The Rockland and Rockport lime industry created a demand for small and mid-size schooners which were used to carry and transport lime which was packed in rough spruce casks. This gave the small shipyards along the Maine coast, like Newcastle and Damariscotta, a market for their medium sized, two-masted schooners.
This size schooner was also used in the lumber carrying business.
This type of schooner had to be a well built, staunch, and tight vessel. Many hours of skilled labor went into building these wooden hulled schooners. The caulking of the hull platform would be built in the cargo hold to avoid, as far as possible, any chance of contact with bilge water. Even extra bilge pumps were added in the construction of these lime carrying vessels.
The slightest leak allowing the water to come in contact with lime would cause a conflagration which could not be controlled by ordinary means. The captain of a lime schooner needed a keen sense of smell. The odor of lime being slaked by water was an ominous danger signal.
When the schooner was being loaded at one of these wharfs near the lime factory, great care was taken so each cask would not break open. These lime casks were stored close to each other so they would not break loose and roll around the cargo hold in a rough storm.
Once the cargo of lime casks were fully loaded, the cargo hatch covers would be installed over the hold and a canvas tarpaulin, waterproofed with a tar or wax, was placed over it.
When the lime schooners set sail and reached the open sea, the captain had the crew check the bilge pumps often to make sure that no sea water was coming in. When the lime schooner was caught in rough seas, the bilge pumps were continuously checked.
A cargo of lime was considered a dangerous cargo.
Lime was shipped in two different sizes of wooden spruce casks. The small spruce casks, or barrel, weighed 180 pounds, when full of lime.
We once read from one of our small ship logs that Captain George B. Austin of Newcastle would captain one of these small two-masted lime schooners when he came home from a long six or eight month sea voyage. This gave him a chance to be home more often between short voyages to Boston and New York.
We now turn to our ships log of some lime schooners and their voyages from Thomaston to Boston and New York.
The first schooner we find in the log is called the Liberty of Thomaston. The voyage started on March 24, 1835 from Thomaston to Boston, carrying a four-man crew. The schooner had a cargo of some 424 casks of lime. Her log book shows the casks of lime were bought at 86 cents a barrel, at a total cost of $364.64.
When the schooner arrived in Boston and tied up at the dock or wharf, we find 327 casks were sold at $1.06 per cask. Cash received was $97. Total cask sale for the cargo of lime was $443.62. The freight charge was $78.98.
We now turn to the schooner Clement of Thomaston and a voyage to Boston with a cargo of some 477 casks of lime. The lime casks were bought for $1 each and sold in Boston for $1.20 per casks and cash received for the cargo was $572.40.
On May 20, 1837, the Clement delivered a cargo of 480 casks of lime to Boston, which were sold at $1 a cask.
In checking the log book, we found the schooner Liberty made over 27 trips to Boston and New York in 1835. Clement made 22 voyages to Boston in 1837 and was still sailing in 1839 according to the log book.
Then came the records of the schooner Effort in the log book making voyages to Boston and New York in 1840 through 1841. The Effort carried on an average of 560 to 580 casks of lime on each voyage to Boston to New York.
One point of interest was the average pilot fee to bring the schooner into port or taking the schooner from the wharf to open sea was $7.50. In 1841 the average fee for tying up at the dock or wharf was $5.70.
Times were changing and the profit on shipping lime by boat eventually fell, hitting the small schooners hard on their profit margin.
Some other items of interest listed in the log books were items bought for the vessel and repairs. Items included eleven and a half pounds of bolts, 78 cents; nine pounds of oakum, 63 cents; one link for anchor chain, 13 cents; one water barrel, $1.25; seven pounds of tallow, 44 cents; one barrel of tar, $2.50; two oars, $1.20; one gallon of oil, 63 cents; a tea kettle, 75 cents; two blocks, $2.45; one jib boom, $2. Such were the prices in the year of 1841.
Some of the names that appeared under Schooner Effort on Dec. 4, 1841 were William Flint, Conoel Jones, W. Spear, and Albert Leaning. These names could have been crew members.
