Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS February 2015 HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s


16 April 1908 Vagabond Ships from Old Salem Redoubtable Merchant Vessels Laid Foundation of City’s Prosperity. Privateering was destined to have


a powerful infl uence upon the seafaring fortunes of Salem. Elias Hasket Derby, for example, the fi rst great American shipping merchant and the wealthiest man in the colonies, found his trading activities ruined by the revolution.


He swung his masterly energy and


large resources into equipping privateers. It was his standing offer that after as many shares as possible had been subscribed for in fi nancing any Salem privateer, he would take up the remainder – if more funds were needed.


It is claimed that Mr. Derby was interested in sending to sea almost all the 158 privateers which hailed from Salem during the revolution. After the fi rst two years of war he discerned the importance of speed, and that many of the small privateers of his town had been lost or captured because they were unfi t for their business.


He established his own shipyards, studied naval architecture, and began to build a class of vessels vastly superior in size, model and speed to any previously launched in the colonies. They were designed to be able to meet a British sloop of war on even terms. These ships took a large number of prizes, but Elias Hasket Derby gradually converted them from privateers to letters of marque, so that they could carry cargoes to distant ports and at the same time defend themselves against the largest class of British privateers. At the beginning of the war he owned seven sloops and schooners. When peace came he had four ships of from 300 to 350 tons, which were very imposing merchant vessels for that time.


It was with these ships, created by the


needs of war, that the commerce of Salem began to reach out for ports on the other side of the world, says the Outing Magazine. They were the vanguard of the great fl eet which through the two generations to follow were to carry the stars and stripes around the Seven Seas. Ready to man them was the bold company of privateersmen, schooled in a life of rare adventure, braced to face all risks in the peaceful war for trade where none of their countrymen had ever dared to seek trade before. While they had been dealing shrewd blows for their country’s cause in war, they had been dealing shrewd blows for their country’s cause in war, they had been also preparing themselves for the dawning age of Salem supremacy on the seas in the rivalries of commerce; pioneers in a brilliant and romantic era which was destined to win unique fame for their wind-swept town on the arm of Cape Ann. – From “Old Salem Ships and Sailors,” by Ralph D. Paine.


17 April 1908


Capt. Rhodes Drowned Old Deep Sea Sailor of Northport Met Death by Capsizing of His Little Schooner.


Capt. Charles E. Rhodes of Northport, was drowned and his mate, Robert Maker, of Lynn, Massachusetts, has an narrow escape from death Thursday afternoon by the capsizing of the two masted schooner LIZZIE of Belfast. The two men were the only persons on board the boat.


The LIZZIE was bound from Saturday Cove to Rockland with a cargo of kiln wood and when about three miles from Rockland Breakwater a squall struck the vessel and she went on her beam ends. Captain Rhodes and Maker who were in the after part of the boat managed to grasp the mainmast and


both clung there, immersed in the ice water. Captain Rhodes who has 72 years old, was unable to stand the effects of the exposure long and although the mater assisted him the aged mariner was eventually swept off by a wave and disappeared beneath the water. For two hours longer Maker clung to the mast. He was nearly unconscious when a boat crew from the tug SOMMERS N. SMITH hove in sight and rescued him. The tug had been sent to the assistance of the vessel from this harbor in response to a telephone message from Camden, where the capsizing of the schooner had been observed. Maker was taken to the home of his aunt, Mrs. Priscilla Richardson in Rockland and Thursday night was reported to be recovering from the effects of his experience.


Capt. Rhodes had been a deep sea sailor most of his life voyaging to all parts of the world. He was the owner of the schooner LIZZIE which was a small craft of 29 tons, built in Duxbury, Massachusetts in 1867. Thursday night the schooner was still adrift in the bay, on her beam ends, efforts to get a line to her to tow her into harbor having been unsuccessful on account of the high wind and sea. The schooner is valued at $500 and is uninsured.


1 January 1910 Quality, Not Quantity, from Maine Shipyards


Although Tonnage is Less Some Distinctive Vessels Have Been Turned Out in 1909.


Kittery, January 1.


Though Maine shipyards have turned out less vessels tonnage the past year than in 1908, their total of about 12,000 tons, includes some very distinctive craft, such as the largest schooner in the world, the handsomest schooner on the coast, the largest power launch ever constructed in Maine and the best knockabout cruiser ever built in this state.


Bath took the lead as usual with 3730 tons six-masted schooner WYOMING, the largest wooden sailing vessel in the world. The Bath Iron Works has been busy on the two big torpedo-destroyers FLUSSER and REID. The Bath Marine Construction Co. has built besides small pleasure craft, the power yacht KAWAWHA for Hartley C. Baxter of Brunswick, the largest of her class yet launched in the state.


At Rockland Cobb, Butler & Co. have


built the four-master WM. E. BURNHAM of similar rig, accredited with being the most gracefully modeled vessel of her type in the coastwise fl eet today for the Benedit Manson Marine Co. of New Haven, Connecticut. At Eastport, the little knockabout fi sherman MARY J. BEAL, the fi rst one yet built in Maine without a bowsprit made her viebut.


20 January 1910


Blown Back to Sea when in Sight of Port Portland, January 20. Although off Cape Elizabeth and within sight of this part last Friday, the three-masted schooner TAFTON, Capt. Carlson, from Brunswick, with hard pine, did not arrive here until Thursday, the trip occupying 31 days. She had a very hard time in the Christmas storm, being blown several hundred miles off shore, and after searching Cape Elizabeth was again blown to sea by last week’s storm. No damage was sustained.


* * * * * Capt. Brown is Ashore


Bangor Skipper and His Wife Had Hard Row Against Wind in Leaving Sinking Schooner.


With a crew of undaunted New England


mariners, the crew of the S. M. BIRD, the revenue cutter GRESHAM reached Boston, Thursday, with not one, even to the wife of the skipper, Capt. Chester A. Brown of Bangor, showing any ill effects of their experiences in the life boats as they pulled two miles against a bitter wind and heavy sea from the sinking schooner to the Pollock Rip lightship. All hands found a refuge until the GRESHAM appeared Wednesday forenoon.


Capt. Brown said that his vessel mistayed while beating through the (?) awsblown onto the shoal. Finding that she was leaking rapidly he ordered all hands into the boat and with Mrs. Brown and two of the crew bailing while others pulled the oars, the lightship was gained about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Three hours later the mast head light on the schooner disappeared and at daylight only the tops of her masts were above the water.


The schooner is not a menace to navigation, being well to the eastward of the channel. Mr. and Mrs. Brown live in this city, and one of the crew, J. F. Robbins, hails from Stonington.


30 May 1913 Maine Woman, Shipwrecked, Tells of Her Experience


“Being shipwrecked isn’t so irksome as sitting ‘round twirling one’s thumbs his supper.”


That’s how Mrs. Annie Dinsmore of Rockland views a disaster that almost waiting for husband to come home for cost her her life when the 62-year old schooner CHASE rammed the ice-ladened barge the BRISTOL, committing suicide as it were, 20 miles off Boone island last Tuesday night. Mrs. Dinsmore is 30 years old and quite philosophical, a trait of most seafarers’ wives. Her husband was cook aboard the CHASE and, on this ill-starred voyage with a cargo of cobble stones for Boston, Mrs. Dinsmore thought it would be fi ne to go up to the city. This was her second voyage afl oat. The CHASE was bound for Sullivan, when the disaster occurred, fl ying light in fog murky as a Scotia cook’s plum duff. Capt. J. W. Thompson was at the


CHASE’s wheel when the tug WATUPPA loomed out of the fog with barges in tow. Two of the barges yawed by, and Capt. Thompson evidently believed his course clear. Another barge, the BRISTOL, was lying in wait at the end of a long hawser, and as the CHASE forged ahead the BRISTOL interposed her mighty bulk. Too late then to alter the schooner’s course, and she crashed into the barge with terrifi c impact that carried away headgear and started frames and bow planking.


“I was awakened by the shock,” explained Mrs. Dinsmore, “and nearly thrown from my bunk. Hurriedly donning clothing I made for the deck to see what had happened. The old CHASE was in a bad way and it was plain she could keep afl oat but a short time. The men were trying to stop the water that roared in through the schooner’s bow, and I brought them a mattress and blankets to help fi ll the gaping would through which the sea was rushing like a roaring brook.


“In about an hour we heard a steam craft approaching and pretty soon the tug WATUPPA ranged into view. We were thankful to see the powerful craft coming to our rescue and prepared to abandon the waterlogged CHASE. We made our way to the bow for a last look at the cruel wound, then went aboard the tug in a tumbling sea that made rather desperate going. “Capt. Chase went back to the CHASE


for something and, returning, had scarcely put his foot on the tug when the poor schooner shoved her stern high in air and went under with a hiss and roar. The WATUPPA landed us in Gloucester, and we came to Boston to take passage back to Rockland on the steamer BELFAST. But I’d go to sea again in a minute, if husband goes.” The CHASE apparently changed her mind about sinking, after all. She gradually rose to the surface after the WATAUPPA had left the scene till her stern was about ten feet out. The revenue cutter WOODBURY, from Boston for Portland, sighted the derelict and, making fast, towed her to the Rye ledges where she was beached.


31 May 1913


Launch Largest Steam Fisherman at Rockland


Rockland, May 31. With accommodations for a crew of 80 and a capacity of nearly 6,000 barrels, the steamer EAST HAMPTON, launched Saturday, is the largest steam fi shing craft on the Atlantic coast. Her gross tonnage is 400, and she is nearly 163 feet long. A 900 horse power engine, to be installed at Portland next month will given an estimated speed of 13 knots.


The steamer will cost $100,000 and will be owned in New York. She will be used in the menhaden fi shery, under command of Capt. H. N. Edwards of Amagansett, L. I. * * * * *


Barge Ashore


S. T. LEISHMAN Runs on Six Miles Below Bangor


Is Loaded with Coal Expect that She can be Brought Off with Slight Damage at High Tide. The coal barge S. T. LEISHMAN, bound from Norfolk, Virginia, to Bangor, with a cargo of coal for the Orono Pulp and Paper Co., ran ashore at 7 o’clock, Saturday morning, off Squaw Point, a few miles from Bangor. The barge was coming up the river under her own steam in command of Capt. Smith. Capt. Bennett of Bangor was also on board at the time the barge grounded. Both captains know every point in the river, Capt. Smith having been coming up the Penobscot for the past 14 years. The current, which is always swift at this point, was a torrent after the past week of heavy rain, and the tide was just on the turn and receding, when the barge stuck her nose around the point. The barge was quite close to the shore at the time of the accident, but at a safe enough distance under ordinary conditions. She could not stem the current, which began gradually towing her in on the point, and when Capt. Smith turned her away, the barge refused to obey the rudder. The barge was sucked onto the point


despite all efforts to keep clear, and when about 35 feet from the shore it ground with the keel buried in 13 inches of mud. As she was under steam and pulling from the shore, the compact with the bed of the river was hardly felt. Tugs were sent for, but as the tide was on the ebb nothing could be done in getting her off. Although she is out of the water she is resting easily on the bottom; scarcely any damage is expected to her. The crew remained on board and at 7 o’clock Saturday evening when the tide is again high, it is expected that with the assistance of tugs she will slide off her dangerous position.


2 September 1913 Feared for Two in Casco Bay; Both Safe Man Falls from Motor Boat Leaving Inexperienced Girl Aboard; The Boat is Wrecked


Harpswell, September 1.


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