The Republican journal., 1915-03-04
A Seafarer's Renaissance.
TCapt. George L. Norton in The Marine
Journal

Capt. George ~ Norton In Inc marine
Journal
The New England coaster of thirty or
forty years ago, and before that, was
tough proposition for its crew, as those
vessels were cheaply built and continued
in service as long as. they could carry
lumber between Bangor and Boston
without the laths floating out of their
holds between the seams, which was
frequent expression, although they were
not quite as open as that. 1t was con-
tinuous spell at the pumps, however. to
keep some of the older ones afioat when
they were loaded and necessary to carry
on sail when there was any sea running.
The return trip from Boston, light, was
easier on the crew, as these vesse S were
fairly tight in their bottoms, through
their being laid ashore every spring,
their seams recaulked and the most open
butts wedged, after which hot coal tar in
abundance was applied from the keel to
the water line. This was done while
waiting for the ice to break up In the
Penobscot River to Bangor, and at low
tides, as there were few marine railways
in those days, while the rise and fall of
the tide IS considerable in New England
waters.
have heard the late Capt. Galen o.
Norton, an uncle of the writer's, tell
story of his early experience in one of
these lumber-carrying schooners, of which
he was master. The vessel was lying at
one of the wharves at Castine, Maine,
undergoing her spring overhauling as
described above. He and the crew, with
the caulkers, had finished their midday
meal and were sitting on the beach above
high water mark enjoying their smoke
before turning to- when they saw big
rat followed by about dozen others, climb
over the bow and down the anchor chain
to the beach, following the big king rat
along from stem to stern of the schooner,
which was high and dry, stopping every
little while as if examining the condition
of the schooner's bottom. They huddled
together at the stern in consultation, ard
quicker than he could tell it, they scram-
bled up the beach and out of sight up
over the bank at the head of the wharf.
We have often heard of rats leaving a
sinking ship as there was no other way
out, but this is the first and only account
of their holding a survey on vessels
bottom and giving evidence of their opin-
ion as to its seaworthiness by desertlon
in port. The schooner master RESPONSE
BILE for this story in after years COM
manded some very fine vessels, and in
writing US from San Francisco when cap
tain of the then well-known big ship
Aurora of this port, stated that he had
sailed miles enough to encompass the
globe a great many times, had never lost
ship. and was going to retire before
something happened. He died few
weeks later on board the ship from which
he wrote me. Some of his former COM
mands as | remember them were the
ships Lochinvar, Ostervelt, Grahams
Polly, l. F. Chapman, and the Aurora.
The two former were Castine-built ships;
the others hailed from this port, and
several of our friends still living will
doubles remember them and the subject
of this sketch. Only recently Sandy
Hook pilot Josiah Johnson (retired), who
calls occasionally, remembers them well
ard agrees with the writer that the era
hams Polly was the smallest full-rlgged
ship he ever boarded as pilot.
The vessels name also was puzzer
to those who did not know its origin,
some .imaginations eing visionary
enough to cause them to believe that 1t
meant Mr. Graham's poll parrot, and the
poor ship was obliged to carry this Ill
chosen cognomen to many of the mari
time ports of the world and thereby
making it necessary for her captain to
explain its source, which was that Its
principal owner was wel.-to-do mer-
chant, at the time doing business in this
city under his own name which was
Grahams Polly.