In speaking of the part Plymouth took in the whale fishery, it may
be well to refer to the general history of that industry. In the
year, 1640, Thomas Macy came from Chilmark, England, and settled in
Salisbury, Mass. In 1659 he embarked from Salisbury in an open boat
with his family and Edward Starbuck, and landed at Nantucket, where
they were the first white settlers. Not long after their arrival,
additions were made to the settlement, and to the appearance of a
whale in their harbor, which they succeeded in capturing, seems to be
due the origin of that great industry, for which Nantucket was for
many years distinguished. Whales were abundant in the waters of the
island, and for some years they were taken by boats, which brought
the dead carcasses to the shore, where their blubber was peeled off
and carried to the try pots of the fishermen.
In order to facilitate their work, the fishermen erected masts on the
land with crow’s nests at their tops, in which in suitable weather,
observers were stationed, and when a spout was seen the boats were
launched. This method was pursued for thirty or forty years, when
small sloops were employed, making shorter or longer cruises during
the summer months, and bringing in the blubber to be tried out on
the island. Gradually larger vessels were employed, furnished with
try pots, which made cruises to Davis straits as early as 1746, to
Baffin’s Bay in 1751, to the African coast in 1763, to the Brazil
ground in 1774, and round Cape Horn to the Pacific in 1791. I have
heard it said that Gamaliel Collins of Plymouth was one of the crew
of the first American whaler to round the Horn.
It is a little singular that until 1821 no persistent effort was
made in Plymouth to engage in the whale fishery. Whales were always
at certain seasons abundant in the bay, but as far as I can learn
only occasional attempts were made to take them. It is recorded that
while the Mayflower was at anchor in Cape Harbor, “large whales of
the best kind for oil and bone came daily alongside, and played
about the ship.” On the second of February, 1673, the town ordered
that whatsoever whale, or part of a whale, or other great fish that
will make oil, shall by the Providence of God be cast up, or come
on shore, within the bounds of this township, that every such whale
or part of a whale, or other such fish as will make oil; two parts
of three thereof are to belong and appertain to the town, viz: the
proprietors aforesaid, and the other third part to such of the town
as shall find and cut them up and try the oil.
The following entry is made in the town records: “The marks of a
whale left on record by Benjamin Drew of Plymouth, Dec. 17, 1737; the
said whale was struck by Joseph Sachemus Indian at Manomet Ponds,
the 25th of November, 1737, there were several irons put into her,
one was a backward iron on her left side, and two irons on her right
side pretty backward, and one lance on her right side, the iron on
the left side was broke about six inches from the socket. She carried
away one short warp with a drug to it, and a long warp with a drug
without a buoy, one of the drug staves was made with a white birch,
one of the irons was marked with an I on the head as the Indians
think, with a blind S on the other side of the head, the rest of the
irons we cannot give an account of the marks.”
Thus it will be seen that though whales made their appearance in
Massachusetts Bay, and the means for taking them were possessed in
Plymouth, yet no serious movement was made to engage in the business
of their capture. In 1821 a company was formed to prosecute the
fishery, consisting of James Bartlett, Jr., Isaac Barnes, Isaac L.
and Thomas Hedge, Benjamin Barnes, Henry Jackson, Ichabod Shaw,
Southworth Shaw, Atwood Drew, Thomas Jackson, Jr., Daniel Jackson,
Jacob Jackson, Josiah Robbins, John Harlow, Jr., Samuel Doten,
Nathaniel Ripley, Nathaniel Ripley, Jr., William P. Ripley, Richard
Holmes, Jr., Benjamin Bramhall, Wm. Davis, Jr., and John B. Bates
of Plymouth, John Wheeler and Luther Gay of Cambridge and Stephen
Griggs of Boston. Though at a later period Isaac L. and Thomas
Hedge were active in the management of one or more whalers, they
were young men at the time of the formation of the company, the
former twenty-three, and the latter, twenty-one, and James Bartlett,
Jr., was the projector of the enterprise, and the leader in its
management. The company contracted with Nehemiah Newhall of Berkley
to build the ship Mayflower of 345 59-95 tons, and she sailed for the
Pacific in September of that year under the command of George Harris.
The fitting of this ship with the hopes, which the advent of a new
industry inspired, seemed to arouse the dormant energies of the town,
which the war, so recently closed, had done much to paralyze. Coopers
and bakers and dealers in general supplies, as well as mechanics,
felt the quickening impulse, and the people of the town generally
were ready to contribute their capital in enlarging and extending the
new business. The Mayflower was absent nearly three years, and landed
between two and three thousand barrels of oil. How much of her cargo
was sperm oil, and how much whalebone she brought, I have no record
to show. Before her arrival an oil and candle factory was established
between what is now Winslow street and the shore, about where the
house stands recently occupied by George H. Jackson.
The Mayflower made two more voyages to the Pacific of about three
years each, under the command of Capt. Harris, landing about five
thousand barrels, and in 1830 she was sold to Gideon Randall of
New Bedford, an interest in her being retained in Plymouth by Jas.
Bartlett, Jr., Abner S. Taylor and the heirs of Atwood Drew. While
the Mayflower was on her first voyage, after the establishment of
the oil and candle factory, Mr. Bartlett, while in Nantucket on
business, induced Mr. Wm. Collingwood, then living there, to come to
Plymouth and superintend the refining of oil, and the manufacture of
spermaciti candles.
In 1822 another company was formed consisting of James Bartlett,
Jr., Josiah Robbins, Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, John B. Bates,
Thomas Jackson, Jr., John Thomas, Henry Jackson, Jacob Covington,
Daniel Jackson, Jacob Jackson, Allen Danforth, Isaac Sampson, John
Harlow, Jr., Richard Holmes, Jr., Ichabod Shaw, Isaac Barnes,
Lemuel Bradford, George Bacon, Rufus Robbins and Ephraim Harlow.
They contracted with Richard Currier of Amesbury to build the bark
Fortune of 278 47-95 tons for the same service. She sailed for the
Pacific in September, 1822, under the command of Peter C. Myrick,
and returned in 1825 with two thousand barrels of oil. The names of
the members of both this and the other company show the interest
taken in the new industry by men of all occupations and professions,
merchants, lawyers, traders, blacksmiths, owners of cod fishermen,
silversmiths and masons, and a determination to make it a success.
Among them appears the name of Allen Danforth, who became in that
year a permanent resident of Plymouth as the editor of the OLD COLONY
MEMORIAL.
The Fortune made a second voyage of three years in 1825, and a third
in 1829, under the command of Charles P. Swain, and a fourth in
1833, under the command of David Upham. In 1837 she sailed under the
command of Albert G. Goodwin of Plymouth, and in 1840 she made her
last voyage from Plymouth under the command of Wm. Almy. I remember
the Fortune well on her return in 1832, from her third voyage, and
her sailing on her fourth in 1833. Owing to shoal water at the
wharves, she made her fitting as did the other ships and barks in
the Cow Yard, and the whale boats as they came and went loaded
with supplies were especially attractive to the boys. One of my
schoolmates, Nathaniel Lothrop Hedge, went with her. Being called
out by Mr. Stoddard, the teacher of the high school, to receive a
flogging for some offense, which must have been trivial, for he was
never guilty of any other, he quietly took his cap from the nail
above his head, and walked out of school to ship the next day for
a three years’ voyage. Two other Plymouth men, I think, shipped in
the Fortune, John Barrett, who became the captain of a ship from New
Bedford, and his brother, William, who became one of the best boat
steerers of his day. On her voyage begun in 1837, George Collingwood
of Plymouth was one of the crew, and Ozen Bates of Plymouth shipped
on that or another voyage of the same ship. The Fortune was sunk to
aid in blocking Charleston harbor in 1861.
In 1830 James Bartlett, Jr., Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge and Jacob
Covington bought the ship Arbella of 404 26-95 tons, built in Bath,
and in August of that year sent her to the Pacific under the command
of George Harris, the first Captain of the Mayflower. She sailed
again in 1834, and 1836 under the command of Ellis E. Eldridge, but
what became of her after her return I have no means of knowing. I
remember well the Arbella hove down near the end of the new Long
wharf, with a raft under her bottom, being either caulked or
sheathed or both. My impression is that most of the whalers made
their voyages with either a bare or sheathed bottom. The process of
heaving down was resorted to where docks were not available, and was
safe in shoal water. The process of heeling for the purpose of making
repairs below the water line is sometimes dangerous in deep water.
The British man of war, George, heeled at Spithead in 1782, was
caught by a slight squall with her ports open, and sunk with the loss
of six hundred lives.
In 1831 Isaac L. and Thomas Hedge, Jacob Covington, John Thomas and
James Bartlett, Jr., bought the ship Levant of 332 34-95 tons, built
at Newbury, and in July of that year, under the command of Thomas
Russell of Nantucket, she sailed for the Pacific. She returned with
2,700 barrels of oil, and was sold February 14, 1835, for $15,600.
This vessel was under the management of the Hedge firm.
In 1833 Jacob Covington, James Bartlett, Jr., Josiah Robbins, Jacob
H. Loud and John B. Thomas, bought the bark Triton of 314 49-95 tons,
built in Durham, N. H., and in November she sailed for the Pacific
under the command of Mason Taber. She made two other voyages, one in
1835, under the command of Thomas Russell, and one in 1838 under the
command of Chandler Burgess, Jr., of Plymouth. On her first voyage
William Collingwood of Plymouth was one of the crew.
In 1838 James Bartlett, Jr., Daniel Jackson, Abraham Jackson, John
B. Thomas, Jacob H. Loud, Nathaniel Russell, Nathaniel Russell, Jr.,
Allen Danforth, Thomas Russell and the heirs of Jacob Covington of
Plymouth, and Thomas Russell of Nantucket, bought the bark Mary and
Martha of 316 56-95 tons, built in Westbrook, Me., and in December
she sailed for the Pacific on her only voyage from Plymouth, under
the command of Thomas Russell. Wm. Collingwood of Plymouth was one of
her crew.
The brig Yeoman, afterwards changed to a bark, was built in Plymouth
in 1833, by James Spooner, Southworth Shaw, Ichabod Shaw, Ichabod
Shaw, Jr., Benjamin Bagnall, Nathaniel C. Lanman, Wm. M. Jackson and
Stephen Turner, and made several voyages to the South Atlantic, under
the command of John Gooding and James M. Clark, and on several of
her voyages George Collingwood was one of her crew.
The brig James Monroe, of 114 91-95 tons, built in Sandwich, was
owned by Isaac L. Hedge, George Churchill, Nathaniel C. Lanman,
Benjamin Hathaway, Southworth Barnes, John B. Thomas, Ichabod Shaw,
Comfort Bates, Joseph W. Hodgkins, Nathaniel Russell, Albert G.
Goodwin, Isaac Barnes, Thomas Hedge and Nathaniel M. Davis, and was
engaged in the Atlantic fishery, under the command of Simeon Dike of
Plymouth, and probably made a second voyage.
The schooner Exchange, of 99 91-95 tons, owned by Alonzo D. Scudder,
Henry F. Jackson, James Collins, Wm. Nelson, and Rufus B. Bradford,
was under the command of James King of Plymouth, and Rufus Hopkins
of Provincetown. She made four voyages, in three of which George
Collingwood was sailor, and in one, mate, and William Collingwood was
a seaman when she was wrecked in the West India waters.
The schooner Maracaibo, 93 53-95 tons, built in Plymouth, and owned
by Atwood L. Drew, Josiah Drew, Ephraim Harlow, James Doten, Ellis
B. Bramhall, James Morton, Bartlett Ellis, Andrew L. Russell,
Benjamin Barnes, 2d, David Turner, Lemuel Simmons, John Harlow, 3d,
Robert Hatch, Nathaniel Holmes and David Holmes, engaged also in
the Atlantic fishery, under the command of Capt. Pope and George
Collingwood. She was lost September 19, 1846, off Bermuda.
The only other vessels engaged in the whale fishery were the schooner
Mercury, of 74 34-95 tons, built in Middleboro and owned by Isaac
Barnes, Southworth Barnes, Ivory L. Harlow, and Charles Goodwin, and
commanded by Capt. Nickerson, and the schooner Vesper, of 95 52-95
tons, built in Essex, and owned by Bradford Barnes, Jr., William
Atwood, Samuel Robbins, Jr., Benjamin Barnes, Bradford Barnes, Ellis
Barnes, Nathaniel C. Barnes, Nathaniel E. Harlow, Bartlett Ellis,
Joseph White, Robert Hatch, Heman Cobb, Jr., Corban Barnes, Jeremiah
Farris, Samuel N. Diman, David Turner, Charles Goodwin, Southworth
Barnes, Joab Thomas, Jr., Nathan H. Holmes, David Holmes, Ellis
Drew, Ebenezer Ellis, Jr., and Edwin A. Perry. The Vesper afterwards
entered the fishing and merchant service.
James Bartlett, the projector of the enterprise, which seemed to
promise new life, and an aroused activity in Plymouth, stood in the
front rank among the business men of his native town. He was the
son of Capt. James Bartlett, a successful shipmaster in days when
it was necessary that a captain engaged in foreign trade should be
something more than a navigator and seaman. He had, to be sure, his
sailing orders from his owners, seemingly controlling his actions,
but sailing orders, in the many which I have read, written by my
grandfather, really left the fortunes of a voyage to the discretion
of the master. Capt. Bartlett died December 22, 1840, at the age of
81. There were others whom I might mention, some still living in
Plymouth, who also represented the best class of merchant captains.
Mr. Bartlett, when quite a young man, was appointed supercargo on
board a ship belonging to Barnabas Hedge, engaged in foreign trade.
Such a position, with the responsibilities it imposed, was the best
popular training school for a commercial life, and consequently when
he projected the whaling industry in 1821, he possessed all the
qualifications for its successful management. He occupied for some
years the easterly part of the Winslow House on North street, but in
1832 he bought the LeBaron estate on Leyden street, at the corner of
LeBaron’s Alley, and built the house now occupied by his grandson,
Wm. W. Brewster, where he died July 29, 1845, fifty-nine years of age.
With regard to the packet service of Plymouth there were four packets
within my lifetime, which are not within my memory, the Belus, Capt.
Thomas Atwood; the Falcon, Capt. Samuel Briggs; the Sally Curtis,
Capt. Samuel Robbins, and the Betsey, Capt. Isaac Robbins. There was
a fifth, the Argo, Capt. Sylvanus Churchill, which I have a hazy
recollection of seeing at her berth at the end of Davis’ wharf. Of
the eight succeeding packets I have very definite pictures in my
mind. These, in the order of their probable ages, were the Polly,
Eagle, Splendid, Hector, Harriet, Atalanta, Thetis and Russell. The
Polly was a black sloop, a dull sailer, unattractive in appearance,
and poorly equipped for passengers. Her captain was Joseph Cooper,
who lived in High street at the upper corner of Cooper’s alley,
leading to Town Square. At the northerly end of his garden on Church
street, then known as Back street, there was a store house which,
when he retired from the packet service in 1835, he altered into a
grocery store, which he kept until his death, which occurred November
25, 1851, in the 83d year of his age. He was one of the last grocers
in town to keep spirituous liquors for sale, and his stock in these
was confined to Cicily Madeira wine. In 1835, or thereabouts, one of
my mother’s brothers, living in Nova Scotia, arrived unexpectedly
one evening on the stage, and finding that she was out of wine to
dispense the hospitalities of the occasion, she sent me with one of
those square bottles made to fit partitions in the closet of the
sideboard, up to Capt. Cooper’s for two quarts of the above mentioned
wine. I had nearly performed my errand in safety, when slipping on
the icy sidewalk I fell near the doorstep and broke the bottle.
Enough wine, however, was saved for immediate purposes, but it was
the last wine my mother ever bought.
I remember that one afternoon in 1831, when two or three of the
packets had been wind bound during a long spell of easterly weather,
Capt. Cooper came down to the wharf in a hurried manner, evidently
about to make a move. One of the other captains said: “What is the
matter, old man, what are you going to do?” “I am going to cast off
and hoist my jib,” the Captain replied. “Parson Kendall’s vane pints
sou’west.” “Hm,” said the other Captain, “I’d stay here a month
before I’d go to sea by Parson Kendall’s rooster.” This was before
April, 1831, because in that month the old meeting house was taken
down, rooster and all.
Sectarianism was active in those days, but Dr. Kendall was so little
of a controversialist, and so much respected, that he occasionally
exchanged pulpits with the evangelical ministers in Plymouth and
adjoining towns. On one occasion he exchanged with Rev. Benjamin
Whittemore of Eel River, and after church a conversation between two
parishioners was heard—something to this effect: “Well, Captain, how
did you like the parson?” The Captain replied, “I don’t take much to
this one God doctrine.” “I guess,” said the other, “one God is enough
for Eel River, they only claim three in Boston.”
In this connection it may not be improper to refer to an incident
creditable to all concerned, which may interest my readers.
The editors of the _Congregationalist_, the leading New England
Trinitarian Congregational journal, inserted in its issue of March 4,
1851, the following notice:
“A premium of $30 is offered for a dissertation containing the most
full and perfect and the best narrative of historical and other
facts bearing upon the following question, viz: ‘So far as Christian
salvation is a change effected in individuals, and may be known
to them and be by them described to others, does the saving power
of Christ eminently attend upon a knowledge of his life, as it is
revealed in his manifestations from his birth to his ascension; and
is it reasonable to expect that the redeeming effect of this saving
power will be proportioned to the faithfulness with which his life
is studied, and the perfectness with which it becomes known, and is
contemplated?’”
After the decision on the merits of the dissertations had been
reached, it was found on opening the envelopes containing the names
of the authors, that the premium had been awarded to Rev. Geo. Ware
Briggs, pastor of the First Church in Plymouth, Unitarian.
The sloop Eagle had her berth at Hedge’s wharf. She was a snub nosed,
broad beamed craft, without a figure head, and painted a dull green,
unattractive to the public and not a much better sailer than the
Polly. She was commanded for a time by John Battles, Jr., but through
most of the years of my boyhood, by Richard Pope. Captain Pope was a
genial man, kind to his crew, and accommodating to his passengers,
and by his popular ways secured his full share of both freight and
passengers. After giving up the packet service, perhaps about 1840,
he engaged in other pursuits, one of which will be mentioned in
connection with the steamboats running on the line between Plymouth
and Boston. In 1849 he went to California in the ship Samuel
Appleton, sailing from New York, and on his return he was for a time
sexton of the Unitarian church, and then was appointed keeper of
the lighthouse at the Gurnet. Later he was a town watchman for some
years, and died July 29, 1881, at 83 years of age.
The sloop Splendid was a handsome craft, well modelled, tall masted,
had a figure head, was painted bright green, and was a fast sailer.
To my youthful eyes she was the queen of the line. For a short
time she was commanded by Richard Pope and Sylvanus Churchill, but
through most of my boyhood, after 1832, by George Simmons. Capt.
Simmons was an energetic man, taking advantage of every opportunity,
running perhaps at times some risk, and making a trip to Boston and
back, while the vessels of his prudent rivals lay in their berths. I
remember seeing him leave the wharf one afternoon at sunset with a
full load of hollow ware from the Federal furnace, and finding her
the next morning but one, when I looked out of my window at Cole’s
Hill, lying in her berth with a full load of hemp for the Plymouth
Cordage Company. Capt. Simmons, after he left the packet service,
engaged for some years in the coal business, and as wharfinger of
Hedge’s wharf, and afterwards until his death, as the manager of
trucking teams. He died June 4, 1886, eighty years of age. Capt.
Sylvanus Churchill died March 2, 1878.
The sloops Harriet and Hector, both probably built in Plymouth, I
speak of together, because they were of about the same age, and
looked very much alike. Both were painted a bright green, and were
good sailers. The Harriet had a berth at Barnes’ wharf, and was
commanded as long as I knew her by Samuel Doten Holmes. Captain
Holmes bought in 1829 the house with a brick end, opposite the
Universalist church, which he occupied until 1834, when he built and
occupied until his death the house next above it. He died October 22,
1861.
The Hector had her berth at Carver’s wharf, and was commanded by
Bradford Barnes for a short time, but chiefly by Edward Winslow
Bradford, who after the opening of the Old Colony Railroad
established with Samuel Gardner, who had been a driver on the Boston
stage line, the Bradford and Gardner express. After some years he
sold his interest in the express to Isaac B. Rich, but again later he
established Bradford’s express, which he conducted until his death,
which occurred December 27, 1874. Bradford Barnes, who for a time
commanded the Hector, lived many years in the house on the southerly
corner of Lincoln street, in the house which stood where Davis
building stands, and in the house next north of the Universalist
church. He died January 22, 1883.
The sloop Atalanta was built in Plymouth as early as 1830, and was
commanded at first by Truman C. Holmes. She was afterwards rigged as
a schooner, and as early as 1837 was commanded by Samuel H. Doten. I
think she had her berth for a time at Carver’s wharf, but I remember
seeing her loading at Hedge’s wharf on the 12th of June, 1837, the
day after the Broad street riot in Boston, about which the crew
talked as they took in their cargo. Of Capt. Holmes I shall have
something to say in connection with the steamboat General Lafayette,
and of Capt. Doten in connection with the Civil War.
The sloop Thetis was commanded by Isaac Robbins, and had her berth at
Hedge’s wharf. She was changed to a schooner in 1843, and I saw her
last about 1865, at anchor off Marblehead Neck, loading with gravel.
The last packet equipped with any view to passenger service was the
schooner Russell, owned by N. Russell & Co., Phineas Wells, and her
commander William Davis Simmons, which had her berth at Davis wharf.
Having the business of her owners she survived the advent of the
railroad, and continued in service until her wreck. Her fate was a
sad one. She left Boston on the afternoon of Friday, March 17, 1854,
with a crew, besides her captain, consisting of Erastus Torrence,
Alpheus Richmond and Ichabod Rogers, and with five passengers, Harvey
H. Raymond, and his son, Benjamin B. Raymond, Elkanah Barnes, Edmund
Griffin, son of Grenville W. Griffin, and Henry H. Weston, son of
Henry Weston. The next day in a northwest gale, she went ashore near
Billingsgate light on Cape Cod, and with the schooner a total wreck,
all on board were lost. All the bodies came ashore at Wellfleet
and Truro, and as I was requested to act as administrator of Capt.
Simmons’ estate, it became my duty to visit the tombs in those towns,
where they were deposited, and after their identification to arrange
for their removal to Plymouth.
The cause of the disaster can only be conjectured. The gale was from
the west northwest, and as Billingsgate is about east southeast
from the Gurnet, where the Russell was seen early Saturday morning,
it is certain that she was driven helpless before it. And as the
bodies came ashore in the immediate vicinity of the wreck, it is
equally certain that those on board did not leave the vessel before
she struck. I see no reason why if the rudder was under control,
the schooner could not, even with the partial loss of her sails,
have been sheered a little southerly to a lee under Manomet, or a
little easterly to a lee under Wood End. I am therefore inclined to
think that her rudder was disabled, either by striking a rock at the
Gurnet in getting away from her anchorage, or by striking the tail
of Brown’s Island in missing stays, and that in that condition she
became the prey of the gale.
Since the loss of the Russell the following freighters have run at
different periods between Plymouth and Boston, though not in the
order stated:
The Glide, commanded by Thomas Bartlett and Capt. Joy.
The Wm. G. Eadie, commanded by Thomas Bartlett and Kendall Holmes.
The M. R. Shepard and Eliza Jane, commanded by Thomas Bartlett.
The Shave and Mary Eliza, commanded by Kendall Holmes.
The Emma T. Story and Anna B. Price, commanded by Wm. Nightingale.
The Martha May, commanded by Wm. Swift, and the Sarah Elizabeth,
commanded by Daniel O. Churchill.
Besides the above there were two sloops, the Comet, Capt. Ephraim
Paty, and the Coral, Capt. John Battles, Jr., which were quasi
packets, running on no special lines, but sailing for any near
port to or from which they could find freight. Before railroads
were built from Boston to the sea ports of Massachusetts, all
kinds of freight to and from those ports were carried necessarily
by water. Thus packets were running from Boston to every town of
importance on the New England coast. Those to the nearer places were
sloops as to Salem, Newburyport, Portsmouth, Barnstable, Plymouth
and Provincetown; those to places a little more distant topsail
schooners; those to Hartford, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore,
Richmond, Savannah and Charleston, brigs, and those to Mobile and New
Orleans, ships. Plymouth had a very considerable amount of freight
to distribute, cotton cloth, nails, anchors, hollow ware, cordage,
fish and imported iron, sugar and molasses. When these were sent in
small amounts they were sent to Boston by the regular packets, and
transhipped to the packets in Boston running on other lines. But if
any considerable amount of freight, a gang of rigging for instance
for Nantucket, a dozen or two anchors for New Bedford, or twenty
hogsheads of molasses for Hartford, or some other port, were wanting
transportation, then the Comet and Coral found their opportunity,
trusting to chance for more or less of a return cargo for Plymouth or
Boston. If they were needed to go to Maine ports they were reasonably
sure of a lumber freight home. Indeed, as I remember, these vessels
did practically the entire lumber business of the town. Capt. Paty
died in California July 24, 1849, and Capt. Battles died in Plymouth
March 1, 1872.
There were other packets besides those of Plymouth seen in our
waters. There was the Juventa, a Kingston packet, and there were the
Duxbury packets Union and Glide, commanded by Capt. Martin Winsor,
the Spy, the Jack Downing, Capt. Holmes, the Traveller, Capt. John
Alden, and the Reform, so that with the fifteen running to and from
the three towns there was rarely a day in suitable weather when more
than one did not pass the old square pier. In addition to all the
above, the Barnstable packet sloop Henry Clay not only passed within
sight, but frequently sought an anchorage in the Cow Yard, or came to
the wharves. The distance by stage of Barnstable from Boston induced
a large passenger traffic, and she was fitted with a handsome cabin
extending to the main hatch, lighted by skylights, and containing
ample and luxurious accommodations.
There was one other vessel to whose memory I wish to pay a tribute
on account of the pleasant fishing parties on board of her, in which
I have participated. Her name was the Rainbow, but whence she came,
what her regular business was, and whither she went, I never knew.
She was a queer craft, sailing well on the starboard tack, but as
dull as a log on the port tack. She would loaf along up Saquish
channel with the wind southwest, but after rounding the pier she
would come up Beach channel like a race horse. She reminded me of
the story of a traveller, who said he saw in South America a race
of goats made with two long legs on one side and two short ones on
the other, so that they could walk easily round the mountain side. A
sailor in the group cried out: “Belay there, Captain, how did them
air goats sail on t’other tack?”