The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1870-05-28
o' ' ~"'OO per a1anua,s, IN adcance.

| sH o"o-'hitd. As a brig she was verv foe.
Ihere was no sheathing copper to be h,d =,
| this country SO That the English vessels had
| that advantage. The Dash's armaren, ..
| one 24-pOund pivot gun and two 1s.no,ns
carronades. She carried sixty men. Cent
Cammett took command of her on her second
cruise. George Bacon, now living in Free
port, was first lieutenant, and the late Can't.
James Slater was prize master. She sailed
direct to the south of Bermuda and was chas-
ed by British man-ot war to the coast of
North Carolina. Her bottom getting foul she
went into Wilmington to clean it, hove her
out and put on composition of soap, tallow
and lumbago, from a mine in the vicinity.
This made her sail better than ever. The
captain found the stores full of flour, and
ana bought 1900 barrels at 81 per barrel and
elSht ho9sheads of tobacco at cents per h.,
and arrived safe in Portland. The cargo was
Immediately sold at auction, the flour at S15
per barrel and the tobacco at 15 cents per
pound.
Capt. Cammett sailed on his second cruise
In August 1914, with the same officers to the
westward of Bermuda; fell in with sloop
from Charleston in charge of British Lieut..
as prize to an English frigate. She was load
ed with rice, with the American Captain on
board, who told Capt. Cammett that the shin
10 leeward was London packet, heavily
armed, aud eighty men, story he got from
the Lieut.. which was not true, as she proved
to be unarmed. 1t was nearly dark then
The ship showed many lights with ports open
and looked like a man-oEwar, but there was
no fight in her. Capt. Cammett ran boldly
up and ordered her to heave 10, and send
boat on board which she did with the Capt.
In the boat. He said that the ship was the
Five Brothers Of London, with cargo of 43O
ho9sheads OF rum, with lot of coffee and
cocoa, $4,000 in specie and thirty passengers.
Took the cargo on board the brig. As the
Captain was drunk the passengers requested
Capt. Cammett to put the British Lieutenant,
whom he had taken in the sloop in .as Cap
tain of the ship, which was done and the ship
was allowed to pursue her voyage to Eng
land.
The Dash then sailed for Portland, and got
soundings off Georges Banks to get his lati-
tude. 1t was the custom before chronome-
ters come into use to get into the latitude of
the port where bound and then run dne east
or west as the case might require. This was
called sailing by dead reckoning. Soon fell in
with the ship Lahogne, three decker, with
Baltimore schooner she had taken, and
armed heavily. Both gave chase. Soon ran
away from the ship, but the Dash being deep
ly laden, the schooner gained on her. OF
course there were two ways to get out
OF it: either to surrender or fight. Captain
c. concluded to show fight, and altered the
course of the brig to get good aim, as the
deck being full of hogsheads could not work
the pivot gun. The shot went so near to the
schooner that she altered her course and GOT
out sweeps to escape. The Dash also got
her sweeps out. pretending to make chase, but
in reality pulling another way. She arrived
safe In Portland after a cruise of % DAYS.
The cargo was Immediately carted out to Sac
carappa for safety and sold at auction. The
rum sold for 81 so per gallon. This was the
largest sale of rum ever held in Saccarappa,
And here let me call the attention of those
gentlemen who think that there is as much
spirituous liquor sold now as then; what
would Portland do now with 43O hogsheads
OF rum with three times the population she
then had9 If the liquors had been as poison
Gus then as now, the State would have
been depopulated, as every one drank more or
less.
Capt. Cammett left the Dash to take charge
OF larger brig, built by the Porters, then
nearly ready, called the Tippoo Saib.
The Dash was Immediately fitted out for
another cruise IN charge of Capt. John Por-
ter, brother of the owners, a young man of
~, with two other brothers on board. There
were eleven of the Porter brothers in the
family. The Captain had been married but a
few months to daughter OF Apollos Cusb-
ing's, who lived on Federal street. whom T
mentioned in my account of Cushine's Poipt.
Nathaniel Cushing, brother of the Captains
vile, was also on board. The Dash sailed on
the 2lst OF January, 1915, with 60 men all
told, with high hopes of a short, successful
trip.
The schooner Champlain, of Portsmouth.
QUILT and lifted out here, sailed in company
with the Dash to try her speed. The second
day out at dark the Champlain sounded and
found only eight fathoms and changed her
course. She last saw the Dash to leeward
under full sail, heading for Georges Bank.
violent snow storm came on that night.
which probably drove her ON Georges Bank,
where she went to pieces and all hands per-
ished, as she was never heard of after. For
many months the friends of those on board
looked Tor some news of the missing vessel,
but none came. Almost every town in the
county mourned tue loss of some of their
young men who were on board of her. Sew.
eral times within my recollection minors
nave been circulated that some of the crew
had been heard from; once that several of
them were in captivity in the Barbary States:
then their hopes died out and for several
years the Dash, once such fayorte. has
hardly been mentioned. Some years after. the
Captains wife married Capt John Dunlap of
Brunswick, who came to Portland and built
the house lately occupied by Judge Howard
on State street, and sold by him to the Or
phan Asylum. Capt. Dunlap lived and died
there. His widow is now living on Bracket
street in her 10th year. She lately gave me
all the particulars of the fitting out, manning
and sailing of the Dash. She had one son,
born after the Dash sailed, named John Por-
ter, for his father, who died in Portland few
years ago, after spending most of his life in
| China.
Mrs Dunlap has several children by her
second husband, one is the wife of James
Russell Lowell of Cambridge.
One circumstance is worth mentioning. It
was told me several years ago by lady now
dead, cousin of the Cushing family There
were five cousins of that family in the Dasb.)
There were several Of the relatives at the
house of Appolos Cushing on Federal street
on tie evening of the next day after the
Dash sailed. The violent storm shook the
house and they heard something fall in the
panrlor. On entering they found that one of
those Chinese porcelain tiles around the fire.
place had fallen out and broken, when lady
exclaimed, 'the Dash has gone" VIC.
WINDHAM, May 23, 1870
ARBuRIsHoP KENRICK ON THE PoPE's
INrALL1BILITY.-Peter Richard Kenrick. the
Catholic Archbishop of st. Louis, has written
| a letter to the Archbishop Baltimore, on the
t.,1 Ia