Kingston Town (part 1 of 4)

The Memorial Press Of Plymouth, Massachusetts

I WISH to return my thanks to all who have assisted me in the preparation of this book. As a record, its value has been increased by those who have allowed photographs to be taken of their pictures of Kingston vessels, and also of the men who built or commanded them.

1)0 many years have elapsed since vessels were built or owned in Kingston on Jones River and in Rocky Nook, that on undertaking to write an account of these vessels it was soon found that very little information could be obtained about an industry that had its beginning before the incorporation of the town in 1726 and continued until 1887 when the last vessel, the schooner Mary Baker , owned by Edward Holmes, was sold, although during most of this time shipbuilding was the largest and most profitable business that the town has ever had. Nothing is now left to show where the vessels were once built and discharged their cargoes except a few old wharves, fast falling to pieces, and where once it was a common sight at high water for vessels to be seen coming and going to sea, the river is now deserted, the only navigation, a few small boats and launches. In place of the busy ship¬ yards which once gave employment to many men are two boat-building yards, one owned by the heirs of Captain Edward A. Ransom on the site of the old Bartlett shipyard, and the other by George W. Shiverick just below the shipyard last used by Edward Holmes.

In connexion with the list of vessels built and owned in Kingston I have received most valuable assistance from my wife, Abby B. Jones, daughter of Edward Holmes, concerning the voyages made by vessels owned by the Holmes family, and also from Mr. Alexander Holmes, especially in regard to the ownership of the strip of land on the westerly bank of Jones River, called the Landing, and from Mr. Thomas W. Bailey as to plans of this property at different periods.

Two hundred and seventy-six vessels with a total tonnage of about 34,000 tons have been built and launched into Jones River at the Landing since the Revolution. These vessels include sloops, pinks, schooners, brigs, barks and ships. The Drews, Bartletts, Severs, Eversons and Holmes appear on the records as builders of these vessels, although not all of them were owners of the land where they were built. A few records of vessels built before the Revolution are in existence and perhaps the number given above might be substantially increased from this source, but as these earlier vessels must have been comparatively small, the total tonnage would not be increased in proportion. The following brief description of the descent of the land upon which these vessels were built may be of some interest to those who wish to trace a bygone industry of Kingston.

The term "Landing" has been applied from the time of the earliest records to that strip of land bordering the Jones River from a point near its junction with Stony Brook up stream, to a point some few rods above the present Poor House. This strip was distinguished from the Landing place on Stony Brook used by the Governor William Bradford family by the use of its full name, The Jones River Landing Place, and was the only place on the river within the town limits where the upland came sufficiently near the natural bed of the stream to allow of the full use of the tide waters without the construction of causeways. The Land¬ ing originally was a portion of Major John Bradford's farm, and was bequeathed by him to his son William in 1713 in the following words, "A certain piece of my homestead where I now dwell in Plymouth aforesaid being by estimation about five acres. Bounded at the Southerly end by the land of Elisha Stetson, on the Northerly end by my salt meadow, Easterly bounded by Jones River and to extend six poles from the River, the whole length of said strip or piece of land, always allowing and reserving to my other two sons John Bradford and Samuel Bradford and their respective heirs forever, free liberty of Egress and Regress to and from said Jones River over said strip of land with the privilege of landing or laying any lumber or goods on the same convenient room for the same." Major Bradford had previously given a right to pass and repass to the Landing Place to Francis Cooke who lived near the Great Bridge, and perhaps to others. The cartway to the Landing came down to the river's edge at a point near the present railroad bridge and at this point the first wharf was probably built. The fadt that so many persons acquired right-of-way and privileges of landing goods here seems to be the only basis to the claims sometimes heard at the present time that there is a public landing place still in existence at this point. x-\n interesting item in the deed of Francis Cooke, before mentioned, is the stipulation of the payment of a fee for the opening of the drawbridge, referring to the bridge over the Jones River near the old fish wharf.

William Bradford, who died in 1737, left a widow and six children. The Landing property seems to have been used in common by these heirs or their assigns until 1756, when a divi¬ sion of the whole strip was made, the widow getting a portion of the wharf. Zadock, William and Eliphalet the northerly portions, and James, Hannah and Samuel the southerly or up¬ stream portions. As a matter of fabt, the heirs had disposed of their title in the Landing some ten years before the division so that Samuel Foster appears as owner of the lower end in 1745, John Brewster all of the upper portions in 1742, and Seth Chipman of the middle portion, where the original wharf was located. The dower of the widow was divided in 1785. The Chipman share of the Landing has come down with fewer changes of ownership than any other portion, having been sold to Cornelius Sampson and held in the Sampson family until bought by the Old Colony Railroad Company, which company sold to Mr. Joseph Holmes such portions as were not necessary for the building of its tracks. There is no record to show that this portion of the Landing was ever used as a building yard.

The lower or down-stream end of the Landing was probably used at first for a wharf by Samuel Foster and by his son Robert, who is mentioned in 1765 as having lately built a new wharf thereon.

Samuel Foster sold in this year the lowermost wharf to Benjamin Walker, Shipwright, and it then descended by various deeds through Elisha Brewster and Stephen Drew, to Joseph Holmes in 1810. It probably was used as a building yard by all of these owners. The other half of the wharf was not included in Samuel Foster's first deed and came down through his son Robert's heirs to Joseph Holmes in 1827, and was known by the name of Foster's Wharf, and was probably the central wharf below the railroad bridge. It was on these two wharves that all of Joseph Holmes' shipbuilding operations were carried on, and was all the land Mr. Holmes owned on the river front previous to the building of the rail¬ road, with the exception of a small parcel just south of the present railroad bridge, which he purchased of the heirs of Caleb Bates in 1823.

William Sever appears to be the first purchaser of a share of the upper portion of the Landing which John Brewster purchased in 1742 and which included all of the land once owned by Captain N. B. Watson and now by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom, Major George F. Sever, Mr. Verdelli and the Town of Kingston. The Severs' share, which included the land now owned by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, was held in the Sever family until 1846, and there is some evidence to show that vessels were built here. It is said that the Water Sna\e, built in 1813, now lies buried in the sand just to the south of Dr. Holmes' boat¬ house. In 1773 William Drew, the grandson of Samuel Drew, who came to Kingston in 1713, and whose family had been building vessels at the Landing ever since that time, purchased all of the Landing between the Severs' share and the present Poor House lot. It was on this portion of the Landing that the Drew's shipyard and afterward the Lysander Bartlett (father and son) building yards were situated. The Bartletts' vessels were built at a point near the present boatshop of the heirs of Captain Edward A. Ransom, but the Drews' first yard was further up the stream near the Poor House. This upper yard, probably the oldest on the Landing, had been temporarily abandoned in 1772 as appears from a deed of that date describing the present bounds of the Poor House lot, which mentions a stone in a valley where was formerly a building yard. This upper yard was again used, from 1839 to 1854, by Alexander Holmes who built and launched here ten vessels.

Alexander Holmes, the eldest of the sons of Joseph Holmes, leased of John Drew the old building yard of the Drews and engaged Nathaniel D. Drew to superintend, as master carpenter, the building of his vessels. Very little is known about their voyages as they were sold soon after launching and on becoming president of the Old Colony Railroad Mr. Holmes gave up the business of building and owning vessels altogether.

The Reverend Zephaniah Willis, sometimes called Parson Willis, the minister of the town and the First Congregational Parish from 1780 to 1828, wrote, February 14, 1815, what he called "A Sketch of Kingston," with a description of the Landing, of which the following is a copy:

The Landing Place is on the bank of Jones River a little more than a mile from the mouth of the river. At low water there is only the natural stream at the wharf where the tide rises from eight to twelve feet. The Landing is the only place where shipbuilding is carried on. The water is not sufficient for carrying out vessels exceeding 400 tons and few of that size have been built there. Ship timber is nearly exhausted in Kingston and is brought from Middleboro, Halifax and the back towns. At Rocky Nook in the S. W.

corner of the town is a wharf and the most convenient place for the business of navigation, it being of more easy access than the river, and has lately been more used. The fishing till the war was in latter years wholly carried on from this place. Formerly fish were cured at Sunderland, so called, on Jones River one mile from the sea. Before the Revolutionary War the fishing was more extensive than since. About 20 schooners were owned in the town. At the declaration of peace at the close of the second war with Britain the navigation owned in Kingston was as follows: At the Landing 3 there have been built in this town upon an average sloops 150 tons and 1 brig 160 tons. At Rocky Nook 250 tons of shipping annually. About 60 men have 6 schooners 445 tons and 2 brigs 256 tons. Between been annually employed in seafaring business and 30 the Revolutionary War and the war now terminated in shipbuilding.

The Poor House lot was purchased by Zenas Drew in 1772 from Samuel Foster and in¬ cluded a portion of the original Landing. Still further up stream was another share originally set off to the heirs of Samuel Bradford in the division of 1756, described as extending to the land of Elisha Stetson. The southerly bound of this share was probably the corner of the wall still in existence at the river bank. It does not appear that these two upper shares were ever used as building yards.

The first record of vessels built in Kingston that can be found is in Thomas B. Drew's historical sketch of Kingston, given in 1876 on the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town, and in a history of Kingston written by him for the Plymouth County Atlas, published in 1884. In these accounts he says that Caleb Stetson had a building yard previous to 1714 at the Stony Brook Landing Place, which was on the north side of Stony Brook just above the mouth of Tussock Brook. The Landing Place, near the house built by Governor William Bradford, was probably the first one used by the early settlers here, continuing to be used until 1776.

In 1713 Samuel Drew with his eldest son, Cornelius, who was born in 1702, came to Kingston from Duxbury. He was a shipwright and he and his descendants continued in the business as builders and shipwrights as long as vessels were built and owned in Kingston. He lived at what was then called the Kingston Landing in the lower front part of the house formerly occupied by Wiswell S. Stetson and now owned by Mr. Candini. Cornelius A. Bartlett in his history of the Drew family says: "Here all their family was born. The ship- yard where he and his sons built was in the valley near the line of the xMms-House lot launching many vessels across the river." Cornelius Drew had six sons, William, James, Zenas, Cornelius, Seth and Abijah, all shipwrights who carried on the business in Kingston as owners and builders of vessels, probably in the yard where Cornelius and his father first built. Mr. Bartlett says these sons built the brig Independence , 16 guns, in 1776, and the ship Mars , 20 guns, in 1778, both for the Provincial Government of Massachusetts. Mr. John Drew, called Uncle John, a son of Abijah, said they were built near where the Alms House now stands, having been told so by men who worked on them when they were build¬ ing. It was not until 1773 that any of the Drews appear to have owned any land where their shipyards were, when William Drew, son of Cornelius, bought the land they were then using, having previously leased the land of the different owners, as was done by the Bartletts and Alexander Holmes. James Drew, the second son of Cornelius, lived in the house now owned by Miss Alice E. Thorp. He was called Master Jimmie and was considered the best shipbuilder of all his family.

From 1784 to 1789 Major Seth Drew was building on his own account, and in 1785 Stephen Drew appears as owning the northerly part of the Joseph Holmes shipyard, which was sold to him in 1806. After 1826, when Stephen Drew built a brig for Benjamin Delano, none of the Drews are on record as builders of any vessels, although they were probably employed in the other yards until 1839, when Nathaniel D. Drew, a grandson of Abijah, was the designer and master carpenter for Alexander Holmes, who that year commenced building vessels in the old Drew shipyard north of the Alms House and then owned by his Uncle John Drew. He continued with Mr. Holmes until he ceased building in 1854. In 1855 Nathaniel D. Drew went to Buffalo, N. Y., and built several vessels, but after a few years returned and entered the employ of Joseph Holmes, remaining with him and his son Edward until the last vessel was built in the Holmes' yard. Spencer Drew, a relative of Nathaniel, appears as the master carpenter in the Plymouth Custom House Records in the building of this vessel, the brig HelenM. Holmes , and we find that the Drews have been continuously connected with the shipbuilding industry of Kingston since the arrival of Samuel Drew in 1713, a period of 161 years. On the Records in the Plymouth Custom House, Lysander Bartlett's name is given as a builder and part owner of the sloop Harmony in 1804. He, together with his son, Lysander junior, occupied a shipyard on land then owned by the Drews and now owned by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom and Major George F. Sever. Here they built many vessels, some of them ships of large size for the time. They built for the Severs, Delanos, Winsors, Joseph Holmes, all of Kingston, and others, and the last work done in their yard of which there is any record was in 1854 when the schooner (Jordova , Benjamin Delano and son owners, was retopped. Close to the north end of Major Sever's boathouse was an old well, now filled up. Northeast and near the Alms House, not far from the river where the old Drew shipyard was, is another well always called the potash well on account of the softness of its water. These two wells mark the location of these two yards. There are also the remains of the two old wharves, one where the Drews built on land now owned by Mr. Verdelli, and the other where the Bartletts built on land now owned by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom. Below, and just above the railroad bridge on the same side of the river as the wharves just described, the timbers of a wharf where the first one on Jones River Landing was located could be seen until a few years ago when the land was filled in. Lysander Bartlett, senior, or the "Deacon," as he was called, having become an old man, his son Lysander, junior, succeeded him in the business and gave up this yard about 1855 and went to the yard of Joseph and Edward Holmes, remain¬ ing there as designer and master carpenter until Edward Holmes ceased building in 1874. In 1876 he built the 31-foot sloop Tlaymate for Mr. James L. Hall in the building built by Nathaniel D. and John Drew in the old Drew shipyard, and this was the last building done in this yard.

In 1806 Joseph Holmes occupied the lower half of the yard and wharf, and later the upper half of the Landing, as it is called today, for a shipyard and landing place for mer¬ chandise, the previous owners, as before described, having used it for the same purpose. He first commenced shipbuilding in Bridgewater on the Taunton River and his account of his building and ownership of vessels, written July 1, 1859, is as follows: of Jothn. Leonard. At this time I com¬ menced collecting material for building and laid the keel for a vessel in a yard which I hired near the line between Bridgewater and Raynham which I called the Bridgewater Ship Yard and is where I built all the vessels which I built in Bridgewater, five in number: Brig Two Pollies , Brig Algol , Brig Lucy noted for taking first cargo of ice, Schooner Alexan¬ der , Brig Trident which vessel took spare material to Kingston on Jones River my native place where I commenced building in the year 1806 at Jones River Landing so called. I have kept a vessel on the stocks nearly the whole time, sometimes two and once built three in a year and bought one besides. All but two I have fitted for sea and sent to sea on my own account and risk. I am now about placing another keel on the blocks

My connection in building vessels in Bridgewater of about two hundred tons, being 87 years and commenced in the year eighteen hundred and one. 7 months old.

It has been told by the old ship carpenters who worked in Mr. Holmes' yard that when first built, the vessels were launched down stream off the northeast corner of the lower wharf. Later when he came into possession of the upper portion of the wharf he launched up stream, out what is now the remains of the upper or southwesterly timber dock. The land where the last vessels were built at the Landing is now greatly changed. The highway or Landing Road goes under the railroad tracks and diredtly across the place where the vessel keels were laid. Previously this road was just to the west on the high bank. The vessels when launched ran into the bank on the southerly side of the river and after the railroad went across, the sterns of the larger ones overhung the track and there was just room to swing them bow down stream clear of the southwesterly corner of the present middle wharf. The day when a vessel was launched was always an eventful one for the town and people often came from a distance to see it. The rising ground in the rear of the yard was covered with people and about all the boys were on board the vessel when she took the water. The vessels sometimes went into the river bank with great force for quite a distance and the boys were made to run from side to side on the deck causing the vessel to roll and this with the lines from the wharf to the windlass soon had her clear. There was never any formal christening ceremony at these launchings, but when it was all over Mr. Holmes served crackers, cheese and coffee in the old store to those who had assisted. The smaller vessels were completely rigged here, but the larger ones, after their lower masts were in, were towed down the river by men and oxen on the banks and when the bay was reached they were kedged and sailed to Rocky Nook Wharf and there made ready for sea. The large ones which Mr. Joseph Holmes commenced building after 1830 never came back to the Landing although hailing from Kingston, and the only time any of his ships returned was when the Tijalto came to Rocky Nook Wharf for repairs. The smaller brigs and schooners were constantly coming and going from here, for, in addition to his extensive business of building and sending his larger vessels on foreign voyages he sent a number of brigs and schooners up the Straits and to the Grand Bank, fishing. He was also interested in a line of packets between Kingston and Boston, which was a business that had been carried on from the earliest times by those connected with shipping. Before the railroad was built all of the heavy merchandise was brought here by water and the packet business was continued for a number of years after the railroad was in operation. The vessels used were small sloops and schooners and the cargo from here was usually wood, fish, and often passengers. These packets ran all the year excepting when the bay was frozen over in the winter. His fish wharves where he landed and cured his fish were just below where Stony Brook comes into Jones River on the north side. Alexander Holmes, his son, built the upper fish wharf and used it from 1840 to 1854 in his fishing business. At this time he also owned one-half of the Rocky Nook Wharf, using it for the same purpose. After Alexander as the lower fish wharf. The business of owning and building vessels by Joseph Holmes, first by himself, and later in company with his sons, was on a much larger scale than had ever been carried on here before and although he sometimes built vessels for other parties he usually retained a controlling interest in them. The total number of vessels built and owned by him of which there is any record is 82. He also had a store in the lower part of the old house called the Landing House that still stands on the Landing from which he furnished supplies to his workmen and to his vessels when fitting them out for bank fishing and coasting voyages. The large ships and barks that he built after 1830 were used chiefly in the cotton trade between southern ports, England and the Continent, the return cargoes being usually salt and marble and sometimes liquors if from southern European ports, iron and coal from England, and they also brought many immigrants. The masters and officers of his vessels were usually men belonging to Kingston and adjoining towns, but a number of them came from the Cape. The entire crews of the fishing schooners were often obtained from this town, and many went on these voyages the greater part of their lives, one Kingston man, Andrew Stranger by name, going to the Grand Bank forty summers. It was very seldom that any vessel came to Kingston with a foreign cargo and then it was salt. After the vessels were rigged and sails bent they were taken to Boston to load a cargo, sometimes under their own sails if wind was fair, and if ahead, towed by a tow boat. The Holmes usually invited their friends and neighbors to go as passengers, and the crews were made up of men working in the building yards and sailors whose homes were in Kingston and happened to be on shore at the time and who shipped for the run. Often a charter was secured for a cargo from NewYorkCityor some southern port to Europe and the new vessel went to sea in ballast directly from Kingston with a full complement of officers and crew bound for the port, to load what was called for in the charter. The schooners and brigs were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages, with occasional voyages to the continent of Europe and to South America. The vessels that went fishing summers were sent south in the winter on what they called freighting voyages and they brought back to Kingston corn, flour, coal and lumber, arriving back in the spring in time to fit out for the Banks. Mr. Edward Holmes had a coalyard on the lower Landing Wharf, supplying many families in town with coal.

For many years after vessels were first built in Kingston the builders were able to obtain nearly all of the timber necessary for their purposes in the forests of Kingston and surrounding towns. On this account the Holmes became owners of large tracks of wood¬ land purchased for the ship timber growing there, and many acres of this land remain in the family today. At one time Mr. Edward Holmes bought a large wood lot in Halifax for one tree that was growing there which he had found suitable for a vessel stem. As late as the time of the building of the last vessel by Mr. Edward Holmes in 1874, long logs for keels, drawn by three or four yoke of oxen, could be seen going slowly through the streets bound for the Landing, having been hauled from Plympton or Halifax and sometimes Middleboro, considerable skill being required to make the sharp turn off the Main street to enter the way to the Landing on account of the length of the logs. The masts and spars were often made in East Boston and when finished brought to Kingston by some of the schooners. If too long to go on deck they were slung over the vessel's sides. The captain of the schooner picking a favorable chance to make the fifty-mile run. During the latter part of the building by the Holmes much of the timber and plank used in the construction of the vessels was brought in their own schooners from North Carolina.

From 1830 to 1855 the business carried on by Joseph Holmes was at its height and in 1850 he had over $> 200,000 invested in vessels afloat and was one of the largest individual owners of vessels in the United States at that time. Joseph Holmes had schooners named for every month in the year except for May, and that one was called the May Bee , as there was already a schooner named the May listed in the United States shipping register.

From about 1850 to his death in 1863, Joseph Holmes built a number of small barks for the Mediterranean fruit trade. These barks were chartered by Boston merchants and proved very profitable to their owners. They were th tzAnn and Mary , Fruiter ,Mbby, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Fruiterer and brig Bird of the Wave. After the death of Joseph Holmes, his son, Edward, who had been associated with him in business since 1827 continued it on his own account till 1887. He built and owned eight vessels. Mr. Edward Holmes was thus distinguished from all the other ship builders in Kingston for his father, Joseph, once said that he was the only man he ever knew who could go into the woods, select and cut the timber, design and build the vessel, rig and make the sales and sail her after she was finished. The last work done in the Holmes' shipyard at the Landing was in the winter of 1883 when the schooner Mary Baker was hauled into the north timber dock and retopped.

The Beals, David and David, Jr., were merchants in Kingston, and had vessels built here, as their names are on record in the Plymouth Custom House from 1788 to 1810 as owners with Nathaniel, John and Sylvanus Thomas, and also the Drews, who built for them. I heir vessels were small and were used in connection with their business.

The first of the Severs to settle in Kingston was Nicholas who came in 1728, married the Widow Little, and soon after engaged in business as a merchant and owner of vessels, later being associated with his sons, William and John, the firm name then being Nicholas Sever and Sons, which was continued until his death in 1764, when the business was carried on by William, John having died in 1760.

Ships Of Kingston

i The Lohdino House , so-called 2L The. Joiner's baft > also salt ond oakum rooms below 3 Strom Box Shed F Building for sow pits 5. Bui kliriq for dry lumber t The Louncbino Ways 7 Open front work shed 8. Soil ond mould laf-tr, olso s'lorc rooms below for point, tor etc.

Not any land at the Landing was owned by the Severs until the latter part of the seven¬ teenth century when William secured a piece south of the present railroad tracks.

They hired or leased wharves at the Landing and at Rocky Nook as shown from old account books, and. were associated with William Drew and his brothers, who built vessels for them.

These vessels were sloops, schooners and brigs used for packets, coasting, mackerel and bank fishing and West India voyages, with a few European and whaling voyages.

Nicholas Sever had for his first vessel the sloop Harvard , built by Cornelius Drew in 1731, and named for Harvard College from which he had recently graduated.

It seems singular that this Nicholas Sever, who, with his sons, was the first person in Kingston to become an owner of vessels in any number, was first a minister and that one hundred years later Joseph Holmes, who, with his sons, was the largest shipowner and builder the town ever had, was also first a minister, both being college graduates, Joseph Holmes graduating from The College of Rhode Island, later called Brown's University, in 1797.

The firm of Nicholas Sever and Sons and later William Sever alone, are known to have owned seventeen vessels and their names and rig are as follows:

It is probable that they owned others of which no account can be found. There is no record of the dimensions or tonnage of these vessels, except that of the schooner 'Triton. She was 77 tons, 47 feet keel, feet beam and 8 feet deep, and built by Cornelius Drew in I757»

These vessels were chiefly employed in the same business. The above tonnage and dimen¬ sions would apply to nearly all of them, with the exceptions of the brigs, which were larger.

Nicholas Sever and his son William were also interested in iron furnaces here, and their output was carried to Boston and Salem in their packets, and they were also large shippers of wood, plank, staves and salt fish.

Their whaling business was carried on from Rocky Nook Wharf, where William Sever owned a storehouse on land and wharf leased of the Delano's. This business does not seem to have been very important as they had only two vessels engaged in it, the sloop Mermaid and the brig Stor and these for only a few years between 1760 and 1770.

It is in connection with William Sever's whaling voyages, that we find from his old account books that Robert Foster, of Kingston, who owned what is now the middle wharf at the Landing, was owner in 1767 of the schooners Brittania and Tolly , both of these schooners being used for whaling, and he paid wharfage at Rocky Nook Wharf to William Sever for landing oil and blubber and docking his vessels there.

In 1769 William Sever had the sloop Haw\e built by William Drew and Co., and Robert Foster was allowed two quarts of rum by William Sever for setting the mast and later three quarts of rum for setting the masts in the schooner Defiance.

The old account books kept by William Sever are very interesting as showing the varied interest of a merchant of a seacoast town at a period shortly before the events took place that led to the war between England and her colonies in America, and the following taken from his day-book or journal gives an idea of the business that some of his vessels were engaged in between the years 1757 and 1771:

1769 William Sever had the sloop Charming Betsy, Joseph Bartlett, Jr., master, on a voyage from North Carolina in the spring, freight 128 bushels of corn.

William Sever was Agent for the Provincial Government of Massachusetts or as he sometimes writes it, State of Massachusetts Bay, in the building at Kingston, Mass., in 1776 of the brig Independence as under date of November 22 that year the following entry is found in his journal:

Kingston, Feb. 6, 1777, Mass. State, for brig Independence. To cash paid Daniel Adams for expenses in re¬ cruiting as per bill, 3 pounds, 7 shillings, 9 pence.

From these and other charges it is shown that William Sever was the State Agent till the brig was ready for sea with crew on board. At this time he was also an agent for the State in the sale of prizes captured from the English by State and private armed vessels. After the Revolutionary War he does not seem to have been actively engaged in business.

The first record in the Plymouth Custom House showing that the Severs owned any vessels here is in 1795, when John Sever, Merchant, owned the sloop Nancy, 57 tons, built in Duxbury. His store was on the corner of Main and Linden Streets where the building once used for a general store by George E. Cushman and now used for the manufacture of candies by the firm of Ye King's Towne Sweets, Inc., stands, and used by his father and grandfather. In 1799 he had the schooner Sarah built by William Drew and these vessels he employed in his business as packets to Boston and for coasting. The next one of his family that appears as an owner is his son John, who in 1817 owned, with his brother and others, the sloop jQeo, 61 tons, built by Lysander Bartlett, senior. From this time till 1841 he had a number of schooners, brigs and ships built by Lysander Bartlett, senior, in the Bartlett yard and owned them alone or with his brothers, James N., Charles, and others. In 1832 he had built the ship Baltimore , 229 tons; followed by the ship Mariposa , 317 tons; ship 7^ ussell, 436 tons; ship Qharles , 387 tons; ship cAlesto, 420 tons; and ship J^eodes, 445 tons; this last ship being the largest vessel built above the present railroad bridge.

These ships were used for foreign voyages, several, and perhaps all, in the cotton trade between the southern states and Europe and although they hailed from Kingston never came here after they first sailed. John Sever, or Colonel Sever, as he was called, was the first president of the Old Colony Railroad and it is probable that about the time the rail¬ road came through the town in 1845 he disposed of most of his interest in shipping. He built and occupied the house now owned by Mr. Roland Bailey.

A deed found by Miss Emily F. Drew in the Registry at Plymouth shows that once there was a building or shipyard on Jones River near the old fish wharves that are situated just below the mouth of Stony Brook.

The deed describes a drawbridge that crossed the river at this place, being reached by a causey over the salt marsh opposite to these old wharves. The road to this bridge was then the road to Boston from Plymouth and when it was changed and the present Great Bridge built the drawbridge was removed.

Until about 18^5 this land on the north bank of the river below where Stony Brook empties into it was in Duxbury, so no attempt has ever been made to locate the position of this yard.

Plymouth County Deeds, Vol. 6, folio 113, 21 June 1706. Grantor, Thomas Loring of Duxbury Shipwright. Grantee, Sami Bradford of Duxbury Yeoman.

Fifteen acres of upland and Salt marsh land in Duxboro (which is undoubtedly the "Peabody Brad¬ ford Place") also five acres of upland and marsh on the west side of the highway and on the south¬ erly side of John Trasey and Tussock Creek "allways reserving unto my Self and my heirs lawfully be¬ gotten of my body forever, ye use of the building yard wch I now have att or near Jones River bridge, of Twelve rods Square bounded on ye South with ye Sd river, and on the west with the highway, for me and my heirs - forever, to build Ships or Vessels in & upon, or to land or lay Any Manner of Timber plank or Any other lumber & goods necessary in order to building or riging & fitting of Vessels the Sd Bradford And his heirs forever having liberty to Continue ye fence by the high way on the Westerly Side of ye Sd yard where it now Standeth. . . ."

At the entrance to Short Reach is an old wharf, once called Sever's Wharf and used by that family, and later by Alexander Beal and Lewis Ripley as a lumber yard. Captain Francis Washburn, with Mr. Harvey Ransom, were the last to use it, between i860 and 1870, keeping their fishing smacks there and using the old building that stood on the wharf for storage purposes. It is now called Skipper's Wharf for Captain Washburn.

At the lower end of Long Reach is Bradford's Wharf, now fallen to pieces. This was last used for landing and curing fish. An old building once stood on the south side of the hill, called Sunderland, which was used for a fish house, this hill being now owned by Dr. Arthur B. Holmes. Captain Ellis Bradford, who lived in Rocky Nook, owned it for some years, and the last one to own it for a fish wharf was Captain Frank Johnson, many years ago. This old wharf is near Elder Cushman's Spring and the site of his house and this place was probably used by him for a landing and later by those who lived in that vicinity.

The families of Winsors, Whittens and Delanos who lived in Rocky Nook owned many vessels and the first record found is in 1803 when Peter Winsor and Benjamin Delano owned the sloop Two Sisters of 44 tons. The Winsors, Peter, William D. and Elbridge G., owned vessels until after i860, Peter Winsor having ownership in the largest number. Their vessels were sloops and schooners and were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages, using the Rocky Nook Wharf. They owned by themselves, or with others, 27. Melzar Whitten first owned vessels in 1814 and continued as an owner sometimes with Melzar Whitten, Jr., Sever and Delano, until shortly after 1840, also using Rocky Nook Wharf. These vessels numbered 16 and were employed in fishing, coasting and West India voyages.

Benjamin Delano and his son Joshua were, with the exception of Joseph Holmes, the largest owners of vessels in Kingston and carried on the business from 1803 to shortly after 1882 when the last vessel, the schooner Qordova , was sold. These vessels were used for fish¬ ing, coasting, West India and European voyages, and they owned in whole or in part, 37, having most of them built by Lysander Bartlett, senior and junior. They used the Rocky Nook Wharf and since they commenced business the family has retained an interest in it to the present time, now owning it with Dr. Arthur B. Holmes, who became an owner through his father, he inheriting it from his father, Alexander Holmes.

In 1866 Alfred F. Howe of Boston, who at that time was living in Kingston, had a yacht built at Clarke's Island by Mortimer and Edward Watson. This was a keel sloop, with a cabin 23 feet long, and named the DlacJ^ Diamond. He used her for pleasure trips about the bay and cruising along the Massachusetts coast, selling her in Boston in 1868. This appears to have been the first small vessel that was owned here for pleasure that could be called a yacht, although there were always some small sailing craft on the river used for fishing, of which we have no record. At that time Captain Charles Stetson had a sloop about 18 feet long, using it for sailing and fishing around the bay. About 1867 Captain Otis Baker had the sloop yacht, Cfrace Darlings which he bought in Duxbury. This was a center board craft with cabin and large cockpit and was about 25 feet long. He used her for several years, keeping her at the lower end of Mr. Edward Holmes' wharf and then sold her to Plymouth. At this time Mr. Cyrus Ripley had a sloop about 17 feet long which he used for pleasure, and these four were the first of the yachts owned in Kingston. In 1874, Mr. James L. Hall bought in Lynn the 23-foot center-board sloop Plough Boy and sold her to North Plymouth in 1876. That year he had the keel sloop Blaymate built by Lysander Bartlett, in the building now used for a boatshop by the heirs of Captain E. A. Ransom, this building then standing by the river in the old Drew shipyard near the Alms House, and formerly used by N. D. Drew when building vessels for Alexander Holmes in 1850. The Blaymate was 31 feet long, 10 feet wide, with a draft of 3 feet. Mr. Hall used her for cruising till 1879, when she was sold to Mr. Willoughby of Plymouth, who afterward sold her to Boston. In 1871 Captain Nathan B. Watson commenced building sailboats and dories in a shop he built on land of John Drew's, close to the Landing Road just south of the present boatshop used by the late Captain Ransom. In 1874, he built the 17 feet over all sprit-sail lobster boat, Wanderer , the first smooth-planked boat built for this bay and used for lobstering and fishing. She was the largest and fastest boat of the kind that had been built up to that time. These boats were partly decked and had a large sprit foresail and smaller sprit mainsail with a boom and were very fast and able. At that time their use was almost wholly confined to Plymouth, Kingston and Duxbury bays. Previous to Cap¬ tain Watson's building the Wanderer these lobster boats had been what is called lapstreak or clinker-built and much smaller and were built on Clark's Island and in Duxbury. The Wanderer was a deep keel boat, very sharp forward, and when she was launched it was thought by some that she would not be safe in running in a strong breeze on account of her sharpness as her sharp bow would cause her to run under. On trying her it was soon seen that this was just the reverse and no more full bowed boats were built.

John Drew, or Uncle John, as he was called, who at this time owned all of the land above the railroad bridge formerly occupied by the Drews and Bartletts for building yards, having become an old man, unable to work at his trade of ship carpenter, and not knowing what it was to be idle, dug the sloping bank all away clear to the highway where Captain Watson's boatshop first stood, continuing his digging nearly the whole length of this lot, carrying the sand in a wheelbarrow to the bank of the river and filling in what had previously been in most places a narrow strip of marsh land. This re¬ moved all traces of the site of the building yard last used by the Bartletts. All of the land where Captain Watson's boatshop and the boathouse of P. W. Maglauthlin stands, these two buildings, now being owned by Dr. Holmes, was made by him, and it was after he filled in this store that Captain Watson moved his shop to its present location near the river in 1874.

This John Drew was the last of his generation of old ship carpenters living near the Landing and of a truly vanished type of men who worked from sun to sun, drank their morning and afternoon allowance of rum, and were seemingly indifferent to the variations of our New England climate. Some of the stories told of these old carpenters, the jokes they, played on one another, and their quaint sayings, are often recalled to this day. Their skill as workmen is shown in the lasting qualities of the vessels they worked on. None of the modern labor-saving machinery was ever used in these building yards, and one or two small buildings were sufficient to take care of what little work had to be done under cover.

As the business of Joseph Holmes and his sons increased they were obliged to have a larger number of buildings in their yard and were more fully equipped than the other builders to fit their vessels for sea, but all of the shipbuilding was done out in the open and the ship carpenters worked out of doors summer and winter, regardless of the weather.

Having enlarged his shop Captain Watson built in the winter of 1874 the 25 feet over all center-board cabin-sloop Idle Hour for Lewis H. Keith of Kingston, which was the first yacht ever built here. She was a great improvement in design and finish on any pleasure craft that had yet been owned here or in the bay and attracted much attention. Mr. Keith used her for cruising and racing, selling her in 1877 to Dorchester. The next year Captain Watson enlarged his shop again and built the Hermes schooner yacht, which is described in list of

Captain Edward A. Ransom commenced building lobster boats in Captain Watson's shop about 1879, having previously worked on the yachts Idle Hour and Hermes when they were building. He continued building these boats there until 1885 when he bought the workshop, built by Nathaniel D. Drew in 1850 in the old Drew shipyard near the Alms House and moved it to its present site. Here, until his death in 1922, he built many lobster boats, small yachts and gasoline launches, also steamer Tiger, whose name is given in list of vessels built here. He designed and built the fastest lobster boats ever built for the bay and was the first one to build these boats with the modern hanging stern.

They were all center-board, about 20 feet over all, between 16 and 17 feet water line, 6 feet 10 inches beam, and 26 inches draft without the center-board. They usually had from 100 to 300 pounds of lead outside on the keel and were given a much larger sail plan than the old ones, although retaining the sprit-sail rig. These boats of Captain Ransom's design were used for lobster fishing and pleasure boats and have always been noted for their speed and weatherly qualities in heavy weather.

George W. Shiverick was born in East Dennis, on the Cape, and came to Kingston in October, 1895. He began building yachts and small boats in November of that year in a shop he built on land leased by Mr. Walter C. Hammond and bordering on Jones River.

This shop and yard are situated just below the lower wharf at the Landing and up to this time he has built here 228 craft of all descriptions.

In 1888, he started to learn the boatbuilders' trade of Charles Jenkins of Harwichport, and worked with him for a year, most of the time on schooners' yawl boats.

The winters of 1890, 1891 and 1892, he was with C. C. Hanley of Monument Beach, building Cape Cod catboats, and in May, 1892, he went into business for himself at East Dennis, launching his first boat, the cate 'Attempt, in August of that year.

Between this time and October, 1895, when he came to Kingston, he built 10 boats, and established his reputation as a designer and builder of fast and well-constru6led yachts of all classes.

The letters to Joseph Holmes, or Joseph Holmes, Jr., as he was called till the death of his father, are fairly well preserved, but there are many years' correspondence missing in which the final ending of his vessels might be shown, whether lost while owned here, or sold to other ports. The captains of the smaller vessels, schooners and brigs were men of little education and their letters contained a bare statement of the voyages, and were often so poorly written that they could hardly be read. But they all seem to have been honest and men of great ability, for in those days navigation was not considered much of a science and many of the captains engaged in the West India trade took no observation for longitude, steering southeasterly as near as possible, and when in the latitude of the place they were bound to and well to windward in the northeast trades, steered west. They relied a great deal on dead reckoning, use of the lead and judgment in their coasting as well as foreign voyages.

The voyages made in the winter from southern ports to New York and Boston were always ones of hardship and danger and the earlier schooners and brigs are often reported as delayed by ice and gales, sometimes frozen in the southern rivers and again in Vineyard Sound. How they made their ports without more loss to vessel and crew seems a mystery, for there were few lighthouses, no lightships, channels poorly buoyed, and no towboats or revenue cutters to call on for assistance. Now there are few sailing vessels left, but in every

The captains in letters to their owners reporting their arrivals or departures often write of their sails being poor and vessels leaking, but hope to make them go this voyage and get the vessel home, or perhaps make another voyage without making repairs. The Holmes always made the repairs on their vessels in their own building yards, if possible, making the cost much less. Few of Joseph Holmes' vessels were insured and his letters of instruc¬ tions to his captains usually ended thus: "In case of accident, always remember your vessel is not insured and expend nothing but what is necessary to make your vessel seaworthy. If it is necessary that your vessel should be sold for the benefit of all concerned you will buy her in and draw on me if you think it an objedt."

The voyages of the vessels owned by the Delanos can only be followed in a few cases and the letters saved do not show so complete a record as do those of Joseph Holmes.

The Severs as owners and builders of vessels in Kingston left little to be recorded about them, except the names, tonnage and year built, which were found in the custom's records of Plymouth and some old account books of 1750 and later years.

There are very few people about here now who have ever seen a ship under all sail at sea. By the word ship, I do not mean anything with sails, but a full rigged ship as used to be sent foreign or, as it was often called, "deep water." Much could be made of some of the voyages of these old Kingston vessels by any one who cared to romance by reading between the lines in the letters written home by the captains to their owners. Many letters to Joseph Holmes end: "Tell my family I am well. Let my wife have a little money if she needs it and tell her we are in good health at present and hope to be home in the spring." It cost twenty-five or thirty cents to send a letter from the south and more from foreign ports without taking into account the labor of writing, and a letter to the owners sufficed for all.

But the story of a vessel is usually a very plain, ordinary affair. They sailed, returned and were repaired, if necessary, and sailed again, often with the same captain and officers for several years, till finally they were sold, wrecked or reported as sailed and never heard from. Those that escaped the dangers of the sea, becoming old and beyond repair, were stripped of sails, spars and rigging and fittings of any value and their weather-beaten hulks were landed in some creek or on some river bank for the tide to ebb and flow in until finally they fell to pieces with nothing but a keel and a few planks and timbers left.

These vessels, while not designed for speed have records of many good passages. For the purpose of carrying the greatest amount of cargo for their length these vessels built by the Holmes' were designed with very full bows and heavy quarters and sterns, one end looking about as full as the other when afloat. The story is told that when one of these vessels was at Rocky Nook wharf being rigged, Captain Otis Baker, of this place, who was somewhat of a joker and commanded the extreme clipper ship, Herald of the Morning , engaged in the California trade in the fifties, went down to the wharf to see the new vessel. After looking her over very carefully and making no comments he wrote in large letters with a piece of chalk on the vessel's side near the bow, "This is the Bow." Her sides being painted black made this writing quite conspicuous and caused many a laugh from those who did not know the obje6t of the vessel's fullness forward.

The fruit barks and brigs, of course, were an exception and for their size were very fast and probably their model has never been improved on. A few pictures that are in existence show them to have been very handsome vessels and a credit to the ideas of the designer and builder. The tracks of the fruit vessels, barks and brigs from the Mediter¬ ranean ports of Smyrna, Palermo, Messina, and Malaga, where their cargoes were loaded, are the same as the large passenger steamers use today in coming from the Mediterranean to New York and Boston, and when they report, on arrival, having experienced heavy gales with much water on deck and captain and officers on the bridge many hours and tales of hardship, no one realizes that seventy-five years ago these small vessels were being raced across the North Atlantic in the face of westerly winter gales with the same weather conditions that prevail today and nothing out of the ordinary was reported unless the passage was prolonged and the fruit did not find a good market. Only three of the vessels engaged in this trade were lost while owned by the Holmes', the bark c Abby, the brig 'Bird of the Wave , and the brig Franks Henry .

The smaller vessels, schooners and brigs owned by the Holmes', as well as those owned by the Delanos and Winsors, used in the West India trade and the northern ports of South America, which in those days was called the Spanish Main, were in constant danger of losing their officers and crews by yellow fever and sometimes cholera and the plague. Yellow fever seemed to be always prevalent and although not much is said about it in the letters written to owners it is easy to see the constant danger they were in and the dread the captains had of going to the more unhealthy ports at certain seasons. Letters received by Joseph Holmes tell of loss of officers and crews on board his vessels or of their arriving north with sickness on board and being quarantined. When they died a brief word to that efFedt to the owner was all that was known; if it was the captain of the vessel, the mate wrote and took charge, perhaps reaching home before the letter, as letters from these small West Indian ports were brought by sailing vessels whose passages were prolonged at certain seasons of the year by unfavorable winds. Sometimes a new captain had to be sent on from home if the mate were not able to take command, which caused great delay and expense.

As late as 1880 Mr. Edward Holmes seldom heard from Captain Thompson, who at that time was in command of his schooner Mary Baker in the West India trade, after he left home, until he arrived back, as even then few steamers were running to the West Indies, and the captain was noted for his fast passages with very little delay in port. This Captain Robert Thompson was a Norwegian, a very rugged, powerful man. He first came to Kingston as mate of the brig Bird of the Wave and later was employed by Mr. Edward Holmes as master of the different schooners owned by him until the last one was sold. He was a very honest, able shipmaster and commanded the schooner Mary Baker for many years, usually chartered to the West Indies with a few trips to the Grand Bank. This schooner had very hard service, as Captain Thompson, previous to taking command, was for several years mate of the later fruit barks owned by the Holmes', receiving in them a thorough training in sail-carrying so that when he became master he was well fitted to see that his vessel was driven to her limit. The story is told by Charles T. Powers of King¬ ston, who was mate with Captain Thompson in the Mary Baker on the voyage, that the Mary Baker and Jfucy Holmes , Captain Clement Eldridge of Chatham, were both chartered to go to Jacmel, Haiti. They laid alongside the same wharf in Boston, both ready to sail, when Mr. Edward Holmes, their owner, who was there to see them off said to the captains, "I don't know about letting you fellows sail at the same time for I am afraid there will be too much sail carrying." Both schooners went to sea together and once clear of the land soon parted company, but when the Mary Baker anchored at Jacmel th efjicy Holmes was just entering the harbor. This was a very close race for 1,500 miles. Another instance of close sailing between Joseph Holmes' vessels is that of the bark Sgypt and bark Fruiterer both bound to San Francisco, who sighted one another off Cape Horn, soon separated, and met again off Frisco Heads.

Few remember the old captains of the Kingston vessels. Captain Josephus Dawes of Island Creek, Duxbury, and his brother, Captain James H. Dawes of Kingston, being the last survivors of those that lived in this vicinity, both dying very old men and retired from the sea for many years. After Joseph Holmes' death, in 1863, when his vessels were sold, they continued following the sea in command of their own vessels, Captain Josephus Dawes having the bark <Mnnie W. Weston built for him, and Captain James the bark £mma (f. Beal , and also the ship Matchless.

On the death of Captain Charles T. Powers of Kingston, Massachusetts, a sketch of his life appeared in the Old Qolony Memorial of Plymouth, 1908. As a deep-water sailor and officer of Kingston vessels the accounts of his voyages in the numerous vessels mentioned are similar to those of all old-time, deep-water sailors on sailing ships who were born and brought up in Kingston and the seacoast towns of this seCtion and who followed the sea before sails gave way to steam.

As his father, Captain Edwin Powers, commanded vessels belonging to the Holmes and Delano families for many years and Captain Charles continued to sail in the Holmes' vessels until the last one was about to be laid up at Kingston before being sold, it seems that what follows should appear in these records as a story of a seafaring life more com¬ plete than can now be told of any Kingston man.

Charles Thaddeus Powers was born in the old Tontine house at Rocky Nook, Kingston, April 23, 1848, a son of Captain Edwin and Maria C. (Churchill) Powers, both of whom were natives of Kingston.

Captain Charles T. Powers made his first voyage at the age of fourteen in 1862 in the schooner Ocean Fird, Joseph Holmes of Kingston, owner. The Ocean dHrd was built at the Landing and commanded by his father, Captain Edwin Powers. She sailed from Boston bound for Aux Cayes, a port on the south side of the island of Haiti in the West Indies, and had to run the gauntlet of the Confederate ships of war. This was an exciting trip, full of hairbreadth escapes, but successful nevertheless. The same could be said of the voyage back to Boston. This schooner was at one time during the Civil War the only vessel leav¬ ing Boston as a home port to fly the United States flag, all the other vessels leaving port under the British flag, as a matter of protection. Captain Powers made a number of voyages in this vessel to ports on the same island.

The vessels that he afterward made voyages on follow in order: the brig Jane, Captain Hoyt of Boston, master; the brig zAfton, Captain Joseph Wright of Plymouth, master; the schooner Maria Q. Moore , Captain May, master (the voyage was to Curac^oa an island of the Spanish Main in the Caribbean sea); the schooner j£ucy Holmes of Kingston, Edward Holmes, owner, Captain Clement Eldridge, master (the voyage was to the islands of the West Indies); schooner Fisher , also built in Kingston, Captain David Ellis of Harwich, master (the voyage was to the West Indies, island of Mariguana in the Bahamas, and other ports, a half dozen voyages in all); schooner Mary Falser, about the last vessel built at the Landing shipyards, Captain Robert Thompson, master. Years afterward Captain Powers had made a voyage together with Captain Thompson while employed on Lightship No. 6, located off Succonesset Shoals. Captain Powers had made a voyage previously in this schooner, the first voyage she ever made. He also went as mate in her on the last voyage, which was to Cayenne in French Guiana, South America. Captain Dreyfus from France was imprisoned at one time at Cayenne. From this port the schooner proceeded to Turks Island in the Bahamas, where a cargo of salt was loaded for Boston. This was the last voyage Captain Powers made in any Kingston vessel. For a time he was engaged in coast¬ wise shipping in the schooner Franl^Fjeming which hailed from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, then on the Wellfleet schooner Slmer £. Wright , Captain Freeman, master, and later on the schooner zAgnes of Mystic, Connecticut, Captain Rodman, master. A voyage was made to Key West, Florida, then to Indianola, Texas, from there to Tampico, Mexico, and return¬ ing, stopping at New Berne, North Carolina, on the way back to New York City.

Then commenced a series of long and eventful voyages. In 1872 he shipped aboard the bark Sapho of Mystic, Connecticut, Captain John Wilbur, master, and sailed for Val¬ paraiso, Chili. From there the bark proceeded to Callao, a port in Peru, and Iquiqui, a port in Chili, South America, and loaded a cargo of guano for Charleston, South Carolina. May 5, 1873, Captain Powers sailed from New York with Captain Robert Wilbur, brother of the captain of the bark Sapho , mentioned above, in the ship Dauntless of Mystic, Con¬ necticut, bound for San Francisco, California. The duration of this voyage was 13 1 days.

After discharging her cargo in the last-named port a cargo of grain was taken aboard and on October 3 of the same year the Dauntless sailed for Liverpool, England. In February, after a 120 days' passage, she arrived in Liverpool, and later returned to New York with another cargo.

November 17, 1875, Captain Powers sailed from Boston for Calcutta in the ship Qromwell , Captain Edwin Richardson of this town, master. Down Boston harbor they were accompanied by Captain Otis Baker, the late George S. Phillips, Captain Edwin Powers (deceased), and several others from Kingston. They were taken off at the Boston light. The voyage out occupied 132 days. From Calcutta they went to the Island of Mauritius off the east coast of Africa, then back to Calcutta, where they were loaded with linseed for the port of Hull in England. This voyage lasted 150 days. From England they returned in ballast to Boston. This long voyage was the last voyage Captain Richardson made in the Cromwell. This was the ship the late Captain William Symmes of this town commanded for many years and while he was master, Edwin Richardson, afterward her commander, went in her as cabin boy. The latter married Captain Symmes' daughter and they reside at present in San Francisco, California.

The longest voyage Captain Powers ever made commenced August 3, 1878, when he sailed in the ship Mindora of Salem, for Cape Town near the Cape of Good Hope, Africa, 83 days' passage. She proceeded to Manila, 92 days' passage, lay in port three and onehalf months loading manila hemp, and then sailed for Boston, a voyage lasting 178 days. She arrived in Boston, December 3, 1879, 1 6 months to a day from the time she left Boston. Mindora made one more voyage and then was converted into a barge.

x^s second mate of the brig Stella , Captain Davis of Long Island, New York, master, he sailed on January 10, 1880, for Buenos Ayres in South America. From there they sailed about 300 miles up the Rio de la Plata to the city of Rosario, where they took on a cargo of wool, and returning arrived in Boston, July 19, 1880.

Captain Powers' next voyage was from New York, January 7, 1881, as second mate of the bark James S. Stone , Captain John Weston of Duxbury, master. Captain Weston is at present one of the Boston Port Wardens. They touched first at Port Adelaide, Australia, and then went to New South Wales, where they loaded coal for Shanghai, China, next made two round trips from Shanghai to Nagasaki, Japan, after which the bark took on board a cargo of tea and sailed for New York, the voyage lasting 1 10 days. This was in 1882.

In February, 1883, he sailed from New York as second mate on the b%x\LSNehemiah Qibson of Boston, Captain Fred C. Bailey of Kingston, master. Port Adelaide in Australia and Hong Kong in China were the ports visited. It was a memorable voyage out. They struck a gale of wind between the Cape of Good Hope and Port Adelaide and the seas ran moun¬ tain high. Oil, a part of the cargo, was tried by Captain Bailey as an experiment, and it had the effedt of smoothing the waves a good deal. The bark was running three weeks with a fair wind all the time.

In 1885, Captain Powers went as second mate on the bark SJeried, which belonged to H. H. Flitner of Boston, from Portland, Maine, to Buenos Ayres, then to a port in Brazil, where she took on a cargo of sugar. This was delivered in January, 1886. This bark passed through a terrible gale on Christmas night before her arrival.

In April, 1889, Captain Powers, as first mate of the brig Cameo> Captain Molman, master, sailed from New London, Connecticut, to Boston, where she unloaded her cargo and took on board a portion of another cargo. In Portland, Maine, she finished loading and then departed for St. Ann's Bay and Montego Bay, on the Island of Jamaica. Leaving these ports she went to Falmouth on the same island and received a cargo of logwood roots for Philadelphia. She reached that port July 7, 1889. The vessel was sold or changed hands soon after her arrival. Captain Powers returned to Kingston to live.

His stay ashore was brief. May 24, 1890, he took command of the Vineyard Sound lightship and was on her about three months when he was transferred to the Great Round Shoal lightship. In 1892 he took the Old South Shoal lightship from New Bedford to

Ships Of Kingston 25

Charleston, South Carolina. Upon his return he was given command of Lightship No. 6, located off Succonesset Shoal. He was on this lightship about five years.

The following extradts are taken from a diary that was kept by Cornelius A. Bartlett, a ship carpenter of Kingston. (This covers the thirty years before Captain Powers com¬ menced going to sea and gives as good an account of the life of a ship carpenter as Captain Powers' life does that of a sailor.)

I had shipped on board the Jones River Packet, my father, master. We were ready to go out of the river, but ice not gone until the 15th when we sailed for Boston, arriving the same evening. Carried mostly wood and brought home merchandise the 22nd. A fine run along shore.

First part of month I helped Nat'l Foster rig a schooner belonging to Col. John Sever on the stocks in Deacon Bartlett's yard. After she was launched we took her to Rocky Nook wharf. She is bound to Balti¬ more. Captain John Fearo, master.

Stopped on the point of the Nook. The tides fell off and she remained there till they came up. While there she was mostly rigged. From there she was taken to Rocky Nook wharf. Finished rigging, took in ballast, etc., and sailed for Boston. Stopped in the Cow Yard a few days to take in a little more ballast, then went to Bos¬ ton. Arrived Apr. 29th. We had a very pleasant run along shore, sum¬ merlike day. I worked aloft most of the day putting up top hamper. I put "over head" the most of the rigging of this vessel. I stopped on board of her until the 7th of May. I came home by way of Hingham through Duxbury. The ship sailed the 9th for Savannah, Captain Perez H. Sampson, Mr. Edward Holmes, chief mate.

July 4th, 1834 It is a fine day but I am confined in Rocky Nook wharf getting in fish. All my comrades enjoying life with the fair sex on excursions, etc. This is rather hard, but such is life.

OdL 3rd, 1834 Launched the ship; took her the same tide to Mr. Holmes' wharf be¬ low. In turning her at the wharf her forefoot caught on a rock opposite the wharf and there she remained. When the next tide came she fell over on her side. It was in the night. We were setting between decks wait¬ ing for the tide at the time. I could walk fore and aft on her keel. She swung off the rock and the next day we righted her. The packet was ly¬ ing at wharf, \ve took her purchase to the head of the ship's masts and she came up easily. It damaged the ship badly. She showed it in her sheer. This was the ship Charles.

(They evidently had a great deal of trouble in moving this ship in the river so much so that Mr. Bartlett wrote a more complete account of what he was engaged in doing than usual. It was an unfortunate begin¬ ning for a new ship and we can but wonder if she continued to be un¬ fortunate after getting to sea and if any sailors, knowing of her early mis¬ haps, were superstitious about going in her.)

Jan. 31st, 1835 Went to Boston discharged cargo and came home the 6th of Feb. There was ice in the bay but noth¬ ing to hinder us coming up the river. Loaded again with fish and left for Boston, Feb. 22nd. Sold the fish and came home the 28th of February.

March 1835 First part of month cold, vessel frozen in at Rocky Nook wharf. The 22nd we left for Boston the wind being unfavorable we anchored in the bay. The wind increasing to a gale, east, surging in a sea the chain parted and lost our anchor. Came up to the Duck Trap. Let go our best lower anchor and came home. The gale was heavy.

(The Duck Trap he speaks of is a small channel that leads to Island Creek, Duxbury, from the Kingston channel near the mouth of Jones River.)

Apr. 28th, 1835 The Jones River Packet was lost on the Toddy Rocks in Boston Harbor, Hull. My father, master. No lives lost, but vessel a total loss. They came in by the light (Boston Light) the evening before. It was very dark and could not see the way. It was ebb tide and they expedted she would come off all right the next tide, but the wind came out east and blew a gale making it very rough. They saved most of their traps and brought them up to town (Boston). We were there in the December and they put on board our vessel and came home with us the 2nd of May. Bad affair!

May 2nd, 1835 Left (Kingston) for Boston in the December , my father, master. Cap¬ tain Edward Holmes, left. Took in salt from the ship and came home.

Aug. 30th, 1835 Came from Boston. Head winds and foggy. The schooner Cordova , Benja¬ min Delano came in with us from the Grand Bank with a cargo of 42,000 fish.

(He was making trips to Boston and back in the December , schooner, un¬ til 061. 13th, when he left and joined the sloop Algerine , Solomon Davie, master. He remained on her until she was hauled up at Rocky Nook wharf for the winter, Dec. 12th.)

June 1 6th, 1836 Sailed from Rocky Nook wharf in the good sloop Atlanta. William D. Winsor, master. Bound for Boston. (At this time he was twenty-three years old and had tired of coasting and went to learn the carpenter's trade with his brother, David, who was at work in Newton. In May, 1837, the diary shows that Alexander Holmes was keeping store opposite the Green in Kingston.)

little brigantine in Deacon Bartlett's yard. Built by the Deacon, his sons, and Spencer Drew, named the Rod¬ ney. She was sold in July at Boston with very little profit.

(Wm. T. Davis of Plymouth in his book entitled "Plymouth Memories of an Octogenarian" mentions the brig Reindeer as one of the vessels that carried Plymouth passengers to California for the gold fields in 1849, having been purchased by Dr. Samuel Merritt of Plymouth of her owners in Kingston. She sailed from New York in the summer of 1849 with Dr. Merritt, as many passen¬ gers as could be accommodated, and a cargo of general merchandise, arriving in San Francisco that autumn, when she was sold.)

May 1846 Finished the bark. She is at the lower wharf. In coming through the Rail Road bridge with the bark got in contact with the draw. Detained the train, but finally came to the wharf. This was June 1st.

Dec. 23rd, 1848 Moderated and steamer took her to Boston. I stopped on board of her fishing some jobs until she sailed. Captain Searles, master; bound for Smyrna. Came home the 31st of December.

Feb. 21 st, 1850 Commenced ship carpentering for Deacon Lysander Bartlett in his yard. $1.00 per day. A pleasant, mild month, no ice or snow.

and Uncle John (Drew) in their ship¬ yard at $1.25 per day. (This is the building lately used as a boatshop for many years by Captain Edward A. Ransom. He moving it from where it was built near the Alms House to its present location.)

Sept. 24th, 1851 Launched the ship. It belongs to Mr. Joseph Holmes and built in his yard, which was just north of the O. C. R. R. track on Jones River.

Oc5t. 23rd, 1851 Went down the river with the ship yesterday. Took her to the Fish Wharf the first tide after she started. Stopped on the Point of the Nook next tide. That night took her to Rocky Nook wharf. (This ship was 61 1 tons and the largest one ever built in Kingston.)

April 1852 Launched the bark. She is a longlegged craft, very cranky. After she left the ways she fell over on her side. Her masts were in. She re¬ mained in this condition till the next day when she was righted and taken to the wharf below the Rail Road bridge. They had considerable trouble getting her down the river to Rocky Nook wharf and down the bay. It required a good deal of ballast to keep her up. (This was the bark that the Captain ran away with after the Holmes' had sold her.)

Aug. 19th, 1853 Joinering a little brig for Alexander Holmes in his yard. N. D. Drew, builder. (This was the brig or schooner, Frank Henry).

Jan. 16th, 1854 Commenced joinering on schooner, Cordova. She is being new topped. She lies on the marsh at Deacon Bartlett's yard. Benjamin Delano and Sons, owners.

Jan. 2 1 st, 1854 Brigantine Frank Henry went out of the river. Launched the 19th, bound for Boston. (This vessel was lost on her second voyage, never heard from.)

N. D. Drew went to Buffalo, New York, to work, shipbuilding, 1856. Went to work for Mr. Edward Holmes on a bark in his father's yard, joinering. $1.50 per day.

This diary is now in the Kingston Public Library and the extracts that have been given show how these men employed themselves in the different building yards here at the time of their greatest activity and what one of them did on the vessels when not engaged in working at his trade.

His trade was that of a ship joiner, which is a carpenter who does the finishing off on a vessel after she is timbered and planked and nearing completion. These men worked in the yards as their services were required on the vessels under construction. All these old ship carpenters and riggers were men used to manning vessels if crews were needed to take them to Boston or bring them home from there.

When Alexander Holmes was president of the Old Colony Rail Road Company a loco¬ motive went through the drawbridge into Fort Point Channel which separates South Boston from Boston. The railroad wrecking crew being unable to handle the situation as their equipment in those days was limited, President Holmes at once sent for Ichabod Peterson of Kingston, master rigger in his father's building yard, who came to Boston with a gang of riggers and ship carpenters and by the use of the heavy blocks and falls used in masting vessels soon had the locomotive raised from the bottom of the channel and traffic restored. This is an example of what might be demanded of the men working in these yards if an emergency should arise, and it was always stand by for a call with them.

The condition of the river and bay in winter as to ice and storms is mentioned several times in the diary showing how the packets were often delayed in their trips to Boston, which must have been of great inconvenience to those living here and depending on water transportation for the movement of merchandise.

The first running of a train as told is interesting, as a letter of Joseph Holmes to his son, Captain Paraclete Holmes, master of the ship Herculean at New Orleans, dated May 26, 1844, concludes, by saying, "We are going to have a railroad from Plymouth to Boston." The railroad crossed the river over a drawbridge, thus separating the upper and lower building yards, increasing the labor of moving vessels between the yards by having to pass through the draw with them, and it would be natural that the coming of the first train would be an event to be noticed by the men working in these yards beside the tracks, as was done by Mr. Bartlett and recorded in his diary. No doubt, the event was noted by others and also recorded, as keeping a diary was a common thing to do in those days, but it is unfortunate so few have been preserved. The drawbridge continued to be used by the railroad company for several years after work in the upper yards had been given up and when in need of repairs it was replaced by a permanent bridge, the company con¬ sidering it cheaper to take out and reset the masts of any vessel that might wish to pass through than to maintain a draw. It was because of this old drawbridge and a question of the right of the railroad company in discontinuing a bridge of this type over tide-water that was navigable for vessels that saved Mr. Lewis H. Keith of Kingston, owner of sloop yacht, Siren, quite a sum of money. Captain N. B. Watson, who commanded the Siren, was accustomed to haul her out in the winter on his land to the north of his boat¬ house above the bridge, first taking out her mast below the bridge. Needing a new mast one season, one was bought in Boston and sent by railroad freight. On arrival it was found the freight charges were very high and Captain Watson at once said if the railroad com¬ pany did not make these charges more reasonable he would mast the sloop when she lay above the bridge and demand the right to go to sea. Under these circumstances the com¬ pany might have had to take out the mast and reset it below the bridge, so they decided it would be less expensive to abate the freight bill than to do the work or bring the case before the courts.

A number of the Kingston vessels are spoken of in the diary and I used what was told about them in giving their story. I have repeated this in the extracts in order that they might read more connectedly.

The pictures of the spar, sail and sheer plans of the Kingston vessels were taken from the original plans, which were made by Nathaniel D. Drew of Kingston. The first record in the Plymouth Custom House showing him as a builder and master carpenter is in 1839 when he is recorded as the master carpenter in the building of the schooner Qohannet for Alexander Holmes, owner. These plans were of some of the vessels designed by him from the date of 1839 to 1865 when he was employed by Alexander, Joseph and Edward Holmes. Although incomplete as to detail in sails and rigging, it is easy to see the decided improve¬ ment in the design of a vessel between these years. They were found in the boat-shop of the late Captain John N. Drew, a younger brother of Nathaniel D. Drew, and were given me by a Miss Olmstead, who had purchased the homestead after the death of the Captain. I had seen them many times while the boat-shop was used by Captain Drew, but with no thought that they would ever be of value to any one. I had always been interested in vessels, especially those built in Kingston, and saved the plans. It was not until the photographs of the pictures of the Kingston vessels were taken for this story that the Drew spar plans were remembered. I found, on examination, that with the exception of the Sicilian and Fruiterer, no pictures were known to be in existence. The plans of these two, however, appear in this record. There are three half hulled or working models, made by N. D. Drew, from which the Frueman, Stafford and Franl^ Ffenry were built. That of the Frueman is now in the marine room of the Peabody Museum of Salem and the Stafford and Frank^Henry are owned by Alexander Holmes of Kingston.

The sheer plans show the vessels as they were modeled, so the other plans where no model or picture exists are correCt as to the general appearance of the hull and spars. Some show the masts and standing rigging, one a sail-plan and a few the masts with yards crossed, with lifts, but no braces. Mr. Drew, in his designs, gave his vessels the same style of figure or billet board, with the exception of the barkcyf^y and bark Sicilian. The bark <iAbby had a figurehead of a young girl with long, flowing hair, and he evidently did not feel that he was artist enough to draw the female form on his plan, so left the bark with only a bracket for ornament on the stem where a figure would stand when in place. The sheer and spar plan of the Sicilian show for a figurehead a crude drawing of what was intended to be a Sicily man, which is also shown in the painting. As there is a picture of this bark and also of the Fruiterer under sail no attempt was made to photograph their plans.

In most cases the plans were drawn in pencil on sheets of ordinary brown paper about three feet square and a vessel's plan was drawn on each side to save paper, their names being given on the plan. All but three of the plans had to be traced on tracing paper as the originals were soiled with age and the pencil lines were often too faint for the taking of a satisfactory photograph. On this account, the figures giving length of spars and standing rigging, were omitted for even if shown they would have been very small and not easily read.

Mr. Drew was evidently a designer of superior skill. While in the employ of Alexander Holmes he was called on to design vessels that were built in the Joseph Holmes and Lysander Bartlett (senior and junior) shipyards as shown by their names on the plans and custom records.

Today, few, if any families in the country can show so many pictures, spar and sail plans and models of vessels built and owned by their people so many years ago as the Holmes family of Kingston. When we consider that at this time the greater part of these were made seventy-five years ago and only recently was any thought given for their preservation, it is remarkable that after the lapse of so many years such a number of plans and pictures of the Kingston vessels were found. Unlike other shipbuilders or owners, they owned and sailed their vessels after they were built, or as Joseph Holmes writes, "fitted for sea and sent to sea on my own account and risk."

The sail plans of the vessels, with the exception of the bark Neapolitan, are taken from the designers' sheer and spar plans and show how they looked under sail.

In old records and reports the captains of vessels were spoken of as Master Mariners which distinguished them from captains in the Army or Naval service.

These old shipmasters were very particular as to how they were addressed and anyone who had been master of a vessel was always given the title of Captain, although the cap¬ tain of a fishing vessel was often called skipper.

As far as is known today, the following list of names are those of the Master Mariners who resided in Kingston and commanded Kingston vessels.

The three Dawes brothers lived in Duxbury near the line between Kingston and Duxbury, and as their associations were more with Kingston than Duxbury I have included them in the list of Kingston's Master Mariners.

Many Kingston men sailed on Kingston vessels as officers and crew but as masters commanded vessels that hailed from other ports, and so their names do not appear in this list of Kingston's Master Mariners.

William Sever, or Squire Sever, as he was always called, was born in Kingston in 1729, and from the time of the first coming to Kingston of his father, Nicholas, in 1828, down to the death of Colonel John Sever, in 1855, this family has always played a most prominent part in business and affairs of the town.

With his father and brother he owned many vessels, and they are the first of which there is any adtual record connecting them with this business in Kingston.

His picture is from a life-size oil portrait and was painted when he was in early middle life, and like many other portraits of old sea captains and ship owners it shows a vessel in the background.

Sixteen Guns

In a Naval History of the American Revolution by Allen, Vol. I, he says, "The Massachu¬ setts navy began its existence in August, 1775? when the Machias, liberty and Diligent were taken into the service of the Province. These vessels cruised for about a year with some success. A Commission appointed December 29, 1775, to consider the subjeCt of a State Navy, ten vessels were authorized by the General Court of Massachusetts in February, 1776, the number being afterward reduced to five. April 20, 1776, it was resolved that the brigantine building at Kingston be called the Independence , and that the brigan¬ tine building at Dartmouth be called the TJsing Empire; that the sloop at Salisbury be called the Tyrannicide; that one of the sloops building at Swanzy be called the Republic and the other the Freedom ." From this it appears that the Independence is recorded as the first vessel authorized to be built by the State of Massachusetts for her State Navy.

"The first of the five vessels to get away to sea was the sloop Tyrannicide built at Salis¬ bury. She carried 14 guns and 75 men and sailed July 17, 1776, in command of Captain John Fiske." Allen's history further says, "Meanwhile the brigantine Independence , Cap¬ tain Simeon Sampson, whose instructions of July 26, 1776, were apparently the next issued after those of Captain Fiske, was directed immediately to proceed on a cruise not only against our Unnatural Enemies but also for ye Protection of the trade and you are directed to range the Coast of the Province of Maine and from thence proceed as far southward as Lat. 340 North and not further west than the Shoals of Nantucket, nor further east than the Island of Sable on the Coast of Nova Scotia." He also says, "The Independence accom¬ plished little during the year and was captured by the enemy in the spring." As no date is given it must have been in 1777, for he says, that the Massachusetts brigs, Tyrannicide , Qaptain Haraden and Hazard , Qaptain Sampson , sailed late in 1777 on a cruise to the West Indies.

"This distinguished naval commander was a native of Kingston. He was appointed by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, The first naval captain in the service and com¬ manded the brig Independence and afterward the Mars , both vessels being built at Kingston

William Sever, Esquire, 1760

Landing. In 1776, he captured five prizes, but was himself soon after taken by Captain Dawson after a bloody conflict. He died June 22, 1789."

William T. Davis in his book entitled "Ancient Landmarks of Plymouth," speaks of Captain Simeon Sampson as being buried on Burial Hill, Plymouth, and that he received the first naval commission issued by the Provincial Congress and was placed in command of the brig Independence , built at Kingston, the first vessel that was placed in commission. He made many successful cruises in the Independence , Hazard and Warren , winning as many victories as he fought battles, until after one of the most bloody contests of the war, he was captured by Captain Dawson and held a prisoner in Fort Cumberland, near Halifax, until released by exchange. The sword worn by him in his various battles and returned to him on his surrender by Captain Dawson in recognition of his gallantry, is in Pilgrim Hall, a fitting companion to the blade of Myles Standish, whose granddaughter he had married.

An old account book belonging to William Sever of Kingston, records that he was the Agent for the Provincial Government of Massachusetts, or as he sometimes writes it, State of Mass. Bay, in the building at Kingston, Mass., in 1776 of the brig Independence as under the date of November 22, that year, the following entry is found in his journal: "Mass. State for brig Independence , Dr. to William Drew, his bill for building 488 pounds." There are many other charges in the journal to the State on the brig's account, and the last one is dated "Kingston, Feb. 1777. Mass. State for brig Independence. To cash paid Daniel Adams for expenses in recruiting 3 pounds 7 shillings, 9 pence." From these and other charges it is shown that William Sever was the State Agent until the brig was ready for sea with crew on board.

In the Kingston Public Library are a number of pamphlets and historical papers about the town that were written by Mr. Cornelius A. Bartlett of Kingston many years ago. He was a ship carpenter and worked in the various shipyards on Jones River from about 1830 to 1865. He married a sister of John N. Drew, a descendant of Samuel Drew, who was a shipwright, or as later called, a ship carpenter, and the first Drew to settle in Kings¬ ton in 1713. Among his papers in the Library is a history of the Drew family. In it he says the shipyard where he and his sons built was in the valley near the line of the Alms House lot, launching many vessels across the river. His sons and grandsons were also ship¬ wrights using this same yard. Mr. Bartlett also says that the grandsons of Samuel Drew built the brig Independence , 16 guns, and the ship Mars , 20 guns, for the Provincial Govern¬ ment of Massachusetts. John Drew, a great-great-grandson of Samuel, told him they were built near where the Alms House now stands, having been told so by men who worked on them when they were building.