The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1912-01-25
Wrecks on Penobscot River.
Peculiar and Serious Marine Mishaps.

wrecks on FenODSCOt NlVef.
Peculiar and Serious Marine Mishaps.
Most people associate the word ship
wreck with disaster upon the high seas
or on bold and rocky coast, but some
very decided wrecks take place on the
placid waters of inland rivers, as the
story of the Penobscot River we'll illus
trates. Between Bucksport and Ban
gor, distance of 20 miles, there have
been some spectacular shipwrecks,
which while they have not involved the
loss OF lie, have caused serious financial
loss anu nave run the gamut of ship
types from small schooners to the big
tour-master coal carriers of today, and
from the old small side-wheel steamer to
the big tramps of the foreign trade.
In the early days of steamboating
along the New England coast, there was
side wheeler called the City of Bangor.
Compared to the big monsters of that
type familiar on the Hudson and along
the coast at this time, she was toy
some boat. One morning on her trip up
Bangor and Boston, her pilot made
Hampden, six miles below Bangor. The
steamer went up a great shelving ledge.
1t was half tide and the water was drop
ping. 1t was supposed that as the tide
went down she would keel off and be
stove up. The captain was resource
full man and kept his head. All the big
hawsers aboard were gotten out and run
ashore, where they were made fast to
the trees, the other end being fastened
to the masts and top works of the steam
err. These held her on an even keel I'M
til the tide was again at full flood, when
she slid off, none the worse for wear.
Just below Hampden, on the opposite
shore, great mud fiat projects into the
river. One morning the famous old
steamboat Cambridge, afterward wreck
ed on Old Man ledge. off Monhegan Is
land, sailed fair and square onto this fiat.
She was pulled off later, none the worse
for wear. The unexplainable thing
about this was that it was broad day.
light and no fog. In this connection it
is interesting to recall that on the De-
cember night that the Cambridge was
piled up on Old Man ledge it was per-
fectly calm, not sign of fog and the
moon shining bright, yet she went away
off her course and went on the rock at
full speed.
Another time the Cambridge, then in
command Of Capt. Charles Sanford,
founder of the Sanford Independent
Line between Boston and Bangor, now
the Eastern Steamship Company, was
on her way up the river. The passen-
gers were at dinner, when there was
shock which shook the boat from end to
end. Capt. Sanford rushed from the
dining saloon forward. AS he neared
the pilot house he met an officer who
saluted and said:
Captain, we've cut a schooner in two.
There is her bow on the port hand and
her quarter on the starboardr"
With grunt of satisfaction the cap
tain turned and started back to his in
terrupted dinner, saying:
CHATS right, when you hit 'em cut
'em In two clean!'
In the summer of 1890 a schooner
loaded with corn was discharging at one
of the grain elevators on Kenduskeag
stream, which enters the Penobscot in
Bangor. She sprang aleak, the water
caused the corn to swell until it burst
the schooner wide open, making a COM
plete loss of her.
The Spring and Summer of 1905 was a
remarkable year for accidents of this
kind. One of the first was when the
pilot of the British tramp steamer Dor
set attempted to clear the new steamer
City of Bangor. The pilot made mis-
take in judging the current and she cut
the small schooner L. Snow Jr in two
and sank her. She then went ashore
herself on the river bank just below
Sargent's sawmill on the Brewer Shore
The Dorset suffered no damage. beyond
the delay, but the Snow was total loss.
Not long after that the small schooner
Olive Branch was beating down the river.
She misstayed and went on the rocks
near Ayers mill, where she was COM
pletely wrecked.
One Sunday morning in 1898 big four
masted schooner parted her hawser and
the current of the river swung her clear
from the wharf and completely across
the river, where she lay aground until
high water, when she was warped back
to her berth.
In the same year British tramp lay
ing at the High Head Wharves in
Bangor, loading spool bars for Grenock,
Scotland, began leaking, partially filled
and would have sunk had not several big
towboats equipped with powerful wreck
ing pumps been available. They sue
ceeded in keeping her afoat until all of
her cargo which had been put aboard
could be discharged, and then accompa-
MED her to Boston, where the damage
was repaired.
One of the oldest accidents happened
at City Point, Bangor. in 1901. A shift
ing engine was shunting a string of box
cars onto a siding. The momentum was
more than it should have been, with the
result that the humping post at the end
of the wharf gave way and one big log
car slid over the edge and settled down
squarely across the deck of a lumber
schooner.
During the Winter of 1902 schooner
which had been hauled up at Bucksport
broke from her mornings and the wind
and tide swept her across the river, pill
ing her up on the rocks under tie en-
bankment of old Fort Knox. In some
unaccountable manner the vessel took
fire. and today all that remains of her is
burned and blackened timbers.
Steamer Carolyn Breaking Up.
PORTLAND, January 18th. With about
20, 200 worth of anchors, boats and other
material taken from the wrecked steamer