June 2009 Reader Mail

email ASK, RANT OR PRAISE, BUT NEVER IGNORE

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MYSTERIOUS PORTSMOUTH MURDERS
Hi Dennis...I want to tell you how much I enjoyed your article about the murders, brothels and conditions of Portsmouth in the past in the Portsmouth Herald dated June 8, 2009. I am a "local mystery writer" here in the Kittery Point area, and am working right now on completing my 11th book, which will be entitled "Home of the Brave". Will be published on or about October 2009. HOTB nearly echoes your article! It is a mystery (fictional, but lots of facts and history) about a few months in 1943 here in the Seacoast area. The Shipyard is humming, producing sub after sub, the streets of Portsmouth are teeming with servicemen and prostitutes, and the Connie Bean Center is open as the USO. There are lots of juicy murders, injured servicemen, an arsonist on the loose, meat rationing with hefty prostitutes going unexpectedly missing. I'll send you a copy when it comes out and I hope you might enjoy seeing how I fictionalized the Kittery/Portsmouth scene of an earlier time.
Best, Joyce Tracksler

NEWSLETTER LATE, NOT DEAD
Alas, I suppose it had to happen in this ever burgeoning technical society we live in but I have to tell you I shall greatly miss the simple "Seacoast NH" e-mail newsletter. It made me feel like I was in personal touch with a live person who loves New England and the NH seacoast and especially the Shoals as much as I do. But I will move on with you and try to catch both the web site and your blog, one of which I now have myself in order to keep a large number of fans occupied and interested. Thanks for all the good things you have brought into my home via the SCNews.
Joan Strickland Johnson landlocked in MN
(no Lake Superior doesn't make up for the ocean as people here try to tell me!!)

EDITOR’S REPLY: Rumors of our virtual demise are greatly exaggerated. The last reader newsletter went out to about 7,500 readers via email earlier in the month and appears online on the site as well. We were two months late for the first time in 13 years, but late don’t mean dead. We’ll be back in two months for another shot.

PLUG FOR NEW COLLEGE FINANCE WEB SITE
Hello, I have a story idea for you. A small company here in Bow, NH are helping families find ways to pay for their children's college education, especially in the current financially troubled times. Dream Strategy, LLC is an educational organization developed to provide parents, students and school administrators a resource to stay in touch with up to date information and changes that have occurred in the college financial aid industry. Dream Strategy also helps families develop not just a college planning strategy, but through the development of a college financing plan a lifelong strategy to manage cash flow, reduce debt, reduce taxes and prepare the family to pass their assets on in the most tax efficient method and not relying on the government’s plan. They are the only certified college planners in New Hampshire! I hope you will consider doing a story on them they have helped so many families and I know your readers would love to get more information. You can check out their web site at www.dreamstrategy.com.
Erinn Perron

HOW LONG IS THAT SEACOAST?
What is the length of New Hampshire’s seacoast in miles?
Marsha Gintzler

EDITOR’S REPLY: Most reports say 17-19 miles, wedged tightly between the much longer coasts of MA and ME.. Locals often note that the "coastline" also includes the inner tidal estuary, bays and rivers that add couple hundred miles of salt water access to the ocean.

ON WRITING
Hi Dennis, well, I have done enough of it to know that writing can come to seem nothing more than a job that has to be done, but I thought that Winston's take would resonate with you. I found this in his The Gathering Storm which chronicles the years between the two world wars. Here he refers to being absorbed in working on his History of the English Speaking Peoples during the late 30s: "Writing a long and substantial book is like having a friend and companion at your side, to whom you can always turn for comfort and amusement, and whose society becomes more attractive as a new and widening field of interest is lighted in the mind."
Richard

FINDING A FLYING TIGER
My Name is Aaron Small. I am the great nephew of Abraham Small. All my life I have been told he was in the Flying Tigers. My Uncle was from Maine. He would have been born either in Rockland Maine or an island right near there in Penabscot. He was definitely from Maine and when he left went back to Maine met the girl of his dreams and died when he was killed by a drunk driver. Long before I was ever born. Is there anyway I can find out any information on him what he did? Where he was stationed? Anything??
Aaron Small

EDITOR REPLIES: We know only what is published in our book review , but if you check again, you will note that there is a link at the top to author Dan Ford’s very active and detailed web site.

DAN FORD RESPONDS TOO: Good morning, Aaron! SeacoastNH.com forwarded your email. My own interest is in the original Flying Tigers--the American Volunteer Group of 1941-1942--but the US Army units that followed them also used the name, and it is doubtless one of those where your grand-uncle served. If you look at www.warbirdforum.com/faq.htm you will see the address in St Louis where military records are kept, and other suggestions on how to trace a veteran. There's even a book devoted to the subject. Good luck in your quest, and Blue skies! -- Dan Ford

HOW MUCH IS MY TRUNK WORTH?
Please find three pictures of a trunk that I have and wondered what kind of price this would have. I would appreciate any information you could give me.
Frank G Linden

PAT MORSE RESPONDS: Hi, Frank. Your ca. 1880 American made dome top is one of the trunks that sell for quite a range of prices just depending on the current state of repair. It's an esthetically pleasing trunk with a high dome that was made in the "barrel stave" style. That is, each piece of the top was cut and tapered to fit much like a wooden barrel was made. Not too long after this trunk was made manufacturers turned to molded plywood because it was faster and cheaper. You can find trunks like these at antique shops and flea markets around New England for $50-$250 unrestored. We also see a lot of this style of trunk on Ebay in the $300-$500 range. Most generally, judging by the shiny finishes, those trunks have been restored by amateurs and will not reach their full potential. However, if you were to have this trunk professionally restored the value would climb into the $1,500-$1,800 range. -- Pat Morse of Trunk.com

HEARD YOUR TALK
Dennis ! Just wanted you to know how very much I enjoyed your WBS presentation in New Castle recently ... I honestly could sit and listen to you and learn from you for hours ! Also, that was such a cute picture of my mother [Former Portsmouth Mayor Eileen Foley] with the governors at the Memorial Bridge in 1923 ! She got a big kick out of it !Still waiting for your History of Portsmouth lecture series !
MCF

READERS RESPOND TO MYSTERY PHOTO
Re: Historic Photo posted here

(1) You got my attention with the picture of the dory fisherman. (BTW there are 8 dorys stacked on the port side). The man pictured is in the typical garb of the day but it struck me that I may have seen him before. There is a book that I have "Gloucester on the Wind" by Joseph E. Garland and on page 144 the same man could be your mystery man. I'll bring the book to my office if you want to see it. Same hat, sweater and the profile of the nose is pretty close. Someone who did a lot of study of the schooner fishing fleet was Thomas Hoyne a painter who's artistic renditions are the best I have ever seen -- so much that I have collected numerous prints, one of which hangs in my office at the port
Capt. Geno Marconi

(2) My father saw the mystery picture you published in the paper this week. He believes it to be an early purse seiner. All the dories would go out, distribute the net, await the catch, then encircle the net and row into the center to create a purse that would be winched up onto the boat. This is now done mechanically. Thank you for your insightful column.
Terra and Will(3) You have probably been inundated by answers by now but her is another: Looks to be a stack of dories, (not whale boats) on the deck of a schooner rigged cod fisherman, looking aft. Reminds me of Captains Courageous, a Rudyard Kipling novel that was made into a movie in 1937 with Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Freddie Bartholomew, Mickey Rooney, Melvyn Douglas and John Carradine. Filmed using real Gloucester fishing schooners . (A&C Society
Dennis(4) I have always admired the "Historic Portsmouth" photos that are in the Herald and review them with interest. I was particularly intrigued with the photo "Marine mystery photo" in the 5/28/09 edition of The Herald. Regrettably I cannot give you any information on this particular picture other than to enlighten you hopefully to some degree on what this photo shows.

I am very familiar with this type of vessel which appears to be a two-masted schooner and from the stacked dories it would also appear to be a fishing vessel commonly used in fishing on the Grand Banks and were referred to as Grand Banks schooners.

I come from a long line of seafarers. My great grandfather, grandfather and father were all sea Captains and they were engaged in not only fishing but commercial ventures down the Eastern seaboard and into South America.

My grandfather owned (2) two three-masted schooners, The "Jennie Stubbs" and the "Sally C. Marvel". These vessels were Maine built and I believe principally sailed to the Grand Banks fishing grounds where they would stay for several months with the other fishing vessels of "The Fishing Fleet".

My own father was a Captain for the well known White Star Line and was the Master/Captain of the passenger vessel S.S. Lexington that ran primarily from Providence, R. I. to New York and was one of the so called Providence to New York boats. Unfortunately I did not become a sea Captain but did serve 22 years in the U. S. Coast Guard retiring in 1988 as a Master Chief Petty Officer E-9.

As I indicated previously this vessel is clearly a Grand Banks class of vessel and I would guess in the neighborhood of 160' in length. The photo shows (8) eight stacked or nested dories on the deck, but it would appear that there are more as it will be noted that the number (10) ten appears on the bottom of the nest. Closer examination will reveal that at the extreme left edge of the photo another stack of dories is visible which would appear to be about another (8) but it is not clear enough to accurately tell. This is definitely a schooner and appears to be a (2) two-master as only (2) two masts are visible. She also appears to be gaff rigged which is the typical rigging for a schooner of this type and class. It is clear that this was a working vessel as can easily be seen by the wear and condition. It would also appear by the photo that she was not meticulously maintained.

These vessels generally had no power other than the wind, but in many cases the vessel did carry a so-called "Yawl Boat" that was carried on davits at the stern of the vessel and did have an inboard engine. This boat was an open boat and could be lowered and secured to the side or stern vessel and used in the same manner as a tug boat is used for power to manuver the vessel in calm waters or when coming in to docking or mooring. These boats were some 16' to 18' long. I hope that this may be of some interest to you.
Leslie E. Dorr, FICM, USCGR (ret)(5) Hi J.Dennis: I’ve always devoured all of your writings in the HERALD. In our humble opinion, there is no doubt that is a photo of a Grand Banks fishing schooner. The dories on the deck were deployed by individual fishing crew members who would, once arriving at the Banks, row out in their dories daily and return to the schooner at evening with their catch of codfish. The catch would be counted and that’s how their share at the end of the trip would be paid. An old Greenland friend of mine before he passed gave me a great artifact of his many trips to the Banks as a fishermen, his last being in the mid-1950s. It is a wooden ring with a carving on top that enabled the fishermen to re-bend their hooks. The hooks were made of soft iron so that instead of struggling to unhook their fish they could just rip them out of the fish’s jaw, re-bend them and quickly send their baited (with salted clam, no doubt) back down to the bottom where the codfish lived. This saved a lot of time and added to the fishermen’s production. I really value that ring and also old "Mac" MacKay’s friendship and the memories he shared with me. Dick Pinney has written about the outdoors professionally for over half a century.

SOURCING GEN. STARK
Am looking for a source to check any known religious beliefs of General John Stark...? Thanks!
Marty McGrath, NH Ex-Pat
Sent from iPod Touch!

EDITOR’S REPLY: The John Stark House is in Manchester NH run by the DAR and has a library there. Here the items on my Stark bookshelf. First two most likely to mention religion:

1) NH's General John Stark by Clifton Labree (2007)

2) John Stark by Ben Z. Rose (2007)

3) John Stark, Live Free or Die (2007 Juvenile history)

4) John Stark Freedom Fighter by Robert P Richmond (1976)

5) Major General John Stark, Hero of Bunker Hill and Bennington (1972 booket)

6) Molly Stark, Woman of the Revolution by Olive Tardiff 1976)

MEMORIAL BRIDGE MEMORIES
I enjoyed your recent article about our famous Memorial Bridge.It stirred up memories of days gone by. My grandfather, F.W. Harrington, worked at the Navy Yard for many years and walked to work from Dennett St. summer and winter to the Yard over our Bridge.i never knew him to drive a car.When I worked at the Yard, World War II,1943-44 I would walk from work to Market Square to catch a bus to Foyes corner to get home. It seems that the Memorial Bridge was an important part of our lives at the time. I hope it can be saved,being such an important structure.
Brad Harrington, Rochester,NH.

OAK ISLAND HAS NH CONNECTIONS
Your piece on Smuttynose (re: archaeology, treasure etc..) reminded me of a couple places in NS. If you are not acquainted with the story of Oak Island, NS., you should read up on it - its one of the most fascinating treasure hunting stories in the world. And that's not hyperbole. They've been looking for treasure there since 1795.

Anyway, i'm not really writing about Oak Island so much as the town of Canso. Your article intimates a connection between the fisheries of the two regions, and I can tell you without a doubt that the connections are/were numerous. It’s a well-known fact that New England fisherman and merchants had strong connections to Canso. I did some quick research and ran across an interesting map of Canso from 1764. It resides in your Library of Congress. On it, are two Islands - one is Cape Ann Isl., and the other is Piscataqua Isl. !! A map from 1954 still lists the island as Piscataqua. The surveyor of the 1764 map was Charles Morris, originally from Boston. Numerous other references in footnotes etc. refer to towns like Marblehead, Newburyport etc when talking about Canso.

It’s a long page but scroll down roughly 8/10 of the way and you'll see the maps in great detail. After doing more research I think I've realized why that map names one of the islands there Piscataqua Island. It’s probably b/c of the large presence of people associated with your area. I came across one of your own pages wrt Joshua Pierce who was from Portsmouth. He had a thriving fish business in Canso. But there's another Portsmouth connection: Philip Durell. If you look closely at that 1764 map you'll see that the very next island next to Piscataqua isl. is Durell's isl. It was named after Philip Durell who had strong military ties to Portsmouth/Kittery. He is known to have spent time in Portsmouth marshalling ships for war, and he also knew Pepperrell and worked with him on the Louisbourg raid.
Mark Wilson, Canada

SEEKING SHOALS DATA
i am in 4th grade in Salem, NH. i am doing a social studies project and i picked the Isles of Shoals. do you have any information that maybe you could send me, that would help me with my project. my mom said i should ask and maybe you would be able to help. thank you very much.
Jesse

PAUL JONES SCRIMSHAW?
I have been looking for information about a walrus tusk with engravings of the Bonhomme Richard & Serapis with the date 1779. I was left this piece by a relative because of how I admired it over 20 years ago. I dont know much about it and am trying to find out more about this if it is a true collector item or what! I have found online that there are many fakes of this piece or a similar piece. Do you have any pics of a piece that I have described that you can send me or do you have any suggestions of a place I can take this to be checked in the Tulsa,OK area.
C. Marks

EDITOR RESPONSE: (See Collecting Jones) Thanks for your note. I’m afraid I have no knowledge of this topic. It is my assumption that most elaborate images of Jones on walrus tusks, especially those nicely mounted, are fakes. Also this is an event often depicted, the number of authentic originals are still few. I’ve been told that one can easily tell the fakes by scraping off and burning a sliver of the "tusk". Plastic burns like plastic. Tusk smells like burning hair. The attached image is frequently seen on eBay, so I assume it is the reproduction.

MEMORIAL BRIDGE RALLY NOTES
Because my alarm clock had been set but not turned on. I thought Ron had turned it on, but he thought I had. I wouldn't have been there for any of the rally except that an in-coming phone call wakened me about one hour late. I parked up a small hill near the rally, in an auto repair shop's lot made available for that event. My car was one of three with NH license plates and not all spaces were taken by rally attendees. I noticed that what had been the business' major office across the street is occupied by another sort of firm – perhaps a photocopy or small print shop.

The first thing I saw walking down that hill was that where my son went to pre-school appears to have been raised up over a new, above-the-ground basement. That resulted in losing its attractive, front porch. Those columns have been replaced with gray cement stairs and terraces. Across Government Street from that, the public school where my son had attended kindergarten now has an over-sized stuffed armchair and ottoman, covered in plastic. At the natural food store where I later purchased shampoo, I learned that it's no longer a school but an art center!

Down the hill, at the intersection of US Route 1, is one of the most attractive small gardens I've ever seen. It has a statue of a seated girl, with her arm raised to show off the beauty there – a triangle of unusual peace next to an extremely busy street. I can't imagine something like that or the art center being there when I lived in Kittery from 1974 to 1981 or 1982.

As soon as I turned to walk along the west-bound side of Route 1, I saw that a good-sized group of rally attendees were gathered near the opposite end of John Paul Jones Park. I wondered how I was going to get up the curb to join them in the park. A car parked illegally with the driver's side actually on a bit of the park's grass might have supplied me with something to grab onto so I could ease up into the park.

As I came opposite where the microphone, speakers and crowd were, I noticed that the parking lot for a chiropractor's office offered shade from the very hot sun, so that's where I placed myself. I also was physically isolated from any smokers who might be among them. Occasionally drivers of cars honked their horns in support as they headed to NH over the Memorial Bridge.

Speeches were extremely short and well delivered – I think all of them without notes. I noticed one or two reporters jotting notes and taking still photos, but just before 4 a.m. I discovered that none of their stories appear to be posted yet. Jennifer Goodman of NH Preservation Alliance was the only one I had formerly been acquainted with. I was most impressed that someone Nicolosi [sp] from the National Trust for Historic Preservation also spoke, announcing that this bridge is on this year's list of the 11 most endangered historic sites for the entire U.S.

A youth who appeared about my son's age was the last speaker I heard and the only one not scheduled. He said he had been raised on the island where we used to live and spoke passionately for its preservation. However, it is competing with extension of I-95 up to the Canadian border and one of the key transportation officials in Maine is from that area. Also there is another contender in the Portland area for the one federal stimulus package of money being offered to Maine.

One of the speakers said that he had stopped counting attendees at 245 but since people had continued "to pour in" [an exaggeration], so he was sure there were over 250 of us. The several sentences NHPR carried about this as I was driving home stated that over 200 were there. John Paul Jones park is small, but that crowd nicely filled part of that elongated oval that's closest to NH.

Since I saw someone with video camera panning shots to show on TV news, so I want to see that short segment. I saw a teaser during the opening of last evening's supper-time news from one of the Portland TV stations, but I missed their story on it – both then and at 11 p.m. Now I am passing time at my computer so I can watch what is perhaps that video on the one of the Maine stations that carries statewide news. About an hour ago, the Internet let me know that this morning's news starts at 5 a.m.

Although perhaps no one noticed me, I felt comfortable being safely separated from part of this rally. For instance, no one brought a clipboard to me so I didn't have to supply my name and address. And I saw one man shake his head, showing that he declined to identify himself. I clapped for statements I strongly agreed with and maybe hollered a couple of "yeah's."
Anonymous

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