COHASSET'S DEEP SEA CAPTAINS.

IN the year 1800, or thereabouts, young Southward Pratt left his father's house in Cohasset on a morning in summer for the prosaic purpose of driving the cows to pasture, a task he had performed since he had been able to trudge at their heels and put up and take down the bars of the fence which confined them in their pasture.

It had been his custom also to go for the cows at night and bring them home, but on that particular night the cows stood at the bars lowing in vain to be let out and taken home to the barn to be milked. But their young driver did not make his appearance that evening nor for many a day after, for young Southward Pratt had responded to the call of the sea, which called to him as he stood at the pasture bars, and had " run away to sea."

Three years afterward young Mercy Gannett, who had come from Scituate to live out at the Pratts, in those days when the hired girl was an equal of the members of the family for whom she worked, started one summer afternoon to get the cows and bring them home. But as she approached the pasture she found the bars being taken down by a young man, whose cheeks, burned by the sun and wind of foreign climes, showed that his calling was that of a sailor, who informed her that he would drive the cows home. Mercy hastened home with the report that a strange young man had taken away the cows from her.

It was young Southward Pratt, who, returning from three years voyaging over foreign seas, had resumed the task, dropped so abruptly by him, of driving the cows. This true story ended as it naturally should by Southward and Mercy in time becoming man and wife, and is only introduced here as the opening of this chapter on deep sea captains as an illustration of the irresistible call of the sea for the boys of Cohasset.

532
VESSELS BUILT IN COHASSET AND DRAWN FROM MEMORY BY FRANK PRATT AS I P01 THE COVER OF HIS NARRATIVE. REPRESENTING VESSELS SAILED IN BY HIM.

 

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 533
 

That the inhabitants of Cohasset should have been a sea- faring race was as inevitable as that the city of Tyre on the coast of Phoenicia should have furnished a nation of sailors and merchants.

T~ ('AnqqPt'q nnrl~ rinvc fh~ shipbuilding and seafaring. The virgin forests stood ready to supply the oak and pine necessary for the construction of the vessel. Young men, eager to take up the adventurous life of the sailor, awaited the completion of the craft, each one confident that a few years of experience and hard work would find him in command of a ship of his own.

In the days of small craft, before the huge steel leviathans were even imagined, before the railways had compelled the distribution of cargoes from a few ports, when the little town of Salem rivaled Boston as a port through which trade with India was carried on, it was not unusual for a seatoast town of the size of Cohasset to send forth square-rigged, deep sea vessels, built. and manned from captain to cabin boy by her own sons. The constitution of the State, recognizing this fact, permitted the study of navi- gation in its High Schools.

What a change has the passing of the years wrought in the life of Cohasset in this respect! Where two or three shipyards turned out annually vessels furnishing occupation for her ship carpenters, sailors and fishermen; where wharves, extending at intervals from the head of the cove to Hominy Point on one side of the harbor and to the Gulf Stream on the other, served as berths for a crowd of merchantmen, fishermen, and packets, now the echo of the mallet and adze has long since died away, and the vessels of various descriptions which formerly filled the harbor have departed never to return.

In their place we see a fleet of pleasure craft and power dories, and Cohasset, once a town furnishing employment to its inhabi- tants within its borders, serves now as a bedroom for men and women earning their living in Boston.

Twenty-five years ago, sea captains, men who had sailed their ships and carried the flag of their country to every part of the globe, were a common sight on our streets. To-day Cohasset cannot boast of a man living within its borders who has ever commanded a square-rigged vessel, and but few sailors who have been in foreign ports. This change, while it is, perhaps, to be regretted, is one which has been brought about by the new con- ditions under which business of every kind is transacted to-day. Since the seafaring vocation of Cohasset and the men who followed it axe no more, it behooves us to make a matter of record of the men and the vessels hailing from Cohasset in those goodolddays. But, alas, we have taken up this task too late. Of the very early masters there is barely more than the record of their names. In some cases the families to which they belonged have died out, or have departed from the town, and it is not strange that no record is left behind of their vessels and voyages, for in but a few instances can be obtained complete records of the voyages of captains whose children are living to-day. If, therefore, this chapter fails to give as full a record of each captain as might be desired, it is only because such records are not obtainable.

Not a few square-rigged vessels were built at Cohasset and hailed from it, but the schooner then, as to-day, was the popular craft. Most of the schooners were built primarily for fishing, but in the winter, instead of letting this property lie idle, it was the custom to intrust it to the care of some bright young Cohasset skipper for the purpose of trading in the Gulf of Mexico. A cargo would be obtained in Boston for some port in the Southern States, Charleston, Mobile, Savannah, New Orleans, or Galveston, and between these ports and the ports of the West Indies trading voyages were made until it was time for the schooner to return to Cohasset to fit out for the fishing season.

As a rule the captain of the vessel was given some interest in the profits of the winter's work, as was right and proper, for the success of the winter's trading depended largely on his keenness, prudence, and devotion to his employer's interests. Contact with the merchants and shipowners of Boston soon brought about an opportunity to serve as mate in some larger vessel bound for ports in hurope, and so, step by step, the lad who started at the lowest round of the ladder as boy in a fishing schooner, in time attained the topmost round, and walked the quarter-deck of a Yankee clipper ship, the acme at that time of naval construction.

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 535

Nothing shows the difference between the old and the new more than the early age at which boys began to follow the sea. Frank Pratt went to sea at eight, James Collier at nine, and John P. T. Percival at eleven; and these instances might be multi- 'Ined indefinitely. IL IUIIUWM IIULUIWIY UIUL ~dl)LUUI~ UUU~l ~twenty-one were not uncommon. The call of the sea for the ~~young men of Cohasset seemed irresistible in those days, and the dangers attending the life of the sailor served rather to increase ::than to diminish its attractiveness.

Frank Pratt, son of Dr. Ezekiel Pratt and father of Dr. Gustavus Pratt, gives the following incident in an account which he left of his seafaring life. "We were in the Gulf Stream in a North east gale with a heavy cross sea running. Soon the flying jib boom and all was carried away by the sea. We were 'hove to' at the time under close reefed fore-sail. Next the halyards parted, went out the scuppers and caught in the rudder. That left us under bare poles. It was then I saw the captain do a brave and dangerous piece of seamanship, such as I have never seen done since, in sixteen years of sea life. The jib must be saved if pos- sible. No one dared to go on the bow-sprit but the captain. I stood in the companion-way and saw him go out on the end of the bow-sprit, stand up, holding on to the jib-stay with both hands, knife in his mouth, go under three times, all out of sight, hold on and cut the sail from the hanks."

Such incidents as these served as themes for many a winter's tale around Cohasset firesides fifty to seventy-five years ago. Many of these sea captains attained to a competency from the very fact that the deep sea vessels of those days were so small, and it was possible for them to own a respectable interest in them and share profits of the voyages. As has been said, of the earliest sea captains very little has come down to us but the record of their births and deaths. In the houses of their descendants hang their portraits, painted, usually in Antwerp, and perhaps the picture of one of the square- riggers commanded by them.

536 History of Cohasset.

Among these captains may be mentioned Aaron Pratt, born in 176o, and died in 1843. From the register of the Boston Custom House we glean these items, that Aaron Pratt was captain of the schooner Enterprise in i8og, of the brig Eliza and Lydia in i8io, and of the Triton in 1811. As only vessels going to foreign ports were registered at the Boston Custom House, we may safely put him down, as well as the others whose names follow, as deep sea sailors.

John Jacob Lothrop was born in 1763, and died in 1823. No doubt his name would have been found as captain of some vessel registered at the Boston Custom House were it not for the fact that the books of registration covering the period from 1789 to i8o6 are at Washington, for use in the French Spoliation claims, which have been dragging along now for over a century. Cap- tain Lothrop's portrait, painted in Antwerp, hangs in the house of his grand daughter, Mrs. Richard Sankey. In 1789 he is spoken of as master of the schooner Priscilla, in 1794 of the schooner Betsey, in 1795 of the sloop Clara, in 1798 of the schooner Bethiah. In the year 1807 there came to Cohasset, from Truro, on the Cape, two brothers, Ephraim Snow, born in 1777, and Henry Snow, born in 1781. They purchased the house now occupied by Dr. William Bryant, on Black Horse Lane, now called, in remembrance of them, Snow Place.

The elder of these brothers is known to have been a deep sea captain, and is said to have crossed the Atlantic fifty times. In 18o7 the registry of the Boston Custom House has him as master of the schooner Ruth, a Cohasset vessel Of 115 tons, owned and built in i8oS by Levi Tower. In 18io, still in command of the schooner Ruth, an attempt is made by the press gang in Liverpool to take from him some members of his crew, and in 1815 we find this same vessel registered with E. Snow still as captain, but with her rig changed to that of a brig. The supposition is that from 1807 up to and including 1815, and probably beyond that time, Captain Snow was master of the Ruth, and made in her foreign voyages.

Two other vessels which he commanded, and in which he made voyages to Liverpool, were the ships M~. Vernon and Warren. On one of his voyages he brought from Spain the boy Salvador Sabate y Morell, of Willaseca, Tarragona, born 1790, and naturalized April 9, 1816, as Samuel Snow. This young Spaniard evidently took naturally to the water, for we find him in 1816, the year of his naturalization, captain of the new fishing schooner Independence. Later we find Samuel Snow registered as captain of the schooner Good Intent, the schooner Six Brothers, of the brig Mayflower, December 8, 1823, and of the schooner Joseph, November.3, 1824. He was lost at sea October 3, 1825-

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 537

CAPTAIN EPHRAIM SNOW was the father of a second Captain Ephraim Snow, and father-in-law of Captain J. P. T. Percival.

CAPTAIN HENRY SNOW, brother of Ephraim Snow, we can learn but little about, and that only from the record department of the Boston Custom House. There he is recorded as captain of the following Cohasset vessels registered for foreign voyages, schooner Speedwell, 1811; schooner Three Sisters, 1816; schooner Frank- lin, 1820; brig Rebecca,,I820; schooner Almira, 1821; brig Ann, 1822 and 1824. He was father of Captain Henry Snow and father-in-law of Captain Nichols Pratt,

PETER PRATT, son of Captain Aaron mentioned above, is said to have been very severe in his treatment of his men, and to obtain it crew was obliged to resort to the subterfuge of remaining below until his ship was at sea and then appearing on the quarter-deck, to the consternation of his sailors. In 1815 he was captain of the New Orleans Packet, in 1829 of the ship Hellespont, in 1833 Of the ship Propontis, and in 1834 of the ship Conohassel. In 1834 and 1835 he paid hospital money at the port of Cohasset as captain of the Schooner Ellen.

CAPTAIN EZEKIEL WALLIS (or Wallace) lived in the house at the southerly end of South Main Street, near the Scituate line, now partially bumt, and known for some years as the "Highland House." He was born in 1784 and died in 1859- In the first volume of this history he is spoken of as captain of the schooner Nancy, in the year 1814, which was captured by the English and taken to Halifax. In 1814 he was captain of the brig George.

JAMES COLLIER, born at North Scituate in 1775, died there in i85o. He married Sally Lincoln of Cohasset, a daughter of Allan Lincoln, who was captured on board his vessel by the English during the Revolution and died in an English prison. Her mother was Persis Tower, who, after her husband's death, is said to have sailed a schooner to Gloucester, to obtain supplies for the inhabitants of Cohasset cut off by the English blockade. After the Revolution she married Captain James Hall, one of Washington's staff officers, and thus became the ancestress of two lines of sailors.

In the year 1803 he was owner and captain of the Light Horse. At the age Of 3r, in the year 1806, he was captain of the ship William Tell of Scituate, a vessel Of 258 tons. Possibly on this voyage he visited Antwerp, for his picture, painted in that city at about tha ' t time, is still in the possession of his grand-chil- dren. Later he bought the wharf in Cohasset formerly owned by Luther Stephenson and others, and became a vessel owner, as well as master, for in 1814 the schooner Little Sarah is registered at the Boston Custom House with James Collier as builder, owner and master. In 1821 he is again registered as her captain, and in 1824 of the Young James. All these, as well as the Elizabeth, built in 1829, were named for his children.

Although his living came from the sea, he wished that his sons might not be obliged to follow it, and gave four of them trades, which they promptly put one side and proceeded to enroll them. selves in the ranks of Cohasset's sailors.

CAPTAIN LEVI PRATT was born in 1798 and died in 1869. Heis recorded in the Boston Custom House as captain of the following vessels: ship Fama, 1825; schooner Bashaw, 1829; schooner High Flyer, 1832; the ship Concordia, 1851; the ship Chaos, 771 tons, 1840; ship Amazon, 1855. Two other ships which he commanded were the Robert and the Triton, or Trenton.

CAPTAIN DANIEL T. LOTHROP was born in 1796, and died in 1871. His first command of which we have any record is the Cohasset-built schooner Three Sisters in 1820, owned in part by his father. He then entered the employ of the Grays, of New- buryport and Boston, for whom he sailed the brig Cornelia in 1823, the brig Charlotte, 274 tons, in 1826 and 1830, the ship Streglitz in 1835, and the ship Oriosto, 361 tons, in 1839.

In the later years of his life, after his retirement from the sea, he acted as Underwriter's Agent, and was until his death one of the solid,.public-spirited citizens of the town.

CAPT DANIEL T LOTHROP. 1796- 1871 SHIP - STREGLITZ 0 T. Lothlop Commandsr.

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 539

CAPTAIN THOMAS STODDARD, born in Cohasset in 1787, died in 1854- In the later years of his life he was always referred to as Lieutenant btoddard, a title gained in the revenue service. He is recorded as captain of the schooner Juno in the years r8ii and 1820.

CAPTAIN GEORGE HALL was the son of Persis (Tower) Lincoln and Captain James Hall, and was bom in Cohasset in 1790, in the house on the Plain, now owned by Mrs. Nina E. Lincoln. In his younger days he made voyages to the Mediterranean. On one of these voyages his vessel was captured by pirates, who signified their intention of stripping the vessel arid setting it adrift. It seemed as if the captain and crew were about to face death by starvation in midwinter. Most opportunely it was discovered that Captain Hall and the captain of the pirate crew were masons. Immediately the aspect of affairs was changed, and Captain Hall was allowed to go on his way rejoicing, bring- ing his vessel safely into port.

In 1815 he was awarded a gold medal by the Massachusetts Humane Society for his bravery in assisting in the rescue of two sailors shipwrecked off Cohasset rocks. In 1818 he commanded the schooner Dille Sarah, and in 1821 the schooner Aforgiana. In 1828 he abandoned foreign voyages, and for many years sailed a packet between Cohasset and Boston. He afterwards engaged in the fishing business with his brother, Abraham, having a wharf and store at Hominy Point, near where 11ow stands the Cohasset Yacht Club House. He married Cynthia Collier of Scituate (whose brother, Captain James Collier had married his half-sister, Sallie Lincoln), and built the house on Highland Avenue, still known as the old George Hall house, where he reared a family of sixteen children. Some of his sons are well remembered today as sailors and shipbuilders. To him descended from his father, the Revolutionary officer, his membership in the order of the Cincinnati. He died at Cohasset in 1854.

CAPTAIN SAMUEL HALL, the youngest son of Captain James Ball, is on record at the Boston Custom House as captain and part owner of the schooner Charlotte, from 1830 to 1834 engaged in foreign commerce.

540 History of Cohasset.

CAPTAIN PHILIP FOX. The most picturesque figure on the list or Cobasset's deep sea captains is Captain Philip Fox. He was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 1795,and married April - -~81 - A--- V) ~, "n12% the daughter of Joel Willcutt, of Cohasset. How this young sailor from England came to Cohasset and married a Cohasset girl, we know not, nor whether at that time he was a sailor before the mast or a mate, but probably the latter. His father-in-law, Joel Willcutt, kept a diary in which were recorded happenings worthy of note in his family, and in the town. From this diary we learn that Fox sailed from Boston May 11, 1818, in the ship Milo bound for Charleston, S. C. From the Custom House Register at Boston we learn that the ship Milo was owned by David Hinckley and commanded by Captain Bronson. Without doubt Philip Fox was her first mate.

The next year Captain Bronson and Philip Fox were transferred to the ship Herald. The Herald was a new vessel Of 302 tons, built in 1818 at Newbury, and owned by David Hinckley, Sainuel Appleton and David P. Parker. On the outward voyage Captain Bronson was lost overboard and Philip Fox assumed command, His first voyage as captain was made in 36 days, arriving in Boston from Liverpool April 4, 1819.

On his second voyage the time was 45 days from Liverpool to Boston, where he arrived August 16. The new ship Herald in these two voyages had not shown any evidence of the speed which was in her, nor had her captain established the reputation, which was soon to be his, as a driver.

On the next voyage from Liverpool to Boston the Herald arrived December 23, bringing London papers dated the 4th and Liverpool papers dated the 6th. The Boston Gazette under the marine head announced the passage "seventeen days from Liverpool, fourteen to Cape Cod." The Sentinel, Patriot and Daily Adver. tiser all give her 17 days. Under the marine head of the Adver. tiser it is stated thus: "The Herald sailed from Liverpool December 6 and arrived in our Bay yesterday (23) morning. This is the shortest passage from any port in England within our recollection."

CAPT. PHILIP FOX. 1795-1932 SHIP ~ EMERALD"

541 Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains.

Lastly Joel Willcutt in his diary under date of December 23, 181g, has this entry: "Captain Fox arrived at Boston in seventeen days from Liverpool." There is no doubt therefore that her i'pusage of seventeen days is given as correctly as could be without hour she arrived in Boston, which if ascertained would probably make it a few hours more or less than seventeen days. Philip Fox, at the age of twenty-four, as c,,~.ptain of the ship JTerdd, had made the quickest passage ever made from England to America. It was on his arrival at this time when hailed to know when he left, that he replied, "Week before last." Captain Fox had an appreciation of a joke even though he was of English birth. January 13, I82o, he is off again, this time for Charleston. ~.May 16 records his arrival at Boston, probably from Liverpool, to which port no doubt the Herald sailed from Charleston, as the trip from Boston to Charleston, thence to Liverpool with cotton, ~,and home again with passengers and miscellaneous freight, was A common trip in those days.

May 29 he sails again for Charleston, and October 4 finds him in Boston again, the round trip taking as before about four months. November 5 he left for Charleston, and his arrival home is not recorded until May 7, J821, a six months' trip this time, possibly to different ports, possibly delayed waiting for cargo, for we cannot imagine him making a slow passage. Juneioth Captain Fox left Boston for Liverpool, accompanied by his wife and little son, Charles, and September ig Joel Willcutt records: t~;'uCaptain Fox arrived at Boston and came home with his wife ,'and Charles this evening," and October i, "Captain Fox moved into Joshua Oakes' house." Charles Fox, the eldest son of Captain Fox, used to relate in After years his remembrances of this trip to England at the age of six. A trip was made into Lincolnshire, where the little boy was struck with the oddity of a flight of stairs going up on the outside of his grandfather's house. He also had a vivid recollection of the stage coach in which they made their journey, being chased by highwaymen from whom by the fleetness of their horses, they escaped.

1. History of Cohasset.

~TIUWUL 1111U Vi ~Iveipoul packets was owned by James Kead and others, the ships being given the names of precious stone% To Captain Fox was given the command of the ship EmerA The ship Emerald was built in Boston in 1822, and was a vesA Of 359 tons. She seems like a pigmy to us to-day, but in her day evidently, was a good-sized ship. The list of her eighty-iz; owners is a list of the blueblood merchant princes of eighty-five years ago. And Philip Fox was the captain chosen to bring out what was in her. October ii, X822, she was registered, and the 13th she starts on her maiden voyage. April 23, 1823, e arrived home from Liverpool, a six months' trip. Nothing wonderful about that. Evidently the Emerald was not yet tuned up. April 2oth he is off again, and arrives home the week of August 22d, riot doing so well as the Amethyst, which left May 5th and arrived Au~LlSt 22d. On this voyage in the Amethysisailed 0 Joseph Willcutt, Captain Fox's brother-in4aw, probably as a mate, and on the next voyage of the Emerald, Captain Fox signed him as mate.

The Emerald has now been in commission a year; she has Cohasset men as captain and mate. Let's see what she can do. Joel Willcutt tells in one line: " 1824, March ioth, Captain Fox arrived from Liverpool in sixteen days." This record of Joel Willcutt's as to the length of the two quick passages bears testimony to the fact that Captain Fox considered this trip of the Emerald quicker by one day than the one made in the Herald in 181g.

The Emerald arrived on the 8th of March, 1824. The daily Advertiser, Patriot and Palladium of the 9th and Gazette of the i Ith give her sixteen days. The Centinel of the ioth gives her fifteen days, fourteen hours. The Palladium of the 12th contains the following, "We have examined the log book of the Emerald and find she sailed from Liverpool Friday, February 2oth, at 3 P ' X came round the rock, at 4 discharged the pilot. At 4 A.M., 21st, passed Holyhead. March Sth, 3 P.M., hove to off Boston Light. At 4 took a pilot and at 6 anchored below Fort Independence." Cohassel's Deep Sea Captains. 543 k I Taking the hour of rounding the rock on the 2oth as the time d leaving port and the hour of dropping the anchor on the 8th as the time of arrival, and taking into account that 1824 was ZAP Yc", LUC .~6 Seventeen days and three hours, or no shorter than the passage ~of the Herald. For years afterward these two short passages I were the theme for argument and the matter was threshed over

j and over.

In 1851 Samuel Topliff, an authority on marine matters, prompted by a discussion at that time going on in the Boston papers, made an exhaustive examination of all the records at hand, with the above result, that there was probably no actual difference in the length of the two passages. Whether this is the last word or not, we do not know, but as we have said above, Captain Fox evidently put down the trip of the Herald as seventeen days and of the Emerald as sixteen.

p At all events, and in either case, it was he who made the quick passage. In both cases the passages were spoken of as fourteen days to Cape Cod, and this article had been once written, put in type, and the proof struck off, based on a magazine article, which was largely based on fancy evidently, wherein Captain Fox is depicted as throwing on the wharf at Boston a package of English newspapers not fourteen days old. A story current in Cohasset, and which must have some basis of truth in it, for Cohasset and Scituate men served under Captain Fox, was that coming into Boston Harbor at the termination~of one of these quick passages, Captain Fox did not wait for the tide to serve for the vessel to get up to the wharf, but ran her on to the mud and taking a row boat hurried ashore and. reported his arrival. From the following anecdote it may be inferred that the quick passage of the Emerald was made in a continuous gale from shore to shore, and that Captain Fox carried sail all the time, indeed, the man at the wheel had to be lashed to prevent his being swept overboard. As the Emerald was coming up Massachusetts Bay, Captain Fox appearing on deck in the morning caught sight of the lee rail. "Why here's a stranger," he cried.

544 History of Cohasset.

It has been said that so great an interest had been aroused by the performances of the clipper ships under the command of Captain Fox that hundreds assembled on India Wharf to witness the leaving of the Emerald on what was to be the quickest passage* Some there were, probably, who made all kinds of dismal prophecies as to the ultimate end of the ship driven by so reckless a captain. Others, no doubt, called to mind the fact that although Captain Fox was a driver he had never yet lost a spar or sail. As the ship disappeared down the harbor under her own sail, for there were no steam tugs in those days to tow vessels out of port, or into their wharves, the crowd turned away, calculating the time when the Emerald would poke her nose into the wharf she bad just left. But the most sanguine never imagined how short that time would be.

In those days no wireless messages conveyed the news from Cape Cod of a home-bound ship's return; no telegram f rorn Hull told of her nearing her destination. It was only when she came up the harbor, under more sail than most captains care to carry when coming into port, that the owners were informed that the Emerald was returning. It never occurred to them that she was returning from Liverpool, but that she was returnmig to repair the damage occasioned by some mishap. Therefore, as soon as the Emerald was within hailing distance, Captain Fox was greeted with the inquiry, "What's the matter?" For answer he tossed on the wharf a package of English papers not eighteen days old, and bade them look at the dates. It has been said that the insurance companies after this record trip of the Emerald refused to insure any vessels captained by Philip Fox. Be that as it may, Joel Willcutt records his starting off again March 21St, and his arrival home June 3rd, whether in the Emerald or not he does not say, but Captain Fox evidently kept at his vocation as sea captain until his death, which occurred in the Mediterranean in 1832

There is no one alive who remembers Captain Fox, but stories concerning him are plentiful in Coliasset, and from these one gathers that he was a man of quick impulses, generous to a fault, ever ready to do a friend a good turn. This latter trait is evi- denced by the fact that he obtained ships, or places on ships, for his brother-in-law and the husbands of his sisters-in-law. When he arrived in Boston he was always in Cohasset the same Cohassel's Deep Sea Captains, 545 day, and if he was not able to hire a horse and chaise for the r.. y, he would buy one. He bought the house on North Main

Journe qtr"t- now nernnipri h~ M. W~11U IL Wah In

-process of construction, and had it finished to suit his peculiar ideas. Either before or after he was in the Liverpool trade he probably made journeys to India, for he brought home articles of

furniture which must have come from that locality. The Amethyst and the Emerald were sold into the whaling trade and the Amethyst was lost among the ice upon the northwest coast in 1886. The Emerald was purchased by John A. Parker an eminent merchant of New Bedford, in 1827, and she became 4tfamous in the new business she was so long employed in, whaling. Lucky as a whaler as she had been as a packet, in seven voyages her average fare was 27oo barrels of whale and sperm oil. In 1862 she was sold to parties in Honolulu, S. I., and her new debut was under the native name of one of the ancient kings there. %Whether she is going now or not, we do not know, but certainly she must have been a strongly built vessel to have survived Philip Fox's driving her with all sail set in the midst of a gale and running on the mud in the place of the more prosaic method of letting go the anchor.

The picture of her which is reproduced here is from the collection of oil paintings of old ships in the possession of Mr. William 0. Taylor, of the Boston Globe, who very kindly had the painting photographed in order that a haJf-tone might be obtained for this chapter. The vessel is represented as being in holiday attire on the occasion of some celebration, possibly the laying of the foundation of the Bunker Hill Monument June 17, 1775, when Lafayette laid the corner stone and Daniel Webster made the oration. The ,'National ensign floating at the stern with its nineteen stripes is interesting as showing the number of states in the Union at that ~time, although by the law passed in 1818 the flag was restored to the original thirteen stripes.

This passage of the Emerald is we believe the quickest ever made ,between Liverpool and Boston by a vessel of her size or anywhere near her size. The clipper ship Red Jacket, 3500 tons, built in Bath in 1854, made the trip from Boston to Liverpool in a shorter time.

546 History of Cohasset.

CAPTAIN JOSEPH WILLCUTT was bom in Cohasset, September 22, 1799. He was a son of Joel Willcutt, whose diary has already been referred to, and to which the writer acknowledges his deep obligation for valuable bits of information in preparing this chapter.

So far as is known Joel Willcutt never was a sailor, but his sons all were, and his daughters, with two exceptions, married sailors. Possibly this was due to the fact that his wife, whose name was Sutton, came from a seafaring family. His sons, Lewis, Warren, Andrew, Lot, and Joseph, all became fishermen in their youth, and Andrew and Lewis made deep sea voyages, but there is no record that any one of them, with the exception of Joseph, ever became deep sea captains, although Andrew is spoken of as captain of the fishing schooner Union.

His daughter, Anna, married Captain Philip Fox, Betsey became the wife of Captain James Pratt, Isabella married Captain John Williams, who with Captain Charles Bennett, the husband of Myra Willcutt, was lost at sea in a trip to the West Indies in 1841- From 1814, when Joseph was fifteen years old, to 18ig, we find annual records in the diary of his fitting out each summer for mackerel voyages, but in the latter year he began to sail with his brother-in-law, Captain Fox, in the ship Herald on his voy' ages to Charleston and Liverpool. On May 9, 1822, Joseph arrived at Boston four days after Captain Fox had sailed from Boston, so it is probable that sometime in 1821 Captain Fox had obtained a berth for him in some other vessel, presumably as mate. July r2th he returned from another voyage. October 13th he sailed for Savannah on the ship America, May 3, 1823, he sailed for Charleston in the ship Amethyst, arriving home by way of Liverpool, August 22d. He then took the position of mate on the Emerald under his brother-in-law, Captain Fox, and his first voyage from Liverpool to Boston was made in sixteen days. The next record we have of Joseph is of his leaving Boston, June 24, 1824, for Liverpool, and arriving in Boston, September 24th. January 1, 1829, he sailed from Boston in the ship Charles Henry; November 30, 183r, he arrived at Boston.

The last two entries in the diary in regard to him are: " 1835, Coltasset's Deep Sea Captains. 547 January 29tb, Joseph came home this day." " 1841, April 8th, Our son Joseph died." Tn The latter venrq nf bi~ Nf- I- j ---- -- -- -- 11~ a LlUdILUE interest in the bark Juno, of which he was also commander. We have no rtcord of the exact date when he first became a captain, but it vw probably in 1824, or soon after. He married Myra Bates 5 and lived in the house on the northerly comer of Highland

,'Avenue and Beach Street, which she inherited from her father. 4~ The records at the Boston Custom House give us this further record in regard to Captain Joseph Willcutt. In 1836 he was captain of the 541-ton ship Charlotte, built in 1836, and owned by Henry Oxnard, Abbot Lawrence, and William Appleton. In ,March, 1839, he is registered as captain and part owner of the 295-ton bark Juno4built in Boston in the winter of 1838-39, and this was without doubt his last command.

CAPTAIN JOHN WILLIAMS and CAPTAIN CHARLES BENNETT married Isabella and Myra, daughters of Joel Willcutt. In a ,~voyage from New York to the West Indies with a heavy cargo of com their vessel was lost, and no tidings were ever obtained from them. Captain Williams was accompanied by his son, Lyman Davis, fourteen years of age, who pleaded so hard to be taken along that his father reluctantly consented, against his own better judgment, hoping that one voyage would cure the boy of 4his desire to become a sailor. So in one year Joel Willcutt was robbed by death of one son, two sons-in-law, and a grandson. The record given of such vessels commanded by John Williams as were registered at the Boston Custom House is as follows: Ut must be understood that a vessel is registered but once, unless it has changed owners.) Brig Laurel, July 21, 1823; brig Susan, June 15, 1824, brig Mermaid, August 6, I83o, brig Fortune, .March 1, 1831; brig Elizabeth, November it, 1836 (owned in Hingham); brig Padang, January 7, 1832. October 17, 1837, he h registered as captain of the schooner Amanda Ophelia, named 'for his infant daughter, a vessel of 58 tons, built at Robin- Stan, Maine, the same year, the others owners being Rufus Lane, Clia es Lane, and Caleb Marsh.

548 History of Cohasset.

He is registered August 11, 1838, as master of the brig Russell, built at Cohasset in 1835, also May 11, 1839;' schooner Har, many, November 9, 1839, built at Cohasset the preceding year. Of the schooner Eunice, built at Cohasset in i8iq, and owned by Abraham H. Tower, he was captain, September 5, 1840, and September 21, 1841, captain and part owner. This vessel Was, his last command, and the voyage on which he started in her in September, 1841, was only ended when his vessel laid her bones on the bottom of the sea, over which he had sailed for so many years.

Of CAPTAIN JAMES PRATT, the remaining son-in-law of Joel Willcutt, we have been unable to find any record, except that he was at one time captain of the brig Talisman, and it was while he commanded this vessel that her picture was pjinted representing her as entering the harbor of Liverpool, a reproduction of which forms one of the illustrations of this chapter.

CAPTAIN JOHN LINCOLN was born in 1784, and died at sea in 1832. The name of John Lincoln is given as captain of the fol-' lowing vessels in the registers of the Boston Custom House, but as the name continues on the records after the death of the Cohasset John Lincoln, we cannot be sure that these vessels were actually commanded by him: Schooner Eliza, May, 18ig; schooner Mary Ann, 1822; brig Boston, 1823; brig Billow, 1824; brig Chilo, 1828; brig Wave, 1831- We also find another John Lincoln, commanding the following Cohasset vessels: -Schooner William, 1791, brig Triton, 1793, schooner Neptune, 1795- CAPTAIN JOHN WILSON was born in 1788, and died in 186r. In the possession of his grandson are a sextant inscribed, "John Wilson, 180g," one or two old log books, now almost indecipher- able on account of age and water stains, an old cutlass left by an English officer on board the Cohassel packet during the War of 1812, a certificate of American citizenship from the collector of the port of New York, and a water-color picture of the Cohasset schooner Charlotte (hermophrodite brig) in the harbor of Mar- seilles in 1830-

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 549

From the first volume of the Cobasset history we learn that he was captured in the Cohassel packet in the War of 1812, and that his vessel was redeemed by her owner, Levi Tower, by the payment of a ransom. Hence the cutlass. In i8ig he is men- Cloned as captain of the fishing schooner Lydia. The records of the Boston Custom House show him to have been captain of the Almira in 1823. From the log book we learn that the voy- ages made at this time were from Norfolk, Va., to Malaga and back to Boston, and from Philadelphia to St. Thomas.

November 17, 1827, he is recorded as captain of the schooner Charlotte, and we know from the picture referred to above that he was still captain of the same craft in 1830. In 1836, 1837, and 1838, he was captain of the schooner Eolus, and in 1841, he is registered not only as captain of the schooner Caroline, but as part owner. In 1845 he commanded the schooner Bounty.

JOHN (BAPTISTE) BARKER was bom in Italy in 1791. What brought him to Cohasset we do not know, but we do know that he settled here, married a Cohasset girl, and became a naturalized citizen of the United States, under the name of John Barker. possibly his name had been Giovanni BapilAte in his native Italy. He was most commonly known as Teesta Barker. Not & great deal can be ascertained in regard to his voyages. Frank Pratt, in his journal, mentions him in 1830 as sailing master of the fishing schooner Tower, owned by Captain Nichols Tower. On this voyage he was accompanied by his son, Elijah. In this vessel, in 1833 and 1837, he made foreign voyages. For several years he made trips to the West Indies in the schooner Juno, owned by Captain Nichols Tower, and in his last voyage in her was run down and nearly lost his life. The bark Lewisi also owned by Captain Nichols Tower, was another ves- sel which he commanded in 1841. He made several voyages in vessels owned by Captain Lothrop. St. Thomas, Porto Rico, and Curacoa were some of the ports visited by him on his voyages. In 1845 he was captain of the schooner Herculean, built at Salis- bury, and owned jointly by D. T. Lothrop, Josiah 0. Lawrence, and Captain David B. Wilson, and in x846 he is registered as master and managing owner of the same vessel. In 1850 a John Bar er is mentioned as captain of the brig Moulton. His last voyages were as captain of the schooner Grey Eagle, CAPT JOHN BARKER AND WIFE. 1791-185E. BARK " LEWIS (COHASSET). J.h, Bwk.,. C~..~d.,.

550 History of Cohasset. owned by himself and the Whitens of Hingham, of which he took command in October, 1852. On January 6, 1856, when within twenty-four hours' sail from New York, his vessel was capsized. and all on board were lost. Captain Barker was one of the many men in Cohasset who distinguished himself as a life saver. When the Boston was wrecked on the rocks off Cohasset, Captain Barker, assisted by John Lothrop and two others, went out in a boat to the wreck and took off the crew. For this act Captain Barker received a gold medal, which is now in the possession of his great-grandson in Newark, N. J. LEAVITT BARNEs was born in 1799, and was drowned off the the Island of St. Thomas, August 25, 1827. He was captain of the Three Sisters in 1821, Of the Hero in 1824, and of the Juno, in which, or from which, he lost his life, in 1827- CAPTAIN WARREN ORCUTT was born in j8oo, and died in 1812. He was captain of the schooner Sarah in 1832, the schooner Gold Finch in 1833, the schooner Caroline in March and December, 1836, the schooner Typhoon in x859. CAPTAIN DAVID SUTTON was a familiar figure on the streets of Cohasset. He occupied the house on the comer of South Main and Beechwood Streets, the site of which is now occupied by the house built by William B. Johnson, Esq. His father was John Sutton, who came from Scituate to Cohasset and cOm., manded, and was part owner in 1790 Of the schooner Beckey. David S. Sutton was born in 18o2. He is mentioned as captain of the new ship Ohio, in 1848, and as owner of one-third ' and in 1849 as captain and three-eighths owner of the same ves. sel. He is also remembered as master of the bark Amazon out of Boston to New Orleans. In 1857 he is recorded as captain of the bark J. A. Lee. CAPTAIN EZRA TowLE, born at Suncook, N. H., March 30, 1804. Married Sybil Barnes of Cohasset, December 21, 1828. He came to Cohasset when fourteen years of age, where for three years he sailed in various fishing vessels during the summer months, st ing navigation and mathematics with various Cohasset c and completing his education in these branches in Boston. At Cohassel's Deep Sea Captains. 551 eighteen, he entered the Liverpool Packet service; at nineteen was first mate and at twenty-one, was a'captain in that service. A number of Cohasset men sailed with him before the mast, and as mates, at various times during the fourteen years he was engaged in this service, but no record of his voyages is now to be had, and we are dependent almost entirely on tradition for any information. It is known that at the time of his marriage, in 1828, he had com- pleted one of the quickest runs on record and had received a cash reward for the best run of the season. He was a man of genial disposition and warm heart, open handed and liberal in the extreme, but like many of the old time captains, rather severe aboard ship and a stickler for his rights, obliging not only his crew to toe the mark, but everybody he did business with. At request of his wife, he left the Liverpool service about 1833 or 1834 and entered the coasting trade, sailing mainly to Southern Ports-Savannah, New Orleans, Norfolk, the West Indies, etc. An incident, related to the writer by one who witnessed it, will signify a little Captain Towles' character. Captain Towles was sent by the owners to New Orleans to bring back a barque, whose captain and mate had died of yellow jack, and whose crew had all deserted her. He took on two men, a first mate and rigger, relying on picking up a crew there to handle her. He secured a crew of nine men, all tough specimens, and they made their boasts that they would fix the d--d Yankee Skipper before 48 hours. The second day out, the whole nine men got in a mixedup gen- eral row in the forecastle. The mate, who jumped below, was thrown on deck with a broken collar bone and a bad scalp wound. The narrator says Captain Ez. made about two jumps from the mizzenmast to the forecastle, grabbing a capstan bar on his way. He sprang below, and for about 15 minutes there was the liveliest mixup ever seen, but he was the last man an deck, driving them all before him, and every man bore some mark of that handspike. But after that, we had no more trouble with that crew. They realized their captain was a man and respected him as such. In 1839, 1840 and 1841 he paid hospital money at the port of Cohasset as captain of the schooner Rebecca and in 1844 Of the Schooner Rubicon.

Captain Towle left the sea for good in the early fifties, embarking in business as a contractor, in Cohasset. The older members of the community will remember the line of stages be conducted, conn ing with the Hingham and Nantasket boats. By an unfortun accident in 1856, he lost his left hand and crippled his right, but although handicapped, he still continued, until his death, actively engaged in various business lines. One monument to his enterprise is the cut at Cunningham's bridge. This outlet through the beach at this point having been made by Captain Towle, connecting the waters of Little Harbor with the ocean. He died in 1872. CAPTAIN DAVID WILSON was another foreigner who became an adopted son of Cohasset and one of her deep sea captains. He seems to have accumulated property in his calling, for in the vessels which 4 he commanded he generally was part owner. His record at the Boston Custom House is, 1843, master and owner with Josiah 0. Lawrence of the brig Casket; 1845, master and quarter owner of the brig Speedwell; 1848, master and third owner of the brig Speedwell; 1849, master and quarter owner of the bark Julia; 1850, master and three-eighths owner bark Julia, 1852-53, master of the schooner Georgianna; 1853-54i master and three-eighths owner of the ship Kepler; 1855, master and three. eighths owner of the ship Daylight. He was also one-third owner of the schooner Herculean. SiEpTimus THORNDIKE was another of Cohasset's captains of whom we can obtain but a very short record. In 1834 he was captain of the Two Sisters, in 1838 and 1839 of the Eunice, in 1840 of the Bela Bates, in 1841 of the Susan. Whether these were fishing vessels or not we have no means of knowing. In May, 1843, he took command of the new brig Speedwell, owned by A. H. Tower and Caleb Lothrop, and in June of the same year died on board of her. CAPTAIN WILLIAM PRATT, son of Captain Peter and grandson of Captain Aaron Pratt was a well-known deep sea captain, but almost no record can be obtained of his voyages. In 1838 he paid hospital money as captain of the schooner Ellen, in 1841 as captain of the schooner Gull, in 1846 of the schooner Talisman, of which he was part owner. In 1836 he was registered at the Boston Custom House as captain of the brig Phoebe Ann. His voyages carried him as far away as Calcutta, and he is known to have been wrecked on the west coast of South America when in the guano -trade. Late in life he was skipper of the Cohasset-built yacht "racip _ He -was born in 1807 and died in 1894.

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains, 553

CAPTAIN GEORGE W. COLLIER, the oldest son of Captain James Collier, was born in Cohasset in 18og. His father evidently did not intend him for a sailor, for he received a better education than did most of the boys of his age, and when a young man, took charge of the books in his father's store on the wharf at the head of the cove. He was at one time a member of the school committee, and represented Cohasset for one term as a member of the General Court. He and his chum, Edward Doane, were also elected at one of the town meetings as field drivers, and soon gave evidence of the fact that they did not consider the office an honorary one by putting their fathers' cows in the pound. In the first volume of this history he is set down as captain of the Polly in 1816, but, as at that time he was but seven years old, the entry is manifestly an error. A close investigation of the register discloses the fact that George Collins was the captain of the Polly at that time, a very natural error and one frequently made with the name of Collier. In spite of the intention of his father to make a merchant of him, it was evident that the love for the sea would not permit him to remain on shore, In 1831 he took part in a rescue of sailors shipwrecked on our coast, asis shown by the following inscription on a medal in the possession of his nephew, George Collier Bates, "The Humane Society of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to George W. Collier in testimony of their appreciation of his exertions, united with seven others, whereby the lives of the crew of the schooner Boston were preserved when in imminent danger off Cohasset rocks, April 12th, 1831-" Perhaps the very work he was engaged in, making entries per- taining to the vessels owned, or partly owned by his father, the young James, Little Sarah, Elizabeth, General Marion, Rubicon, pantheon, Profit, and Hobart, only served to make him restless. Possibly the call of the sea was too strong to be resisted as he looked out on the waters of the harbor dotted with vessels, or thought of his brother sailing his vessel on southern seas. At any

554 History of Cohasset.

rate he finally put one side the pen with which he had adomed with beautiful penmanship the ledgers in the old store on the .b.rf nrd hprnmp n qnilnr We have no record showing how, or in what vessels, or on what voyages, he obtained his preliminary training, but our first knowl. edge of him as sailor is obtained from Frank Pratt's narrative, where he appears as second mate of the bark Hobart, a Cohasset vessel with a Cohasset name, and manned from Captain down by Cohasset men. This was in 1842, in his thirty-third year, and the voyage-was New York to Bordeaux, thence to New Orleans, and back to New York. In the next voyage of the Hobart he was promoted to the posi- tion of first mate. This voyage was to Buenos Ayres and return, but the return was four years later than was anticipated, and Mr. Collier brought back as captain the vessel in which he had gone out as first mate. On arriving at New York the bark was immediately loaded with provisions for the sufferers from the famine in Ireland, and Captain Collier still continued in command. Captain Abraham Hall, who has already been referred to in these pages, visited Baltimore in his packet, carrying there freights of mackerel caught by the Cohasset fisherman, and returning with the products of the South. The firm with which he transaamA business in Baltimore was that of John Henderson & Co. On one of his trips Captain Hall found that young Gustavus Henderson, a son of the head of the firm, had run away from home and stowed himself away in the packet, and only appeared on deck when it was too late to return to his home. The upshot of the matter was that young Henderson became a member of the Hall family and stayed in Cohasset for six or seven years, becoming intimate with the Collier boys, who were nephews of Captain Hall. Nothing was more natural than that George W. Collier, in search of a ship, should turn to the friend of his young manhood, Gustavus Henderson, now a member of the firm of Henderson & Co., and apply for the command of one of the ships owned by that firm. The Hendersons always kept a warm spot in their hearts for any one hailing from Cohasset, and Captain J. P. T. Percival in his narra- tive bears testimony to the loving care which they bestowed on his dying brother, whom he was obliged to leave at Baltimore on one of his voyages.

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 555

So it came about that for many years Captain George W. Collier sailed from Baltimore in the employ of the Hendersons as captain of the shins Chasca and -tamp. llewdmon 77A ~Q- the I - - ___-__,__- -.-J~.~q, 1H ship John H. Jarz4s, 740 tons, is registered at Boston with George W. Collier as captain and one-eiglith owner. John Henry Cook was a sailor with him on this voyage, which was to New Orleans, Trieste, Venice, and other European ports, and Mr. Cook relates that when the vessel was outside of port Captain Collier had the crew called on deck and addressed them in a few words to this effect: - "Men, we have started on a voyage which I hope will be a good voyage for us and a good voyage for the owners of this ship. My constant endeavor shall be to work for the best interests of the owners, and if you will do the same, I shall be perfectly satisfied." "And," added Mr. Cook, "if he bad asked any man in that crew to jump overboard for him, he would have done it in a minute.,, Captain Collier was a man of exceedingly nervous temperament, absent-minded to the degree that on one occasion, in New Orleans, having availed himself of the loan of a horse and buggy to ride down town, his business completed, he returned home by car, leaving the horse and buggy where he had hitched him. Captain Collier married in England Miss Annie Tongue, whose ability may be judged from the fact that during an illness of Captain Collie , as related by Mr. Cook, she took charge and navigated the vessel. He was extremely fond of a practical joke, and, it is said, was the life of that group of homesick Cohasset boys cooped up in the town of Montevideo for four years. At the close of the Civil War he located in New Orleans in the ship chandlery business, where he lived until his death in 1886. DR. EZEKIEL PRATT, always referred to in Cohasset as "Old Dr. Pratt," furnished three sons and one grandson to the list of Cohasset's master mariners. The only complete record we have of any of them is that written of himself by Francis L. Pratt, the youngest son, which appears later in these pages. His eldest son, Nichols, was born in 18og, and died in 1848 at the age of thirty-nine, too early to have advanced far in his pro- fession. In 185o he was in command of the schooner Caroline.

556 History of Cohasset.

Captain Percival speaks of him in 1836 as the captain of the schooner Bela Bates. We know that later he was in command of vessels making foreign voyages, but we can get no record of the He paid hospital money as captain in 1834 of the schooner Morgiana, in 1835 of the schooner Friendship. His son, also named Nichols Pratt, was bom in Cohasset in i84o, and died in California in 1907. At the age of twenty-two he enlisted in the navy in the Civil War as acting master's mate. November 2, 1863, he was promoted to the position of acting ensign, and April 25, r865, was made acting master. He was on blockade service for twenty-three months, and was in the convoy and recovery of the ship Ohio. He received a letter from the department for services at Fort Fisher. After the war he went to China and obtained a position as captain of a river steanw, there, and made China his home until 1907, when he returned to the United States, dying in California the same year. Another son of Dr. Pratt was Henry, bom in 1812. He is spoken of by his brother Frank as mate of the Bela Bates at the age of fifteen, and ten years later he is spoken of as captain of the brig Talisman. He is also spoken of as second mate of a brig belonging to Mr. Jairus Pratt. This brig, according to Joel Willcutt's diary, was launched at Cohasset in 1834. His record at the Boston Custom House is captain brig Talisman and pan owner, 1837; 1844, captain brig Ann and Julia. March 30, t849, he is registered as master and part owner of the brig Pianet, 720 tons, the other owners being John H. Baker, Clark Cutting, and Artemas Thomdike, of Cohasset, and George Stoddard and George Adams, of Hingham. The Pianel was built at Eastport, Maine, in 1848. This voyage was to California at the time of the gold fever, and in addition to the owners, there were in the crew from Cohasset, Charles Bourne, Richard Lothrop, Israel Vinal, Lorenzo Bates, and Isaac Pratt. Captain Pratt remained in California until the later years of his life, when hj~ returned East. FRANcis L. PRATT was born in Cohasset, September 14, 1818, the youngest son of Dr. Ezekiel Pratt, and a descendant of the old Captain Aaron Pratt. At the age of eight he began his career as

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 557

a sailor on the schooner Albicore, Captain Willcutt, master, Edward 'Doane, supercargo, and Joseph Briggs, mate, for a trip to Bangor for lumber, receiving for the trip four dollars. The next summer he made fishing trips on the schooner Convert, Captain, Ezekiel Wallace. The next year on the schooner Susan, Captain, Freeman Gannett, he served as cook on a voyage to Washington, North Carolina, at a salary of eight dollars per month. It was on this voyage that the brave deed referred to in the beginning of this chapter was performed. His next maritime experience was on the fishing schooner William, sometimes called Black Bill, Captain, John Pratt. At the age of ten he made his first voyage as sailor on the schooner Bela Bates, Captain Crosby, with his brother Henry as mate. The voyage was from Cohasset to Richmond for a cargo of flour to be carried to Portland, Maine.. The next summer the fishing schooner Myra, Captain, Caleb Souther, and Friendship, Captain, Elijah Pratt, had him as a member of their crews; and the next year the Bela Bates, Captain, Henry Martin. This schooner, Bela Bates, seems to have been the training school for a great many Cohasset boys. At the age of eleven, in company with his cousin Warren, Frank Pratt made his first trip on a square rigger, the ship Chatham, Captain Wood, on that voyage taken so often in those days, Boston to Charleston, thence to Liverpool, and back to Boston. At this point in his narrative be breaks forth into this exclamation, - "Now notice, ye big boys of seventeen loafing about town, I was eleven years old when I shipped on this vessel among all strangers as a green hand." That summer he went fishing, and the next fall joined the Chatham again for a voyage to Savannah and Liverpool. The rest of the winter he spent at school, and after another summer at fish- ing, he made a third trip to Liverpool on the Chatham, this time by way of New Orleans. On this trip he was accompanied by a Cohasset boy friend, Joshua Bates, and on the trip from Liverpool to Boston the crew were stricken with smallpox. That winter he studied navigation, and at the age of seventeen Wpped on the brig Castile, Captain Smith, as second mate on a voyage to Jacksonville, St. Domingo, and back. Captain Warren

558 History of Cohasset.

Bates next obtained for him the position of second mate on the brig Cygnet, commanded by his brother-in-law, John Sayward, on, a voyage to Wilmington, North Carolina, thence to South America. with lumber, and home with a cargo of molasses. At the age of eighteen he signed as first mate on the fine new brig Ceylon of Duxbury, Captain, Charles Soule, for a voyage from Boston to St. Thomas and return. At nineteen he was first mate of the brig Russian, sailing from New York to Havana. In the cargo was a donkey engine, the first one ever set up in Cuba. Mr. Pratt was a teetotaler, and relates how he substituted hot coffee for grog as a stimulant to the sailors when working the vessel in a gale, After discharging her cargo at Havana the Russian proceeded to Matanzas, where she took on a load of sugar for Antwerp, upon discharging which a cargo of salt was taken on at Cadiz for Boston. Arriving at Boston he shipped as second mate at Cohasset for a fishing trip on the topsail schooner Tower, of which Nichols Tower was Captain, and John Barker, sailing master. Among the crew were Frederick Tower, Elijah Barker, and young Sam Snow. It was not a successful trip, and the crew arrived home just before Thanksgiving, each man in debt to the vessel $27. He then resolved to try his fortunes in the new republic of Texas, and took passage on a new ship, commanded by Captain Winsor, of Duxbury, for New Orleans. The trip from New Orleans to Texas was made in the schooner Hannah. Texas did not prove to be any better place for making a fortune than old Massachusetts, and Mr. Pratt returned home, being fortunate enough to secure the position of second mate on the brig Grand Turk, loaded with tobacco for Boston. On his return to Cohasset lie bought in Gloucester for $i, , m partnership with Mr. Alfred Whittington, the schooner Essex, in which he made successful fishing trips during the summer. ne next winter, in the brig Talisman, commanded by his brother Henry, he made a trip as first mate from Boston to St. Joseph, Florida, thence to Mobile, for a cargo of cotton. In the summer he went fishing in the Essex. - The following winter he took com- mand of the schooner Bela Bates, on which he had first sailed as a boy of ten, for a freighting trip between ports in the Southern States. Cohassel's Deep Sea Captains. 559 7 The next two summers he spent fishing in the schooner Essex, 'jodwiching a winter of putting down buoys for the lighthouse board on the schooner Eagle, under the command of Captain Nichols Tower.

In the fall Of 1841 he worked on the bark Lewis, building at Cohasset, but gave up this employment to join the bark Hobart, Captain, James Collier, as first mate, on a trip to Charleston, thence to Bordeaux with rice, from there to New Orleans with prunes and wine, where a cargo of corn was taken on 4or New York. On the trip from Charleston to Bordeaux the Hobart started in company with two brigs from Newport, Rhode Wan d, and beat them into Bordeaux by a full week. The Hobart idently a good sailer, for on one trip from Mobile to New was eyl York, Captain Collier walked into the consignee's office just as the Postman handed in his letter. Our young readers must remember that in 1840 it took about a week to carry a letter from Mobile to 1:,ew York. While the Hobart was lying at New Orleans the boiler of a steamer on the opposite bank exploded, setting fire to the steamer, which burned to the water's edge. This, occurring in the night, famished a grand but awful spectacle to the crew of the Hobart, "used from their slumbers by the din of the explosion. No time, however, was wasted in watching, for boats were immediately bunched from the bark and the crew did manful service in rescuing Imm the river the members of the steamer's crew. On the com- pletion of this voyage Captain Pratt spent t~e summer as captain of the fishing schooner Ansurla, belonging to Esquire Doane, and of a schooner belonging to Lewis Willcutt. In the fall he shipped as first mate on the brig Eolus, belonging to Esquire Doane, and spent the winter trading between Charleston and Cuba. After another summer spent in mackerel fishing he decided to give up the sea, and spent the rest of his life on shore. C4ptain Pratt figured that be had sailed about 78,ooo miles during his career as a Sailor. Two brothers who were noted sea captains in their day, and spheld the reputation of Cohasset skippers in foreign ports were ;ADNA N. and JOHN WARREN BATES. They were born on Fort gill, in Boston, although of the old Cohasset family of Bates.. Mna in 1812, Warren in 1815.

560 History of Cohasset.

Adna, after completing his education in the Boston schools, was employed for some time in the stationers store of Mr. Allen on Cornhill. At what time he began his sea life is not known, but probably very early. He was connected by marriage with the Saywards of Gloucester, and probably sailed from that port in the days when it was something more than the home of the fishing industry. For that reason his name is not to be found in the registers of the Boston Custom House until 1848, when he is set down as captain of the Julia and Helen, a ship of 637 tons owned by Samuel Sayward, of Gloucester. In this vessel he made a voyage to San Francisco, reaching there when the gold fever was at its height. On his arrival he sold the vessel and cargo and remained in San Francisco and Sacramento until 1856. On his return home he took up again the occupation of a sea captain, sailing from Gloucester in the Surinam trade.  In the early sixties he made voyages to Rochelle, Hamburg, and other ports in Europe, but in 1864 retired from the sea. He was a skillful navigator and noted for his proficiency in mathematics. For a number of years he served the town as Selectman, Assessor, and Overseer of the Poor. He died in Cohasset, February 24, 1881.

JOHN WARREN BATES, as did his brother, entered the seafaring vocation as a boy. He, too, sailed from Gloucester, commanding two brigs from there, probably owned by the Saywards. He was engaged in the West Indian trade for many years. We find him registered from Boston as captain in 1849 Of the Ganges, a 244-ton brig owned by William F. Mason. In 1849 he took command of the new brig Czarina, owned by the firm of F. Nickerson & Co., and in 1856 we find him in command of the ship Flying Eagle, owned by the same firm. The Flying Eagle was a ship of 1094 tons burden, and said to be the fastest sailing vessel afloat at that time. In her he made voyages to San Francisco and around the world. Another vessel commanded by him was the Prometheus.

CAPT. JOHN WARREN BATES, 18 15 1895.

Cohasset's Deep Sea Captains. 561

October 10, 1861, he is registered as captain and one-eighth owner, with the Nickersons, of the igg-ton bark Carib, and October 17, 1862, as captain of the I297-ton ship Orion. In this last vessel he probably was employed by the United States Government in the transportation of troops. Probably his last joramand was the I 546-ton clipper ship Criterion, engaged in the "California trade, under the management of Glidden & Williams. On retiring rom. the sea he acted as the West Indies agent of prominent Boston business house for many years. Captain .Bates was for a number of years a member of the Cohasset School Committee. He was also a member of the Board of aTrustees of the Public Library, and its first Librarian. Captain Bates was a great lover of poetry, particularly of Byron, whose 'Poems he could recite from memory. He died in Cohasset in 1895- CAPTAIN THOMAS DOYLE was born in Ireland, and came to Cohasset through the instrumentality of the elder Captain Ephraim Snow. He rose to be a master mariner, and was commander of the schooners Antelope and Abigail, the brigs Eliza Burgess and Almatia, and the bark Maryland.