Historic Vessel Traffic on Stellwagen Bank, and the Presence of Shipwrecks
Historically,
the maritime traffic of the Stellwagen Bank area represents three basic
patterns, the first being that of vessels heading to and from the ports
of Massachusetts Bay, such as Boston and Salem, by way of the open sea.
In the colonial period just as today, this flow of traffic cuts across
a significant portion of the bank itself via both the inbound and outbound
Boston Harbor Traffic Lanes (Mastone 1990: 18).
The second
pattern of historic vessel traffic relates to the opening of the Cape
Cod Canal in 1914, and more importantly, its widening and deepening
completed in 1940. Prior to the Canal's construction and subsequent
improvement, coastal vessels traveling to and from the ports of northern
New England from southern ports such as New York were forced to sail
around Cape Cod and typically remained east of Stellwagen Bank until
they cleared Cape Ann. The Cape Cod Canal, however, eliminated these
extra miles for all but the largest of vessels (Albion, Baker and Labaree
1972: 206, 259). Consequently, the number of vessels which traversed
the bank while bound for ports beyond Massachusetts Bay has increased
significantly (Mastone 1990: 18).
The third
pattern of vessel traffic in the Stellwagen area concerns the Massachusetts
Bay's fishing fleet. Historically, this flow of traffic consisted of
relatively small vessels engaged either in fishing on or near the bank,
or passing through the area to and from the larger grounds such as George's
Bank (Mastone 1990: 18). As Stellwagen Bank poses relatively few navigational
hazards for vessels simply following prescribed traffic lanes, it is
not surprising that the larger merchant vessels are not involved in
most of the wrecks occurring in the area, but rather these smaller fishing
vessels, whose work forces them onto irregular courses in all types
of weather.
An interesting
facet of historic vessel traffic on or around Stellwagen Bank relates
to the coastal smuggling industry of the 1920's. During the years of
Prohibition, liquor smugglers often sailed converted fishing schooners
from the St. Lawrence Gulf islands of Miquelon and St. Pierre to the
New England coast, where they anchored in groups often referred to as
rum rows. Rum rows were usually located close enough to major ports
as to allow the smugglers to unload their liquor to smaller, less conspicuous
vessels, yet were far enough off-shore to be outside the legal territorial
boundary, which in 1925 was extended to twelve miles (Albion, Baker
and Labaree 1972: 250).
Stellwagen
Bank was the anchorage of such rumrunners on at least one occasion.
New England and the Sea reports that in October 1924, a U.S. Coast Guard
squadron out of Boston discovered more than dozen vessels waiting to
be unloaded. After some resistance, several smugglers and their vessels
were captured but not before hundreds of cases of liquor were frantically
tossed overboard. Albion, Baker and Labaree note that, "Among captured
vessels were the British schooner Marjorie E. Bachman, with 850 cases
of brandy, champagne, and whisky, and several power boats, each with
100 cases of liquor (1972:251).
While
sources indicate that the number may be significantly higher, there
are currently twelve reported wreck sites lying within the sanctuary
boundaries, each with a varying degree of documentation. Of these twelve
sites, at least four are potential historical resources. The remaining
sites, predominantly the remains of local fishing vessels, perhaps bear
significance for other areas of study.
The steamer
Portland is considered to be perhaps the most historically significant
of these sites as its loss played a significant role in technological
changes, both in the design of sea-going vessels and in the record keeping
of the region's passenger line industry in the northeast U.S.
Constructed
in 1890 by the New England Shipbuilding Co. of Bath, Maine, the Portland
shared a route between Boston and Portland, Maine with her sister ship
the Bay State, both of which were owned and operated by the Portland
Steam Packet Co. At 291 feet in length, 42.1 feet in breadth, and with
a draught of 15.5 feet (Cram 1980), the Portland's paddle wheel design
produced a top speed of between 12 and 14 knots and enabled her to complete
her route in approximately nine hours (Fish 1989: 89). Her shallow draft,
however, a common trait of the paddle wheel steamer and ideal for the
rivers of Maine, rendered the vessel difficult to handle in the heavy
waters of the open sea.
In a
gale of 1898, which now bears her name, the Portland was lost along
with her 157 passengers and 19 crew members. Her wreckage was finally
located in 1989 by the Historical Maritime Group of New England, in
some three-hundred fifty feet of water nearly twenty miles north of
the 42 degrees 12'00.00 N x 70 degrees 07'00.00W position indicated
by the AWOIS and rumored for years as the site of the wreck. The final
hours of her voyage remain one of New England's foremost maritime mysteries
(Seligson 1989: 71-124).
On November
26, 1898, carrying a holiday crowd of passengers, the Portland left
Boston's India Wharf at 7:00 p.m., on schedule, despite a phone message
from Portland Steam Packet Co. General Manager, John F. Liscomb. Liscomb
wanted the ship to remain in port until at least 9:00 p.m., due to an
approaching storm. Although it is not known whether the captain of the
Portland, Hollis H. Blanchard, ever received the message, the fact that
there was some communication between Maine and Boston fueled the popular
legend of a rivalry between Blanchard and the younger skipper of the
Bay State, Alexander "the kid" Dennison. Blanchard, it was
believed, sailed contrary to the wishes of the general manager in an
attempt to outdo Dennison by docking the Portland on schedule alongside
the Bay State , which had remained in Maine to wait until the storm
subsided (Snow 1943: 302).
Whatever
his motive, it is apparent that Blanchard was convinced he could reach
Portland ahead of the storm and there was no need to delay. How far
in their route Blanchard and the Portland actually got is uncertain.
However, a course can be suggested by plotting alleged sightings of
the steamer reported by several vessels along the coast that evening.
At approximately
9:30 p.m., in heavy snow, the fishing schooner Maude S. reported seeing
the Portland pass off the shores of Gloucester (Fish 1989: 90). Captain
Reuben Cameron of the schooner Grayling stated that he saw the Portland
about twelve miles southeast of Thatcher's Island. In fact, according
to Cameron, at approximately 11:00 p.m., the Portland passed so close
to the Grayling that, fearing collision, he set off a flare to warn
Blanchard. Cameron added that the Portland was rolling and pitching
heavily (Snow 1943: 304-5). In addition, Captain D.J. Pellier of the
schooner Edgar Randall, weathering the storm approximately fourteen
miles southeast by east of Gloucester's Eastern Point, stated that at
about 11:45 p.m. his vessel nearly collided with a paddle wheel steamer.
Although visibility was poor in the heavy seas, Pellier stated that
there appeared to be some damage to the steamer's superstructure (Snow
1943: 305).
The alleged
sightings listed above suggest a scenario in which the Portland's trouble
began as she attempted to round Thatcher's Island and adjust her course
toward the Maine coast. John Fish (1989) suggests that as she cleared
the island and turned to port, the gale force winds, now on her starboard
quarter, proved too much for the Portland to handle. The heavy pitching
and rolling no doubt lifted the steamer's paddle wheel out of the water
long enough to greatly diminish any maneuverability that she might otherwise
have had. Realizing his error in judgment, Blanchard hoped to run downwind
with the storm in order to gain some stability for the vessel. Fish
proposes that Blanchard may have, fearing Cape Anne's rocky shores,
headed the Portland fifty degrees east before attempting a downwind
turn. However, as the storm grew in ferocity, Blanchard may have concluded
that a downwind turn would expose the vessel's beam to the wind and
waves long enough to risk a capsize; he may have instead pointed the
Portland's bow a few degrees off the wind where she foundered for perhaps
as long as twelve hours, all the while drifting south and losing portions
of her deck and outer structures.
The Portland's
last reported sighting allegedly occurred the next day, on Sunday, November
27, during a short period of relative calm which was likely the eye
of the storm. Miss Lillian Small claimed that she saw the Portland in
the bay not far off shore from her house near Truro's Highland Light
(Snow 1943: 308). While the accuracy of this report is not certain,
it is certain that by the evening of November 27, nearly twenty-four
hours after the Portland set sail, her wreckage began to appear on the
beaches of Truro, and by the early morning hours of November 28 the
first of twenty-eight bodies, passengers of the Portland, began to wash
ashore (Fish 1989: 93).
The tragic
loss of the Portland marked a turning point in the design and construction
of passenger vessels in the northeast. It became apparent that such
a shallow draft and paddle wheel propulsion were a dangerous handicap
on the open sea. Steamers of this type were soon replaced by much deeper
draft vessels with single and eventually twin screw propulsion, such
as the Portland's replacement the Governor Dingly. An additional flaw
in the system became apparent when passenger lists were not available
to identify those who perished with the Portland, because the only passenger
list went down with the vessel. The industry's practice was thereafter
changed to insure that duplicate passenger lists remained on shore (Fish
1989: 95).
The Portland
Gale, as the storm is now called, was designated one of the most destructive
storms ever to strike the Massachusetts coast. By the time the wind
and snow subsided, more than one hundred forty vessels had been destroyed.
Included in this number, and reportedly located on the southern end
of Stellwagen Bank, is the wreck of the Pentagoet (Mastone 1990: 20).
Built
in 1864, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Pentagoet served as Civil
War gunboat before her conversion into a coastal cargo vessel. At the
time of the Portland Gale, the Pentagoet was owned and operated by the
Manhattan Steamship Co. and was sailing a route from New York City to
Rockland, Maine, and then on to Bangor. At 128.8 feet in length, 23
feet in breadth, and with a draught of 16.7 feet, the Pentagoet was
also known at different times as Hero and Moccasin, and like the Portland,
she was lost with no survivors (Cram 1980). Due to its alleged cargo
of toys, bound for holiday shoppers in Maine, the Pentagoet is referred
to by some wreck divers as the "Christmas or Toy Wreck" (Mastone
1990: 20).
As was
previously stated, the majority of wrecks located within the sanctuary
boundary are those of local fishing vessels which presumably frequented
the Stellwagen area. Of the eight fishing vessels believed to be located
on or within the sanctuary boundaries (positive conformation is not
yet available in all cases), the vessels for which documentation exists
range in their date of construction from 1887 to 1949.
The oldest
of these fishing vessels is the wooden hulled motor vessel Restless
(#110736), of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Built in 1887 at Bath, Maine,
Restless was engaged in the cod fishing business when she burned southeast
of Gloucester's Eastern Point on October 4, 1942. At 54.1 feet in length,
18 feet in breadth, and with a draught of 7.1 feet, Restless was operated
by a crew of ten and was registered to a Jennie Capone of Gloucester
(Bureau of Marine Inspection and Navigation 1943). While Merchant Vessels
of the U.S., 1943, places Restless approximately twenty miles south
southeast of Eastern Point, the AWOIS lists her position slightly closer
to Gloucester at approximately 42-30-00N and 70-25-00W, a distance of
roughly twelve miles.
Also
part of Gloucester's fishing fleet, the schooner Natalie Hammond is
believed to be located in the sanctuary's northeast sector, approximately
eighteen miles east of Eastern Point at 42-33-00N and 70-15-00W (National
Ocean Service 1988). Constructed of wood in 1913 at Essex, Massachusetts,
this 102.7 foot vessel (#211861) had a beam of 22.9 feet, an 11.1 foot
draught, and was fitted with a 120 horse power engine. The Natalie Hammond
was primarily utilized for cod and mackerel fishing until she foundered
and sank on July 29, 1937. Fortunately, the seventeen-member crew was
rescued (National Ocean Service 1988).
Approximately
twenty miles southeast of Gloucester at 42-20-30N and 70-21-00W is reported
the wreck of a 179 gross-ton trawler know as the Leah F. Built in 1942,
this diesel powered, wooden vessel (#254102) apparently foundered and
eventually sank on June 4, 1949 (Bureau of Customs 1950).
Although
there exists less documentation at this time, the fishing vessels Alden
and Ocean are also believed to be located within or near the sanctuary
boundaries. The Alden, believed to be in the northern sector, approximately
eight miles off Thatcher's Buoy, Rockport, Massachusetts at 42-41-30N
and 70-19-24W, was constructed in 1917 and reportedly caught fire and
sank on February 22, 1957 (Berman 1972: 6). Less information is available
concerning the trawler Ocean, which reportedly sank, for reasons unknown,
on April 26, 1938 at approximately 42-23-19N and 70-35-33W. These coordinates
position the wreck near the western boundary, roughly eight and one
half miles east of the Boston's "B" buoy (National Ocean Service
1988).
In addition
to the fishing vessels already mentioned, the NOAA's Automated Wreck
and Obstruction Information System for the upper east coast (1988) reports
two unknown trawler wrecks in or near the sanctuary: one in the northern
sector at approximately 42-39-54N by 70-28-18W and the other on the
western boundary at approximately 42-16-05N by 70-31-00W. The former
reportedly sank in 1949, and the latter in 1941.
On the
northern edge of Stellwagen Bank lie the remains of two sailing vessels,
the Louise B. Crary and the Frank A. Palmer (Carr 1994). Constructed
in 1900 at Bath, Maine, the Louise B. Crary was a five-masted schooner
measuring 1267' in overall length with a 46'2" beam and a 21' draft
(Carr 1994). The Frank A. Palmer, in comparison, was a four-masted schooner
constructed in 1897 by Nathaniel T. Palmer, also at Bath, Maine. With
an overall length of 274'5" (beam = 43', draft = 21'), the Frank
A. Palmer is believed to be the largest four-masted schooner ever constructed
(Carr 1994). On December 17, 1902, the vessels Crary and Palmer , both
of which were loaded with coal, collided and sank, claiming the lives
of four sailors (Carr 1994).
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