Page 22. MAINE COASTAL NEWS January 2017 HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s


1 December 1906 Daniel J. Strout can tell you a yarn about


rebel privateers well worth the hearing. He is a native of West Harrington. His stories are not fi ction but fact. But they are no less interesting on that account. Capt. Strout was probably the only northern sea captain who succeeded in recapturing his vessel from a rebel privateer during the Civil War. He did it and is proud of the trick to this day. This remarkable adventure happened in


the early summer of 1861, soon after the fall of Fort Sumter. Capt. Strout was then master of the brigantine CUBA on a voyage from Cienfuegos to Liverpool. Raphael Semmes was making life


miserable for northern shipowners and commanded the C. S. S. SUMTER, a block propeller, bark-rigged, and carrying an armament of four or fi ve guns. In this fl eet steamer SEMMES went up and down the highways of commerce, seeking vessels under the American fl ag, and more than one Maine vessel was caught by that crafty privateer. Every Yankee warship available was sent after the SUMTER, but she avoided them and continued a cruise of destruction for over a year. She was fi nally driven into Gibraltar; bottled up and never again appeared as a rebel privateer. The CUBA when off the Isle of Pines


was overtaken by the SUMTER and requested to heave to. Capt. Strout was soon


Continued from Page 15.


informed that he and his vessel’s crew were prisoners to the confederacy. The capture of the CUBA occurred on the Fourth of July, 1861.


The day before SEMMES had


overhauled and burned the ship GOLDEN ROCKET of Bangor, together with her cargo. In regard to the is prize SEMMES has left the following in his log book: “The GOLDEN ROCKET was a fi ne ship and I regretted that I had to burn her. She made a beautiful bonfi re and I enjoyed it the more because she was from the black Republican state of Maine.” The CUBA having a Spanish cargo,


SEMMES did not destroy her, but putting a prize crew aboard ordered her back to Cienfuegos. The brig MACHIAS, another downeast


craft was captured the same day, together with two other vessels hailing from the “everlasting state of Maine.” SEMMES was not very friendly to Maine citizens in those days as his log book shows. Midshipman Hudgind, C. S. N., with


a crew from the SUMTER took charge of the CUBA and started to take her into Cienfuegos. It is interesting to read what SEMMES has to say to his government about the prize brig CUBA. Hudgind not arriving in Cienfuegos before SEMMES left, the rebel commander reported to the Confederacy: “As Hudgins did not arrive


Maine Built Boats to Receive 2017 Mariner's Award Presently, most of the Maine boatbuild-


the major aspect of their business. Wooden boatbuilding is still alive.


Many of these are built as work boats, and a few for pleasure. A fi sherman will tell you the best boat to fi sh out of is a wooden boat and that it will add ten years to your fi shing career. Unfortunately, there are just a few wooden boatbuilders, but hopefully the increased demand will change that.


ers are booked solid with work, which is due to their reputation for building fi ne boats for both the commercial and pleasure markets. The early boatbuilders were noted for their craftsmanship, but so are today’s builders. Whether one is looking for a rowing craft, a mega-yacht, or anything in between the Maine boatbuilder has delivered and con- tinues to deliver a top-of-the-line product.


with his prize, the CUBA, I left Cienfuegos without him, having left a letter for that offi cer.” In the letter were instructions for


Hudgins telling him how he and his men should get back to their country. But Capt. Strout solved that problem. He took the rebels to New York with out cost. The bold Maine sailors watching for and finally receiving a favorable opportunity, overcame the prize crew and recaptured the brig. Capt. Strout himself assailed Hudgins with a hand spike and the rebel promptly surrendered. There was a sharp hand-to-hand fight forward but Babbage, the mate, soon had the rebels in irons and the Maine sailors resumed command of the brig. It was one of the pluckiest jobs performed by an American sea captain during the war. Captain Strout brought the CUBA


safely into New York with SEMMES’ men in irons and as prisoners of war. Strout and his men came in for salvage on vessel and cargo and for prize money, the CUBA having been recaptured from the Confederates. * * * * *


When Capt. John Brown left Milbridge


in the fall of 1862 in the brig ESTELLE for a cruise to the West Indies, a friend had asked him what he would do, should he be captured by rebel privateers. “Oh, I’ll fix ‘em,” replied Brown


jokingly. “I’ll wave a copy of the (naming a certain Democratic paper) at them and


escape capture. But Brown did not escape so easily. He


was overtaken and his brig captured and burned off the Tortugas by Lieut. Maffi tt commanding the FLORIDA, one of Jeff Davis’ fast privateers. “Maffi tt had no use for a northern


Democrat,” said Capt. Brown. “A good many northern captains who were captured by that offi cer tried to curry favor with him by telling him that they were Democrats. But Maffi tt looked upon northerners as enemies to his cause and cared but little whether they were Democrats or Republicans. One day as I was sitting with him in his cabin he asked me for whom I voted. I told him that I had voted for Abraham Lincoln and was proud of it.


“ ‘You’re a gentleman, sir!” cried


Maffitt, seizing my hand and wringing it nearly off my wrist. ‘You are the fi rst northern captain I’ve met on the voyage who has told me he voted for Lincoln.’ ” The ESTELLE was captured by the


FLORIDA while on a voyage from Santa Cruz to Boston in January, 1863. Both vessel and cargo were burned. Capt. Brown and his Milbridge crew were taken to Havana and sent home to the United States by the American consul. Capt. Brown and nearly every member of the ESTELLE’s crew are still living in Milbridge.


Continued on Page 23. Boat And Ship Yard News Continued from Page 14.


is done and has been caulked and painted. They are now working on the interior, her systems and fi tting her for hawse pipes. When asked if she would be launched the coming season it was said probably not, but maybe the season after. An Albury Skiff is being built using


Alaska yellow cedar and will be fi nished with the bright hull. This project should be completed before the end of Winter. A new 85 ton Travelift will be arriving at the yard soon. Their old 55 ton travel lift has been sold and will be heading to a new home on Long Island, New York.


Classic Boat Shop in Bernard has a


winter full of work. Off -site at the former Bass Harbor Boat


Yard in Bass Harbor, they are making chang- es to a Morris 45. They are reconfi guring her cockpit for her owner, who looking for easier access. Presently they are molding up a new cockpit. This Fall they sold a couple of used


Pisces 21s, one of which just left for Idaho. The other will be staying local. In storage, they have 30 Pisces, which


all need a various amount of work before next season. By early December, they had all their


storage customers hauled out and into the sheds for the winter. They have already begun doing spring maintenance on some of their storage customers.


Salty Oceans Can Forecast Rain Continued from Page 11.


DISCOUNT POWER TOOLS CORDED POWER TOOLS CORDLESS POWER TOOLS FUELED POWER TOOLS PNEUMATIC POWER TOOLS FASTENERS HAND TOOLS


MATERIAL HANDLING


POWER TOOL ACCESSORIES SAFETY SUPPLIES WELDING SUPPLIES


has retained more water and there will be less rain somewhere else. “This basic idea motivated us to look at


the high-salinity areas of the ocean to see if the surface salinity variations could be used for rainfall predictions on land,” Schmitt says.


Schmitt says salinity is a better predictor


of rainfall than ocean temperatures because the latter is subject to daily variations due to weather. “Salinity is an average of what’s been going on over the last few months,” he says. “It’s a better indicator of how much water and energy the ocean has exported from a given region, because evaporation represents the primary way that the ocean drives the atmosphere. The energy provided by heating due to temperature diff erences is more than an order of magnitude smaller.” Both evaporation and precipitation


are increasing with global climate change, making the diff erences more pronounced. “Salty areas have gotten saltier and the


fresh areas have gotten fresher, which means that we should expect dry areas to become dryer and wet areas to get wetter for us on


land,” Schmitt adds. “The more data we have, the easier it


will be to improve seasonal climate forecasts and anticipate extreme droughts and fl oods, which will likely be more common in a warming world,” Schmitt says. This research was funded by the Nation-


al Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the WHOI Ocean and Climate Change Institute and the WHOI Postdoctor- al Scholar program. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Insti-


tution is a private, non-profi t organization on Cape Cod, Mass., dedicated to marine research, engineering, and higher education. Established in 1930 on a recommendation from the National Academy of Sciences, its primary mission is to understand the ocean and its interaction with the Earth as a whole, and to communicate a basic understanding of the ocean’s role in the changing global environment. For more information, please visit www.whoi.edu. See more at: http://www.whoi.edu/ news-release/salty-oceans-rainfall#sthash. JTOR3bGX.dpuf


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