This 1969 letter of recognition from the Governor of Maine, Kenneth Curtis, honors shipbuilder Harvey Gamage for his superior craftsmanship in making wooden sailing vessels. The letter specifically mentions four vessels in particular; the Hero, the Mary Day, the Shenandoah, and the Clearwater.
After working as an apprentice in East Boothbay, Harvey Gamage (__ -1976) started his own boatyard on Shipyard Road in South Bristol as "Harvey F. Gamage, Bristol Yacht Building Company" and later as" Harvey Gamage - Shipbuilders." More than 300 wooden vessels were built there between 1924 and 1976, and in 1970 the first steel hull boat was launched.
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Original shed at the Gamage boatyard, South Bristol, ca. 1930
Item Contributed by
South Bristol Historical Society
This ca. 1930 postcard shows the original Gamage boat building shed on the north side of the western Gut in South Bristol. The point of land in the background was then known as "Heloise Point." The 3-story Gamage building was razed in 2012.
Herbert Cousins, a laborer from Eden (later Bar Harbor), applied for membership to Bay View Grange No. 267.
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Samuel Freeman signed a receipt to John Johnson Jr. for supplies for the mast business. An order for Johnson's work was signed by Edmund Wendell Esq.
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This iron vessel was built at the Portland Company in Portland, Maine in 1921 for the Great Northern Paper & Pulp Company.
The interior of the Camden shipyard, which Holly M. Bean purchased in 1875.
The shipyard was known as the largest builder on the coast, building or working on 71 ships, totaling $2.5 million.
It is now known as Wayfarer Marine Corporation.
View of a boat being built.
Edmund Wendell of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, signed an agreement with John Johnson, James Johnson, David Small, William Lamb, William Porterfield, Jesse Partridge and William Webb of Falmouth and Richard Mayberry of Windham to supply masts, bowsprits and yards.
The agreement sets the price Wendell will pay for the items and specifies that the wood "shall be found fit for his Majesty's use."
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The Construction of the S.S. "Falmouth," South Portland, 1918
Item Contributed by
Maine Historical Society
Employees of the Cumberland Shipbuilding Company building the S.S. "Falmouth" in South Portland on July 27, 1918.
According to the book "Barrels and Daring" (1977), a large percentage of the employees for the Cumberland Shipyard never worked in shipbuilding before. However, the workers were provided training to build efficient vessels.
This black-and-white photograph of Bath Iron Works on the western edge of the Kennebec River and the yachts under construction in the spring of 1931 was likely taken from the nearly new Carlton Bridge.
This was an important period in the reestablishment of the shipyard after Bath Iron Works went into receivership in 1925. At that time the assets of the business were broken up and sold at public auction.
In 1927, a former long-time employee, William Stark Newell, "Pete," initiated the reorganization of the shipyard as Bath Iron Works Corporation. During this difficult time of nationwide economic depression, one type of construction that Newell pursued successfully was the building of yachts.
Among the yachts seen here, from left to right, are the Aletes, the Halonia, the Seapine, and the Caroline on the ways. The Caroline was the second-largest yacht constructed by BIW, as discussed by Ralph Linwood Snow in his "Bath Iron Works: The First 100 Years." The luxury yacht was to be a multipurpose vessel, and carry a scientific expedition to Easter Island. Not planned was the conversion of the Caroline during World War II. Renamed the Hilo, she was used as a motor torpedo tender. The Seapine, originally constructed for Frank Goodyear, was also re-named and reused during the war. This 154-foot yacht became the USS Rhodolite and served as an inshore patrol vessel, inter-island convoy escort, and weather vessel in the Hawaiian islands.
Agreement between James L. Todd of Phippsburg with John Smith to build a ship. The names on the contract were changed on April 4, 1848.
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The document details vessels built in Brunswick between 1784-1797. This list, compiled from records at the custom houses at Bath and Portland, is one page of a longer list, vessels built from 1784 to 1876, that may once have been on one continuous sheet of paper, but is now broken into many sheets.
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A steam-powered cargo vessel and a 3-masted schooner under full sail in Portland Harbor.
The Edna Hoyt was the first five-masted schooner ever to pass through the Lubec Narrows. She carried a cargo of fish fertilizer bound for New York. Captain Ernest Wallace of South Lubec piloted the vessel. According to newspaper reports, wharves were lined with spectators as the huge ship slipped past the town.
Launched in Thomaston in 1920, she was one of the last five-masted schooners in the world. The vessel suffered extensive damage in a 1937 gale and ended her days as a floating coal barge.
The engine control room of engine No. 49, the passenger side-wheeler State of Maine.
The room features mahogany woodwork and brass gauges and fittings. The engine and fittings were built by the Portland Company.
The State of Maine was built in 1882 for the International Steamship Company in Bath. She was 241 feet long and weighed 1,410 gross tons.
The barque Dirigo was the first steel ship built in America. It was built and owned by Arthur Sewall & Co., Bath.
George W. Goodwin was the commander and gave this image of the ship to Liela Lyon, mother of Henry (Harry) Lyon, a sailor aboard the ship.
Written on the back of the photo is "To Mrs. Lyon. compliments of George W. Goodwin."
The Maine Steamship Company operated between New York City and Portland, with direct conections by sea to Bar Harbor and by land to the White Mountains in New Hampshire, and Poland Springs, Maine--all popular summer resort areas.
In 1902 summer excursion fare from New York to Friendship, with a connection from Portland to Friendship on the Portland and Rockland Steamboat line, was $6.25 one-way and $11.50 roundtrip. The steamer to Friendship sailed on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.
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Jerry Stelmok's Island Falls Canoe Company built this quarter-scale model of the Old Town Canoe Company Otca wood-canvas canoe, first introduced in 1906. The red paint and black stripe with Greek ends is Design No. 37, introduced in 1932.
Bateau and crew taking off a wing jam. Notice bateau crew stays with the boat.
The caption on the back of this photograph reads, 'The Dirigo ships some salt fish to South America.'
Biddeford Shipbuilding Co. crew in front of 'Jere G. Shaw,' 1918
Item Contributed by
McArthur Public Library
The crew of the Biddeford Shipbuilding Company in front of the last big ship built in Biddeford, the Jere G. Shaw, in June 1918.
The vessel was built to take advantage of the freight demand of World War I. She was built by the Biddeford Shipbuilding Company, a stock corporation made up of citizens of York County. She was built in 10 months and was launched on November 16, 1918, just five days after the armistice.
Captain William H. Gould, who commanded the Jere G. Shaw on her maiden voyage to Barbados, is the third man from the left in the second row, with a mustache and black hat and tie.
The ship was later sold at a heavy loss, and finally wrecked off Cape Hatteras in October 1930.
These bylaws were published in January 1881. The include the rules by which the Longshoremans Benevolent Society would be run.
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The Longshoremen's Benevolent Society float in a parade on Cumberland Avenue between Preble and Brown Streets in Portland, circa 1880.
Beeswax used in sailmaking, ca. 1990
Courtesy of Gambell and Hunter Sailmakers, an individual partner
Sailmakers wax two or more "parts" of sail twine before stitching. The wax lubricates the twine so that it moves more easily through the canvas.
The wax also serves as a preservative, and gives the twine resistance to chafe and to the elements.
Palming Thimble, Scarborough, ca. 1850-1870
Item Contributed by
Scarborough Historical Society & Museum
This is a heavy leather shield/thimble used to protect the palm of the person sewing sails. This would fit over the palm of the person's hand with the thumb in the big opening. As the needle was pushed through the sail cloth this palming thimble would protect the hand from being injured or poked.
Fragment of a hand-made canvas sail, ca. 1930
Courtesy of Gambell and Hunter Sailmakers, an individual partner
Amos Perkins Lord, a Camden sailmaker, made this sail about 1930. Lord was a sailmaker for more than 75 years.
Until the early 1900s, all heavy sails were stitched by hand. Gradually the process has become mechanized, but even today some sailmakers still stitch sails by hand.
This sail is an example of the two rows of stitching that are typical of hand-sewn sails.
Fids are valuable tools in sailmaking and sailing. They are used to open, stretch and expand things such as rope or cloth.
A small fid could also be used as a hand held windlass to gain mechanical advantage in tightening stitches. They are used by sailors for ropework such as maintaining lines and rigging ships.
This fid was from the shop of Amos P. Lord, a sailmaker in Camden in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
It is made of bone, and demonstrates how sailors and sailmakers made use of the materials that were available to them.
After both sides of the flat seam are complete, the length of finished stitching is worked over with the seam rubber to flatten and even out the tension. This seam rubber belongs to Grant Gambell, a sailmaker in Camden.
A small caulking iron was found on the floor of the storehouse at the Popham Colony.
Caulking irons were used to put caulking between the planks of a ship in order to make it water tight. This is the most tangible evidence of the pinnace, Virginia, which was built at the Popham Colony.
The caulking iron is badly rusted, but kept enough of its shape so it would be recognizable. It is 13 cm. long and 5 cm wide.
Roves were metal pieces used like washers. They were used in shipbuilding and together with the caulking iron remind us of the success of the Popham Colony and the construction of the pinnace, VIRGINIA. They were commonly found in the central part of the Popham Colony's storehouse.
The set includes 13 caulking irons, a caulking mallet inventoried separately (second mallet has recently been stolen,) a carrying case and folding stool. It was last used to repair the U.S.S. Constitution. The maker is not listed in DATM. The demise of the cod fishery due to the withdrawal of government subsidies, the spread of railroads after the Civil War and the depletion of forest resources all played a role in the decline of shipbuilding in the ports south and east of Liberty and Montville (Thomaston, Warren, Boothbay, Waldoboro and Wiscasset.) In the boomtown years of Liberty and Montville, a number of ship's caulkers lived in this area and would have used tools similar to these as itinerant caulkers visiting area shipyards as needed. Sizes vary.
A painting of a ship in full sail decorates the front of a banner created for the Ship Builders, Ship Joiners, Boat Builders, and Caulkers section of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association in Portland, a group intended to promote skilled crafts and craftsmen and to aid needy members and their families.
The reverse of the banner reads, "By Commerce We Live."
Banners representing 17 trades groups were created for a parade through Portland held Oct. 8, 1841.
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A ship under construction, flying both an American flag and a "temperance" flag, has workers on board and workers carrying materials onto the ship.
The reverse side includes the text, "We Lay the Foundations of Commercial Enterprise."
The illustration is on one side of a banner painted for the Pump and Block Makers, Mast and Spar Makers, Rope Makers, Riggers and Sail Makers group of the Maine Charitable Mechanic Association in Portland in 1841.
The 17 trade groups of the association carried the colorful hand-painted banners in a parade on Oct. 8, 1841, through the streets of Portland.
The Maine Charitable Mechanic Association, formed in 1815, supported and promoted skilled artisans.
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Artist Mildred Burrage of Kennebunkport wrote a report on a fashion show she organized at the New England Ship Building Corp. in South Portland.
The theme of the show was "What the Well-Dressed Women War Worker Wears" and was focused on fashion safety for women shipyard workers.
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During World War I women were employed at the Portland Company to help manufacture 108 mm shell casings for the United States Army.
This oil painting of Bath Iron Works by Carroll Thayer Berry shows the construction of two large naval vessels in the shipyard.
Carroll T. Berry (1886-1978) was born in New Gloucester, Maine and later became a well known figure of Rockport, Maine. He received an engineering degree from the University of Michigan, but then returned to New England to pursue education in fine arts. Eventually he was drawn back to the sea, and to Maine, where he was the only artist permitted to paint Bath Iron Works during World War II.
Crew wages for the April 16, 1802 voyage of the schooner, Susan.
Wages recorded for Henry Small, Glenr. Woodbury, John Fowler, Jr. Daniel Jordan, Micah Walker, Jr. William Plummer and Henry Francis.
Asa Clapp, 1762-1848 was the captain for this voyage.
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This document lists the 8 crew members of the Bath based Brig Argo on Dec. 3, 1804 for a voyage to Jamaica. The crew list, which was issued by the Bath Collector of Customs, includes names, ranks, birthplaces, ages, residence, physical description, and citizenship.
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This view of the pier at Orr's Island was taken around 1900.
This photograph is part of the Wittemann collection which is a large set of photographs taken by members of the Wittemann family and made into postcards.
Cargo on the fourth voyage of the Schooner Susan, 1802.
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Shipping document for lighthouse bell, Biddeford, 1976
Item Contributed by
Biddeford Historical Society
On October 4th, 1976 the U.S. Coast Guard Base in South Portland transferred the Wood Island Light Station bell to the Biddeford Historical & Archives Society, care of Renard Wolfertz. The bell was cast in Sheffield, England in 1872 by Vickers, Sons & Co. The Wood Island Light Station, located at the head of the Saco River, was built in 1808 and authorized by Thomas Jefferson.
The document includes the following Coast Guard statement against discrimination: "In accepting this property from the C.G. I/we agree not to discriminate on the grounds of race, color or national origin so as to (1) restrict an individual in any way in the enjoyment of any advantage or privilege enjoyed by others as to result of receiving such property; or (2) treat an individual differently from others in wheter he satisfies any admission, enrollment or dondition which individuals must meet in order to participate in the enjoyment of any advantage or privilege enjoyed by others as the result of receiving such property."
This appears to be a photograph of people disembarking from a vessel and walking onto Orr's Island in Harpswell about 1900.
This photograph is part of the Witteman collection, which is a large set of photographs taken by members of the Witteman family and made into postcards and sold in batches to businesses in Maine.
Sarah Tibbetts hoping to visit husband in port, Westport Island, 1895
Item Contributed by
Westport Island History Committee
As the wife of a seafaring man, Sarah Tibbetts was often without the companionship of her husband. At home, she cared for their youngest child and a grandson.
Her husband, Captain John M. Tibbetts (1841-1926) was expected in port in nearby Bath to reload his ship, presenting an opportunity to visit him. Her daughter-in-law, Lottie Boucher, was helping to make this possible.
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This lithograph shows Portland as it appeared in 1865 along the waterfront with a ship under construction and others sailing about.
Four lunettes depict views of Portland and vicinity as seen from Casco Bay.
The views are bordered with signal flags of Portland merchants. Lemuel Moody, who built the Portland Observatory, created the piece. The observatory used signal flags to alert ship owners and crews of ships entering Portland Harbor, so the cargoes could be loaded and unloaded in a timely manner.
Sarah Gray, West Quoddy House Lighthouse, 1948
Item Contributed by
West Quoddy Head Light Keepers Association
Sarah Gray, wife of Howard "Bob" Gray, Lighthouse keeper at the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec from 1934 to 1952. Mrs. Gray is entering her kitchen door.
The house became a duplex in 1899, surviving essentially in that mode until 2000. Note the radio beacon tower rising over the house's roof, and the outside cellar door.
The cellar door and the tower itself appeared much the same as of 2009.
Wick storage containers came in several variations and sizes depending on the purpose. These canisters were designed to keep the wicks used at the Portland Head Light in a clean dry place and ready to use.
They were made out of galvanized metal and had the lighthouse plates soldered onto them to indicate they were for lighthouse use.
Lighthouse lens for Portland Head Light, Cape Elizabeth, ca. 1900
Item Contributed by
Museum at Portland Head
Fourth order fresnel lens, of unknown origin, (same size of the original fresnel lens that was installed by 1864 into Portland Head Light).
It would have originally housed a kerosene lamp. Fresnel lenses were classified by order referring to the strength of light emitted. These ranged FROM Huge first-order lenses, which were visible to 21 miles, to smaller sixth- and seventh-order lenses, which were visible at lesser distances.
Lenses of the second and fourth order were used at Portland Head Light. The lenses, combined with changes in the design of the lanterns that held them, vastly improved the navigational lighting system.
Fog Bell from Wood Island Lighthouse, Biddeford, 1872
Item Contributed by
Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse
A cast steel bell which was fabricated by Sheffield and Sons Co. in Sheffield England in 1872. It was placed in the newly constructed fog bell tower at Wood Island Light Station in 1873. Unfortunately, steel did not hold up very well in the salty air and began to deteriorate quickly. A second "bell metal" bell was installed in the fog bell tower in 1890 and this larger one was removed and placed on the ground in the corner of the yard. It can be seen in various Coast Guard photos presented in this exhibition (1951 and 1975). In 1976 the bell washed into the sea and some local folks decided to rescue it and bring it to the mainland for safe keeping. The transport was made by Marshall Alexander in his boat the DeDeeMae. The bell was placed in the yard of the Union Church, Biddeford Pool until it was recently moved to Vines Landing, which is a more public location. There is a plaque on the wood apparatus which holds the bell and one can see Wood Island Lighthouse in the distance beyond the bell. The bell is dedicated by the Biddeford Historical Society.
Sailor the dog rings fog bell, Wood Island Light, ca. 1903
Item Contributed by
Friends of Wood Island Lighthouse
The dog in this picture is Sailor, was famous for ringing the fog bell at Wood Island Lighthouse.
The keeper, Thomas Henry Orcutt (1886-1905) watches as Sailor clasps the rope attached to the bells' clapper in his mouth.
Articles about Sailor were found in newspapers as far away as Georgia, Iowa and Wisconsin. He was loved by local mariners because as they passed Wood Island in their boats, they would toot a greeting and Sailor would dash to the bell and give a salute on the great tocsin.
"Shown here is a remarkable early engineering drawing of a lighthouse fog whistle, boiler, and timing mechanism produced in 1868. This drawing is one of of over 12,000 engineering drawings in the Portland Company Collection at the Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine. These drawings cover a 100-year period and are of many subjects, and copies as well as photographs may be purchased from this collection." --Fletcher, David H. "The Portland Company 1846-1982," Charleston, S.C.; Arcadia Pub., 2002, 104.
Brig. Gen. John Chandler (1762-1841) of Portland wrote to Col. Isaac Lane (1765-1833) of the 33rd U.S. Infantry regiment on Sept. 10, 1814 to suggest that the lights at Wood Island be extinguished to prevent the British from using the navigation aids.
He noted that the lights at Portland already had been extinguished.
Chandler coordinated efforts to defend the Maine coast.
Chandler, of Monmouth, served in the Massachusetts Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives when Maine was part of Massachusetts. He was a U.S. Senator from Maine from 1820-1829.
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West Quoddy Light Station was decommissioned on June 30, 1988.
At one time about a thousand lighthouses served as sentinels of safety across the United States. Eventually all but one, Boston Harbor Light, were automated. West Quoddy Light was among thirty with a keeper until automation replaced him on June 30, 1988. Backed by color guard, Captain John Williams, Commander of Southwest Harbor Coast Guard base, commences the official decommissioning ceremony. That last keeper, Malcolm “Mac” Rouse, sits just behind and beyond Captain Williams.
A Maine lobster fisherman worked on his traps as captured by photographer Willis H. Ballard.
Ballard was born in Portland in 1907 and moved to Southwest Harbor in 1934 where he was a scenic photographer for about 45 years. Mr. Ballard died in 1980. His photographs were featured in several popular magazines and were displayed at major exhibits.
Fishermen repair nets at Biddeford Pool, 1917. In the rear is Charles Hatch; the men in front are Fred A. Waterhouse (right) and Irving S. Milgate (left, with mustache). Mr. Hatch and Mr. Waterhouse were fishing partners for more than forty years. The men are using netting needles or shuttles to repair the fishing nets.
