Page 26. MAINE COASTAL NEWS March 2017 HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - Early 1900s Continued from Page 25.


He is now in charge of a number of dredges for the Panama Canal commission at Cristobal, after failing to get another sea command when his three months suspension expired.


Steamship companies took askance at


the mariner who loses his ship in these days, but forty or fi fty years ago, when there was no offi cial load line and coffi n ships left port frequently never to return the master who could pile his ship as snugly on a sandy beach along the African coast for preference, without losing his crew, cold always get plenty of work. One of the chief factors which militates


against a steamship company giving a captain another command after he has lost his vessel is life insurance companies. From the time a man get command of a ship his record is kept at Lloyd’s Agency, London in a big book alphabetically arranged so that the underwriters can refer at once to the career of a captain when he is appointed to a new ship. Capt. Dunning, in command of the


Cunard line SLAVONIA, when she struck on Flores Island, on June 11, 1909, and became a total loss, was reprimanded severely by the court of inquiry, but his certifi cate was not suspended. He had to leave the Cunard service, however, and is now the marine superintendent of the United Fruit Company. Capt. Le Horn, formerly commodore


of the Peninsular and Oriental Navigation Company, stranded his vessel, the CHINA, off Perim Island in the Red Sea in 1897. It cost the company about $400,000 to get her off . At the court of inquiry it was proved that the second offi cer, who was on the bridge while the captain was at dinner, had sent down three notes by the quartermaster to inform the captain that the ship was rapidly nearing Coal House Point and that the course should be altered. It was the birthday anniversary of Lady Brassey, one of the passengers, who sat at the captain’s right hand and he was so engrossed in conversation that he pushed the notes aside and the ship went aground before the passengers has fi nished their meal. That fi nished his career. An order was issued by the company that offi cers were not to associate with the passengers in future and notices to that eff ect were posted in all the cabin. This was the cause of about 400 offi cers resigning, as they were men of good families and has means of their own. Today, owing to the lack of offi cers the Peninsular and Oriental Company is forced to take its junior offi cers from the British cadet ships. On the evening of March 4, 1907, the


Great Northern line DAKOTA struck a rock near the Mejima lighthouse, 40 miles from Yokohama. The passengers and crew were landed at the lighthouse. The DAKOTA proved a total loss. The local board of steamboat inspectors at Seattle heard evidence that Capt. Francke, the commander, was to blame, and the captain appealed to George Uhler, supervising inspector general of the steamboat inspection services, who replied: “I am forced to the conclusion that the


stranding of the vessel and lies subsequent total loss was due entirely to your careless and indiff erent navigation, as an hour before the disaster you assumed charge of the watch and took the bridge and directed the navigation of the ship yourself.” Mr. Uhler ruled that the captain might be licensed as a chief mate of ocean steamers and after having served two years as chief mae, might again be licensed as a master of ocean steamers. In dense snowstorm the American


Line steamer ST. PAUL rammed and destroyed the British second class cruiser GLADIATOR off the Isle of Wight on April 25, 1908. The bow of the ST. PAUL was damaged, and she was compelled to put back to port. Capt. Passow of the ST. PAUL and his chief offi cer, with the regular pilot of the American Line, were on the bridge at the time of the accident. The Admiralty Court decided that the GLADIATOR alone was to blame. More than a score of the crew of the GLADIATOR lost their lives. After the White Star line SUEVE


struck near the LIZARD eight years ago the London Board of Trade suspended the certifi cate of her commander for three months, having found that the disaster was due to the fault of Capt. Jones in maintaining full speed while heading toward the land in thick weather. A peculiar case, where a captain lost


his certifi cate as well as his ship, was that of the stranding of the cruising steam yacht NORSE KING in April, 1893, on the coast of Zante when she had about 250 tourists on board. Capt. Wright was keeping a course about seven miles off the coast on a clear evening about 5 o’clock, when a deputation of the women passengers asked him if he could go in a little closer in order that they could see the picturesque white villages which shone in the sunlight against the vine- covered hills in the background. The skipper kindly altered his course


accordingly, and the passengers on deck cried out in admiration. “Oh, my! Isn’t it delightful to see so close Iona’s isles where Byron once lived? What a nice man the captain is!” Just then there was a crash which


changed the cries of admiration to screams of fear. The NORSE KING had gone hard and fast on a reef running out from shore. The 250 passengers were three weeks on Zante, living on dried currants, fi gs, wild pig, and hard cheese made from goats’ milk, in the land that Byron trod. The fi rst thing the passengers did on


reaching land was to hold an indignation meeting on a vine-clad hill, denouncing the skipper for his negligence and signing a round robin to that eff ect. The NORSE KING was a total loss. Capt. Wright had his certifi cate suspended for 12 months.


1 January 1912 SARAH QUINN Saved


Schooner from Bangor for New York Beached in Chatham Bay Lumber from Stearns


She went Ashore on Handkerchief Shoals in Sunday’s Snow Storm – Life Savers Helped


Badly battered by the seething southeast


gale and snow storm which was raging along the coast Sunday, the two masted schooner SARAH QUINN, Capt. Lynch, which left Bangor for New York with a cargo of lathes from the Stearns’ Lumber Co., on December 1, is on the beach in Chatham bay. In the midst of the blinding snow, the QUINN piled up on Handkerchief Shoals early Monday. Through the effi cient work of Capt. Kelley and his crew from the Monomoy Point life saving station the schooner was fi nally fl oated. Her injuries were so severe, however, that it was found necessary to fl oat her as soon as the shelter of the bay was gained. The QUINN has encountered adverse


winds and heavy weather ever since she left here for New York a month ago. Under ordinary conditions should have long since reached her destination and discharged her cargo. Some days Capt. Lynch has succeeded in making but scant distance and the QUINN had been forced to anchor in


various harbors along the coast a number of times because of the heavy seas and the fi erce winter gales outside. The storm Sunday was a hard one to face. It is even more diffi cult for a shipping to grope through a heavy fog and the gale which was blowing added greatly to the diffi culty. Capt. Lynch lost his bearings and the QUINN went ashore on the dread Handkerchief Shoals, almost before those on board had realized their danger. The situation was not a cheering one.


At length the beach patrol from Monomoy life station sighted the distress signals from the schooner and Capt. Kelley and his crew of life savers launched their long boat. It was a long hard pull but the schooner was fi nally reached and the men from the station swarmed up over the rail like monkeys. Within a few minutes the long boat,


which had been made fast with a line, broke adrift and disappeared in the blinding snow. Both the crew of the schooner and the men from shore de-doubled their eff orts and at length the QUINN was fl oated. She gained the shelter of Chatham bay where it was found her injuries were so serious that she was at once beached. It is considered remarkable that she is not a total loss together with her cargo. That was undamaged. It is thought that she can continue to New York.


5 January 1912 Shipwreck Revealed Princess Wore a Wig


Wave Washed Away Head Covering of Duchess of Fife – But She Saved Her Umbrella.


According to private advices from


India Queen Mary is determined not to face the Bay of Biscay on her way home, and has decided to land at Genoa. After seeing something of Itay on her return voyage she will make her way to Calais or Boulogne. “This decision is due not only to the


terrible suff ering from seasickness which she herself endured, but also to the perilous adventures of her sister-in-law, the princess Royal Duchess of Fife, in those troubled waters. Very few people know the real reason


of the Princess Royal’s prolonged stay in bed at the British Consulate at Tangier after the shipwreck. The truth is that the princess, like her mother, Queen Alexandra, has very little hair of her own, and wears a complete wig. When the boat from the Delhi was swamped the unfortunate princess, who, with true British determination, clasped her umbrella in her hand, lost her wig. She wrapped a handkerchief around her head to cover the loss and, although she was none the worse for her adventure, it was absolutely necessary that she retire to bed under the circumstances. Frantic messages were sent to Gibraltar


for new wigs, and fi nally a consignment arrived in time for the royal party to embark on the steamer MACEDONIA and proceed on their voyage. Queen Alexandra received the full details of this domestic tragedy and did not hesitate to relate them to her sister.


9 January 1912 Aged Schooner EMPRESS High and Dry Ashore


Cape Elizabeth, January 9. The 55-year old two-masted schooner


EMPRESS, Capt. Arey, of Rockland, Maine, bound again from Boston for her home port, was wrecked early Tuesday on a sand bar just outside Richmond’s Island breakwater at the extreme end of Cape Elizabeth. The schooner went onto the bar at half tide and when the tide receded was left high and dry. The crew of fi ve men remained on the stranded craft without being in any special


danger until low tide when they walked ashore. It was believed the schooner never will fl oat again owing to her age and small value.


The EMPRESS was built at Prospect,


Maine, in 1856, and registered 120 gross tonnage and is 74 feet long.


12 January 1912 Str. CAROLINE is Breaking Up


Little or No Hope of Saving Freighter that Lies on Metinic Ledge


Rockland, January 12. The New York steamer CAROLINE


which went ashore on the north end of Metinic rock Wednesday night, was breaking up at noon Friday. The crew was being transferred to the revenue cutters ANDROSCOGGIN and WOODBURY, the life savers from White Head station assisting. The crew will be brought to port by the ANDROSCOGGIN. The steamer’s cargo of paper and potatoes was valued at $300,000. Her fi res had been extinguished and all her compartments were full of water. Hopes of saving the CAROLINE which


was wrecked while bound from Stockton Springs for New York fell Friday when a storm warning predicting high northeast winds for Friday when a storm warning predicting high northeast winds for Friday afternoon was received. Seafaring men expressed the belief that she would break in two if the storm which was moving northward from Cape Hatteras northward from Cape Hatteras Friday reached the Maine coast. At high water Friday morning the stern


was fi ve feet out of water forward and was “cocked up in the air,” the propeller being one-third out of water. The steamer had moved out of her position but slightly since going on the ledge. A. H. Bull, senior member of the New


York fi rm that owns the steamer arrived Friday with Wrecking Master Lewis and a wrecking apparatus was expected from Boston and New London. The CAROLINE registers 2,241 gross


tonnage. She was built in 1889 at Whitby, England, and hails from New York. Capt. O’Leary had a crew of 16 men. They remained by the steamer although a bit panic stricken when she struck and were in no particular danger. Schooner BRIGADIER Leaking Leaking four feet an hour, the three-


masted schooner BRIGADIER was towed here Friday from her winter quarters at Wild Cat, Long Cove. The schooner dragged ashore in the gale Wednesday and fl oated, leaking badly. She was pumped out and by keeping the pumps constantly at work, it was possible to tow her to her home port. Her rudder was unhung, wheel and steering gear smashed and bilge badly stove.


13 January 1912 BELFAST Rams and Sinks Barge One Man Caught in Cabin as Craft


Went Down and was Drowned in Her. Rest of the Crew Climbed to Safety


Vapor in Boston Harbor and Inability to Reverse Turbines Quickly, Caused Collision


Bangor, January 13. – The outward


bound steamer BELFAST for Penobscot River points ran down and sank the barge WAYNE off Deer Island, early Saturday, with the result that one man went down with the barge and the BELFAST returned to her dock in a leaking condition. The man drowned was Gustave Nelsen, a Norwegian deck hand. The incident was due to thick vapor


caused by the cold, the barge being at anchor just inside of Deer Island light.


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