Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

CHAPTER XXII.

I will add in this chapter some additional memoranda relating to marine matters, before proceeding with the regular order which I had prescribed for my memories. In connection with the account of vessels built and owned in Plymouth, it will not be inappropriate to speak of those in Kingston and Duxbury, of which I have any recollection, or of which I have been able to obtain an account. All of these in entering or leaving their port passed through the waters of Plymouth.

Ezra Weston & Sons owned more vessels than any other firm in New England, except William Gray of Salem, and, perhaps, more than any other in the United States, with the above exception. The following is a partial list of their vessels built in Duxbury with their tonnage as far as ascertained, for which I am indebted to Major Joshua M. Cushing of Duxbury.

1800, Brig Rising Sun, 130 tons.
1800, Brig Sylvia, 130 tons.
1800, Schooner Ardent.
1801, Schooner Maria.
1801, Schooner Berin.
1801, Schooner Union.
1802, Schooner Volant.
1802, Schooner Laurel.
1802, Schooner Prissy.
1803, Schooner Sophia.
1803, Schooner Phœnix.
1803, Sloop Fame.
1803, Sloop Jerusha.
1803, Sloop Pomona.
1803, Brig Federal Eagle, 120 tons.
1804, Ship Julius Cæsar, 300 tons.
1804, Brig Admittance, 128 tons.
1805, Schooner Rising States.
1805, Schooner Fenelon.
1806, Schooner Salamis, 160 tons.
1806, Brig Ezra & Daniel, 125 tons.
1806, Brig Gershom, 136 tons.
1807, Ship Minerva, 250 tons.
1807, Brig Warren, 120 tons.
1807, Sloop Apollo.
1808, Ship Camillus, 350 tons.
1809, Ship Admittance, 300 tons.
1809, Sloop Linnett, 50 tons.
1810, Schooner Flora.
1811, Schooner George Washington, 50 tons.
1813, Brig Golden Goose, 130 tons.
1813, Schooner Copack.
1815, Brig Despatch, 125 tons.
1816, Ship Brahmin, 339 tons.
1816, Brig Messenger, 135 tons.
1816, Schooner Collector, 70 tons.
1816, Sloop Exchange, 60 tons.
1817, Schooner St. Michael, 120 tons.
1817, Sloop Diamond, 50 tons.
1818, Brig Despatch, 130 tons.
1818, Schooner Angler, 60 tons.
1819, Brig Two Friends, 240 tons.
1819, Schooner Franklin, 60 tons.
1820, Brig Margaret, 185 tons.
1820, Brig Baltic, 212 tons.
1821, Schooner Star, 20 tons.
1821, Schooner Panoke, 60 tons.
1822, Brig Globe, 214 tons.
1823, Brig Herald, 162 tons.
1825, Ship Franklin, 246 tons.
1825, Brig Pioneer, 231 tons.
1825, Brig Smyrna, 162 tons.
1825, Bark Pallas, 209 tons.
1826, Brig Levant, 219 tons.
1826, Brig Ganges, 174 tons.
1826, Schooner Dray, 86 tons.
1826, Schooner Triton, 75 tons.
1826, Ship Lagoda, 340 tons.
1827, Brig Malaga, 150 tons.
1827, Brig Ceres, 176 tons.
1827, Schooner Pomona, 84 tons.
1828, Ship Julian, 355 tons.
1828, Sloop Reform, 53 tons.
1828, Schooner Virginia, 73 tons.
1829, Sloop Glide, 60 tons.
1829, Brig Neptune, 196 tons.
1829, Schooner Seaman, 70 tons.
1830, Ship Renown, 300 tons.
1831, Ship Joshua Bates, 316 tons.
1831, Ship Undine, 253 tons.
1832, Schooner Seadrift, 90 tons.
1832, Schooner Ranger, 32 tons.
1832, Brig Angola, 220 tons.
1832, Ship Minerva, 291 tons.
1833, Schooner Volunteer, 109 tons.
1833, Ship Mattakeesett, 356 tons.
1833, Ship St. Lawrence, 356 tons.
1834, Brig Messenger, 213 tons.
1834, Schooner Liberty, 92 tons.
1834, Ship Admittance, 426 tons.
1835, Ship Vandalia, 432 tons.
1835, Brig Trenton, 226 tons.
1836, Ship Eliza Warwick, 530 tons.
1837, Brig Oriole, 218 tons.
1837, Schooner Maquet, 80 tons.
1839, Brig Lion, 235 tons.
1839, Brig Smyrna, 196 tons.
1839, Ship Oneco, 640 tons.
1841, Ship Hope, 880 tons.
1842, Sloop Union, 63 tons.
1842, Brig Vulture, 140 tons.
1843, Ship Manteo, 600 tons.
1844, Schooner Angler, 86 tons.
1844, Schooner Mayflower, 24 tons.
1845, Schooner Ocean, 103 tons.
1846, Schooner Express, 93 tons.

Ezra Weston, son of Ezra and Salumith (Wadsworth) Weston of Duxbury, was born November 30, 1771. He married Jerusha Bradford, and died August 15, 1842. His sons, living until manhood, were Gershom Bradford, born August 27, 1799; Alden Bradford, 1805, and Ezra, 1809.

Besides the ship yards of the Westons there were the yards of Samuel Hall, Joshua Cushing and Joshua Cushing, Jr., the Drews and of Paulding and Southworth, in which many vessels were built.

The following is a list of vessels built and owned by Joseph Holmes of Kingston, between 1801 and 1862, the year of his death, for which I am indebted to Mrs. H. M. Jones of Kingston:

1801, Brig Two Pollies, 250 tons.
1802, Brig Algol, 220 tons.
1804, Ship Lucy, 208 tons.
1805, Schooner Alexander, 100 tons.
1806, Brig Trident, 130 tons.
1806, Brig Brunette, 180 tons.
1807, Schooner Dolly, 106 tons.
1809, Brig Roxanna, 200 tons.
1812, Ship Elizabeth, 300 tons.
1813, Ship Chili, 300 tons.
1814, Schooner Milo, 100 tons.
1814, Brig Lucy, 140 tons.
1816, Schooner Ann Gurley, 100 tons.
1816, Brig Indian Chief, 150 tons.
1817, Schooner Celer, 64 tons.
1817, Schooner Paraclite, 95 tons.
1818, Schooner Hope, 70 tons.
1818, Ship Rambler, 320 tons.
1820, Schooner Edward, 40 tons.
1821, Ship Columbus, 320 tons.
1822, Ship Horace, 53 tons.
1822, Ship Kingston, 325 tons.
1822, Brig Sophia and Eliza, 200 tons.
1823, Brig Leonidas, 180 tons.
1824, Schooner Cornelius, 35 tons.
1824, Schooner Pamela, 75 tons.
1824, Brig Deborah, 165 tons.
1825, Schooner Wm. Allen, 88 tons.
1825, Schooner Five Brothers, 76 tons.
1825, Brig Edward, 239 tons.
1825, Schooner Eveline, 75 tons.
1826, Schooner Industry, 72 tons.
1827, Bark Truman, 267 tons.
1827, Brig Galago, 160 tons.
1828, Schooner Hunter, 12 tons.
1828, Schooner January, 64 tons.
1828, Schooner February, 88 tons.
1828, Schooner March, 90 tons.
1828, Brig Roxanna, 140 tons.
1829, Brig Two Sisters, 130 tons.
1829, Schooner April, 64 tons.
1829, Ship Helen Mar, 290 tons.
1830, Bark Turbo, 280 tons.
1830, Ship Ohio, 300 tons.
1831, Bark Alasco, 286 tons.
1834, Schooner December, 50 tons.
1834, Ship Rialto, 460 tons.
1837, Schooner July, 48 tons.
1837, Schooner August, 117 tons.
1838, Schooner September, 119 tons.
1838, Brig Belize, 164 tons.
1838, Ship Herculean, 540 tons.
1839, Schooner October, 110 tons.
1840, Schooner Honest Tom, 115 tons.
1840, Schooner November, 107 tons.
1843, Ship Raritan, 499 tons.
1843, Schooner May, 92 tons.
1843, Schooner June, 92 tons.
1843, Brig Gustavus, 153 tons.
1845, Brig Edward Henry, 164 tons.
1848, Schooner Risk, 94 tons.
1848, Ship Nathan Hannum, 512 tons.
1849, Schooner Cosmos, 108 tons.
1849, Bark Ann and Mary, 210 tons.
1850, Schooner Clark Winsor, 127 tons.
1851, Ship Joseph Holmes, 610 tons.
1852, Schooner Ocean Bird, 118 tons.
1852, Bark Fruiter, 290 tons.
1853, Schooner Kingfisher, 116 tons.
1855, Bark Sicilian, 320 tons.
1855, Bark Abby, 178 tons.
1856, Bark Neapolitan, 320 tons.
1858, Brig Bird of the Wave, 178 tons.
1859, Bark Fruiterer, 320 tons.
1860, Bark Egypt, 547 tons.
1863, Bark Lemuel, 321 tons.

Mr. Holmes was in many respects a remarkable man. He was born in Kingston in 1771, and died in that town in 1862. On the 27th of May, 1821, he went to Bridgewater and collected materials for building a vessel, hiring a yard near the Raynham line and laid the keel of the brig Two Pollies. After launching the brig Trident in 1806, she took all the spare materials in the yard, and carried them to Kingston, where all his vessels were built except the Two Pollies, Algol, Lucy, Alexander and Trident, which were built in Bridgewater. He stated in a letter written July 1, 1859, that he kept a vessel on the stocks nearly all the time, and sometimes two, and once built three in a year, all of which he built, fitted and sent to sea, except two, on his own account and risk. In that letter he said that at the age of 87 years and 7 months, he was about to lay the keel of a vessel of two hundred tons, and that he was writing the letter without spectacles. I knew him well, and often called at his house on the corner of Main street. He did his bank business in Boston, leaving only at the Plymouth Bank a deposit made up chiefly of his bank dividends, and I was a little amused by a incident which occurred somewhere between 1859 and 1862, for which I never saw an explanation, though I think it may have been intended as a personal compliment. One day while in the bank he said, “I don’t suppose you would lend me any money if I wanted it.” Knowing very well that he was never in want of money, I said, “Mr. Holmes, make out your note payable to your own order for such an amount and on such a time as may be agreeable to you, and endorse it, and you can have the money.” He signed a note for $5,000 on four months, and told me to place the money to his credit. I did so, and the money remained untouched until the note became due.

The following vessels were built and owned by his son Edward Holmes of Kingston:

1864, Schooner Anna Eldredge, 139 tons.
1865, Schooner Fisher, 105 tons.
1866, Bark Solomon, 600 tons.
1867, Schooner Lucy Holmes, 137 tons.
1868, Bark Hornet, 330 tons.
1869, Schooner Mary Baker, 139 tons.
1874, Brig H. A. Holmes, 320 tons.
Sloop Roxanna, 60 tons.
Sloop Leo, 70 tons.
Sloop Rosewood.

Besides the above, the ship Matchless was built in Boston, and owned by James H. Dawes of Kingston, and the ship Brookline, with others, was owned by John and James N. Sever of Kingston.

The following is a list of Kingston captains in the merchant service within my memory, for which I am indebted to Capt. John C. Dawes of Kingston:

William Adams, Frederick C. Bailey, Justus Bailey, Otis Baker, George Bicknell, Calvin Bryant, Cephas Dawes, James H. Dawes, John C. Dawes, Paraclete Holmes, Edward Richardson, Benjamin T. Robbins, James W. Sever, Charles Stetson, William Symmes, Peter Winsor, William Winsor.

The following is a partial list of vessels wrecked within my memory in Plymouth waters:

The earliest wreck in Plymouth waters of which I have any recollection, was that of the brig Sally Ann, Captain Caulfield, in January, 1835, bound from Porto Rico to Boston. She was owned by Charles W. Shepard of Salem, and after striking on Brown’s Island became a total wreck on the beach. No lives were lost, and Martin Gould, one of the crew, became a permanent resident of Plymouth, and married in 1836 Ruth (Westgate) widow of William Barrett.

The next wreck within my memory was that of the brig Regulator of Boston, Phelps master, on Brown’s Island, February 4, 1836. She was bound from Smyrna to Boston, and with rudder and rigging frozen, and the vessel unmanageable, she came into the bay in a gale from east, northeast, and bore away for Plymouth to find an anchorage in Saquish Cove, where she saw a brig lying. She dropped her anchor at the entrance of the channel in three fathoms of water, and in the heavy swell struck hard. At eight in the evening she floated with the tide, and held on until seven o’clock the next morning, when she drifted into the breakers, and the captain cut away his foremast, which carried with it the main mast, and the main yard. At half-past eight she began to break up, and George Dryden, an Englishman, Daniel Canton of New York, and Augustus Tilton of Vermont, who took to the long boat, capsized fifty yards under the lea of the brig and were lost. John Smith, a Swede, and a Greek boy, were killed by the wreckage, and the remainder of the crew retreated to the main rigging, and their final safety was due to the presence, in the channel, under the Gurnet, of the brig Cervantes of Salem, Kendrick, master, which bound into Boston from Charleston, had succeeded in finding a safe anchorage. The crew of the Cervantes, after six hours of heroic work, took off the men and carried them to their own vessel. The cargo of the Regulator consisted of four hundred and sixty bales of wool, twenty-five cases of opium, twenty-five cases of gum Arabic, twelve bales of senna, two thousand drums of Sultana raisins, five packages of cow’s tails, one case of saffron flower, four hundred sacks of salt, and five tons of logwood. The men saved were Captain Phelps, Martin Adams, first mate; James Warden, second mate; Elijah Butler, and Louis Almeira.

On the 20th of November, 1848, the schooner Welcome Return, from Charlottetown, bound for Boston, went ashore in a gale at Rocky Hill. She had as passengers, John and Mary Burns and six children: Ellen, 11; Catherine, 9; Henry, 7; Mary, 5; Rose, 3; and Sarah, six months old. The father and mother and infant were saved, and all the others lost. The father and mother died in Taunton, and the infant, Sarah A., is living in Plymouth, the widow of John H. Parsons.

The next wreck I remember occurred on Friday, January 25, 1867, at Gunners’ Point at Manomet. A gale with snow set in Wednesday night, and the railroad was so blocked that no trains ran through to Boston until Sunday, and the train from Boston Wednesday night reached no further than Halifax, where the passengers were supplied with refreshments. The flag staff in Shirley Square was blown down, as well as those at Pilgrim Hall and at the Cordage Factory, and also the store house of the Cordage Works. Considerable damage was done at the wharves, and the schooner Thatcher Taylor was capsized, and her masts were carried away. The bark Velma from Smyrna, October 18th, Zenas Nickerson of Chatham, master, entered the bay on Thursday morning, and during the early part of the gale, headed northeast with the wind southeast, and finally struck at two o’clock Friday morning, a half a mile off shore. Beating over the ledge she came within twenty rods of the beach, and swung round with her head to the sea. The crew took to the mizzen rigging. A little before daylight the steward, unable to longer hold on, fell overboard, carrying with him another of the crew, and both were lost. The main mast soon fell, carrying also the mizzen above the men, and through the forenoon the survivors succeeded in holding on. At two o’clock in the afternoon Henry B. Holmes, Paran Bartlett, James Bartlett, James Lynch, Henry Briggs, Otis Nichols, Robert Reamy and Octavius Reamy, reached the vessel and saved the remainder of the crew as follows: Zenas Nickerson of Chatham, master; Starks Nickerson of Chatham, first mate; John G. Allen of New Bedford, second mate; Augustus L. Jenkins of Portsmouth, John Florida of New York, John Perry of Lisbon and Joseph Sylvia of Boston. The names of the two men lost were William Sampson, England, and Manuel Gustres of Pico, Western Islands. The men were carried to the Manomet House, and when stripped, one called Jack was found to have on seven undershirts and four pairs of stockings. Dr. Alexander Jackson of Plymouth, and Dr. C. J. Wood of Chiltonville, the father of Gen. Leonard Wood, who was then practicing in Chiltonville, attended the men, and performed a number of necessary amputations. While they were under treatment I visited them several times and rendered such assistance as I was able. The vessel belonged to G. W. Bisbee, and her cargo consisted of 1245 cases of figs; 1120 boxes do; 7,937 drums, do; 3,527 mats, do; 1,340 drums of Sultana raisins; 7 casks of prunes; 108 bales of wool; 180 bags of canary seed; 6 cases of gum tragacanth; 3,070 pieces of logwood; 50 cases of figs; 8,407 cases, and 1,587 drums, do, the consignees of which were Baker & Morrell, Ryder & Hardy, and the captain.

In the same gale the schooner Shooting Star, Captain Coe, with corn from Newcastle, Delaware, for Salem, went ashore at Saquish, and was lost.

In 1873 the schooner Daniel Webster, loaded with iron, went ashore on Brown’s Island, and was a total loss.

The brig John R. Rhodes, loaded with corn, was wrecked in the outer harbor in the winter of 1850-1. The wreck was bought by John D. Churchill and others, and after repairs in Boston was sold.

In previous chapters I have mentioned Samuel Doten in connection with the escape of Plymouth vessels from the embargo, but I have not by any means done with him. He was the son of Samuel and Eunice (Robbins) Doten, and was born in 1783. His father had three wives, and twenty-three children, the oldest of whom was Samuel, born in 1783, and the youngest, James, born in 1829. Captain Doten in early life was an enterprising shipmaster, later a builder and owner of vessels engaged in the grand bank fishery, and finally a lumber merchant on Doten’s yard and wharf, the latter of which he built not far from 1825. He was a man of commanding figure, judicious, active, and prompt, selected many times to serve as chief marshal at celebrations of the Pilgrim Society and town. He married in 1807 Rebecca, daughter of Nathaniel Bradford, and died September 8, 1861. Two of his sons, Major Samuel H. and Captain Charles C., will be noticed in a later chapter in connection with the civil war. Captain Doten was engaged in the privateer service during the war of 1812, and the following narrative of some of his experiences in that service may be interesting to my readers. For its incidents, and for extracts from his log and diary, I am indebted to Captain Charles C. Doten, his son.