"To a Gallant Ship," by Theodore C. Wyman

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To a Gallant Ship

BY THEODORE C. WYMAN

ALTHOUGH I NEVER sailed on her, I think of the Alice S. Wentworth as one of the vessels in my life because of the interest I have in her. She became a part of my life as I was a shareholder in her and knew her well during the years I lived on Nantucket. Her skipper was old Zeb Tilton, a cross-eyed giant of an ancient mariner, and he sailed her for thirty-five years in the coasting trade. He sailed her many times with one man, or with his daughter for crew, between the mainland, the Vineyard and Nantucket and at times for longer voyages along the coast. Zeb's address now is "Fiddler's Green," and he went there in 1952 at the age of eighty-five.

As always, old records vary to some extent, but the official records according to research show that the Alice Wentworth was built during the Civil War in 1863 at South Norwalk, Conn., and christened the Lizzie A. Tolles. She was completely rebuilt at Wells, Maine, in 1905 or 1907, and was the oldest documented vessel flying the American flag. She had the traditional lines of an old New England two-masted schooner with a length of 73.2 feet, beam 22 feet and she carried four sails with a sail area of 4300 square feet. Her draught was six feet (twelve feet with a centerboard which was off center to port of the mainmast).

The time came in 1939 when Capt. Zeb ran into financial difficulties and the Alice Wentworth was put up for auction. It did not seem right that the ancient mariner should lose his ship and, through the efforts of Captain Ralph M. Packer, the Schooner Alice S. Wentworth Associates, Inc., was formed and shares were sold to help purchase the ship and liquidate her debts.

There was no idea in the minds of those who purchased the shares that they were making a financial investment. It was just a chance to help someone whom they admired and to keep alive a chapter in a seafaring tradition that would be a sad loss if it could not continue. And yet the rewards to the shareholders were all out of proportion to the small investment each one made. They had a chance to follow in the footsteps of their ancestors and become ship owners and the few annual meetings aboard the schooner were treasures beyond price. They did receive one dividend of a dollar a share in 1939, but their certificates of capital stock will represent a legacy of priceless sentimental value.

Ceptain Zeb was forced by natural circumstances to end his association with the ship he had sailed for so many years and in 1944 the Alice Wentworth was sold to a Captain Parker Hall who took her to Maine, and there she finally ended up on Maine schooner cruises. Then in 1961 a Mrs. Ann White of Squantum

To A GALLANT SHIP 15

bought her and sailed her on vacation cruises from Woods Hole, where she lay half on the beach for a time. She finally was sold at auction to Mr. Anthony Athanas who owns Pier 4 restaurant in Boston. He did have her put in fair shape and she provided a seagoing atmosphere to his restaurant until he acquired a Hudson River steamboat for the main attraction there, and the Alice Wentworth had to step back from center stage.

It was not long before the old schooner began to feel her age and for a while she rested her old bones on the harbor bottom until she was finally raised again. She was a proud ship and had a right to be proud of a lifetime of sailing along the New England coast, and she was not ready to cross the bar and fold her sails for the last time.

The old schooner was given to the National Maritime Historical Society in February of 1974 by Anthony Athanas and she had been named to the National Register of Historic Places. Plans were made and a fund was started by private subscription to have her rebuilt in Rockland, Maine, and she had been designated part of the National Bicentennial Fleet. It was hoped that she could be restored by 1976 and take her rightful place in our nation's heritage, but severe winter storms and a final April gale were too much for her aging timbers and she simply came to pieces.

All through her long life the Alice Wentworth had done the work for which she was built and now, although she has gone, perhaps there is one more thing that can be added to her credit. A National Ship Trust bill has been introduced into Congress that, if passed, will provide help in saving and preserving some of the old ships that are a part of our national heritage. It is too late to save the Alice Wentworth, but because it is too late perhaps that will help in making us conscious of the need to save some of our old ships before they, too, sail for the Far Shore.

Now she is with those old friends who once owned shares in her, and who made the last voyage before she did. And I am sure they were waiting to welcome her and that they were glad to see her again.

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HUSSEY DESCENDANTS

Are you interested in Christopher Hussey's ancestry? The Dorking Parish Registers, listing his baptism of 18 February 1599, go back to 1538 and. it is understood, are available for additional research. A fee is charged for the service.

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