Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-02-17
OLDEST ME-. PILOT
CAPTAIN ISAAC
NEWTON BoWkER,

| Bath. Me-, Feb. 15.--Although In his
72d year. Capt Isaac Newton Bowker
Of Bath. the oldest Maine pilot In ac-
tive service, is one OF the best
known pilots between Massachusetts,
and Maine ports.
Foe more than 35 years Capt. Bow
ker has piloted sailing vessels along
the New England coast, and during
| this period he has achieved the Won
derfui record of never meeting with an
accident
| His biggest and most responsible job
came last year when he officiated for
six days as pilot of the new United
States torpedo boat destroyer Cum
mings on her official Government
trials. Capt. Bowker Is a native of
the neighboring town OF Phippsburg,
| where he was born Aug. 15, 1S42, the
son OF Isaac and Eliza Bowker. Dur
ing his childhood he attended the
| country schools and completed his
education In Bath.
| His father was a stone mason, but
| this trade did not appeal to the boy,
| who lived in a community where most
| of the people earned their living by
following the sea and where shipbuild-
| ing was the principal industry.
At Is he shipped before the mast on
the ship White Mountain, built by the
| late Alfred Lemont of Bath, at what
| is now known as Hospital Point, at
| the south end of the city. The ship
| went to St John, where she loaded
deals for London, and then went to
| Cardiff for another cargo. and re-
| mained away in the foreign trade for
Is months.
| Mr.. Bowker left her at the end of
this voyage, and Immediately secured
employment on another ship. and 1t
was more than three years before he
returned to his home.
He was speedily promoted to posi-
tions Of responsibility. and when only
&c years old was a quartermaSter
aboard the steamship Eastern City,
plying between Boston and Bath AZ
ter a few seasons on this craft he de-
cided to make plotting his profession,
and as ice shipments were then being
sent from many Maine ports to the
South he had plenty of positions Of
fered him.
1t was his custom to board vessels
in Boston, and then pilot them down
the coast to the ports between Casco
and Penobscot Bays. 1t was no un-
common thing for him to bring down
from so to IS vessels in single sea-
son.
During the beginning Of his career
there were no night trains between
Bath and Brunswick, and Capt. Bow
ker recalls that in answer to kilograms
he frequently walked to Brunswick. a
distance Of 10 miles, so as to make
train connections that would bring
him into Boston the next morning,
where he would join a vessel and
bring her down to Maine.
The invention Of ice machines, and
the fact that many barges were now
engaged in carrying ice has cut into
the plotting business, according to
Capt. Bowker, and now there are less
| than one-talf the calls for pilots that
/ there used To be. He is philosophical
about these conditions, however. and
says that they are due to the changes
of commercial life to which all must
bow sooner or later.
On Oct 2f, 1870, Capt. Bowker was
married TO Maria Josephine Brown,
daughter of Mr.. and Mrs. Ezra Brown
! of West Bath. They have one son,
Edward Bowker. a machinist, en-
ployed in the Portsmouth Navy Yard,
and one daughter, Mrs. Ella johnson
of New York City.
The only organization OF which
| Capt. Bowker is member is the
United States Coast Pilots Association
and of this he Is one OF the veterans.
/ -