The Portland daily press., 1897-06-04
AN OLD TIME SHlPMAsTER.
Samuel Hill, a Native of Machias His Ad-
ventures and Success.

At the stated meeting of the New Eng
land Historic Genealogical Society, held
in Boston Wednesday, an interesting pa
per on 'An Time Shipmaster'' was
read by Frederick Stanhope Hill, of
Cambridge. Mr.. Hill said in part
"It is now more than fifty years since 1
made my first voyage to sea in the old
Bombay of Boston, owned by John E.
Lodge, the father of the present junior
Senator from Massachusetts,. Everything
in connection with our mercantile ma
rine has undergone very great changes
within this past half century. 1t is in
deed scarcely an exaggeration to say that
there We're as great differences in the con-
ditions regulating commerce and mari
time affairs in this country between the
years 1912 and 1897 as between those ex-
listing when Columbus set forth from
Palos in 1892 and the time when the SUBJ
ject of this sketch sailed the seas.
Following was a description of the
early life of Samuel Hill, who was born
Feb. 20, TIT, at Machias, Me-, then a
part of Massachusetts. He depressed to
note the marked difference between the
boys and men of 1877 and 1897 cit is
fair to assume, y he continued, stthat this
country-bred lad of thirteen could have
received nothing beyond the merest rudi-
ments of an education when he began the
the age of forty eight. Yet find in the
journals and manuscripts he left that his
chlrography was clear and beautiful, the
photography, according to the usage of
the day, entirely correct, the numerous
charts and drafts of islands and shoals he
discovered in his various voyages exhibit
a considerable proficiency in pendraw-
ing, while the diction in his journals and
letters Is notably clear, void of verbiage
and at times indicates the possession of a
decided literary style"
The captains library of a hundred vol
umes included the best literature of the
day, and the frequent annotations on fly
leaves and margins show that these books
had been closely and intell1gently read.
Mr.. Hill prepared an interesting epitome
OF the captain different voyages, which
included many excerpts from his log
books. He took his first voyage in COM
mand of ship in 1902 when he started
on a trading voyage to the northwest
coast of America On his next voyage
he rescued by skillful strategy Samuel
Jewett the sole survivor of the Inflated
ship Boston, that had been captured and
burned seven years before by the Nookta
Indians. The War Of 1919 was disastrous
for Captain Hill, who, from the begin
ming of the war to 1916, lost upward of
$1,000. In February of the latter year he
moved his family to birmingham for
greater economy. In July of the same
year he sailed for Chile and Canton.
The Ophelia remained at the Sandwich
Islands for some time, and Captain Hill
records in his journal the fact that the
| natives had deteriorated immensely since
his first visit six years before, owing to
the immoderate use of spirits and tobac
co. He also complained of their propen-
sity for stealing. 1t was on June 80,
1917, that Captain Hill sailed again from
Boston on what turned out to be voyage
of full five years in the ship Packet. The
first port touched at was Valparaiso,
where Captain Hill found Chile in the
throes of revolution against the yoke of
Spain. His accounts of the troubles and
vicissitudes of those times are extremely
interesting. He made several trips be-
tween Chile, China and the Sandwich Is
lands. At Woahoo, of the latter islands,
he found many changes. The American
III Missionaries had established schools,
erected church and had already begun
to find the best results from their labors.
''He had accumulated handsome
competency" said Mr.. Hill, land invest
ing a portion of it in real estate in this
immediate locality, he had built ten brick
houses, all of them yet standing; his
homestead on Myrtle street, three houses
on Bowdoin street, three on Allston and
three on Bulfnch street. He was in turn
captain, supercargo, merchant, diploma
fist and fnancier. Exactly how these old
time sea captains obtained the knowledge
of mercantile affairs that enabled them
to handle successfully such large ventures
as they were intrusted with passes my
comprehension. Where did this man
who went to sea when he was thirteen
years of age obtain the experience as a
merchant which enabled him to do all
this work? These men were the old fash
toned Boston shipmasters-the race that
produced our Grays, and Thorndikes,
and Cabots and Sturgises- of them in
their time master mariners, before they
became, later, Boston's merchant princes
Compare these men with your modern
shipmaster."