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Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS December 2014


24 December 1906 The Schooner FORTUNA Now Breaking Up on Cape Cod Highland Light, Massachusetts, December 24. – The two-masted fi shing schooner FORTUNA which was wrecked outside Portland harbor a few weeks ago and has since been drifting about a dangerous derelict, was cast up on the sands a mile north of the High Head life saving station early Monday. A fresh northeast wind was rolling in a heavy sea when the vessel struck and she will probably go to pieces. The FORTUNA was owned in Jonesport, Maine, and struck Alden’s rock outside Portland harbor while bound from Jonesport to Gloucester with fi sh. Capt. Tower and his crew reached the harbor after a hard row in a dory. The vessel was of 25 tons and was built at Deer Isle, Maine, in 1890. She is the second vessel of that name to fi nd her grave in practically the same place, the old FORTUNA after which she was named, being wrecked near High head about 15 years ago. The schooner WILLIAM MARSHALL which went ashore here ten days ago is breaking up under the battering of the heavy surf that has been running during the night and her cargo of lumber is scattered along the beach.


13 July 1907 Maine Vessel Sent to Bottom The NICKERSON of Boothbay Sunk in Collision; Three Men Drowned. Three victims were added to the long death roll of New England fi shermen who have lost their lives in wrecks caused by collisions with ocean steamers in the thick fog off the Massachusetts coast when early Friday, the WHITE STAR line steamer ROMANTIC from Boston to New York, run down and sunk the two-masted auxiliary fi shing schooner NATALIE B. NICKERSON, of Boothbay, Maine, in a blanketing fog off the Nantucket lightship, and while most of the schooner’s crew of 18 men were sleeping below decks. Three fishermen were still missing when the big ROMANIC steamed away, after a two hours’ search. Fifteen fi shermen were picked up from the wreckage by the ROMANIC’s boats and landed in New York. The last man picked up was Bert Wylie, a one-armed fi sherman from Maine, who was found clinging to a piece of wreckage and shouting lustily for help.


Capt. Bendell of the ROMANTIC says that his ship was steaming slowly, and when the fl are of the NICKERSON’s light showed through the fog, the ROMANTIC was not under suffi cient way to veer off before the crash came. Within one minute after the sharp steel bow pierced the little fi sherman, the NICKERSON sank in 27 fathoms of water. The three missing fi sherman believed to be drowned are: Wm. Winchester, Digby, N. S.; Everett Greenleaf and Elwell Greenleaf, two brothers, both from Maine. The smart schooner NATALIE NICKERSON sailed from Newport, Rhode Island, on the evening of July 9, for the Nantucket shoals under the command of Capt. John Seavey and with a crew of 17 men, all of whom with the exception of Winchester, were from New England. A water spaniel called “Spot Seavey,” was not on the schooner’s list but was a pet of the crew. The fi shing was good and Friday, when the weather began to set in thick, Capt. Seavey and his men were in high spirits over the good catch.


The ROMANTIC, under the command of Capt. Beadnell, left Boston for New York at noon Thursday, after a long voyage from Italy, to make a special trip out of New


HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s and celebrated the 300th


York. Off the Highland Light an easterly wind blew in a nasty mist and as the big WHITE STAR liner neared the Nantucket shoals an impenetrable fog bank shut in, and Capt. Beadnell, realizing the great danger of running down the fl eet of fi shermen, reduced the speed of the ship.


“About midnight!” said Capt. Beadnell, who was on the bridge of the ROMANTIC from the time she left Boston until she reached New York, “we could hear the fog horns here and there on the water and from the sounds I could pick out the location of the many fi shing schooners. The ROMANIC’s whistle was blowing constantly, for the fog was very thick and we were barely moving along for fear of striking a vessel. I heard the NICKERSON’s horn but once, when suddenly out of the fog I saw the loom of her light. Orders were given to throw the wheel over but the ship was hardly under way and before we could veer off the NICKERSON was struck. We clung to the spot where the accident occurred for over two hours, searching for the three missing men but we were unable to fi nd them.”


Fifteen of the NICKERSON’s crew were asleep below when the two men on watch saw the big ROMANTIC bearing down upon them. Quickly they ran below to rouse the sleeping fi shermen but before the men could tumble out of their bunks the ROMANTIC crashed into the after quarter of the NICKERSON which was moving lazily along under foresail and mainsail. The crew, half-dressed, rushed to the deck, now crumbling to pieces from the impact and managed to get overboard and into a dory which had been carried on deck. Hardly had the dory been put overboard, when the NICKERSON sank and several of the crew were drawn down beneath the waters by the suction. A few managed to reach the dory, while others seized bits of fl oating wreckage. Capt. Beadnell gave orders to stop the ROMANTIC and boats were quickly lowered. One by one the fi shermen who could be located were picked up and “Spot Seavey,” who had swam after Capt. Seavey was taken into the dory. Capt. Seavey broke down Friday from shock and was slightly delirious. The surviving fi shermen will be sent back to Boston. The NATALIE E. NICKERSON was a vessel of 125 tons gross register and 68 tons net. She was 106 feet in length, 24 feet beam and 10 feet deep, and was built in East Boothbay, Maine, in 1901.


22 July 1907 Big Schooners Race


Six-Master GEORGE W. WELLS Wins a Long Ocean Race


Dull Times in Port Now


Decline in Lumber Shipments and Big Seaport Below the Cause – Lauches Do Towing.


After a sensational coastwise race from Baltimore to Portland, between four of the biggest coastwise schooner of the North Atlantic fl eet, the six-master GEORGE W. WELLS of Boston, Capt. Joseph York, dropped anchor in Portland harbor at 5 o’clock Friday evening, 17 hours, 40 minutes ahead of the second boat, the fi ve- master NATHANIEL T. PALMER, which arrived at 9:30 o’clock Saturday morning. The other two boats, the JANE PALMER and the VAN ALLANS BOUGHTON were reported off Vineyard Haven Saturday forenoon and were expected to make the Portland Head light Saturday night. All four vessels, deep laden, sailed from Baltimore at 8 o’clock on the morning of Sunday, July 14 and for the fi rst 24 hours remained within hailing distance of one


another. The second day out in a heavy sea and a dungeon of a fog the several craft lost track of one another and on the third day Capt. York found himself along and none of the other contestants in sight. Thursday forenoon, however the NATHANIEL T. PALMER, which is one of the fastest of the fl eet, but which had run into more than her share of head winds, began to gain on the Wells and Thursday evening the hull of the big six-master showed plain on the horizon to the crew of the PALMER. The BOUGHTON and the JANE PALMER must also have gained slightly on the last leg, but the WELLS had too great a lead for the others to overcome, and with everything drawing, she passed Bug Light just before dusk Friday evening, a clear winner of the greatest race of its kind ever sailed on the North Atlantic coast.


30 July 1907


Some of the Big Years in Bath Shipbuilding


The Last When Business Was Strong in 1899 with 40,009 Tons Constructed. The last year when shipbuilding can be said to have been strong in Bath was in 1899 when the city constructed 40,009 tons of shipping and it will be of interest to note that there were but four years when the amount of tonnage in the Bath district exceeded those fi gures, they were: 1853, 50,204 tons; 1854, 64,327 tons; 1855, 46,130 tons; 1882, 42,783 tons. To be sure since 1899 there has been a lapse in building but these same periods of laxity have come and passed before. The tonnage in that year was of course mostly for the coasting trade and government service but that showed a change of style in the type of vessels built to correspond with the work for which they were intended. When the country had a large foreign trade Bath built many square riggers as follows: 1851, 30 ships; 1852, 35 ships; 1853, 48 ships; 1854, 59 ships; 1855, 42 ships; 1856, 41 ships; 1857, 20 ships. In the year 1899 Bath built but two ships but it did build many vessels for the coasting trade. The schooners developed fastest during the period from 1879 to 1889 when the number built was as follows: 1879, 24; 1880, 26; 1881, 31; 1882, 45; 1883, 35; 1884, 24; 1885, 17; 1886, 17; 1887, 11; 1888, 18; 1889, 26. In 1889 the four masters were coming into vogue to some extent, but only as an experiment, and even then there were builders who were inclined to doubt the feasibility of making them successful cargo carriers in the general trade. The development of the four-stickers was followed by the fi ve, then the six and in one case the seven-masted schooner. The fi ve-masters are today the type most frequently seen under construction and with their development has come a falling off in the number constructed which is no doubt due to this greatly increased size. The three- master has become somewhat of a rarity and in her place, for shoal waters, has come the barge and while this style craft does not receive great commendation for its beauty it is nevertheless a necessary evil and Bath builds them having launched nearly 30 in a single year.


5 August 1907 Bath’s Big Celebration


The 300th


Anniversary of the Birth of American Shipbuilding.


First Launching at Popham Beach Formal Opening of the Observances Set for Monday Night – The Program. Bath, August 5.


The city of Bath Monday assumed the honor belonging to the small town of Popham


anniversary of the


birth of American shipbuilding in a manner more extensive than would be possible for the town. The fi rst launching in the United States took place at Popham beach, when the pinnace Virginia, the product of the disheartened members of the Popham colony, slid down the crude ways to the ocean.


Although the formal opening of the observances was not to take place until Monday night a program of entertainment was prepared for the day and included a reception of distinguished guests by committees, a reception of American and foreign warships, a balloon ascension, a reception to the offi cers of the American and foreign warships of the American and foreign warships which will take part in the celebration and an automobile tour of the city.


A succession of bonfi res along both sides of the Kennebec river from Bath to the ocean had been prepared as one of the features of the evening’s program, which included literary exercises, marking the formal opening.


7 August 1907 Sloop Is Beached.


Ill-Fated Yacht RUTH E. CUMNOCK Towed Ashore


By the Cutter WOODBURY Revenue Cutter’s Men Worked Hard to Get Her Landed – Trawlers Have a Clear Field Now.


The sloop RUTH E. CUMNOCK was lifted from her resting place on the bottom of Penobscot Bay and towed ashore Tuesday afternoon by the revenue cutter WOODBURY, just four weeks from the day the sloop went down in a squall and sent six young men to their deaths. The ill-fated sloop was located more than a week ago and the discovery of her location was the fi rst straight lead the searchers had in their work. Following the location of the sloop the trawls were used through every hour of daylight when wind and tide would allow the work to be done and results were soon obtained in the fi nding of the bodies of four of the victims of the accident.


When further trawling brought no result a deep-sea diver from Portland was employed and though he made several descents, staying down from six to 14 minutes each time, and made a complete search of the sunken yacht, and the bottom of the bay for 50 feet on all sides of it, he found no trace of any of the two remaining victims which have not as yet been recovered. When the revenue cutter WOODBURY came over from Portland on orders from the Treasury department upon the request of the committee of citizens send through Collector Day of the Bangor customs district, it was hoped that the remaining victims of the accident would soon be recovered. The crew of the cutter have done everything they could to assist the searchers. On account of the storm Sunday nothing could be done on the bay. Monday the cutter was out with the searchers and Tuesday it was decided to raise the yacht and give a clear fi eld for the use of the trawls.


The cutter’s diver went down Tuesday


and fi xed tackle on the sunken sloop. No attempt was made to bring the sloop to the surface as that was not necessary. With the tackle made fast the cutter steamed for shore about 5 o’clock in the afternoon, towing the sloop under water, while a man in the cutter’s bow threw the lead ahead to get soundings so that the sloop might not ground again and break the tackle. The sloop sank in about 40 feet of water. On nearing shore the sloop was towed in as far as possible and left. It was


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