Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1913-11-26
CAPT. ENos wasGArT.
Matne-Born Dcep-see Mariner Near
ing Century Mark.

/ Maine, is e ''tort y miner, and a genuine
tall-waser mariner And the genuineness
7 is demonstrated by The way be acted when
he bad ample opportunity in 1850 to he
among the first gold-seekers 10 California
Euos wasgait Sas quick NJ his books a.
youth. Pretty soon there vas No
teacher at Sit. Desert who bed anything
on him.
/ When he was sixteen he vent To kent's
( Hin for q term at Achoei. ana there learned
/ something -''parsing, or the relation
OF one word to another,
| He hoped to so another year, boi he
I wes Obliged to 20 into farming TO replace
| bis older brothers. who had left home and
| nranebed out tor themselves. The father
had become feeble.
! The planted land on the farm wss atty
acres, He did all the work with the help
OF yoke OF oxen, and OF his younger
brother, through that year and tn three
| following years.
| Several winters he taught school. when
/ he reached twenty-five be decided to turn
the farm over to his younger brother, Gill
bert, who died seven years ago, at the aee
Of eighty-two.
Then this youth, intending to abandon
1 farming, came to Boston determining
upon life on the sea. he had studied
| navigation to that end.
First he shipped as foremost hand in a
coasting schooner. Every time they
passed outside Boston ligh. be was ylo-
ientiy sick. Bn, finally be gained control
OF himself and consequently Of the soa-
sickness. Soon after that be had worked
up TO being mate.
lie transferred ss mate TO brig carry
ing lumber and plaster between Lubcc,
and Machias, and Nnw York. After that
he moved up 10 being mate OF brig trad
! ing In thu West trdiss, between Pniiadel-
phia and Trinidad. In her hc found a
sailor who could do ''isncy work" the
OF sennit, rope yarns and spunyarn. Tba,
made him uneasy. He didnft understand
il.
Then In a brig going across the western
ocean TO Europe be ran scrcss fancy
work" again. There SEEMED nothing left
for him except TO learn to do "lancy
work" himself 80 he signed as able sea-
mau in the ship Mantauk. just building TO
go 10 China. There would be intervals in
such stall water" voyage In which be
could apply himself to the study of
( "fancy ora.
The skipper Of the Monsaak fastened
the name "w odobary' on wasgait, 4 Il,
principally because there vas % shst time
q man named Mood bury" 10 the cabinet
OF tue Prcsiden, OF the United States.
1 "woodboEyn returned from Cbins 10
Ne~ York in the Moa,nuk with = cargo
OF tea. That wss the last time he was
ever foremost hand
Z The ntxk job Nss as chief mate OF The
+ ",ail wafer" ship Houqaa. NAea Enoa
( Wasgatt hsd been LAD on farm be bad
learned enough about navigation to be
equipped, he was saie TO iumr the step OF
second mate aboard Tie Eouqua.
/ Then came the Asss command, skipper
of a eoasting brig. The next move was to
/ the captsiney OF vessel trading la South
( America.
/ In 1919 this mariner was in Buenos
/ Ayres. He had been theirs for three
/ years in command of bark trading be-
; tween Argentina and Brazil. The trade
had been reduced to low ebb ia the
reign Of Prcsiden. Rosas by the interior
enee Of the English. Gradually ii was
mending.
Capt wRsgast was living at Besnos
| Ayres in 8 select boarding house FIRE =
I qusnted by ship-masiers and merchants.
Many rubbers ot English whist he played
there. having an English merchant for a
partner.
One day this Eugiishman besoughi him
TO take command OF German bark which
he bad picked up and was cquipping,
across the river Platte at Monteyideo,
| Uruguay, to carry cargo Of miners out
fits round to San Francisco, then quite
mad about the discovery Of gold.
Capt. Wssgatt declined, feeling instinct
lively that he had better go from the
river up to Boston along with ship
owner named Taylor. He wanted to see
his wife and baby daughter in Maine
more than he wanted to scramble for gold
mines.
So servicea bic proved Capt. Wasgatt as a
pilot out to the mouth OF the tremendous
South American river that il earned him q
free passage TO Boston.
In vain the skipper looked about for
some sort OF a command in New England.
Finally he received a letter from Salem
saying that II he would buy one-eigbth OF
vessel and her cargo, then preparing for
California, he could have command of her
This offer he accepted as a last resort. In
I54 days the vessel reached San Francisco
round the Horn from Salem.
There, after carrying the first piles ever
planted in San Francisco harbor, from
sausalito, he discovered that all the
vessels In the hsrbor were rotting and
sinking or getting washed ashore on the
fats their crews having desarsad Il, 49,