Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS April 2014 HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - 1890s


board and very little excitement among the passengers. They left the steamer here. * * * * *


Big Boston Steamers in Collision at Sea CITY OF BANGOR and CITY OF ROCKLAND Met Off Monhegan – No One was Injured – Damage Slight. The steamers CITY OF BANGOR, Capt. Curtis, and CITY OF ROCKLAND, Capt. Riox, of the Boston & Bangor division of the Eastern Steamship Co., met in collision at an early hour Thursday morning between Monhegan and Cape Ann and about 50 miles outside Monhegan. The CITY OF BANGOR, westbound, struck the ROCKLAND, bound for Bangor, about ten feet forward of her stern. Three or four of the after staterooms on the port side of the ROCKLAND were crushed and splintered by the force of the collision. These staterooms were unoccupied and none of the passengers on either boat were injured. The CITY OF BANGOR had her stem twisted somewhat and put into Portland to pass the remainder of the night while the ROCKLAND proceeded to Bangor. The CITY OF BANGOR will be laid off a few days for repairs and the steamer PENOBSCOT will take her place on the run, leaving Boston Thursday night at 5 o’clock. When the big boats are on time they are due to pass between 12 and 1 o’clock at night about 50 miles outside Monhegan. Wednesday night the weather was very thick and nasty. Fog laid in thickly and a stiff breeze was blowing. Because of this the big boats were moving cautiously when they met off Monhegan.


Saw the Light.


Capt. Roix in the CITY OF ROCKLAND saw the lights of the other boat and blew a single blast of this whistle, the signal for the BANGOR to pass on the port side. Capt. Curtis in the CITY OF BANGOR did not see the ROCKLAND’s lights owing to the thick weather and did not get her whistle in time to veer off, but put his engines full speed astern.


When Capt. Roix saw that the CITY OF BANGOR was bearing down on him he swung the ROCKLAND off to the southeast to avoid the other boat if possible. The BANGOR came on and before the CITY OF ROCKLAND had got entirely out of her path the BANGOR’s bow struck the ROCKLAND a glancing blow on her guard ten or 12 feet forward of the stern on the port side. The ROCKLAND’s bulwarks were crushed for a distance of a dozen feet and the three or four staterooms directly over the point of impact were crushed and splintered. The BANGOR’s engines were backing full speed and to this, together with the fact that the blow she struck the ROCKLAND was a glancing one, is due the slight damage resulting from the collision. Was No Panic.


At the time the collision occurred practically all the passengers on the two boats were in their staterooms. The stern staterooms are not generally occupied unless the boat is crowded and thus there were no passengers in those which were crushed in the collision. Both the boats had a good sized passenger list but little confusion followed the collision. The offi cers of the boats quieted the passengers and assured them that there was no damage


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of consequence done and the people went back to their staterooms. The CITY OF ROCKLAND arrived at her Bangor wharf shortly after 3 o’clock Thursday afternoon, and a large number of people were down to see her in and give their friends the glad hand on their escape from a bad collision. * * * * *


A Bangor Schooner Ashore


Sch. AUGUSTA W. SNOW from Philadelphia for Cardenas, Cuba had to Jettison Port of Cargo


A cablegram was received in Bangor Thursday by E. & I. K. Stetson, agents and part owners of the schooner AUGUSTA W. SNOW, from Capt. Frank W. Armstrong of Hampden, commander of the SNOW, saying that the vessel arrived safely at Cardenas, Cuba, with a cargo of coal from Philadelphia.


The cablegram further stated that the


SNOW had been ashore before searching Cardenas and that part of her cargo had been jettisoned before she could proceed. The SNOW left Philadelphia, May 19, and as the run is usually made in about 10 days it appears as if the schooner had been ashore for several days at least. The cablegram did not state whether the vessel was damaged but as she was able to proceed to Cardenas it is thought she suffered no damage of consequence.


* * * * *


Accident to Steamer ROCKLAND Bucksport and Camden Line Boat Blew Out Cylinder Head on Up Trip Wednesday.


Bucksport, June 7. The steamer ROCKLAND met with


an accident Wednesday afternoon on her up trip, blowing out a cylinder head, when off Saturday Cove. It was thought that she would have to anchor but by hard, quick work, temporary repairs were made and she steamed into Belfast under low pressure. It is thought that in a few days she will be on her route again. In the meantime the steamer CASTINE will run on the route. The Inn May company closed its engagement here Wednesday night and went from here to Thomaston by boat. Business has been light owing to the continuous rain. The commencement exercises of the East Maine Conference seminary will begin Sunday evening June 10, with the baccalaureate sermon by the Rev. F. L. Hayword. Preparations are being made to entertain many out of town visitors. If the weather is fair a large attendance is expected. Many new and interesting features will be introduced for their entertainment. President F. W. Bragdon and Prof. E. A.


Cooper left on Thursday morning’s train for Bangor. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Collins of Stockton Springs was in town Wednesday.


8 June 1906 Crowds at Wharf to Welcome ROCKLAND


Big Tarpaulin Covered Her Port Quarter Which Was Smashed. The Mate’s Bravery


Chief Offi cer of CITY OF BANGOR Stood at Her Broken Stem and Plugged Hole with Mattresses.


A big crowd was down at the wharf of the Eastern Steamship Co. in this city Thursday afternoon when the steamer CITY OF ROCKLAND came in and all necks were craned to catch the fi rst glimpse of the steamer’s port quarter to see the havoc wrought by the sharp prow of the steamer CITY OF BANGOR which ran down the ROCKLAND in a thick fog many miles outside Monhegan shortly after midnight. The fi rst passengers to assend the


gangplank were met by eager friends, who congratulated them on their narrow escape from shipwreck and wanted to know all about just how it happened and what they did and what the men on the boat did and a dozen or more other things which were asked all in one breath.


Though not greatly damaged the ROCKLAND had lost much of her handsome appearance. On her port quarter about 20 feet abaft the after gangway the steamer’s side was covered with tarpaulin, hiding the crushed and splintered rails and staterooms through which the shattered prow of the BANGOR crashed after the ROCKLAND’s ironclad guard rail had stove in the BANGOR’s bow. The ROCKLAND’s rail showed the effect of the collision by a dent two feet wide and four or fi ve inches deep, but the rail was not splintered and to this fact that ROCKLAND’s passengers owe their lives, for had the guard rail given way and let the bow of the BANGOR pierce the ship’s side it might have been all up with the big steamer.


Staterooms 101 and 103 were the ones most badly smashed. Whether these rooms were occupied seems to be uncertain. The ROCKLAND’s purser said they were not but one of the ship’s porters said that 101 was occupied and one of the ship’s offi cers also said the stateroom was occupied by two girls and that the girls were taken out through a window and taken to a stateroom on the other side of the vessel. The bunks were on the side of the room away from the place the BANGOR struck and thus the occupants of the bunks escaped injury and perhaps death, as the bow of the BANGOR came into the room two or three feet and trembled there a second before the ROCKLAND tore herself free.


The collision was unfortunately whatever way one looks at it but so long as a collision occurred at all it was fortunate that it came as it did. One of the offi cers of the CITY OF ROCKLAND said to the Commercial man on the wharf Thursday afternoon: “It was a case where two seconds either way would have made a big difference.


“Had the BANGOR struck us two seconds sooner she would have taken us right in our port paddle box and both steamers would probably have gone down right there, in fact, there could hardly be any other outcome. On the other hand if the BANGOR had given us two seconds more we would have gone clear and the BANGOR would have gone across our wake. Capt. Roix’s quick action in giving the order to put the ship to starboard and thus partly throw her out of the way of the BANGOR was the only thing that saved us.” Women Were Brave


First Offi cer George Williams of the


CITY OF ROCKLAND said: “I’ve been sailing a few years and I’ve been in eight of these mixups where lives have been in danger and I’ve come to the conclusion that this world began wrong and is going wrong every day. I’ve concluded that the men ought to stay at home and do the cooking, wash dishes, and mind the baby, and let the women go out to work. In the little mixup we had with the BANGOR last night there wasn’t a woman who showed the least sign of fright. A few poked their heads out of the staterooms to see what was going on but a good many didn’t even know anything had happened and didn’t seem to care to fi nd out until we got into Rockland this morning and they began to turn out. On the other had a half a dozen or a dozen men were running around, wanting to know all about everything, asking if there was any danger, and bothering the offi cers and men


of the steamer half to death. That’s the way it always is. The women are hardly ever frightened and it is the men who get panicky and want to jump into the lifeboats.” Some of the offi cers of the CITY OF ROCKLAND attribute most of the blame for the collision to the weakness of the CITY OF BANGOR’s whistle. Out in a fog like that which enveloped the steamers Wednesday night the steamers keep their whistles tooting at regular intervals all the time. It is pretty hard to locate a vessel even by her whistle in a fog, as the fog seems to divert the sound, but the ROCKLAND’s offi cers say the BANGOR’s whistle is too weak and won’t carry any distance through a fog, or against the wind. Birmingham’s Bravery


One of the distinguished acts of bravery after the collision and one which perhaps saved the steamer and many lives, was performed by Chief Offi cer Thomas Birmingham of the CITY OF BANGOR, who lives at 76 Patten street in this city.


There was a fairly stiff sea running and the wind was picking up from the northeast. The bow of the BANGOR was opened up from her upper deck to her water line and things looked serious. About 200 passengers were on the ROCKLAND and a crew of about 30. On the BANGOR about 50 passengers were quartered and a crew of about the same as the ROCKLAND were in their bunks. Therefore, with something like 300 lives in imminent danger, and neither steamer knowing just how badly they were fi xed; with a dense fog shutting them in, all the lights on both steamers were turned on and a hasty examination of the state of affairs begun. The ROCKLAND soon found out that she was not injured enough to endanger her seaworthiness and she stood by to render any necessary aid to the BANGOR. The BANGOR’s bow was well down forward and she was taking in water plentifully. The forward pumps were immediately manned by part of the crew while the rest, under the direct command of the quartermaster rushed all her freight aft. * * * * *


Rockland Schooner Battered by Gales The J. I. SNOW Lost All Her Masts and Sails While on a Trip from the West Indies to Bath.


Norfolk, Virginia, June 8. – Battered and pounded by furious gales while on a voyage from Port Tarpona, in the West Indies for Baltimore with a cargo of pineapples, during which all of her masts and all of her sails were blown away, the schooner J. I. SNOW of Rockland, Maine, survived and now the vessel with her plucky crew is on her way up the bay.


The schooner was picked up off Brunswick, Georgia, by the tug EDGAR F. COOLEY of that port, and after the master of the SNOW had refused to abandon his vessel. The SNOW is a three master, engaged in the pineapple trade.


9 June 1906 New Four Master Launched at Rockland


Rockland June 9. The new four-masted schooner JOHN


COLWELL, was launched Saturday afternoon from the yard of Cobb, Butler & Co. practically ready for sea. The schooner was especially designed for lumber carrying and will engage in the Cuban trade. She is owned principally by Donnell & McKown of Boston and will be commanded by Capt. John Marston Blake of Boothba Harbor. The gross tonnage is 1042 and the registered dimensions are: Length of keel 191 feet; breadth of beam 39 feet; depth of hold 19 feet.


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