“Successfully launched today from the yard of J, M. Grant, in Ellsworth,” the Portland [Maine] Daily Press announced on Nov. 17, 1883, the schooner F. D. Hodgkins. As with many ship launches, dignitaries were invited to ride aboard the vessel as it splashed into the water. In this case, one of Maine’s United States senators, Eugene Hale, and his family enjoyed the short ride as the schooner was launched.
Maiden voyage to Haiti, passing by the Delaware coast
After the launch festivities, the F. D. Hodgkins was rigged, fitted with sails on its three masts, and under the command of Capt. R. C. Bonsey, set out on its maiden voyage to Haiti. After loading a cargo of lumber, Bonsey set sail from Haiti on Feb. 8, 1884; and it took the schooner only a little over four weeks to reach the Delaware coast.
In the late 19th century, captains engaged in the coastal trade had a few simple tools, an all-important compass to show direction, a line and chunk of wood dropped over the side to estimate speed, the sun and the North Star to determine latitude and, above all, a knowledge of the winds, shoals and shallows along the coast. An expected storm could prove deadly; and as the F. D. Hodgkins sailed along the Delaware coast, Capt. Bonsey was surprised when a sudden and strong storm engulfed his schooner.
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A 'hurricane squall' capsizes vessel off Cape Henlopen
The New York Times reported on March 16, 1884, “At noon on March 9, when off Cape Henlopen, [the F. D. Hodgkins] was suddenly struck by a hurricane squall from the northeast. For an instant she held up against the terrific force of the wind, and then capsized. Her crew, six men all told, were all on deck at the time. They were thrown into the water, but fortunately, all succeeded in reaching the side of the schooner which lay uppermost. Here they clung until the squall had passed.”
Fortunately, all six crewmen and Capt. Bonsey were uninjured by their sudden plunge into the ocean. They were able to make their way to the overturned hull of the F. D. Hodgkins, where the sailors clung until the squall had passed. After the wind calmed, the sailors found the ship’s small boat lying bottom up and still attached to the lines of the davits. Armed with the knives which the crewmen carried to make instant repairs to the rigging and lines aboard the schooner, the sailors cut the boat loose from the davits’ rigging. Next, they turned the boat right side up, but it was still nearly filled with water. Using their hats as makeshift buckets, the sailors bailed most of the water out of the boat.
According to the New York Times, “They then sprang into the boat, but the latter was without oars, and it was with difficulty that they prevented it from striking against the wreck and becoming swamped. They tore up some of the planking in the inside of their boat to use for oars.”
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After cold and wet five hours, sailors get their savior
The men in the small boat could not see the high dunes of Cape Henlopen, nor did they spot the cape’s iconic lighthouse. They wisely kept close to the wrecked hull of the schooner, which had a bigger chance of being spotted by a passing ship. Although the squall had passed, the seas remained heavy, waves threatened to swamp the small boat, and the schooner’s crewmen continue to use their hats to get the water out.
After spending a cold and wet five hours in their small boat, the sailors spotted another schooner and immediately began to row with their improvised oars toward it. The schooner was the Joshua S. Brazdon, which rescued the exhausted sailors and landed them in Boston. The career of the schooner F. D. Hodgkins, which had begun so promisingly with a United States senator aboard when it was the ship was launched, ended in disaster on the Delaware coast.
Principal sources
Portland [Maine] Daily Press, November 17, 1883.
New York Times, March 13, March 16, March 17, 1884.
This article originally appeared on Salisbury Daily Times: From grand launch to quick capsize off Cape Henlopen: Disastrous voyage of F. D. Hodgkins
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