The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-03-12
WOODEN SHIPS
Of YEARS AGO
Still AFL0AT
Many Others Dating from Early
Last Century Continue to
Earn Money.

BANGOR, Me-, March 11.--Whon
iron and steel first came into use as
materials for shipbuildng 1t was
thought that q vessel 10 constructed
would last forever or whereabouts, or
ut least that it/woUld outIivc any
wooden craft, but experience covering
more than hundred years shows the
contrary. Metal ships arc rather
short lived. while many old Rockers
fashioned OF oak aud 0thGE native
hard woods on the North Atlantic
coast in the first half Of the last cen
fury arc yet aII0at and earning their
way. Old sailors and shipbuilders
viii say that IL is the live oak in their
frames that keeps the ancient BcagOers
together but probably it is Il c0mbn-
alton Of good timber. good handling
and good luck that keeps them on top
OF water.
Since the little Philadelphia bark
True Love, which was built In 1897,
disappeared from the American reg
istry the hOnors of maritime age have
been worn by the little rOrty-iIye ton
schooner Polly, built al Amrsbury,
Mass. In 1906.
Polly Never Privatcer.
The Polly had remarkable career
rs n COASTER, having carried. rs some
one has figured It. enough lumber,
bricks and lime from Bangor. Rock
land, Calais and other Maine ports to
Boston 10 build good sized city OF
wooden houses.
There was an enterprising fiction Of
wide and persistent circulation TO the
effect that the Polly was Il privatcer
in the war Of 1872, and that got it's
picture and highly romantic history
into many publications. But the Polly
was ship of peace and never fought
anything except the elements, which
on this coast, especially in witncr,
provide enough excitement for any
one. Some years ago the Polly retired
from lumber Juggling. having been nur-
chased by n man who had an idea of
linking II TO the San Francisco EXPOSE
ton via tile Panama canal. That plan
was Abandoned. and=noH 1t is hauled
up somewhere in Massachusetts as a
relic.
Little Mary Goes Fishing Now.
Several other roly-poly little schoon-
ers. most of them under fifty tons.
that were built at about tho same
time as the Polly, were afloat I'D to a
few years ago, and there Is in active
service today the schooner Mary, of
seven TONS, built at Portsmouth, n.
Fl. in 1871, and now halling from st.
George, Me. The Mary is of the So
called "ninkey" model, with bluff bows,
a long run" aft and high, pointed
stern like one of the caravels of Col
umbus. 1t is a fisherman and has in
its time made enough money to pay
for a pretty good steamboat. Next
comes the sturdy old coaster Hiram,
hnilt in 1919 at Riddefnrd. Me-, and now
from Callas, Me-. from which
port 1t carries lumber to Boston and
other New England points.
Hampstead, l.. l.. produced in 1928
the little schooner Signal. which halls
from PatchnEWe. J.. l.. and Is still busy.
In the following wear the schooner
Monomoy, one OF Names best known
coasters, was launched at Somerset,
Mass.
Built Prior 10 1910.
Others that began their careers be-
fore 1910 are the schooner William
Johnson, butt ut MACK, N. Y, In
1882, now hailing from New oYrk;
schooner Catherine, built ut Belfast,
Me-, in 1888, now haillng from Els
worth, Me-; schooner Brilliant, built
ut Essex; Mass, in 1885. mailing from
Deer Isle, Me-; schooner Agrlcola,
built at Biddleford in 1886 and hailIng
from New London; schooner Senator,
built Mt Essex, Mass, In 1887 and hail
ing from Deer Isle, Me-; schooner
Revenue, built at Essex. Mass, in
1897 and ahiling from Ellsworth, Me-;
schooner Henry Clay. built at Perth
Amboy in 1888 and hailing from Al
bany. N Y; slnnp p. r. II. 200 for
merly the Cornelial. built at New
Bedford in 1880 and hatling from New
York; schooncrs John G. Whllldln,
built at Philadelphia in 1899 and hail
ing from Brldgoton, n. j.; Banner.
built at Staten Island in 1889 and hail
ing from Perth Amboy; Otronto, built
at Surry. Me-, in 1889 and hailing from
Boston. Tho year 1870 has tw repre-
sentatives in the ancient and honor
able list-the schooners Rozella, built
at Essex. Mass, and hailing from
Southwest Harbor, Me-. and Marietta,
built at Beaufort, N. c.. and mailing
from Ncwbern. n. C.
Big Fleet Decade.
Tide decade from 1871 to 1850 pro-
duced big feet of oak-buIlt vessels
of which there are yet many survivors
among them the bark Charles w. Nor
gan, Of New Bedford, 1871: sleep Ken.
sington, OF Philadelphia. 1912; schoon.
er Hume, of Boston, 1913; schoonors
silas Brainard of New London, Emma
Virginia. of Crisfield, Md: Maine
of Nlachias and Orbit of Annapolis
1916; Jane Ann of Key yaccas
Fla; Harriet Rogers of Rockland
Me-; Shepherdcss. of Portland, Me-;
hericfftSr- 0B!Kinningnotsbetao
Sarah A. Blalsdel. OF Bangor: Wave
of Baltimore and sloop Mall, oil
! PHILADELPHIA. 1916: schoonerg Han.