Description: Schooner "Araho" began life in 1941 as the two-masted wooden schooner, "Virginia," designed by Alan Woods and built at Muller Boat Works, Brooklyn, New York for the Virginia Corporation, Inc. "Virginia" was 129’ long, 21’ beam, 10’ draught, 199 gross tons and had a single screw propeller driven by a 150 HP diesel engine. She was built of white oak with a teak deck. She spent 40 years commercial fisher trawling the Grand and George’s Banks. [show more]
Description: Brig “Caroline Gray,” 327 gross tons, was built in 1869. She had a long and varied career. Rerigged to sail as a coasting schooner With Jesse H. Pease as her master she carried sugar and molasses out of Portland, Maine in 1880 and is listed as arriving under Capt. Pease, in New York on March 16, 1880 with that or another of the same load. She also carried lime from Rockland to New York at this time.
Description: Scan of a two-page 1860 letter from Warren Bunker to his brother-in-law Daniel Hamor with details of Bunker's voyage on the Schooner Willow from 'home' to Baltimore, Savannah, Jacksonville, Nassau, mentioning his cargo of 'old sailors' and yellow pine, the money he has made and hopes to make, and plans for future voyages mentioning Mauricetown NJ and Machiasport possibilities. (See transcription of letter.) We believe 'old sailors' means experienced sailors or sailors who had hired out on another voyage and were trying to get home. Warren Bunker (born 1824, died 1870 at Cranberry Isles) was great-great-grandfather of Great Cranberry Island resident Phil Whitney. Daniel Hamor (born 1822, died 1894) is distantly connected to the donor's family. Background information from donor: Warren Bunker wrote the letter to his brother-in-law Daniel Hamor, Warren's wife's (Sidney Hamor Bunker's) brother, who was then living in Eden (now Bar Harbor), Maine. Daniel Hamor built a fairly large house that still stands (in 2015 painted yellow, with a barn in back), next to the Pot & Kettle Club entrance on what is now Route 3 between Salisbury Cove and Hulls Cove. When Daniel Hamor and his wife Polly died, in 1894, their house was left to their children, Ella, Edward and Mariah, none of whom ever married or had children as far as we know. Ella and Edward died (on the same night in 1928, probably of influenza), leaving the house to Mariah. When Mariah grew old, she invited her cousin Georgia Hamor to come and take care of her on condition that when she (Mariah) died, the house would become Georgia's. Mariah died in 1936. At that time Georgia Hamor inherited the Hamor home, and presumably the Warren Bunker letter. Georgia and her brother, Ansel, lived in the house until they died (Georgia in 1971 and Ansel in 1978). At some point, Georgia, who had inherited various Hamor mementos with the house, gave the letter to her niece, Alice Smith Cowles. She, in turn, gave the letter to me (Alan Cowles). "We almost lost the letter in the great fire of 1947. A note from the Boston Sunday Post, published in October 1947, stated that "Miss Georgia Hamor, a native spinster, and her brother, Ansel, were the last to leave their home in the Hulls Cove section before the inrush of the flames today, and left only because town officials insisted on the evacuation." Fortunately, the fire stopped about one mile from their home." See transcript. [show more]
Description: This group of five ledger sheets tally Charles E. Bunker’s debits and credits for voyage on Schooner “Como” with cargo "cocoanuts, mahogany, and cedars in account with Odio & Perozo of New York". Loose ledger pages are dated February 6-21, 1879. There are 34,505 cocoanuts; 4 logs mahogany; 4 logs cedar; and 8 logs cedar. No ports or destinations discernible. Documents are signed in New York. (Only Page A transcribed.) The Schooner Como was built in Cherryfield 1873; No.125172; 133 tons. Charles E Bunker was master 1877. These ledgers are part of collection of Clara Rice items (Clara Adeline Richardson Bunker Rice (1847-1923). (Charles Bunker was Clara's second husband of three. Clara Rice was postmistress on Sutton Island in the Cranberry Isles. She may have married a Fernald, then Charles Edward Bunker, and then wed Wilbert Augustus Rice in 1893. ) [show more]
Description: Coasting Schooner "Abby K. Bentley" , later "Emma R. Harvey" carried lumber, cement etc. As Schooner "Emma R. Harvey" she was lost off Digby Gut on the 5th December 1906. Her owner/captain, John Walter Berry, died later as a result of having lashed himself to her wheel in the freezing storm. The Digby Gut or St. George's Strait as it is officially named, is a narrow channel connecting the Bay of Fundy with the Annapolis Basin. The town of Digby, Nova Scotia is located on the inner portion of the western side of the Gut. [show more]
Description: Maypole Point is on the right. The schooner, "Leader" is center rear with a pinky (double-ender) to the right of her. The sloop in the left foreground is rigged like the Irish/Boston hookers, a type of vessel not native to Mount Desert Island. There is a weir visible to the right rear of the photograph.
Description: Coasting Schooner “Rebecca R. Douglas” had a raised deck for carrying kiln dried lumber, and later coconuts, for the Baker Extract Company of Philadelphia. The vessel was built for Edwin DeForest Douglas (1845-1911), a packing box manufacturer from Philadelphia, and named for his second wife, Rebecca Rhodes (Ruedi) Douglas (1865-). The schooner was said to be a beautiful, a fine sailor and an easy ship to handle. "May 2, 1943 - Coastal yacht “Alabaster” (Pyc21), directed to the scene by blimp K4, rescues two survivors from the U.S. schooner “Rebecca R. Douglas,” which had gone down on 28 April while on route from New York to Brazil, at 38º17’N, 71º46’W [off of Cape May]. Coast Guard lighthouse tender “Laurel” (WAGL 291) finds only an overturned lifeboat. Remainder of search proves negative." - "The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II" by Robert Cressman, Naval Institute Press, 2000, p. 158. The marine chronometer from the vessel was removed from the ship before the ship sunk and is still preserved and in working condition. There was likely a second chronometer that was used on the ship for its last trip before sinking. The chronometer that has survived was made by Thomas Porthouse, ca. 1850 in London. When it was assigned to the Rebecca R. Douglas it was already close to a century old, and yet its accuracy could still be certified for ongoing service at sea. (Information from Andrew Baron, Santa Fe, NM.) Vessel Name – Rebecca R. Douglas Class – coasting schooner Hull - wood Masts –3 Rig – ketch rig Designed by – Build date - 1894 Built by – Kelly, Spear & Co. Built at – Bath, Maine Built for – Edwin DeForest Douglas (1845-1911), a packing box manufacturer Named for – Edwin’s 2nd wife, Rebecca Rhodes Ruedi (1865-) Power – engine – when rebuilt? Gross tons - 475 Net tons – Capacity - Length – 138.8’ Beam – 33.9’ Depth – 9.5’ Crew – 6 [show more]
Description: 283 tons and 114 feet in length Owned by Meltiah Richardson (1828-1901), named after his wife, Mary Caroline "Carrie" Stanley Richardson (1847-1920) launched in 1874, sold in 1883 Rescued at the Peaked Hill Bar Life Saving Station in 1885