north and a blinding snow storm set in, driven by a high gale and the IZETTA not being able to pick up any light to shape her course accurately, brought up on the shoals near Cottage City. Her jibs and topsails are badly torn by the wind, but otherwise she appears to be undamaged. The IZETTA is owned by F. W. Ayer & Co., and was built in Brewer in 1865. The vessel is about 200 tons burden.


the 26th


8 March 1906 Still Another Maine Vessel Wrecked The ELIZA PENDLETON Abandoned at Sea Off Fire Island, New York – Her Crew Safely Landed in Port


New York, March 8. – Capt. Henry Dodge of Portland, Maine, and eight men, the crew of the three-masted schooner ELIZA J. PENDLETON, owned by Pendleton Bros., New York, were put ashore at Elizabethport, New Jersey, Wednesday by the schooner ANNA D. BISHOP. They told of the suffering they underwent after being wrecked. The crew was rescued from the PENDLETON 200 miles southeast of Fire Island on March 2, after being nearly four days without food or water. The PENDLETON was on her way


from Georgetown, South Carolina to Bridgeport, Connecticut with a cargo of lumber when she was struck by a gale on February 27. For hours she withstood the


blow, but late that day it seemed as if she had burst, so fast did the water pour into her. Capt. Dodge was struck by a wave, hurled against a piece of lumber and severely injured. Toward evening on March 2, the BISHOP sighted the PENDLETON, then almost completely submerged. A boat was launched and manned by the steward, Howard Nelson, and two sailors who rowed alongside at the risk of their lives. Capt. Dodge had to be helped aboard. So had the negro cook and the mate who had temporarily lost his mind from the privations he had endured. The vessel had been prevented from sinking by her cargo of lumber. When abandoned on March 2 she was still afl oat.


The three-masted schooner ELIZA J.


PENDLETON was built at Belfast, Maine, in 1891, and hailed from that port. She registered 672 tons net, was 130 feet in length, 35 feet in breadth and 17 feet deep. * * * * *


Wrecked Crew Thanks the Life Savers The tug LILLIE has arrived at Islesford to tow the schooner ABBIE AND EVA HOOPER back to St. John. On board were E. C. Elkins and nephew, owners of the schooner. The LILLIE at once took the schooner in tow for Southwest Harbor where efforts were made to hang her rudder and free her of water before proceeding to St. John.


The following has been given out from Capt. Oleson of the wrecked vessel: “The master of the schooner ABBIE


AND EVA HOOPER wishes to express gratitude to the Cranberry Island Life Saving station for all their kindness and grand help in saving the vessel and also lives of himself and crew on March 4. The vessel being waterlogged, sails blown away and in every way disabled. I feel certain if it had not been for their prompt and kindly assistance both vessels and crew would have been lost. The whole crew including myself were either frozen or in other ways disabled.”


14 March 1906 Fears for a Maine Captain and Crew Thomas Chadwick of Port Clyde has been Missing for Two Weeks – Abandoned the JESSE W. STARR Thomaston, March 14.


Grave fears are entertained for the safety of Capt. Thomas Chadwick of Port Clyde, Maine, and crew of fi ve men of the three-masted schooner JESSE W. STARR, which was reported abandoned at sea two weeks ago, by the steamer EL DIA on her arrival at New York, March 5. The schooner when seen was distressed and waterlogged with a boat trailing at the stern, and there was no trace of the crew. She was bound from Norfolk to New York with lumber. Dresser, Elliot & Co. of Thomaston, have received a letter from Cyrus W. Chadwick, a brother of Capt. Chadwick, and member of the fi rm of C. W. Chadwick & Co., of New York, principal owners of the STARR, stating that no word has been received from any of the crew. There is a chance that they were taken off by a passing steamer or sailing vessel bound to a foreign port. Capt. Chadwick is about 65 years old and has a wife and fi ve children at Port Clyde.


The JESSE W. STARR was built at Milford, Connecticut, in 1874, and was 307 gross tonnage and 128 feet long. Her homeport was Tuckerton, New Jersey. The cargo was valued at $9,000. The schooner was valued at $7,000 and was not insured.


20 March 1906


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