February 2016 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 25.


The announcement was made by the Boston papers to the effect that the six- masted schooner GEORGE W. WELLS is perhaps faster than her rival, the six-masted Bath-built schooner ELEANOR A. PERCY, is laughed at by Bangor sea captains. They claim, and are ready to wager, that the ELEANOR PERCY can leave the WELLS behind in a race which is managed under even conditions.


The race this week in which the WELLS arrived in Boston from Norfolk six hours ahead of the PERCY was not fair according to the local men. The WELLS had 4723 tons of coal aboard while the PERCY had 5536, making a vast difference in the weight of the two craft.


Capt. Lincoln Jewett, who is well known in Bangor shipping circles, is an able commander and his friends are confi dent that his craft, under his management, can defeat the WELLS which is commanded by Capt. McLean. The PERCY and WELLS had a brush a short time ago in which the PERCY was easily victorious. According to a well known shipping fi rm the WELLS left Boston 24 houres ahead of the PERCY was in Norfolk away ahead of the Camden-built schooner.


In speaking of Capt. Jewett, a Boston paper says:


“The rise of Linc Jewett from skipper of a lobster smack to the command of the largest wooden schooner in the world, all in a few years, is one of the marvels of down east coasting, and shows what industry and skill, coupled with a spirit of daring, will accomplish for a man of this calling, even in these days when the sailing vessel has to fi ght railroads, barges and steamers for a living share of the carrying trade. “Capt. Lincoln Jewett of South Portland, familiarly known all along shore as ‘Linc’ Jewett, is a typical down East skipper – one of the active, nervous kind, always in a great hurry and afraid of nothing, afl oat or ashore. In times past he used to be regarded by the old and careful salts as all but crazy; they shivered at some of his feats of seamanship, and predicted a grand smash for him and his vessel ‘one of these days.’ Jewett never waits for wind or weather, when there is a possible chance of getting anywhere. “When he was a fi sherman, sailing a little lobster smack out of Portland, he gave the fi sh dealers there a ‘turn’ that made their eyes bulge. One cold and blustery day in winter he came into Portland with a good fare of fi sh and found the market bare. The weather had been so stormy that no one could get anywhere or catch anything, and so it looked like a harvest time for Capt. ‘Linc’ with his good fare. “The fi sh dealers, however, thought


differently. They argued that the weather was so bad that Jewett would have to stay in Portland and sell his fi sh there at whatever price might be offered, and so they made a pool, agreeing to pay no more than a certain price, with the understanding that the fi sh should be divided among them. “But the scheme didn’t work. Capt.


‘Linc’ told them all to go to the devil and, to the amazement of all hands got under way in a howling snowstorm for Gloucester, where he arrived all right and got a high price for his fare. The Portland fi sh dealers never tried after that, to get the best of ‘Linc’ Jewett. ‘There’s no tellin’ what the critter’ll do,’ said one of them. And there wasn’t. “Capt. Jewett’s daring, good judgment and enterprise soon won swift advancement for him, and he graduated from the little fi shing smack to a good sized schooner in the coasting trade. He made quick trips and piled up dividends for the owners at such a rate that they kept giving him bigger and


HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s No other damage was caused.


better vessels, until in 1804, the four-masted schooner CHARLES P. NOTMAN was built for him at Bath.


“This was a vessel to Capt. Jewett’s liking. She was of 1302 tons net register, carried about 2,200 tons of coal and would sail like a pirate. The way he raced her up and down the coast made the other coal luggers stare.


Led the Fleet.


“Once Capt. ‘Linc’ astonished the shipping world by a feat that is without a parallel in the annals of the coasting trade. There was a great scarcity of coal in Portland one winter a few years ago, and the CHARLES P. NOTMAN was one of a fl eet of 14 vessels bound there from various ports with cargoes of the much needed fuel. “From the capes of the Delaware up they had bad weather, and coming onto Nantucket shoals, they ran into a furious northeast snowstorm, which drove all but the NOTMAN into Vineyard Haven or some other harbor of refuge. Capt. Jewett, however, was in no mood for loafi ng in harbors. He knew that if he got into Portland in company with the whole fl eet he might have to wait weeks for his turn in the discharging berth, so he kept right along regardless of the weather. So it was that, while all the other vessels were reported as ‘arrived’ at the Vineyard the CHARLES P. NOTMAN was reported this way: “ ‘Passed, schooner CHARLES P. NOTMAN, Jewett, Newport News for Portland.’


“ ‘Passed! That little word in the


Vineyard Haven ship news, printed in the papers next morning, made the owners of the CHARLES P. NOTMAN look thoughtful, for it was a furious gale outside and they saw a lot in the papers about marine disasters. Old salts sat around in the brokers’ offi ces and whittled and chewed tobacco and declared that ‘Linc’ Jewett was crazy, sure enough.


“The snowstorm continued, with a howling northeaster, shifting to southeast, to spin it along the next afternoon the CHARLES P. NOTMAN flew in by Portland head like a towering snowbank. The lightkeeper stared when she went by, thinking that he had seen an apparition, and when the big schooner came tearing up the harbor the few ‘longshoremen who happened to be about were astonished, to state it mildly.


“Up she came, with everything on her and rounded to off the coal docks. Then, to the amazement of all who saw it, Capt. Jewett actually docked her without the aid of a tug. He just brought her up in the wind, snatched the sail off her and backed her into the dock. When he arrived all the coal berths were empty and all the stevedores idle, so he got a quick discharge.


Met the Others.


“Two days afterward on the return trip, as he was running down Cape Cod, he met the rest of the fl eet coming up, and to the skippers he offered a few cheerful remarks concerning quick passages, loafi ng in harbors and getting ‘round in the world generally. Had he waited in the Vineyard for good weather he would have got into Portland with the whole bunch, and, as vessels have to take turns in order of arrival, he might have been obliged to wait a week or two before he got the coal out of the NOTMAN.


“It was by such performances as this


that ‘Linc’ Jewett climbed the ladder of success from the little fi shing smack to the four-master and later to the six-master ELEANOR A. PERCY, the second vessel of her rig ever built and with the exception of the steel, seven-master THOMAS W.


LAWSON, the largest schooner in the world. “He would make a great clipper ship skipper if there were any clippers now, but he is better off where he is for there is more money in sailing a big coaster, and then a man gets home oftener than once in two years.”


18 April 1903 News of the Shipping


Two Disasters on the Maine Coast as a Result of the Recent Storm – New Vessel Figures.


Business is rather quiet along the water front at present and the arrivals of vessels are few. There were no arrivals of any importance in the harbor on Friday afternoon with the exception of the small schooner MIRA L. DAVIS of Deer Isle which is to load lumber for down river. The schooner GEORGE A.


MCFADDEN is expected to come up Saturday with coal for Hincks & Co. She is from Newport News. The barge MANNHEIM and the


schooner NAT AYER, which have been delayed in leaving port, sailed Saturday. The ANDREW NEBINGER is


expected to fi nish discharging her cargo of coal Saturday and in that case she will go to Ayer’s Saturday to load lumber for New York.


The schooners WILLIAM PICKERING


and SALLY B., as soon as they have fi nished discharging their present cargoes, will go to Sterns’ mills to load lumber, the PICKERING for Sound Port and the SALLY B. for New York.


The schooner C. B. CLARK will fi nish


discharging her cargo at Calais Saturday, and will sail with a cargo of lumber for New York. The CLARK is a Bangor vessel. Now that the cargo of hard pine for the lighters that are being built by E. & I. K. Stetson has arrived, work will be hustled on them to get them out of the way. It is thought that three of them can be gotten ready to launch inside of three weeks if all goes well but there is still some material to come for them yet, and should this be as long delayed as the hard pine was, it will probably be considerably longer than that. News of Shipping.


The Eastern Steamship Co.’s new steamer the CALVIN AUSTIN, which was launched last Saturday will be commanded by Capt. Samuel Pike of Lubec, who is now captain of the St. Croix. She is expected to go on the route between Lubec and Boston the fi rst of June, and later will make direct trips between St. John and Boston. The British three-masted schooner


FALMOUTH from Windsor, N. S., for Philadelphia, was wrecked Friday while


approaching Portland harbor through Whitehead passage. The crew reached shore safely. It was thought the schooner will be saved. The


26


ton schooner JULIA EDNA of Belfast was dismasted off Long Ledge during the recent storm. The crew of three men were removed by the Islesford life saving crew.


Schooner JACOB M. HASKELL, which arrived in Bangor, Wednesday, is one of the fastest sailing vessels on the Atlantic coast. She has become famous for quick passages in all kinds of weather and is known along the coast as the Flying Haskell. She was built at Rockland by Cobb, Butler & Co., in 1901 and is 1778 tons gross, 1,362 tons net register.


The bureau of navigation reports 187 sail and steam vessels of 59,588 gross tons were built in the United States and offi cially numbered during the quarter ending March 31, 1893. During the corresponding quarter ending March 31, 1902, 232 sail and steam vessels of 90,995 tons (gross) were built in the United States and offi cially numbered. For the nine months ending March 31, 814 sails and steam vessels of 230,187 gross tons were built in the United States and offi cially numbered, compared with 949 sail and steam vessels of 245,068 gross tons for the corresponding nine months, ending March 31, 1902. During March 79 vessels of 31,148 gross tons, built at Camden, New Jersey, for the Atlantic Transport Co.; Steamer TIONESTA, 4,329 tons built at Wyandotte, Michigan, for the Erie & Western Transport Co. During March the barkentine, WESTFIELD, 453 gross tons, a foreign wreck, was granted an American registry.


20 April 1903 With the Ships


Schooner AGNES E. MANSON and Barge SCHUYKILL Sailed Monday. News of the Shipping


Remarkable Showing Made by Schooner S. W. HATHAWAY in Six Months – She was built by E. & I. K. Stetson


There were few arrivals in the harbor on Saturday and Sunday, the most important ones being the barge SUNBURY, with coal for the B. & A., and the schooner LIZZIE RICH, with phosphate for the C. M. Conant Co. Both of these vessels came in Sunday. The ALBERT T. STEARNS cleared Sunday to load ice at Rockport. The schooner AGNES E. MANSON


and the Barge SCHUYHILL sailed Monday, the former going to Hillsboro, N. B., and the latter to Philadelphia. The barge EAGLE HILL is expected to arrive in the harbor on Monday.


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