The Portland daily press., 1881-07-18
AN INTERESTING SKETCH.
The History of the Sarah Sands.

The PRESS account of the menu of the ban
quet rendered Capt. Washington Illsley Of the
steamer Sarah Sands at Lancaster Hall in
1858, has drawn out the following interesting
sketch from the Ossipee Valley News:
Capt. Washington Illsley, referred to above,
is native and resident of Limerick. We
called upon him few mornings since at his
comfortable farmhouse, just below the village
on the WATERFORD road. and during pleasant
half-hour's chat learned some interesting facts
concerning the eventful career of the steam
ship, Sarah Sands, which our readers will ap-
preciate.
The auxiliary screw iron steamship Sarah
Sands, 1900 tons, was built in England in 1S47
She was go feet in length; depth of hold 20
feet; breadth of beam 81 feet. Her engines
were OF 200 horsepower. She was a most
thoroughly built and equipped vessel, and cost
nearly AlO0000: Her first voyage was from
Liverpool to New York, Capt. VIM. Thomp-
son commanding-Mr. Ilsley going in her as
mate. After making a few trips between
these ports, she was chartered for service on
the Pacific coast on the breaking out of the
gold excitement in California, and left New
York for Panama, being the first iron steam
ship to pass Magellan Straits, and the first to
enter the harbor Of San Francsco--the pioneer
OF pioneers. On this eventful voyage Capt.
Ilsley was in command.
In December, 1858, she entered Portland
hSlpoL lrO1u LiVefpOOl, HaNlUS mdu9 Inc
passage in fourteen days. Her cargo, mostly
Tor Canada, was consigned to Messrs Gillespie,
Allan q Co., Montreal. and was carried over
the Grand Trunk Railway. She brought
about two hundred passengers, of all classes,
besides her crew. which consisted of seventy
men and boys. Her arrival created quite a
stir, in this steady. old seaport town,
and was duly celebrated by an immense dim
ner given by the Board of Trade. We have
before us the bill of fare printed on satin, a
copy OF which the Captain keeps in neat gilt
frame. The dinner was gotten up by r. L.
Robinson, at Lancaster Hall, and consisted Of
no less than ninety distinct dishes exclusive
OF sauces.
The Sarah Sands made three more trips to
Portland that season, and in the spring of
1904 went mp tire St. Lawrence river-being
mere again the first iron screw steamship to ar
rive at Quebec and Montreal. Between these
ports and Liverpool she continued to ply until
the breaking out Of the Crimean war, whe 4
she was reftted with new boilers and charter
ed by the British government to transport
cavalry to Balaklava When the war ceased
Capt. llsley left her and came home to Linn
eriok. The Sands then changed hands and
was lifted up to carry troops to India during
the famous Sepoy rebellion. On her first trip,
with three hundred men on board, six hundred
miles east OF the Isle of France, she took fire,
burning all above water abaft the main bulk
head, and being saved from entire destruction
only by her water-tight compartments. She
put back to Isle of France under sail, without
the loss Of man, and was there laid up.
Capt. Illsley, who had decided to give up
sea life and was living quietly with his family
in this town, being urgently requested by the
ships owners, went across the water again;
and having temporarily repaired the Sands,
took her by sail to Liverpool, being 70 days on
the passage. Capt Ilsley here resigned his
command and came home. The vessel again
changed hands, aud was sent to the East In
dies to engage in the Chinese cooie trade. She
was wrecked on reef in the China Sea in
1861. thus ending the eventful career of one
OF the pioneers OF her class.
The Sarah Sands was the second iron screw
steamer that ever crossed the Atlantic,-the
first being the Great Britain, which entered
New York harbor about 1885, and her history,
If fully written up, would possess all the inter-
est Of a romance. In his parlor Capt. Ilsley
has fine, large painting of the Sands, repre-
resenting her at sea under full steam; also, a
perfect model of the ship in miniature, show
ing her as she stood on the stocks. The cap
tain is a thorough sailor and takes true sail
or's pride in his sea record and that of the
pioneer ship which aid such noble services I'M
der his command. He never tires of rehears-
ing the scenes and triumphs Of his early man
hood, and exhibits the true fire of enthusiasm
as he fights over again the battles of his MEM
orable ocean campaigns. He is now perma-
nently retired from sea life, content to pass
the evening of his days amid the scenes which
he knew in boyhood-the farm on which he
resides being the old homestead on which his
father lived