May 2014 MAINE COASTAL NEWS Page 25.


of this kind of buoy so that ropes or chains can be attached to it and boats thus moored without dropping anchor. Another kind of buoy very similar to the cask is the nun buoy. In shape it has the appearance of two cones being placed together at their bases. Its use is very similar to that of the cask buoy. Whistling buoys are provided with apparatus operated by the waves which compresses aid and discharges it through a whistle. They were not used in inland waters but mostly in the deeper waters where land signals are impossible.


HISTORY FROM THE PAST - Bangor Daily Commercial - 1890s Familiar Sea Terms.


Some Are Far Fetched and Most of Them Are Ancient.


Bell buoys are well known to most


people. They are large arrangements so fi xed that the heaving of the sea rings the bell enclosed in the buoy framework and warns vessels in foggy weather.


Life or safety buoys are intended to keep


a person afl oat until help is obtained. The most usual are those having a ring of work covered with canvas and having buckets at the circumference. These are sometimes equipped with port fi re or signal light which a person overboard can kindle by pulling lanyards.


Electrical buoys are similar in shape to


gas. They are illuminated from the shore by means of a cable. A beacon is a monumental looking buoy which is placed on ledges which are out of water at low tide. The spindle, a high, narrow iron buoy, is placed on a ledge which is just awash at low tide. It is shaped much like a pistil of the buttercup and has iron bars in form of a cylinder at the top.


On a sail down the river one may see a good variety of buoys. The fi rst buoy off Rooster rock, about two miles above Winterport. It is black and therefore the channel is to the right of it. The next buoy to be met is a black spindle on what is known as Buck’s ledge. In Marsh bay, just below Winterport, there are two buoys, the fi rst one known as upper Marsh bay buoy and the lower one as lower Marsh bay buoy. Both are red and mark sandy, muddy bottom on the starboard is right side.


The next indication of shallow waters is a white beacon on Odom’s ledge. Sailing course may be taken on either side of this monument. A black buoy off Sandy Point bar is the next one to be seen, and being black, course is taken to the port hand of it. Another buoy is not passed, until Fort Point bar is reached. Here is a black spar iron buoy, which has recently been placed in position by the government.


Passing by Fort Point the sailing course is to a black can buoy off Sears’ Island point, the course being to the left hand of it. Making the turn for Belfast wharf several varieties of channel marking can be seen. The fi rst is a red can buoy off Steel’s ledge in the middle waters of the bay. Passing on with a slight turn to the starboard a red beacon is seen marching Steel’s ledge and just to the west is a red spar buoy on the west point of Steel’s ledge.


The course to Belfast wharf is straight by this buoy leaving it on the starboard. Leaving the wharf at the last named buoy is passed and a course of six miles is sailed before Perry’s Point is reached. Here is a wooden black spar buoy marks sandy ground. Off what is known as the Duck Trap or Haddock ledge at Lincolnville is a red can buoy which is the last mark of shoals or ledges along the course until Dillingham’s ledge, about fi ve miles below, is reached where a black spar buoy is in position. This buoy takes us well down into Camden harbor and after leaving this port and channel begins to widen and indications of shallow water become less frequent and sailing is done almost wholly by compass. * * * * *


There is hardly a language which has not been called upon to provide at least one of the curious sea terms which are in constant use and whose origin is so obscure. For instance, says the Marine Journal, the word “admiral” is not of English origin but is from the Arabic “Etnil el Bagh,” or Lord of the Sea. Captain comes from the Latin caput, but mate is from Icelandic, and means a companion or equal. Coxswain is a word whose derivation would never be guessed. The coxswain was originally the man who pulled the after oar in the captain’s boat, which was known as the cockboat. This in turn is a corruption of the word coracle, a small round boat used on the Wye and Usk rivers. So coxswain comes to us from the Welsh.


Commodore is not so diffi cult to trace to its beginning. It is simply the Italian commandatore, meaning commander. No such person as Davy Jones ever existed, though we often hear of him and his locker. One should speak of “Duffy Jonah’s locker,” for that was the origin. Duffy is the West Indian name for spirit or ghost, while Jonah refers, of course, to the prophet. Another curious case of a term gradually corrupted out of its original form is the dot watch. It was originally the “dodge watch,” because it lasted only two hours instead of four, and thus makes it possible that the same men shall not be on duty every day during the same hours.


Then there is the “sheet anchor,” the name given to the largest anchor carried by a vessel. It is really “shote anchor,” and is so called because of its great weight, which makes it easy to shoot out in case of emergency.


Instead of the terms “port” and “starboard” which are used nowadays, they used to talk of “larboard” and “starboard”. Starboard has nothing in common with stars, but is really the Anglo-Saxon “steer board” for “steer side”, because in all galleys which were steered by an oar the oar was fi xed somewhat to the right hand side of the stern, and the helmsman held the inboard portion in his right hand. “Larboard” was probably a corruption of lower board, the larboard side being inferior to the other.


The “jury mast” has nothing in common with a jury except its derivation from the same word “jour,” the French word meaning day. The jury mast is one which is put up temporarily, for a day, just as a jury in its legal term meant a tribunal summoned for a short period only.


18 July 1906 Crew Redeems Abandoned Calais Vessel from Sea


Seaconnet, Rhode Island, July 18. – The crew of the Calais, Maine, schooner, ERNEST T. LEE, which abandoned their vessel Tuesday night off Frest island after one had nearly dismasted by a squall boarded her again early Wednesday and prepared her to be towed to New Bedford. When they reached the vessel they found that her hull had not been injured although at times Tuesday night it looked as if she were pounding on the rocks so close had she been anchored to shore. The ERNEST T. LEE was bound from Port Johnson to Calais with a load of coal and was struck by the squall ten miles off Point Judith Tuesday afternoon. She lost both her topmasts and nearly all her sails. Capt. Rawling, her commander tried to work her into Seaconnet river but before reaching the mouth a heavy fog shut in and the vessel was anchored. The crew reached shore in a


boat and passed the night at the West Island club.


The vessel was built in Calais, her home port in 1873. Before going on board Wednesday forenoon, Capt. Rawling telephoned New Bedford for a tug and one was telephoned later in the day.


20 July 1906


Penobscot Claimed Four Victims Here Thursday


Steamer BRISTOL Ran Down Boat Containing Boy and Girl in the Darkness – Both Drowned – Another at Brooksville Wharf


The loss of four lives from three drowning accidents in the Penobscot was the black record of Thursday in this vicinity. The last and most pathetic of the three was the drowning of William Murry, aged 18, of Orrington, and Miss Sarah Reynolds of Newport, aged 14, while returning to Orrington from Riverside, just opposite the clubhouse of the Kenduskeag Canoe and Country Club in Hampden. Their boat was struck by the steamer BRISTOL coming up the river and it is supposed that Miss Reynolds, becoming frightened, jumped from the boat and that Murry in an attempt to save her lost his life as well. The boat was found upright without any water in it. A man supposed to be William Marshall was found near the Brooksville wharf at 7 o’clock Thursday night, between the wharf and the steamer TREMONT. Although quickly pulled out of the water life had gone. He is supposed to have struck the wharf or the steamer in falling.


The other case was that of Nelson


Wheeler, the aged Hampden man, drowned near the Orrington shore in the morning, as told in Thursday’s Commercial. The story of the Orrington accident as


told by Capt. Alfred Smith of the steamer BRISTOL is substantially as follows: “We were coming up the river under a full head of steam and making good time. The channel where the accident occurred runs near the Orrington shore. The night was very dark on the water and the shadow cast by the high bluff on the Orrington side made it still darker. I saw nothing nor heard anything until the small boat loomed up almost under our bows. I think both the boy and the girl jumped out of the boat for the steamer just struck the boat a glancing blow and threw it off to one side. I gave the signal to reverse the engine and turned the steamer around as quick as I could. We steamed around the spot for, I guess an hour at least.


“The steamer was carrying her red and green lights and a light at the masthead besides the several lights downstairs in the engine room and fi re room. Life preservers were thrown and we shouted to them to hold on and we would pick them up but we never saw a sign of the boy or the girl after we hit the boat.”


ELDEST OF FIVE CHILDREN. From Orrington Friday morning it was learned that the young man’s name was William, the eldest of a family of fi ve children of Mr. and Mrs. James Murry of Orrington, living at what is known as The Corners. He leaves a father, mother, two brothers, George and Percy, and two sisters, Maud and Mabel, to mourn his loss. His age was 18 years. He formerly worked in the pulp mill at South Brewer.


The girl with him was Miss Sarah Reynolds of Newport a cousin who had been intended to go home Friday. She was 14 years of age and the daughter of Frank Reynolds of Newport. She leaves a father, mother, one brother, Dean, and three sisters, Edna, Bertha and Marjorie.


Murry and Miss Reynolds stared for Riverside park, Thursday evening, in a boat belonging to a Mr. Cunningham, a fl atiron affair, narrow and with high sides. They attended the show and started on their return to Orrington, going down the river with the tide in the general path of the steamers. It was opposite the clubhouse where the accident occurred, as has been told. Walter R. Roberts was at the clubhouse of the Conduskeag Canoe and Country club and heard the BRISTOL coming up the river. He was on the piazza of the clubhouse when the accident occurred and had watched the steamer for several minutes. When directly opposite the clubhouse Mr. Roberts heard the collision between the steamer and the boat and realized from the abouts and the noise that something had happened. He also heard the bell signal to reverse the engine. With James W. Cartwright, Jr., captain of the Canoe club, who occupies the next cottage below, he started to render assistance and they went out in canoes to assist. It was seen that the accident had happened directly opposite the club’s boathouse. Mr. Roberts said there seemed to be considerable noise of the men on the steamer throwing overboard life preservers and try to rescue the people in the water. The night was still and calm and all the noises were plainly heard. “I heard the boy shout for help several times while we were making our way,” said Mr. Roberts, “but I did not hear any sound from the girl. When we got about half way to the channel the noises from the boy ceased and all was quiet except that made by those looking for them. “We found the boat right side up and without a drop of water in it. It was very dark but by the light of a lantern it did not seem as though the boat was hardly scarred where it was struck by the steamer.” Mr. Roberts corroborated the story of Capt. Smith of the BRISTOL that the steamer was well lighted and is at loss to understand the accident. He heard the steamer coming up the river and went out on the piazza to see what steamer it was before going to bed. The starboard and port lights were in place the light at the masthead burning brightly and the engines were making considerable noise in the still night. The channel at that point is near the Orrington side of the river. Friends of Murry in Orrington said Friday that Miss Reynolds was very timid of the water and easily frightened while he was a good swimmer. The most plausible theory is that he was rowing down the river in the darkness, gradually heading across for Orrington shore. In the rowing sent he was back to the steamer and did not see the lights and perhaps did not hear the throb of the engine.


It is supposed that when the steamer struck Miss Reynolds became frightened and jumped into the water and that he jumped in to save her from drowning and in so doing made a double tragedy. Had both remained in the boat there would have been no fatality as the craft was not damaged by the blow and did not take in any water. There is no doubt that Capt. Smith and members of the crew tried in every way to render assistance. Mr. Roberts and Mr. Cartwright heard the shouts of those on the steamer to the boy and girl in the water to hold to the boat and they would save them and heard the splash of the life preservers which were immediately thrown from the boat. The night was dark as pitch, however, and it may have been that Murry was unable to see any of the life preservers thrown in his direction.


The search for the bodies was begun early Friday morning, several boats being engaged in the work.


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