Plymouth memories of an octogenarian

by William T. Davis

The last two were used in Plymouth in the ball game of skip. One of the two boys who chose sides tossed the bat to the other who caught it and held it. Then the two alternately grasped it hand over hand, and if there was enough of the bat left for the next one to hold it, and throw it over his head, he had the first choice of players.

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.