Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS February 2014 Continued from 23. Maine.


Capt. Norwood of the LEJOK blames the unknown four-master for the accident. The LEJOK sailed from Brunswick March 5. Fair weather was encountered until seven days after sailing, the LEJOK was within 30 miles of Fenwick’s island light. During the succeeding days, however, the schooner was knocking about under double reefed sails and part of the time was hove to, this being necessary by long lasting gales from northeast and the southeast which were accompanied by sleet and rain and rough seas. The LEJOK was not damaged, riding out all the storms. At 2 a. m. Thursday, when about 40


miles off Sandy Hook and with Sandy Hook light bearing N. W. by N., the LEJOK sighted a four-masted schooner, coming swiftly through the darkness. Capt. Norwood says that on account of the clearness of the night he was able to see the schooner’s green light for ten minutes before she came near. At this time the LEJOK came to a little. The four-master was in the act of luffi ng across the LEJOK’s bow and as she did so she struck the LEJOK a powerful blow below the water line, fi rst having carried off her bowsprit, jibboom and all her headgear. Then the run-down ship passed on the extent of the damage she suffered could not be learned. Within ten minutes the LEJOK fi lled with water but as there seemed to be no immediate danger that the schooner should founder Capt. Norwood and his men decided to remain by her for a time. At daylight a fl ag of distress was hoisted and at 7:20 a. m. when the LEJOK had settled badly the PERSIAN appeared and took off all hands.


HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s Seaman Cousins had been ill since


Leroy Cousins, seaman, of Ellsworth,


March 12. The exposure resulting from the wreck had aggravated his sickness. On reaching the steamer his condition was regarded as precarious and he was unconscious part of the time on the trip to this city. It was thought that he had typhoid fever.


When the LEJOK was abandoned she was waterlogged and an obstruction to navigation. The crew saved practically none of their effects as everything below deck was fl ooded.


24 March 1906


Old Steamboating on Aroostook River Many old residents of Aroostook will read with interest the following account of the old steamboating days on the Aroostook river given a Commercial man by Sidney Cook of Presque Isle, the veteran historian of Aroostook. Many of the anecdotes related will be remembered by the older residents of that region and the story of the mishaps which the first steamboat on the river met with will be amusing to them as they remember them now. Mr. Cook said: “Away back in times that will never come again, in the days of the mail stage and tri-weekly to Presque Isle, when merchants bought goods on a year’s time in Boston. Thomas Dana & Son sold Presque Isle people shiploads of groceries and fl our, and Amos P. Tapley furnished all of Aroostook county with long-legged cowhide boots, for men wore no shoes except in haying time. J. O. B. Darling in Bangor sold at wholesale to Aroostook merchants to some extent and Thomas Hersey made the boots that Aroostook merchants and boss lumbermen wore on their own feet at $12 a pair. J. P. Bass, the owner of the Commercial, was then a successful dry goods merchant on


not really my focus; instead, I was always thinking about our next race or our next regatta. I am incredibly grateful for all the tough competitors I have had the opportu- nity to race against in the Melges 24 and E Scow classes; to the US Sailing panel for recognizing the quality of competition in those fl eets; and to Rolex for its generous support of competitive sailing.” At the Melges 24 Worlds, Porter enlist-


ed his regular Full Throttle crew of Andy Burdick and Matt Woodworth, adding Fed- erico Michetti as a fi rst-time replacement for Sam Rogers, whose wife was expecting a baby during the event. “I am the only amateur on the boat, and my crew always reminds me of that, especially when I make mistakes,” chuckled Porter, who trades futures for a living and had to fi ght tooth and nail for his crown, which came down to being determined in the last light-air minutes of the fi nal race of the nine-race series. “We’ve been sailing against these Melges 24 teams since 1993, and we have incredible respect for them,” said Porter, who has fi nished second at the Worlds three times. “We knew we had a great chance to win this time, but in this fl eet you lose more than you win!”


Ever since his early days at Lake Ge-


neva Yacht Club when Harry C. “Buddy” Melges, Jr. stepped onboard the then-eight- year-old Porter’s X Boat to tune it, Porter always has been humbled but not daunted by the sailing talent of others. “I grew up sailing against Buddy as a teen in the mid to late ‘70s when he was at his peak, so I felt I always had the opportunity to sail against the best in the world.” (Melges, a three-time


Rolex Yachtsman of the Year, is one of the most successful competitive sailors in histo- ry, with countless national and international championships, two Olympic medals and an America’s Cup campaign on his resume.) “He taught us that there was no reason we shouldn’t sail outside of Wisconsin,” added Porter, who for the record has won seven E Scow National championships to Melges’s fi ve, “and we introduced that love of sail- ing to our kids. It has enriched our lives so much.”


Porter and his wife of 30 years, Dana, are the parents of four children: Brian, Grace, Davis and R.J.


2013 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year: Jody Starck (Amherst, NY). Jody Starck (Amherst, NY), age 48, fi rst won the Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year Award in 1989, and in 2004 won a second time for becoming the fi rst (and thus far, only) woman to skipper to victory at the Lightning North Americans, notorious for its large fl eets and intense competition. In 2013, she won the Lightning World Cham- pionship (46 boats) in Castiglione del Lago, Italy, crewing, along with Ian Jones, for her husband David Starck (himself one of the 2013 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year nomi- nees). After that event, David encouraged her to steer the boat for the remainder of the Lightning season, which resulted in her having, in the words of one selection panel member, “big wins in tough, big fl eets.” Most notably, she skippered to victory at the Lightning Atlantic Coast Championship (45 boats) in Wrightsville Beach, N.C. and was third at the Lightning North American Championship (58 boats) in Westport, CT. “I’m very thankful to my husband for


Main street in that fair city. Sheeting could be bought there for 80 cents a yard, pork was $49 a barrel, and fl our brought from $18 to $22 for Paris Mills product. The amount of business a merchant could do was measured by his shingle pile. “Time was passing, however, and bringing changes though they seemed to come with excruciating slowness. The European railroad was built and the state gave largely of its remaining timberlands provided that the road should run through Aroostook county. It did swing over far enough to fi nd track room but no more. General Grant journeyed to McAdam to give éclat to the celebration at the opening of the road for business. “The Maguffi n road, as it was called, was crossed by the European road. It ended at a place called Richmond between Houlton and Woodstock. Here was the fi rst gain the merchants felt. The long haul from Bangor was shortened to less than 50 miles. The next improvement for that portion north of Bridgewater was the building of Gibson’s narrow gauge road from Fredericton to Andover, N. B., Tobique. Small steamboats were running from Fredericton to Tobique in spring and fall, but the road could be directed to Fort Fairfi eld and was. The steamers had to withdraw. “Mr. Sleeper who was then publishing a paper in Caribou gave the inspiration that succeeded in extending the road to Caribou. Presque Isle was too slow in her efforts for a further extension of the road, in fact no effort at all was made to get it. At this time Sidney Cook began the building of the steamer NATHAN PERRY. The model was made by a Brewer man and was that of a side-wheel steamer.


“The boat was built by a man named Hopkins, also of Brewer. Mr. Hopkins began


Porter & Starck - Yachtsman and Yachtswoman of the Year Continued from Page 6.


encouraging me to sail my own boat again,” said Starck, whose two young daughters, Sabrina and Jamie, ages 7 and 6, came along after she had completed two 470 Women’s Olympic campaigns (1992 and ’96) and an Olympic Yngling campaign (2004). “I had not been in the back of a boat for seven years. It was a family goal to win the 2013 Worlds with David at the helm, since he had fallen just short of the top podium step one too many times. I had held him back because it took me seven years to get comfortable in the front of the boat! Once we accomplished that, he was the one who said ‘I’ll handle the kids’ and made it possible for me to do what I did. He also said that at the next Lightning Worlds there was no way I wasn’t going to be entered and skippering my own boat!” Refl ecting on winning the Rolex award for her third time, Starck said, “I’m com- pletely blown away by it; this time around, it’s more exciting than the other two times, because I am at a different stage in my life. Sailing isn’t my main focus, but I’m grateful to still be competitive.”


Starck, whose family sails out of the


Buffalo Canoe Club on Lake Erie just across the Canadian border from her home, added, “Sailing is an incredible sport, allowing me to compete at any age, and it doesn’t mat- ter what size or gender I am. It’s also very important to me to help continually bring juniors into the sport and expose them to the great opportunities sailing offers.” To that point, Allie Jones, age 17, served as a crew member for Starck (along with Ian Jones) at the Lightning North Americans, while Abbie Probst, age 16, crewed for her (along with David Starck) for a victorious Wild Oyster Regatta (66 boats).


work with a crew of one man on a June morning and began to put up the bearings upon which the fi rst steamboat was to rest. Men were put to work in a neighboring juniper swamp, cutting and digging out the knees. Michael Gallagher, an aged soldier who went out with Col. McCluskey of the Seventh Maine, had the contract to furnish the knees. In a week they were on the ground and trimmed and aided in the saw mill. “About the fi rst of September the boat was ready to launch with her boiler and engines aboard. The boiler and machinery came to Fort Fairfi eld by rail from the Charles River Iron Works. They were hauled from Fort Fairfi eld to Presque Isle by James McShea with a team of six horses, the weight of the boiler and machinery being ten tons. The day the boat was launched will long be remembered. Price Webber had been playing for a week in Johnson’s hall and engaged to bring his orchestra down and furnish music for $5. He was on hand when the NATHAN PERRY started down the ways to the deep pool just below the mill dam, but as her bow entered the water she struck fast and was not fl oated until the next day.


“The NATHAN PERRY was 85 feet long and 22 feet wide. She was completely housed, having side wheels, which were a necessity because of three bridges. Smaller wheels could be used and consequently she could go under the bridges on higher water than if she had a much higher stern wheel. “After remaining on exhibition for a day preparation was made for the run to the Aroostook river, distant a mile and a half. A dozen or 20 invited guests were put on board. Two sluices in the dam were opened to supply the necessary water as the steam was low. Because of inexperience the boat was started too soon. The water from the sluice had not reached the river when the boat propelled at such speed as would give her steerage way ran ahead of the fi rst rush of water. From there down the river it was bump, thump, and grind, with the boat wheeling along on her paddles half the time. The trees and alder bushes swept Dr. George H. Freeman and old John Allen off her bow and others lost their hats.


“But go she must and go she did. The rocks astern were white with long ribbons of birch stripped from her bottom, and her deck butts opened as she writhed along and bent when passing over sunken rocks and logs. When the bridge that spanned the stream near the mouth was sighted nearly every man, woman and child in the village was standing on the bridge waiting for the boat to come along. The fl ags were fl ying, the tiny whistle was screeching, and everybody was cheering so that at the wheel I felt like a millionaire and a hero. A landing was made when the boat reached the river and then taking advantage of the extra water from the sluice which had been open a couple of hours the run was made to Caribou, a distance of 15 miles. Nothing of importance occurred on the trip to Caribou except scraping on the gravel bars after again running ahead of the water. The greatest trouble encountered was to keep the passengers away from the bow. They preferred that place to any other and when all were gathered there the stern was so far out of the water that the steering apparatus was useless.


“At Caribou many people came from the village to see the boat. Sam Collins was one of the most interested spectators. The excursionists returned to Presque Isle in teams and late that afternoon the NATHAN PERRY steamed to her home landing. “High water came rather late that fall but a few trips were made to Fort Fairfi eld with shingles or starch. The fi rst trip was


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