The Ada K. Damon was an 84 foot, two mast schooner built in Essex in 1875 by Ebenezer Burnham.
Initially a fishing ship, the Damon sailed up and down the coast of New England between Provincetown and Maine catching mostly cod and other fish. Eventually Captain A.K. Brewster bought the schooner, but he lost the ship in a storm that ran it ashore on Steep Hill Beach in Ipswich in 1909. In the final year of the life of the Damon, they hauled sand for construction to Boston.
Initially a fishing ship, the Damon sailed up and down the coast of New England between Provincetown and Maine catching mostly cod and other fish. Eventually Captain A.K. Brewster bought the schooner, but he lost the ship in a storm that ran it ashore on Steep Hill Beach in Ipswich in 1909. In the final year of the life of the Damon, they hauled sand for construction to Boston.
The schooners coming out of Cape Ann in the early 1700’s were designed as fishing vessels – they were made to carry a lot of fish. But the fishermen in this profitable business pressed for faster boats that could get them to their fishing grounds quicker. The newly designed schooners tended to be much top-heavier in sail area, and so were prone to capsizing. The longer bowsprits were especially dangerous and earned themselves the eerie nickname “widow makers.”
To add to the dangers that came along with the new schooners’ design, New England’s rocky coastline continued to prove itself treacherous. Gloucester, a fishing city a little more than ten miles east of Ipswich, lost almost 400 schooners and more than 2,000 men between 1866 and 1890 alone. In 1865 the members of this community founded the Gloucester Fisherman’s and Seaman’s Widows and Orphan’s Aid Society Fund to support the families that had lost a husband and/or father. Records show that there were multiple instances when Damon lost crew at sea during storms and strong gales. |
It is unknown how big of a crew the Ada K. Damon had, but life on a boat was not an easy one no matter the crew size. Crew members slept in cramped, unsanitary quarters; and when they weren’t sleeping they were working, because there was always something to be done on the boat. From setting sails to scrubbing fish guts off of floorboards, the crew was committed to keeping their ship—and quite frankly their home—in pristine shape.
Sources:
http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/3_4.html
http://fitzhenrylaneonline.org/
http://americanhistory.si.edu/onthewater/exhibition/3_4.html