The Republican journal., 1899-01-19
The Largest Schooner in the World
Launched at Camden, Me-, Jan. 18th.

| Launcheu AT SdlnQen, Me-. Jan. 1Stn.
The five-masted schooner John B. Pres
colt launched from the yard of II. NJ.
Bean, Camden, at 1 55 Jan. 18th in the pres
ence of from 5000 to 10000 people. From
tile Camden Herald we take the following
particulars of the biggest schooner in the
world. Her dimensions are as follows
Length of keel 2S2 feet, depth 81 and Hip
feet at shoaest place, width "A and - feet,
length of deck from taffrail to forward side
bow chock $50 feet, length over all from
iigger boom to end of jibhoom 41O feet. The
five masts are Of Oregon pine and are 112
feet 6-12 inches in length, topmasts 56 feet
long, making the full height Of her masts 16s
IL feet The jigger boom is II feet long.
Net tonnage, ?, ,249 tons, with carrying ca
| pacity of from 200 to 300 tons of coal The
vessel will be used in the coal trade eXclu-
| slvey.
The frame is of white oak and was cut in
Virginia by G. w Bisbee of Camden. The
ceiling and planking are hard pine. There
| are four houses on deck; forward house con-
tanning engine room and apartments for
crew; midshp house for the cook; after
captain and mates, and wheel house to pro-
| tect the man at the wheel. The ca bin is
finished in fine style and has every conven-
| ience. The woods used in the finish are ash,
mahogany, cypress and sycamore. Furnish
| lngs for the cabin are in keeping with every
| thing about the vessel, and are i'll the best
| of style. Morse x Co. of Bangor furnished
| wood for the cabin, and Curtis Il Spear of
Camden the furniture.
| The vessel has two decks and a poop
deck running to within one berth of the for
| ward hatch. This deck is for protection
from seas and is made very strong, laid with
| white pine four inches square furnished by
| the Stearns Lumber Co. of Bangor The
steam engine is 20-horse power and will do
all the hosting of sails, anchors, etc. The
vessel will also be heated by steam. A
| Dean wrecking pump is connected with the
machinery. The Hyde Windlass Co. of
| Bath furnished the engine, windass, radia-
tors and steerer j. B. Clifford & Co. of Fall
| River furnished the sails, Albert Window &
Co. OF Boston the rigging, and II. Pigeon q
Sons Of Boston the masts. Her anchors
were made III Camden at W. G. Alden's
anchor factory, and weigh 5000 pounds each.
The chains, which are $50 fathoms in length
and and 5-16 inches in size, came from the
Carr Chain Co. of Troy, N. Y The oakum
used for calking was made in Camden, com
ing from the oakum mill of II. L, Alden.
| The blocks, casting, etc, We're furnished by
| knowlton Bros. of Camden. The sheaves
We're furnished by the Duplex Roller Bush
| ing Co of Camden. These sheaves are con-
sidered the finest made and used by the
| United States on all its vessels The plumb
ing and furnishings We're done by Joseph
! Bowers and the hardware supplied by j. G.
/ Curtis. The cost of the vessel is about SS3,-
| 600.
John j. Wardwell who has long been Mr.
| Beans ight-hand man and who is a thorough
mechanic, the master builder and
| also the designer of the vessel. The men in
| charge Of the different departments We're
| Master joiner, II. G.. Small; master black
| smith, Geo. ID. Sides; master painter, John
A. Mckay master caull<er, II. &. Buchan-
| an; spar maker, James Moore. The small
| boats We're built and the carving done by H
! NJ. Prince. All of these men are well known
| Camden mechanics j. w Creamer of Wal
| doboro was boss fastener; f. w. Deiosche Of
| Bath rigger, and Il. +. Doughty of Yarmouth
| did the adj work.
The commander of the Prescott is Capt
John g. Crowley of Taunton, Mass man
| aging owner of the four-masted schooners
| Sycamore, Mt. Hope and Henry W. Cramp,
the two latter built in Camden. Calvin FL
| We'll of Northport Is first officer, j. Bliss
Long ol Camden, formerly steward on the
! b. q b, s. Co. steamers is steward, and
| Frank Skinner of Rockau engineer.
I'll. NJ Bean of Camden, the builder of this
monster craft, is 81 years of age, and the
Prescott is the 61st vessel which he has
| built i'll that time. He began shiphuilding
| IL years ago at SearspOrt, the first vessel
which he built being the little schooner
| Guiding Star, named after Good Templar
! lodge at Searsport.
From Searsport he went to Belfast and St.
George. building vessels in both places and
finally, in 1874, locating in Camden, where
he has since been. The largest vessel which
he built previous to the Prescott was the
Henry W. Cramp. One of his largest YES
sells was the schooner King Philip, which is
thought by some to have gone down with
the lll-fated steamer Portland in the great
NOvem ber storm of 1898
Mr.. Bean is of the firm opinion that
| sooner or later there must be a revival of
the shipbuiding industry along the New
England coast, and he gives as his reasons
that wooden vessels will be needed in the
Cuban. coasting and coal carrying trade.
1T is a fact, said he, "proven by years of
experience, that barges towed by steam cam
not carry coal for a cent less than 70 cents a
ton. The business be carried on by the
large sailing vessels at greater profit
Already the timber is being landed in the
Bean yard for another large vessel, the keel
for which was laid within a few hours after
| the John B. Prescott was launched. The
new craft viii be built for Capt. Clarence
| Birdsall of Toms River, n. j., and will be a
duplicate of the schooner j. Holmes Bird
sail, built by Mr.. Bean for Capt. Birdsall' 8
brother She will be of 400 tons and have
coal carrying capacity of $3.50 tons.