The Republican journal., 1910-08-04
OLD.rIME SHIPPING.
Things Have Changed on the Water Fronts
from The Bangor Daily News.]

Things Have Changed on the Water Fronts
IFrom The Bangor Daily News.]
A man who has for IS years been in
timately acquainted with the affairs o
the port of Bangor took a trip along tn
river the othe- day and was able to coun
but six sailing vessels, all schooners, ant
two or three coal barges, in the mill
stretch from High head dock to the OH
toll bridge. He remarked that the sigh
make him feel lonesome, not to say sad
for he could remember when that lon(
line of wharves on either side of the river
and the flats and coves IN between, were
crowded with vessels Of all rigs and size'
and the harbor presented scene of grea
activity.
"Why." said he, "when l was boy
on this river there were often times wher
you could count hundreds of vessels here
ships, banks, barkentines, briggs. top
sail schooners and ordinary coasters Of
the fore and-aft rig. In the seventies
and we'll into the eighties it was COM
mon enough sight to seesa fleet OF big
square-riggers loading deals at High
head, besides Italians taking IN shocks.
MANY of these vessels were just OFT the
stocks, loading their first cargoes, such
as the ships Belle of Bath and William II.
Conner, the N. I. Hill and the l.. j.:
Morse, and banks like the Ocean Belle OF
Bath. The ships Martha Cobb, Conquer
or. Caledonia, City of Boston, McLaurin
and others, and the banks Hosea Rich
and Homeward Bound are among those |
call to memory now, with more briggs
than you'd care to hear about-the
Rachel Coney, Harry Smith, Harry
Stewart, Srentiss Hobbs, Katahdin,
Starlight, Havilah, Motley, Stockton,
Telos and scores more. These briggs used
to go in the West India trades mostly,
but many of them carried shocks to the
Mediterranean. They used to bring salt
and molasses here, too. You don't see
any whole cargoes of molasses coming to
Bangor now. Why? l don't know. Prob
ably the merchants find it handler or
cheaper maybe to get it in small lots
from Boston. The sight and smell of a
West Indiaman discharging here now
would sure be cure for the blues.
"They don't ship any deals from here
across the water now. Was little squirt
a few years ago, but most of the business
was done in British steamers-big fell
lows, some of them, like the Samara,
that took out about 100000 feet. |
remember the first tramp steamer that
ever came here. She was called the
Craigton, of Glasgow, and came here, as
| recall it, in 1883, loading spoolwood and
deals at High Head. She was something
of curiosity, too, for the first Sunday
she was here big crowds went down to
the Head to look her over Why don't
they ship any deals from here now? On,
| guess it doesn't pay. The Provinces do
all that business now, and our spruce is
sawed differently and sent to American
markets. Then, as you probably know,
the shook and spoolwood trades. what is
left of them, are done now from Stock
ton, down at the end of the new railroad.
Of course, Bangor concerns ship the stuff,
but the port of Bangor misses the vessels
and what they used to leave here in grub
and stevedore bills.
"Then, take the little lumber coasters
the tWo-masted schooners of olden
times and the three masters that came
along in the seventies and We're consider
ed big vessels then. Why, where you
see dozen now there used to be hum
dred of these schooners, carrying from
100, 900 to 1000 feet. | remember
when a schooner that would carry 200,-
900 was considered quite big vessel.
There We're times when every wharf was
lined with the lumber coasters, and there
We're tiers of them, anchored bow off and
moored stern on at the Maine Central
wharf, which made a jog just at the
foot Of Railroad street, and from the
City Point up to what was Walker s
lumber dock, almost up to the toll bridge.
The Maine Central was called the lower
tier and the City Point the upper. When
reported ship news for the harbor mas
ter's office and the newspapers | often
had hard work to get my boat between
the vessels in these tiers, so closely to-
gether were they anchored. Why, you
could sometimes go the whole length of
the tier just by jumping from one vessel
to another-I often did that myself.
Not only We're the two tiers crowded,
but in the fall rush | have often seen
scores of vessels anchored along Brewer
flats, moored stern on at the toll bridge
or lying out in the stream. In those days
the stevedore' trade was something
worth talking about. Hundreds OF mer
We're running RATS from the docks to the
vessels, more were porting the twe1
lumber, and the best men We're showing
it in the hold or on deck. 1t was quite a
trick, too, to stow a cargo so that il
wouldn't shift or give the vessel list
Those boss stevedores knew how to do it.
] remember Jim Conroy, a great dea
stevedore, who loaded many ships al
High Head; Nelse Henry, Jim Calvin,
Pat Toole, John G. Reilly, these last
three making a great team together,
Herbert Sprague, typical smart Yam
kee, and many others who handled lum-
Der in the flush days, and they were busy
men. Hard work? guess it was! But
they made good money at it. Now the
up river mills are mostly gone, and what
lumber we send from Bangor is sawed
for the most part, at four mills below
the city. These mills ship a good deal Of
lumber in the course of season, but it s
nothing to what it used to be. We DOM
have a survey of 246, 00O,O0 feet now
as we did in ~. Yes, they cut the logs
all right, but half of the cut goes into
paper and a good deal Of the lumber now
goes by rail. 1 guess we shall Away!
send lumber from Bangor by water, bu
you don't notice that they are building
many small schooners nowadays, do you
''Also, we used to have lot of regular
packet schooners trading between here
and Boston, bringing the stuff that nov
comes in steamboats, and by rail. There
were the Abbie S. Cakes, whose master
Capt. Babbidge, l we'll remember; the
M. L. Crockett and the Mary A. Heyer
owned and sailed by the Crocketts Of
Winterport, and smart vessels, too; the
NT j H. Il