I have volunteered at the Custom House Maritime Museum since 2009.
During these years I have met visitors of all ages and interests and from many places. Almost all visitors, especially sailors and children are attracted to the Brown Gallery, better known as The Shipwreck Room.
This gallery contains a collection of shipwreck and salvage items collected from nearby shoals and beaches. People have long been interested in stories about lighthouses and shipwrecks.
Joshua Coffin wrote in his 1845 book A Sketch of the History of Newbury, Newburyport and West Newbury that in 1781 and 1782 two ships were noted to have been “cast away” on Plum Island. In 1783 two beacons were erected on Plum Island to warn vessels to avoid the sand bars at the mouth of the Merrimack River. Throughout history, the mouth of the Merrimack River has caused mariners to be fearful, and rightfully so.
Our 2014 repair work on the jetties has a long history. The first of several breakwaters, or jetties were erected between 1828 and 1831 when Congress appropriated thirty-two thousand dollars for the construction. In February 1829 the land was ceded to the government to build the breakwater from the west shore of Plum Island across the PI River to Woodbridge island and out to the mouth of the Merrimack. Work began in April 1829 and the jetty was completed in 1831. The jetty, however failed to increase the depth of water on the sandbar and the treacherous mouth of the Merrimack continued to collect shipwrecks. In 1881 the jetties were reinforced and were said to be 50 feet wide at their base and 15 feet wide on the top which was 4 feet above the surface at high tide.
In addition to jetties, mariners have grown to depend upon structures built on land to assist navigation.
Lighthouses and Life Saving Stations have served local mariners since the 18th century. At one time a shack containing blankets and water was built on Plum Island to shelter victims of shipwrecks. In 1787 Congress made a grant to establish lights on Plum Island and on September 15, 1787, according to author John J. Currier in his 1906 book, History of Newburyport, Mass. 1764 – 1905, Newburyport citizens granted permission to William Bartlett, William Coombs and Michael Hodge to build two wooden lighthouses on the north end of the island.
Newburyport merchants contributed to the cost of the project as they hoped to protect cargo as it passed the mouth of the Merrimack and the dangerous sand bars therein. It is believed that the two structures were built in 1788. In June 1790 the General Court voted to cede all lighthouses to the United States. Several sources state that one of the wooden lighthouses burned down in August 1856. The second was taken down when a new lighthouse was erected about 30 years later. In 1874 the first Life Saving Station was built on Plum Island, In 1881 the station was moved to Lighthouse Point and in 1890 the Knobb’s Light was built on the southern end of Plum Island.
During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, more than 100 serious disasters occurred on the shores around Newburyport and Plum Island.
Indeed there are pictures of the wrecks and artifacts which were rescued from the cargos in the museum.
In 1772 the sloop, -Three Friends-, from Scotland and captained by Mark Foran was wrecked on Plum Island. In 1777 Captain William Friend aboard his 16 gun war ship, -Neptune-, sank off the sandbar at the mouth of the Merrimack. One of his crew of sixty was drown. The Annual Reports of the United States Life Saving Service chronicle the local disasters and are interesting to read of the circumstances, cargos lost and the rescues made. The local stories behind the disasters are interesting as well. For instance, on November 2, 1837, the schooner, -Lombard-, was loaded with grindstones when it ran aground south of Lighthouse Point. The Captain and crew were lost, but the grindstones were embedded in the sand and were found years later and sold and used in towns around Essex County. In December 1839, the brig, -Pocahontas-, James Cook, Captain was wrecked on Plum Island. The ship was owned by Newburyport’s John Cushing. Captain Cook’s body and those of seven of his crew were found and are buried in Old Hill Cemetery.
In December 2009 Ring’s Island residents Jerry and Bobbi Klima found the bones of the -Ingomar-, a 116 foot Gloucester fishing schooner launched in 1904, ran aground on Plum Island on February 18, 1936. Ingomar had a crew of 21 and 50,000 pounds of fish aboard. All crew survived, but the “bones” of the ship re-appear during storms and shifting sands on the beach. During the Blizzard of 2113 the bones of the 139 foot, 3 mast schooner, -Jennie M. Carter- appeared, or reappeared, on Salisbury Beach. The vessel had crashed on April 13, 1894 on the jetties at the mouth of the Merrimack. She was carrying granite which was off-loaded, but the Captain, Wesley Ober, and the crew were lost.
Pieces of the Jennie M. Carter occasionally come to the surface of Salisbury Beach at a particularly low tide.
Last week’s Daily News headlined the return of some bones of the Jennie M. Carter. The markers which have warned swimmers and beachgoers to avoid the jagged remains are not always in place. The adventure and dangers of our seafaring history are worth exploring. If you would like more information on shipwrecks and lighthouses in the Newburyport area, I’d suggest starting with a visit to the Custom House Maritime Museum at 25 Water Street.
Also it is a good time to visit “Revolutionary Newburyport” at the Custom House, an exhibit running through this year that highlights Newburyport’s ties to the Revolutionary War.