Page 24. MAINE COASTAL NEWS March 2015 HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s
English Inventor Designs an Unsinkable Ship
Constructed with Concave Sides, He Says She will Float if Cut in Two. The question of the unsinkable ship has been occupying the minds of inventors since the TITANIC disaster, and a Swansea, England master mariner, A. Clifton Saines, has devised a vessel which, in his opinion, could not sink after a collision even if cut in two.
“My ship,” he says, “differs from the ordinary straight sided one in that she has a concave side, the extending upper portion of which, with an inner longitudinal bulkhead meeting the outer plating at a point above the load water line, forms a watertight chamber or belting of triangular shape right around the vessel. Transverse bulkheads dividing the ship into separate holds extend through the longitudinal bulkhead to the other plating of the watertight chamber or belting, thus dividing it into separate compartments corresponding with the holds.
“In the event of the ship being holed any direction. More probably there is some the water line, she would, when settling down, rest on her watertight belting, the triangular formation of which would have the same effect in keeping her afl oat as a life buoy would in supporting a man. If the ship were damaged above the water line the belting would receive the brunt of the injury, and from its triangular formation would leave the longitudinal bulkhead intact. “A vessel of the design cannot sink through collision. Another important point is that the concave side prevents her capsizing, and she would in heavy weather be a dry vessel and rolling would be reduced to the lowest possible degree.”
10 September 1913 Crew of Wrecked Schooner GEO. WELLS in Port
Norfolk, Virginia, September 10.
– The crew of the six-masted schooner GEORGE W. WELLS from Boston to Fernandina, wrecked on the lower North Carolina coast, September 3rd
last, were
landed here Tuesday by the revenue cutter ONONDAGA, with the exception of Capt. J. H. York and Mate Gus Green, who remained by the wreck pending advices from the Wells owners. With the crew were landed Jefferson Oriffi n, a Boston surface car conductor; Griffi n’s wife and two year old child who were passengers on the WELLS. Another woman and her two daughters, kinspeople of Capt. York, remained on the coast to come north with the captain later. Griffi n, his wife and baby had started on a six weeks’ vacation trip on the schooner WELLS. Griffi n, who was brought ashore in the coast storm in the breeches buoy, with his baby in his arms, fainted as he reached the beach. All are now well. Second Mate Roy Lecain, 38 Church Street, Wakefi eld, Massachusetts, left for home Tuesday night; others will leave later.
12 September 1913 Famous Schooner AGNES G. DONAHUE, Total Wreck Halifax, N. S., September 12. – The former sealing schooner AGNES G. DONAHUE, whose short existence was as varied as a tale of the Spanish main, is ashore, a total wreck, in Digby Gap near the light. She struck during the heavy storm which swept the Annapolis basin, Monday, and was almost immediately broken up by the waves. Her crew of seven men were rescued.
The schooner was built in 1900; for use as a sealer. In 1904, following a trip around Cape Horn she was seized by the government of Uruguay and the crew
confi ned in the “black hole” charged with violation of the international laws, for nearly a year. During the struggle by British diplomatists to secure the vessel’s release she was accused of almost every crime in the calendar.
The schooner remained in the sealing trade creating an enviable record until last year when she was purchased by a Halifax fi rm and used for the transportation of brick. * * * * *
Killed on Tug Boat Bound to Fort Point Rockland, September 12.
Michael Starback, a deck hand, aged 25 and unmarried, was killed Friday on the ocean going tug CATAWISSA, bound from Philadelphia to Fort Point. His arm was caught on a crank pin and pulled from the shoulder. His body was brought into port by the tug which then proceeded with her tow of barges.
18 September 1913 Take to Boats When Schooner GEO. TEMPLE Sinks
New Harbor, September 18.
The two-masted schooner GEORGE TEMPLE, which sailed out of Salem Monday afternoon, with Capt. and Mrs. (?) Hammond of West Bristol, Nathan Butler, who was on his way from Massachusetts to attend Colby College at Waterville, and a sailor sprang a leak and sank Wednesday off Seguin.
Those on board lost all their personal
effects as the water gained so rapidly they were forced to leave quickly in two small boats. The boat in which the captain and his wife left the ship was unseaworthy, and they were obliged to captain and his wife left the ship was badly overloaded. In fi ne condition they drifted about for an hour until picked up by the lobster steamer LUCRETIA, whose crew had seen the schooner sink, and brought to Pemaquid Beach.
The schooner was loaded with provisions, fuel and furniture and was owned by Capt. Hammond. She was built at New London, Connecticut, in 1866, and was of 44 net tonnage.
25 September 1913 Maine Vessel Goes to Bottom Schooner NELLIE F. SAWYER of Portland Sunk in Pollock Rip Channel; Crew is Safe
Chatham, Massachusetts, September
25. A serious menace to coastwise navigation is the schooner NELLIE F. SAWYER of Portland, Maine, which sank in the middle of Pollock Rip channel early Thursday, with all sails set. Her skipper, Capt. N. F. Mitchell, and the crew of fi ve men had just time to jump into the small boat as the schooner slid off the shoal on which she struck, and plunged 22 feet to the bottom. The mariner rowed to Pollock Rip lightship, half a mile away, and were brought ashore by the Mononoy Point life savers. The SAWYER was bound from New
York to Calais, Maine, with coal and had passed Pollock Rip lightship when she struck the shoal on the west side of the channel. Capt. Mitchell said that her whole bottom seemed to give way, and he had barely time to shout to his men and clear away, the boat when the schooner began to sink.
She lies on sandy bottom, half a mile north of Pollock Rip lightship, with her bowsprit out of water and her sails set. As the channel at this point is very narrow and is one of the busiest ocean highways on this part of the coast, it is expected that the schooner will be blown up with a few days by a revenue cutter. The NELLIE F. SAWYER was built at Brunswick in 1873
and was 270 tons net burden. 27 September 1913
Make Effort to Save Schooner
Attempt Will Be Made to Get ALICE DAVENPORT Off Ledge at High Tide Tonight
Rockland, September 27.
The increased intensity of the Owl’s Head and Rockland Breakwater lights, which caused him to miscalculate his distance from the mainland, was assigned Saturday by Capt. Haskell as the cause of running the four-master, coal laden, schooner ALICE MAY DAVENPORT of Bath onto Western Bay ledges, near Hurricane Isle, in Penobscot Bay, late Friday night.
The intensity of the lights on the mainland side had been increased, but those on the islands on the other side of the course have not yet been changed. Mariners have complained, it is said that they have been bothered all summer of this condition. Capt. Haskell and his crew stayed by the vessel all night when they found she was not leaking and was in no immediate danger. At low tide she had a strong port list and was heading northeast with bow on the rocks and stern down in about 20 feet of water. When a tug from here left the schooner at noon she had not begun to leak, the wind was northwest and fresh (?) there was considerable undertow.
The Snow Marine Co. will make an
attempt to fl oat the craft on the next high tide, early Saturday evening. They believe they have good prospects of succeeding if good fortune attends them in lightering the soft coal forward. Should the vessel spring a leak and fi ll it is believed there will be (?) prospect of saving her. The revenue cutter WOODBURY left Portland at 1 o’clock to render assistance. The DAVENPORT was bound from Newport News with 1800 tons of soft coal for Bangor.
* * * * * Life Savers to Aid Schooner
ALICE MAY DAVENPORT, Bound for Bangor, Is Ashore on a Penobscot Bay Lodge
Rockland, September 27. The four-masted schooner ALICE
MAY DAVENPORT of Bath, was stranded Saturday in a precarious position on Western Bay ledge not far from Hurricane Isle, in Penobscot Bay. Word of her predicament was brought to port by bay steamers during the forenoon and a tug and the White Head life saving crew were sent to the assistance of the schooner and crew of nine. The schooner is laden with coal and bound from Newport News for Bangor.
The steamboat men brought ashore little information about the schooner beyond the fact that she was ashore on the ledges and in need of immediate assistance. She evidently ran out of her course during the night or early Saturday morning when the tide was high for she was not there at dark Friday night. The DAVENPORT was resting easily, as the sea was comparatively smooth and the wind was light from the northwest, but it was stated that she would not last long should the wind blow strong from the southward and that there were indications it would shift to the south Saturday afternoon.
The schooner was built at Bath in 1905 and is owned by James B. Drake & Sons of that city. She registers 1,144 gross tonnage and is 194 feet long, 39 feet beam and 18 feet deep.
The schooner cost between $50,000 and $60,000. She is partially insured.
2 October 1913 Brewer-Built Vessel Lost in Muscongus Bay
Portland, October 2. The logs of the three-masted schooner
AETNA of New York on Western Egg Rock in Muscangus bay, not far from Pemaquid was reported Thursday by the revenue cutter WOODBURY. The schooner was found by the WOODBURY abandoned and with her forefoot and considerable of her keel gone. Nothing could be done to save the schooner. She went ashore Tuesday night while bound from New York to St. John, N. B., with a cargo of coal. As the weather was calm and no distress signals were shown it was assumed that the crew remained on board over night and rowed to the mainland Wednesday. The schooner was built at Brewer in 1895 and registered 350 gross tonnage.
4 October 1913 Sailors Save Ship by Ingenuity
With Improvised Tools They Build Drydock and Repair Hull Seemed Fatal Injury
Boat’s Bow Stove In, She is Run Into a Port and in a Week She is able to do 30 Knots
An exploit which, if it had taken place during war times, would have attracted conspicuous attention, is described by Lieut. Commander J. F. Hellweg, who had commanded the destroyer BURROWS when that vessel planted her thin steel shoulders against the destroyer HENLEY, to emerge from the encounter with her bow twisted 80 degrees to port.
The collision had taken place during the manoeuvers off Guantanamo, and in the Scientifi c American the offi cer who had commanded the BURROWS at the time describes an extraordinary piece of repair work that was accomplished in a remarkably expeditious manner. The accident has effectively prevented the BURROWS from taking any further part in the manoeuvers, and if it had happened during war time would have handicapped the entire fl otilla, as the sorely crippled destroyer would have required the protection of her consorts, the twisted bow having reduced her speed from 30 to 6 knots an hour.
At that speed the destroyer slowly made her way to Guantanamo bay. There are no dry docks there, but one was improvised. A small cay was selected and the vessel laid alongside a (?) that had been (?). Lieut. Commander Hellweg thus describes the operation that ensued: “We knew that the ship’s keel was broken short off about two feet abaft of the scarf of the keel and stem; but the ship’s weights were not suffi cient to raise the bow so that the break could be reached. A large anchor was therefore landed on the stern to lift the bow. The ship was then run inshore till the forefoot took on the cradle of a small marine railway used for repairing launches, small tugs and barges, the ship being steadied by large barges on both sides. By this means the bow was placed in water about four feet at low tide.
“I’d permit the use of air tools a small six line was piped from the ship’s air compressor to the bow and was rigged with three outlets. Air tools were borrowed from the fl eet and the men were arranged in shifts to push the work as rapidly as possible. Scaffolding was built around the bow with target raft material, and the ship’s search light was dismounted, taken on the beach and mounted so that the light could be thrown on the work.
“Men from the U. S. S. DIXIE and the
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