PASSAGES OF JOSEPHUS,

          FROM LIVERPOOL TO BOSTON, 2 MAY/7 JUNE 1853

                          DONALD ROWE

                       24 NOVEMBER 1993

HIST 471 - MARITIME HISTORY/INDIVIDUAL STUDY

Appendices, endnotes, postscript, painting of Josephus, and lists of primary and secondary sources available on request.

     This paper had two mutually supportive research objectives, documenting the construction, outfitting and the 1853 voyage of the ship Josephus from Liverpool to Boston, and connecting those specifics to the broader context of Anglo-American maritime trade in the heyday of sail.  Identifiable and appropriate economic, technological, and social trends of the age are incorporated, revealing the relationship of Josephus and her passengers to the wider maritime world and mid-nineteenth century life.  In many ways that single voyage embodied two passages, that of the age of sail, and of immigrants from the Old to the New World.  British societal pressures made this era one of mass migration, and Josephus' transport of 308 passengers chronicles their recognizable passage to the land of opportunity, which is America. Documentation of Josephus' construction, outfitting, and the impinging influence of evolving ship technologies are coupled with practices in insurance and business to show the broader mercantile and social realities.

     This voyage of Josephus was comparable to voyages of prior decades and centuries, and while it resembled those prior voyages in many respects, it was unique in its own right.  Josephus was selected as the focus of this research because my grandfather, William Joseph Rowe, was born onboard Josephus during that voyage.¹ The story of those twin passages are constructs of commercial practice extant in the ports of Liverpool and Boston and life at sea on Josephus; they are woven with Rowe oral traditions, portraying those passages to readily identify the wider context, and yet relating them to a specific family.

     Following a tradition harkening to construction of the first European boat, the shallop Virginia - built at Popham Beach, Maine in 1607² - Josephus was constructed at Kennebunk in 1850 and launched on 1 August at the yards of the Lord family at Kennebunk (River) Landing (see Appendix A).  The Landing was upriver from Kennebunkport and the locks, and near the town's Unitarian Church.^3,4,5

     Accepted practice was to use half-models, not drawings, as a construction aid, enabling Master Carpenter Ira Grant to pick offset distances and craft each frame, stringer, and gusset to the desired contour.  As MacGregor noted, "in the hands of a capable shipyard foreman . . . practically no drawings of a ship were required."⁶ The finest local materials available were used, with Ira Grant supervising all work.  Kennebunk produced eleven ships in 1848, eleven in 1849, ten in 1850, fifteen in 1851, and ten in 1852 - numbers reflective of this booming ship construction period in Maine.⁷ Kennebunk, indeed, had at least five of its own yards at this time.⁸ Ira Grant's crew is shown on the following pages, and illustrates the many trades required for wooden ship construction.

Craftsmen who built Josephus at Kennebunk, Maine in 1850.

                   Ship Builders and Contractors

                   Nathaniel l. Thompson

                   Titcomb & Thompson

                   David Clark

                   Perkins & Crawford

                   Bradford Oakes

                   Charles Hamilton

                   Master Carpenters

                   Benjamin Jackson

                   George Christenson

                   Ira Grant

                   Theodore Gooch

                   Charles W. Gooch

                   Thomas Emery Jr.

                   Mark Pool

                   Jere G. Jeffery

                   Shipsmiths

                   William H. Rounds

                   George Hall

                   Daniel C. Emery

                   Nathaniel Farin

                   Hercules H. Chadbourne

                   Asa Leach

                   Ship Joiners

                   Woodbury Goodwin

                   George Gooch

                   Joshua S. Emery

                   William E. Towne

                   Daniel & Edwin Chick

                   Painters

                   William H. Gooch

                   George Davis

                   Leonard T. Webber

                   Joseph Brown

                   John B. Gooch

Caulkers

Benjamin F. Jellerson

Tripp & Robinson

Fasteners

Samuel McCutcheon

Ansel N. Boothby

James McRae

Rigger

John B. Maling

Sail Makers

Stephen Seavey

Charles G. Seavey

Pump & Block Makers

Oliver Davis

Horace Davis

Spar Maker

Samuel C. Talpey

Boat Builders

F. E. Trott & Co.

Cooper & Tank Builder

Nahum Haley

Brass & Composition Founder

George L. Torrey

Iron Founders

George & Isaac Varney

Cambooses & Tin Ware

O.A. & A. H. Buzzell

Source: District of Kennebunk, Ship Register, Seth E. Bryant, The Brick Store Museum, Kennebunk, ME,  1874.

     In the 1850s, American shipbuilders were predominant due to the quality and speed of their ships,⁹ with Boston shipyards said to produce the "largest and fastest merchantmen in the world."¹⁰ Maine shipbuilders, particularly the Lord family, could dispute Boston's claim, but acquiesce in the quality of their products.  The Lords were involved with direction of local banks and businesses, suggesting a relative ease in financing Josephus.  William Lord Jr. used white oak in his family's yard because of its availability from 100 acres of forests and the mill the Lords owned nearby, ¹¹ and oak's durability.  American oak was an excellent material when properly seasoned to remove the sap; live oak was best, and red or white oak acceptable.¹²

     Common construction practice was to begin framing amidships and work towards stern and stem, where the curved wooden pieces were critical to strength.  These naturally distorted pieces were termed "compass" or "great" pieces in Naval parlance, ¹³ "flinch timbers" in commercial yards.¹⁴ Great care was exercised in locating and cutting these pieces, which as "knees" formed the essential strength of deck supports and of other critical strength components.¹⁵ Master carpenters were always on the lookout for this curved hardwood, sending talented assistants far afield with "moulds" of the required size and shape to obtain what was needed.¹⁶ On the naval timber market these curved compass pieces cost many times what other timber cost, though defects could make them unusable.¹⁷  Hand hewing of these pieces with adzes was required, as their value did not allow automated milling.  Each was essentially hand crafted on the spot.¹⁸ Subsequent use of iron knees on ships occasioned lower insurance rates, facilitating further incorporation of technology changes.¹⁹

     A variety of hardwoods - birch, soft and hard ash and maple, or red oak - might be combined with the more traditional shipbuilding stocks of white and gray oak to fabricate the great keel and keelsons, stem and stern-works, frames, shelves, clamps, stringers, and deck framing . . ."²⁰ Oak contained tannic acids, which could weaken metal bolts holding the outermost planking.²¹ As a consequence, treenails were used to preclude rapid corrosion of the more expensive metal fasteners.  Treenails were wooden nails cut from local white oak or locust wood.  Bunting noted, "whenever possible both the planking and ceiling were fastened through the frames with the same treenails.²² After being driven, their ends were sawed flush.^{23, 24,25} As treenails were the acknowledged equal of metal fasteners and were cheaper, they remained the standard.  Later Josephus records show her framing and planking were fastened with essential copper and iron fasteners, ²⁶ reflecting either the practice of using metal fasteners at the butt ends of planks, or an increased usage of newer technology.²⁷

     To reduce wastage, keels or frame components were often scarphed together -laminated in modern terms.^{28, 29} Scarphing used pieces termed "futtocks", frequently of white oak.³⁰ After the ships' frame was in place, it was covered with two separate layers of planking; the inner termed "ceiling".  Ceiling was "vital to the hull's strength, was often thicker than the exterior planking, and was usually of southern hard pine."³¹ Hard pine was not soft, as British insurers thought, but "exceedingly hard, durable, and compact."³² Wherever strength was unimportant, soft woods were incorporated; if available, spruce or even cedar ceiling was used.³³ this entire cutting and chipping was messy.  The Lord shipyard, demonstrating the apparent untidiness of most wooden shipyards, was "marked principally by a carpet of wood chips strewn with raw timber"; this is illustrated in Appendix B.³⁴ Ironically, the East Boston shipyard of Donald McKay, shown in that characteristic photo, was where many changes in shipyard technology began to appear first in America, then the world.  McKay initiated use of power lathes and drills in the 1850s, marking what would become a growing trend toward technology in numerous aspects of shipbuilding.³⁵ American shipyards early on used mill cut timber, whereas British yards used hand hewn pieces cut in saw pits.³⁶ Early use of labor saving technology gave American yards an initial lead in mid-century wooden ship construction, which they did not give up until metal hulls, particularly British ones, became predominant in the 1870s.³⁷

     Selection and careful cutting of curved timbers was not sufficient to guarantee a long life for ship timber.  Proper seasoning, however, substantially extended the expected life of all the ships' timber.³⁸ It could prevent dry rot, which softened the inner wooden fibres, reducing them to powder; dry rot was "the curse of wooden ships for centuries". ³⁹ Josephus' builder was a part owner, and he wanted a long ship's life.  Seasoning a great piece of oak - such pieces came from old growth timber and frequently required 80 to 120 years to achieve the proper size - could take two to three years to season.⁴⁰ The typical softwoods used in shipbuilding - firs, spruces, and pines - are relatively unbothered by dry rot; they have resin internally, take less time to season, and retain greater flexibility.⁴¹ To ensure a long hull life and to protect against marine borers, standard practice called for hull planking to be "completely sheathed with copper plates below the water line."⁴² Although copper sheathing had decades before replaced tarred hulls for protection from these borers, neither approach diminished the healthy marine growth on hulls which could drastically diminish ship speed, and profit.  Wooden ships with copper or yellow metal sheathing thus had an economic advantage over metal hulled ships which could not be sheathed.⁴³ This advantage lasted about ten years, until the "working" of a wooden ships' neutralized this advantage.  Technology would later provide zincs for metal hull protection.

     Many months transpired during Josephus' construction, and as the ship's size and weight increased on the supporting keel blocks and side shores, spaces were left open between futtocks to promote air circulation and aid in further seasoning the timber.^{44, 45} Under Josephus' hull and extending into the water at Kennebunk Landing, were long heavy frames termed ways - these to guide the ship into the water.  Atop these ways and under the ship, but not yet supporting it, were cradles onto which the ship's weight would be transferred by either wedging the entire ship up off its keel blocks and shores, (blocking it onto the cradles) or by lowering the entire set of keel blocks by progressively removing their supports.⁴⁶ Data is not available to confirm which method was used for Josephus' launch.  Either method would put the weight of the ship, less masts, rigging and stores - all added later - onto the cradle and the ways, heavily greased the day before launch.  At the right moment and with the proper tide, William Lord Jr's wife would break a bottle of champagne on a decorative part of the ship (probably the ornate bowsprit), restraining timbers would be cut, and Josephus would slide into the water.⁴⁷ Dignitaries from the area would probably have listened to several speeches, (no doubt recalling Lord family participation in the recent War of 1812) watched the launch, then attended a reception at the Lords' residence.

     Josephus was launched into the Kennebunk River stern first and upstream, to avoid hitting the other riverbank.  Controlled in mid-stream by lines restricting her motion, she was turned around in the river bend at Kennebunk Landing, and towed to a dock for outfitting.^{48, 49,50} Seth E. Bryant, one of eleven deputy customs collectors at Kennebunk, was often a visitor to the yard, the landing, and other waterfront establishments.  Undoubtedly Seth assisted in "rating" Josephus for the Ship Master's Association, probably for $75.00 and measuring it as part of his customs duty, at a cost of $23.50. (Estimate from 1880's costs.⁵¹

     Outfitting, the process of completing construction, was a busy period.  While the Josephus' first Master, Alden B. Day, signed on a crew, Oliver and Horace Davis installed and tested the bilge and fresh water pumps on deck.  Joshua and Daniel Emery were no doubt busy putting finishing touches to the installation of masts, riggings, and stowage space for cargo.  The extensive nature of a fitting out can be inferred from review of Appendix C.  As completed Josephus drew nineteen feet, had a length overall of about 175 feet, clear masts of 90 to 125 feet, a beam of 35 to 40 feet, was of two decks and carried twelve major sails.  She had twin boats aft by the ships' wheel, rigged outboard on davits.⁵²

     Her profitability centered around the hatches on the main deck, for loading and discharging consigned cargoes.  Cranes and booms, rigged from her masts, would ease cargo transfer.  Her three masts were from trees of substantial height, which had to be straight and clear of "visible branch growth" before being cut.^{53, 54} Three masted ships were the norm, with masts built in three segments from the keel up - lower (held main sail), top (held the topsails), and top gallant (holding the top gallants).  Each was topped by mast caps, frequently of iron.  Even fine ships like Josephus had limitations.  They required ballast, often of stone, to offset the tremendous weight of masts and rigging when not carrying cargo.  Ballast was required even to move across a dock, a factor that helped make sailing ships eventually unprofitable.⁵⁵ Prudent selection and placement of cargoes and continuous usage could offset this inherent design limitation, and costly labor requirement.  Metal hulls which later became dominant, allowed substantially greater cargoes, required no ballast, and provided inherent fire protection.⁵⁶ As with most three masters, Josephus carried conventional square rigged sails.  As with masts and booms, spares were carried to ensure a repair capability in case of damage at sea.⁵⁷

     Survival of a sailing ship to old age was rare, Finch noting it "had as much chance of finishing her life on the casualty list at Lloyd's as she did of being broken up [after a useful life at sea]."⁵⁸ Putz estimated a short future, for:

     Most of the vessels, if lucky enough to survive a natural lifetime, lasted 10-15 years before wind, sea, storms, and overloading with undercare took its inevitable Toal . . . From the time of launching to demise, the ship was used continuously and so would pay for itself with only a few trips.⁵⁹

     Lloyd's Register of ships had started in 1734⁶⁰ instituting regular insurance, ship inspection and classifications, and removing "from commerce the tragedy of individual ruin which had hitherto attached the loss of a ship and its cargo."⁶¹ Lloyd’s and other insurance firms, recognizing the losses they faced in the rapidly expanding maritime world, became more methodical in their procedures and in accepting business risks.  Most insurers followed Lloyd's example, initiating more rigid ship inspection and classification standards; American Lloyd's adopted most standards for inspection, classification, and thus risk.

     Ships, reflective of the uncertainty of their environment, were thus heavily insured.  American insurance companies and Yankee shipowners were conservative businessmen.  Insurance companies "investigated their [Captain's] character minutely before taking a risk", ⁶² and, it would seem from Josephus' records, her owners were hedging potential losses through multiple coverage.  Accounting records reveal that in her first years the owners insured her with four insurance companies (Equitable; Fremont; Hope; and New England Insurance companies) at $5,000.00 each.⁶³ Premiums were paid on a quarterly basis at $601.00 per quarter, to each insuring company, another risk spreading procedure from the owners' perspective.  Her cargoes were separately insured for each voyage.  The cost of cargo insurance ran from one to one and a half percent of the value of the cargo on a particular voyage.⁶⁴ Josephus’ cost was not available, but comparable ships ran from $18 to $25.00 per ton; her 1850 insurance coverage of $20,000.00 falls within this range.  Having survived the jitters of initial use, proving herself seaworthy, and her master showing himself competent, Josephus' insurance was increased to $36,000 in 1852.  Like many other American ships of this period, Josephus was owned in shares.  Her owners were William Lord Jr.; George C. Lord and Ivory Lord; Charles H. Lord; George C. Lord Jr.; and Alden B. Day, her first Master.⁶⁵ Records for 31 July 1852 reflect Josephus was profitable; each of the quarter shareowners was paid $754.04 as their share of profits.  At the end of that year, each received $2202.34 as his share.⁶⁶

     International trade played a dominant, noticeable part of nineteenth century business, and interest in the world at large and ships was widespread.  Shipowners, attune to this feeling, frequently had their ships' portrait painted.  A photocopy of the painting of Josephus by English artist W.E.D. Stuart in 1856, courtesy of The Mariners' Museum appears on the following page.  Josephus is here shown under sail off Ramsgate, England.  At the time of its painting Stuart's marine works were on display at the Royal Academy, ^67,68 and as a noted British marine artist would presumably have little reason to paint a foreign merchant ship.  These aspects and Josephus' relatively inter-mediate size suggests the painting was done on commission by proud owners.  The maritime artists who portrayed the ships of the era, particularly sailing ships, did so in great detail.  Cordingly noted of this practice,

     While it was possible for a competent artist to portray the [sailing] ship with some degree of accuracy as she lay at anchor, the situation changed entirely when she got under way."⁶⁹ The magnitude of the task of painting accurately lay in the magnitude of sails, masts, spars and rigging - over three miles of rope and often a thousand blocks - encompassed by a ship's rig.⁷⁰

                England in 1853 - England suffered from the combined effects of the Industrial Revolution, rapid urbanization, and phenomenal population growth.  In the decades between 1801 and 1851, London's population had increased by 14, 18, 15, 14, and 12 percent.⁷¹ Thomas Rowe, my great grandfather, was born 8 March 1831 in Lancaster, a small industrial town on England's West coast.⁷² Thomas Rowe's parents were shop owners according to Rowe oral tradition, and weavers according to his death certificate.  The London Times, and Boston papers on this side of the Atlantic, stressed international trade and featured daily articles on stock markets and goods from around the world.  These articles no doubt informed young Thomas Rowe of the world, and especially the new world in America.  The urban crowding and competition for jobs in Lancaster and the utopian promise of America⁷³ surely combined to persuade Thomas Rowe and his wife, Mary Meagher (also Mahir) Rowe, who had just fled Ireland's potato famine, to emigrate.  These origins and grounds for emigration appear warranted by the tenure of the times and available data.

 

    W.E.D. Stuart, 1856, off Ramsgate, Ship Josephus under Captain Paine - courtesy of The Mariners Museum, Newport News, Virginia.

     Liverpool in 1853 - Liverpool was England's principal port; since the English Civil War many emigrants, and political prisoners, passed through Liverpool.⁷⁴  "Assisted emigration" of Irish after the 1821 Potato Famine came through Liverpool, ⁷⁵ and records in 1854 alone show 42,000 left for the Australian Gold Rush, while almost 200,000 left for America -- all from Liverpool.⁷⁶ Emigration reached a peak between 1847 and 1854, Hansen using the term "Celtic" to reflect its predominant ethnic makeup.⁷⁷  Indeed, so many Irish were leaving, the 1851 British Census notes, "The current of the Celtic migration is now diverted from these [English] shores; and chiefly flows in the direction of the United States."⁷⁸ The English population increase and rapid urbanization mirrored extreme crowding, the British Census noting, "ground area to each person is less; the proximity closer than it was."⁷⁹ Hansen noted that most American ship trips back to America had been "predominantly a transit of ballast,"⁸⁰ emigrants changed all that in great numbers.  American ship captains found emigrants a new source of profit and had initially stopped at Irish ports, but this produced considerable navigational risks.  "Steam navigation [by packets] between Ireland and Liverpool" soon facilitated this exodus, with Liverpool providing gratis passage to ensure their city got the emigrants' business.⁸¹

     Liverpool controlled British "export trade for coal, salt and manufactured goods" well into the first half of this [20th] century.⁸² By 1857 Liverpool controlled the following percentages of trade for the whole of Britain, 42% of cotton, 21% of other textiles, and 20% of metals, cutlery, hardware and machinery.⁸³ Liverpool’s growing mercantile trade dominance rested on exceptional port organization, excellent rail and canal connections, expanded demand, and increased industrial capacity.⁸⁴ Liverpool’s dock expansion and upgrade paced these factors almost continuously in the nineteenth century, with improvement costs outpacing Parliament's estimates and authorizations.⁸⁵  Liverpool's docks were necessities, for her merchants not only traded, they bought the ships to trade in, thus necessitating more dock space.  In 1852 alone 120 Canadian-built ships were purchased by Liverpool merchants.⁸⁶ These sail ships carried many of those emigrating in the years 1837 to 1844; in the latter part of the century steamships would corner the emigrant trade.  Many of the ships inport in May were of American or of Canadian construction, reflecting their better quality and better prices, an indication of the extent of trade, and its bottom line emphasis.⁸⁷

     Recognizing the advantages of newer technology, from 1836 when the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad opened, Liverpool merchants invested capital in transportation systems.⁸⁸ Railroads from Manchester, London and the South carried many to her piers, and packets brought Irish immigrants from Cork, where railroads were bringing those with sufficient shillings.  Canals linked Liverpool and its sister city, Mersey; commerce grew.  By 1851 over 125,000 tons of cargo, mostly cotton, was shipped just to Manchester by rail.⁸⁹ Liverpool’s merchants used their geographic position astride natural communication routes, Parliamentary persuasion, and lots of capital to increase their trade supremacy.⁹⁰ Ports with protected anchorages, serviceable docks and piers, and ready access to warehouses captured the biggest market share of trade, especially when situated near railways or canal systems.  This data validates Liverpool as the emergent English trade entrepot of the nineteenth century, and its status as the emigration center.

     Liverpool experienced wide tidal fluctuations, and ships berthed at docks with water level controlling locks.  Prince's Dock was completed in 1821 at a cost of L650,000 and incorporated eleven acres of water area and two locks, each forty-five feet wide.⁹¹ It was probably here that Josephus loaded for this voyage, having arrived on 1 April from New Orleans.^92,93 Prince's Dock is shown below as it was in the 1840s.

              

     Stores of hardtack, salt pork and beef, all the best for the money that the chandlers, butchers, and other Liverpool merchants could provide, were loaded and secured for sea.  Most materials were delivered by carts - in bags, casks, and boxed securely for sea, as shown above.  Master Paine would have wanted everything shipshape and seaman-like.  The Lord's company was not a major shipping firm in Liverpool's pantheon of firms, ⁹⁴ but their agents, Pilkington and Wilson, ⁹⁵ were competent and aggressive. American business had boomed except during the War of 1812, no doubt aided by a branch of the American Chamber of Commerce established there in 1801.⁹⁶ Captain Paine had to "contend with all those who made their living from shipping: the ship chandler, the butcher, the stevedore, the dry-dock people . . . the [company's] agent, the consignee, the customs officials, the shipping master, and the port officials."⁹⁷ Josephus’ records verify use of technology even in acquiring information, recording use of the telegraph system, especially to and from New Orleans.  This no doubt reflects discussions about weather, berths, and arrangements for cargoes and stores before voyages.  This growing use of technology in international business was not everywhere present; review of the Boston Post shows Josephus' 1 April arrival in Liverpool only on 16 April, suggesting the telegraph did not link those cities as yet.  The obvious capability to make arrangements, verify berths, and forecast overseas markets validates continuing emphasis on and use of newer means of communication, crucial to profitability.

     Casks and barrels of rum and wine, firkins of butter for the passage, barrels of meat, cooking oil, pallets and slings of cargo were loaded.  Cargo loading was confusing, continuous and difficult.  There was considerable congestion at dockside, caused perhaps by "the 4000 carts belonging to dock users."⁹⁸ This bustle, taken together with the market reports, is indicative of the growing international trade.  Josephus' cargo included "various quantities of iron bars, yellow metal, wine, ale, tin plates, anchors and chains, as well as 'sundry persons'."⁹⁹ Examination of Josephus' complete cargo list, shown on the following page, reflects international product availability, validates affordable yet profitable transportation to distant markets, and the mutually beneficial context of international trade.  The Boston Post editions of 8 and 9 June carry Liverpool Stock market reports, and the London Times of that month carries more coverage of Liverpool stocks and business than even those within London itself.  Liverpool was the English entrepot.  Several items in the cargo have broader significance.  The anchors and anchor chain reflect the cheaper availability of these products abroad, testifying to America's still fledgling Industrial Revolution.  "Yellow metal", an alloy of copper and zinc applied in sheets over a layer of tar and paper, resisted not only marine borers, but also marine growth -- an indication of continuing maritime improvement through incorporation of technology.¹⁰⁰ Yellow metal could not be used on metal hulls due to the galvanic corrosion it caused between hull and sheathing.

       Cargo manifested from Liverpool to Boston on Josephus'

                 voyage of 2 May - 7 June 1853.

  Cargo item         Quantity           Consignee

  Chains; anchors    22; 8              Geo. C. Lord & Co.

  Chains; anchors    27; 13             F.A. Sumner & Co.

  Tin plate          1000 boxes         Wainwright & Tappan

  Yellow metal       60 cases           P. & J.P. Hawes & Co.

  Earthenware        82 crates; 8 bhds. French, Wells & Co.

       "             34 crates;  "      W.F. Homer & Co.

       "             25 crates;  "      J. Perkins & Co.

       "             24 crates;  "      Atkins, Stedman &Co.

       "             14 crates;  "      Steele & Hayes

       "             7 crates;   "      Wm. E. Cash

       "             50 crates; 7 bhds. O. Norcross & Co.

       "             28 crates; 3 bhds. J. Collsmore Jr & Co.

       "             1 crate;     "     B.W. Gage

       "             25 crates;   "     Taylor & Waldron

       "             18 crates;   "     J. Whitaker & Son

  Wine      15 bhds; 5 pipes; 10 qtr casks J.S. Blake

  Ale                50 casks           Wyman & Arkley

  Merchandise        100                W. Whitehead

       "             3 pkgs             Seymour, Rice & Co.

       "             3 cases; 2 bales   Beebe, Morgan & Co.

  Iron bars          1314               Hammond, Manson &Co.

  Tin plate          525 boxes          S. May & Co.

  Merchandise        1 bale             Pierce, Howe & Co.

  Earthenware        52 crates          J.W. Blodgett & Co.

       "             4 crates           Blanchard, Converse

                                              & Co.

  Earthenware        25 crates          Carter, Cooper & Co.

  Iron               15,798 bars        A.A. Burwell

   "                 1761 bndls             "

   "                 926 plates             "

  Anvils             23 each                "

  Steel              11 cases               "

  Iron               470 bundles        To order

   "                 46 tons                 "

  Yellow metal       25 cases                "

  Earthenware        3 crates                "

       Source: Boston Post, 8 June 1853, "Importations" section.

  Letters of credit on Liverpool firms, at varying rates of interest, appear regularly in Josephus accounting records, and bills were processed after the fact.  This method of making payment several months after delivery, with promissory notes or scrip as payment, suggests the market's Transatlantic breadth, stability, and variety of goods.^101,102 Accounting records show that upon return to the States from Liverpool, English Pounds was invariably exchanged for American currency.    Josephus' business transactions and goods are exemplars of extant trade in that period.  As Hyde explains,

    Remittance of proceeds on the sale of British produce abroad was in the form of bills, drawn by the local firm [agent] on their correspondents in Britain or bought locally, or by direct purchase on such articles as cotton, tea, silk, wheat or coffee which were then sent back to be sold in Liverpool or London.  Sometimes, when bills and currency were scarce (as in the China trade in the 1850s) barter arrangements were made.¹⁰³

  Josephus' voyage started Liverpool 2 May; she cleared the Mersey River channel on 4 May, arriving in Boston 7 June -- making for a passage of thirty-six days at just over six knots.  Master Paine no doubt had exhaustive dealings with Captain C. Patey, RN, the British Emigration Officer at Liverpool¹⁰⁴, clearing his passengers before leaving port.  Ships designed to transport passengers, as Jobe noted, were not extant - "no passenger ships worthy of that name existed until the middle of the nineteenth century,"¹⁰⁵ Many passengers, and most Irish, Hansen notes,

    distrusting paper receipts, would not hand over their hard-earned shillings until they . . . had seen the vessel with their own eyes . . . [and] waited 'til the last minute to sign on for passage - as competition might spur 'fare reductions.¹⁰⁶

  A popular guidebook noted that Irish passengers preferred American ships, "Let the ship be American, remember he is going home, and the captain probably will never pull off his clothes to go to bed during the whole voyage."¹⁰⁷ European emigrants often traveled through Liverpool after the 1840s, preferring it to England's southern ports, which were less organized, had irregular schedules, and were more costly.¹⁰⁸ The price of passage to the New World in 1816 was L10 per person, but competition and efficiencies generated by greater and greater movements of every imaginable trade goods, quickly lowered the rate to L2, 2s in the 1830s.¹⁰⁹

  A total of 308 passengers were aboard for that voyage, hardly a "sundry" number in those days, and suggestive of considerable crowding for a ship designed for cargo.  They would board last, after the cargo was stowed.  They faced many hazards, including the seas, dangerous whale oil lamps, the cold, dampness, poor food, lack of ventilation, and overcrowding.¹¹⁰  Living conditions must have been primitive.  Records show that of the crew of nineteen, thirteen slept aft, and six forward¹¹¹ -- passengers in between.  Legislation began to appear in mid-century to protect shipboard passengers from greedy ship owners, who skimped on food, sanitation, space, or all the above.  Other legislation for their protection was based on scandals about poor health conditions and foods onboard.  Some ships were so dangerous as to be called "coffins" by Samuel Plimsoll, a British champion for improved maritime regulation.^112,113  Parliament established a Board of Trade to regulate transportation, inspect ships, and standardize construction.  These laws covered merchant seamen, and increasingly emigrant passengers.  It was also in the nineteenth century that lifeboat rescue services, lighthouses, and navigational aids were seriously funded and organized on both sides of the Atlantic, incorporating technology into all aspects of navigation.¹¹⁴

  The passenger list of Josephus' voyage is written in the same hand throughout, suggesting a ship's officer, or customs agent, wrote all entries.  One passenger's name was crossed out, and an entry made, "Did not ship", suggesting the list was made on departure from Liverpool.  Of the passengers, two were Americans, John Walsh age 24 and Michael Wheelan age 17; three were English, Thomas and Mary Wroe (both listed at 25 and Thomas carried as an iron founder), and Jonathan Butterworth a 30-year-old shoemaker.  The remaining 303 were Irish, emigrating no doubt as a result of the 1840s Potato Famine and continuing poor economic conditions.   No profession or job was listed for any of the women passengers.¹¹⁵ The exact reason for the difference in surname spelling between Rowe and Wroe will probably never be discovered, but may represent the interpretation of the individual who made the entries.  Both Thomas and Mary's ages were shown incorrectly, suggesting they may have concealed the truth.  The passenger list shows Thomas Wroe, with Mary on the last sheet, probably because she boarded last, being very pregnant.  Crewmembers' names are listed on the following page, but not a great deal can be garnered from them.  All were supposedly Americans, though one can discern surnames suggesting Italian, French, and Irish ancestries.  David Clark, listed third on the crew list, has the same surname as a contractor who built Kennebunk ships, possibly reflecting a Clark family maritime tradition.

                 Josephus Crew List as of May 1853

  Master Edgar Paine (Other positions, duties not identified)

  William A. Creifor(?n)  William Clark      Chas. A. Kelly

  Lyman Cummins           Jefferson Charvet  Mariner Grines

  Rich. H. Wood           Henry Middleton    Jamieson Keay

  Charles C. Morton       Isaac G. Borocio   Albert Williams

  Joseph Antonio          James Caougragh    Benjamin Dunn

  Samuel Shraber          Henry Miller       Peter Wood

  Note: The record reflects all men as American, but "No proof" is

       noted as being offered.  Also, no ages were noted.

  Source: Records of Foreign Service Posts, Consular Posts,

       Liverpool, England, Volume 714, page 691.  State Department

       files @ National Archives, Washington, DC.

  The passengers no doubt ate canned, salted meat, hard bread or hardtack (hard biscuits), and had fresh water - perhaps some beer.  Meals would be eaten on deck, weather permitting, otherwise, below decks holding on as the ship moved at the seas' command.  British sailors, and others, had a "basic provisioning scale known to seamen as the pound and pint  . . . three fourths of a pound of salt beef or one half pound of pork, a pound of bread or a hard biscuit and three quarts of water per day ... " were prescribed as the norm for sailors.¹¹⁶ This probably was the norm for Josephus.  Huddled within the ship, and sleeping so close to other passengers gave one a newfound appreciation for personal hygiene.  Hammocks, racks in naval parlance, were three to four high in rows.  Lighting was primitive within the ship where the passengers slept - a danger existed from the necessary use of whale oil for this lighting.  Undoubtedly many prayed for deliverance from the feeling of disorientation and nausea experienced at sea.  At least they knew the journey was short, and held promises of a new beginning.

  The voyage occurred during a stormy part of the year, the London Times of late March 1853 indicating stormy seas, and daily wrecks.  The London Times reported this was to be expected on any crossing, according to reports of other ships which had sailed to Boston.  One can envision the ship continually rolling, pitching, and yawing with the waves, and heeling with the wind, making real rest difficult at first, with fatigue finally facilitating sleep.  In better seas and winds, she would seem "almost alive, running clean and strong, the sails pulling for all they were worth . . . No noise. Nothing but the music of wind and sea."¹¹⁷ The Josephus' crew would be continually working the sails, Allen noting of all sailing ships:

    even in only moderately severe weather, furling and unfurling sail had to be done over and over again.  As the wind picked up or slackened, the amount of canvas a ship could carry would change, and a captain would always try to keep as much sail set as he prudently could.¹¹⁸

  Accounting records show her hull had been caulked in May, undoubtedly in Liverpool.  The Josephus sailed well, making good six and a half knots over the entire voyage.  She had recently been careened or docked in Liverpool, and her hull cleaned of marine growth, a task required every three to four months, especially if sailed in southern waters.  Crewmen would weekly holystone the deck, removing odd bits of tar and slivers from checks in the wood, by rubbing the gritty rough brick across the decking with a long pole.  New tar would be applied to ensure a tight ship, free of weather leaks.

  Josephus and its passengers probably encountered no other ships at sea, except as they departed Liverpool or entered Boston.  Mary Rowe, unable to move easily because of her pregnancy and the confines even of the spacious women's area aft, had an uneasy, though fulfilling passage.  Just one day out of Boston Harbor on 6 June 1853, William Joseph Rowe, my grandfather, was born.¹¹⁹ Several of the older women, all Irish, probably assisted with her delivery; among these were Mary Dolan, age 30 and with three of her children onboard, and Mary Sanders, age 40, with a 21 year old daughter onboard.¹²⁰ Obviously all went well, oral tradition indicating my great grandparents gave William the nickname Josephus, commemorating the overall happiness of that passage.

  The passage, which ended in Boston Harbor 7 June 1853, took thirty-six days.  All records for that period in Boston usually held by the Regional Office of the National Archives, these being Customs, Registry, Entry and Departure, et cetera, were burned in 1875.^121,122 Maps of Boston, and charts of Boston Harbor and its approaches exist, allowing reconstruction of Josephus' entry.  Master Paine would have used his sextant intensively over the previous several days, ensuring he was on the proper track, 42⁰ 20^' North latitude and 71⁰ East longitude, for Boston.  No doubt Master Paine began his entry at first light, to ensure safety in the congested waterway, Boston being known as "a dangerous port to enter."¹²³ His approach left Queen's Island to starboard, then Winthrop Head passed abeam, then he tacked more northerly to pass Governor's Island to port as he entered Boston Harbor.  This route provided maximum depth of water and maneuvering room.¹²⁴  Master Paine used no tugs, preferring to exhibit his skill, and, being a prudent businessman, maximize profits and perhaps his bonus.  Like most merchant Masters, he used the Royal Navy's Admiralty Compass, as well as other English navigational instruments, which were pre-eminent in maritime use.¹²⁵

  Boston in 1853 - Boston from its earliest history had been a growing seaport.  In 1794 Boston possessed over eighty wharves and quays for berthing ships, and over 450 square rigged sailing ships were recorded at one time.¹²⁶ Commerce constantly increased, and between 1830 and 1860, before the decline imposed by the Civil War, Boston's cargo tonnage rose by a factor of eight; British merchant tonnage over the same period rose by only a factor of five.¹²⁷ American flag ownership of ships, with Boston predominant in this same period, rose by a factor of five, to more than five million tons.¹²⁸  After the 1860's, American and Boston ownership and shipment tonnage fell dramatically, as British steam power, and especially metal hulls began to achieve technological and financial advantage.^129,130  Yet, like the ship-owners of Liverpool, Boston ship-owners had invested in other transportation ventures, funneling vast amounts into American railroads and canals.¹³¹  These improvements to transportation infrastructure further expanded the avenues for movement within the New World, making real its promise for immigrants.  Unlike Liverpool merchants and ship-owners, however, those of Boston were slow to take advantage of the evolving technological conversion to steam power and metal hulls.¹³²  While steam had several nitches on the Boston waterfront, it was mainly in the steamboat service initiated to Portland, Maine in the 1830's.¹³³  Tugboats were increasingly steam powered, though usually only the paddlewheel steamboats used their services - Boston had not seen the writing on technology's wall.¹³⁴

  On arrival at Boston, the ship was put at quarantine for two days, only one of two vessels so restricted.¹³⁵ Records indicate two Irish passengers died on the passage, Dennis Singleton at age 27 and David O'Neille at age 8, probably passing on at the end of the passage and occasioning the quarantine.¹³⁶ No doubt their initial poor health as recent Irish emigrants was accentuated by the cold, damp quarters onboard, and sea sickness perhaps finished them off.  No official records exist, and Boston papers fail to note their deaths, suggesting they were not among those one could term "well off".¹³⁷ British law was focusing attention on better health conditions on ships, and American laws echoed English laws, which from 1826 on required a "surgeon" onboard "every emigrant vessel"¹³⁸  Few ships actually had medical personnel of any kind.  It was at least recognition in law that passengers' health was considered increasingly important.

  Josephus, after being "at (then via) quarantine" for inspection,¹³⁹ moored at Long Wharf sometime on 9 June 1853.¹⁴⁰  Boston experiences a nine and a half foot tidal swing,¹⁴¹ and Josephus drew nineteen feet unloaded, so Master Paine required a berth with ample draft.  Long Wharf, built early in the 1700's and originally almost 2000 feet long, had changed considerably with time.  Its landward end and adjoining streets were cobblestone, the seaward end timbers weathered and worn from long use; it's length now only several hundred feet.  Appendix D shows Long Wharf's appearance in the 1860's, when it was the hangout for numerous Boston writers and painters.  Nearby on the wharf was the Salt house, marked with its immense sign -- here Liverpool, Trapani (Sicilian), and Cadiz (Spanish) salt was delivered - still a necessity for meat preservation.¹⁴² Ship chandlery shops lined Long Wharf and other wharves nearby.  At the end of the pier were berths used by paddlewheel packets to take immigrants to New York City, Albany, Troy, Baltimore, or Philadelphia, thus bringing the wide new America within reach of new arrivals.¹⁴³  "ROWE WHARF," named after an old Boston family, was ironically two wharves away.

  The passengers left promptly, not only to get their land legs and to clear immigration, but also to make way for cargo removal.  Thomas, Mary, and baby William Rowe went to the Custom House at the wharf's end.  Built just seven years before, it served as clearing house, immigrant detention center, and office space for customs cargo appraisers.¹⁴⁴ The earlier Customs House, built in the 1830s at the landward end of Long Wharf, had already become too small by virtue of the press of so many immigrants seeking a new world.

  In summary, this paper establishes a prima facie story of Josephus, from launch in Kennebunk to her voyage from Liverpool to Boston in 1853.  The research identifies her crew, her cargo, her passengers, and merged with Rowe oral tradition, bring into tangible terms the wider trends of evolving ship technologies, British societal stresses, and commercial practices, which substantially influenced maritime trade in the nineteenth century.  The first Trans-Atlantic steamship line was inaugurated in 1838¹⁴⁵ to provide better, faster, more reliable transport to the huddled masses seeking a new world.  They sought to leave behind the disruptions of Europe and Britain.  The disruption of seventeen wars in that century affecting Britain,¹⁴⁶ coupled with rapid urbanization, the social stresses wrought by Potato Famines and the apparent insensitivity to workers of the Industrial Revolution, served to spur emigration from the British Isles.  America offered herself and was seen as the poor man's Utopia.¹⁴⁷ Technological changes in the maritime world were many, centered around the evolution to steam engines, from wooden to metal hulled ships, and continuing expansion of other means of competing transportation. Josephus' last year of documented life, 1869, saw America's rails stretch across the continent, upstaging shipment of lumber by sea.  American shipping's downturn after the Civil War was followed in the 1870s by a dominance by metal hulled ships.¹⁴⁸ New England's forests were essentially gone by the 1880s, leaving the region without any change for continued ship construction, and little market share.  The opening of the Suez Canal in this era furthered the trend, and marked the "beginning of the real ascendancy of steam."¹⁴⁹ These changes marked the broader end of sail, apart from minor vessels.

  The voyage of Josephus in May/June 1853 did indeed mark a passage from an Old to a New World, fulfilling the dreams of my forebears to America's promise.  The changing aspects of maritime finance, from insurance's influence of better ship construction to the globalization of the Industrial Revolution, were disrupting the underpinnings of wooden ships.  The encroachment of the manifold aspects of technology on ship construction had sounded the siren call for wooden ships by offering sturdier vessel, with more optimum transits which could best satisfy the masses waiting to emigrate to America's promise.