, f ISHRA NEWSLETIER Islesof Shoals Historical and ResearchAssociation Volume 7 Number 1 February 1998

FAll MEETING

(from Secretary Don Bassett's minutes)

he meeting was held at Tthe Seacoast Science Center at 7pm on Tuesday, November 11, 1997. President Bob Hochstetler opened the meeti ng. The minutes of the last meet- ing, a copy of which were ava i Iable for perusa I before the meeti ng, were accepted without correc- tion. Bob asked members willing to serve as officers or directors to contact Wendy Lull (Seacoast Science Center: 603-436- Committee Reports 8043), chairperson of the Nominations Committee. Several positions will be open, including all the offi- Collections cers. Bob recommended that the treasurer, to be Maryellen Burke reported that many manuscripts elected, have access to a computer and a Quicken from the Vaughn Collection on Star Island have program. He also distributed a printout of courses been sent to the Portsmouth Athenaeum to provide a that will be available at the Shoals Marine Lab next safe environment and constant temperature for summer and announced that Ernestine Firth would preservation as well as making the material more have copies of her booklet of poems, Star Songs, for accessible for research. Maryellen asked for help in sale after the meeting. finding a primary source record of Celia Thaxter's Treasurer Bob Tuttle reported that ISHRA started birthplace on Daniel Street in Portsmouth. She the year on January 1, 1997, with a balance of $3, wants to verify this before suggesting that ISHRA 362.00. Transactions during the year resulted in an consider putting a plaque at the site. income of $11,890.00 (principally from the receipt of deposits for the Star Island Weekend) and Publications expenses of $6,930.00, leaving a balance of Janice Warren thanked contributors to the August, $4,960.00. The current membership is 320; this 1997, newsletter: Tricia Miller, Bob and Dot Tuttle, includes 65 persons who have not paid dues for Dave MacEachran, Amy Cook, and Donna Titus. 1997-1998. Bob announced that the Board of She encouraged others to contribute to the new Directors has considered raising the dues from newsletter feature, "Ask ISHRA", and hopes to get a $5.00 to $10.00 for individual members and $15.00 dialogue going. The first "Ask ISHRA" featured an for families. This matter will be considered at the article by Dave MacEachran about a chair fished next Board meeting. Bob Hochstetler announced from Gosport Harbor. Dave would like to get infor- that he had audited the treasurer's books and found mation about the history of the chair, a Windsor them to be in proper order. He asked for someone with a telescoping leg. Dave brought photographs of to volunteer to serve as auditor next year. the chair for inspection. ISHRA Newsletter February 1998

Programs October on Smuttynose installing new siding on Richard Stanley reported that 60 people attended the Rosamond Thaxter's cottage and performing other ISHRA Star Island Weekend, September 12-14, maintenance work. 1997. The 1998 weekend is tentatively set for September 11-13. In an unrelated matter, Richard Nominations noted the availability of a signed edition of Celia Bob Hochstetler introduced Wendy lull as the Thaxter's second book of poems (1894) in a Nominations Committee chairperson, adding, "If Concord, MA, bookstore, priced at $400. Jean you hear from her, you wi II know why." Ragonese moved that ISHRA purchase the book as a gift to the Portsmouth Athenaeum. There was a voice Other vote of approval. Maryellen Burke, however, cau- After the committee reports, Peter Randall reported tioned that the Athenaeum might already have a sim- on his four-day weekend on Star Island the last ilar book and would check this. (Update: Maryellen weekend in September. During the weekend, Donna found that the Athenaeum does have a copy of this Titus had an art workshop and'John Perrault a ballad book and such a gift would duplicate the holding.) workshop. Jane Vallier, author of Poet on Demand, made a presentation. The weather was beautiful. Smuttynose Rangers Richard Stanley introduced the speaker for the Dave MacEachran reported a good 1997 season for evening, Diane Deluca, Senior Biologist and the Rangers. The Smuttynose Rangers Overseers are Ornithologist with the Audubon Society of New working on a reorganization plan and Rangers will Hampshire. She presented a beautiful slide show on be notified by mail when this is completed. Dave the tern restoration project on White and Seavey's also noted that Richard Stanley spent the month of islands. (See below) The Tern Restoration Project

he evening's program about the tern restoration described their activities Tproject on White Island was presented by Diane in more detail in the Deluca of the Audubon Society of New Hampshire. August ISHRA newslet- Deluca stated that the results of their efforts were far ter.) Beside attracti ng beyond the expectations for the first year of the pro- terns, the program had to ject. She gave a history of terns in New Hampshire, discourage the gulls that where a tern population of 15,000 thrived at the would prey on tern's Shoals through the mid 1900's. The bulk of them nests. Deluca noted that were at lunging Island where they survived until the although there are 4,000 1950's. Now they are on the endangered list in New pairs of gulls presently at the Shoals, White Island Hampshire. The decline of the terns was directly has not been their principal habitat. The historic related to a dramatic increase in gulls created by the presence of the Coast Guard, with dogs, discouraged open landfills along the Atlantic seaboard between their settlement there. Deluca's group deterred the 1930 and 1950. As gulls multiplied at the Shoals, the gulls with firecracker sounds, bricks in their nests, tern population moved inland. The Audubon Society and an imported dog. has been monitoring terns in coastal New In mid-May the first tern landed. The researchers Hampshire since 1981. The tern project on White were surprised to spot Arctic and Roseate Terns as and Seavey Islands was jointly supported by well as Common Terns. From a blind, mating rituals Audubon, N.H. Fish and Game Commission, DRED were observed by mid-June. July saw several nests and the N.H. Coastal Program. Shoals Marine lab and August 2, the first hatch. In all there were five supplied logistical support with a boat that landed nests and seven chicks. The last two chicks hatched the staff on White. by the end of August and as far as the researchers To attract the terns back to White Island, more could determine, all of the young survived. The than eighty decoys were placed on Seavey Island researchers had not expected nesting activity in the and sounds of a tern colony were piped in twenty first year and were not prepared to band the chicks four hours a day on a solar-powered speaker device that appeared. As terns return to their birthplace to that, remarkably, held its charge from April through nest, Deluca looks forward to welcoming the new October. (Amy Cook, one of the resident biologists, colony back to White Island next season.

Page2 ISHRA Newsletter February 1998

Courses, Programs and Outings at the Shoals Summer 1998

Adult Education Programs Star Island Conferences at the Shoals Marine laboratory The conferences begin June 9 and end September No prerequisites, but because of course content and 20. The Blue Brochure published by the Star Island the rugged nature of Appledore Island the courses Corporation in January provides detailed conference are limited to adults and children 12 years of age or descriptions and rates. Opening registration is older. The total cost includes room, board, and all March 10 and conferences fill quickly. To receive a field trips, but does not include ferry fares or trans- brochure, send a self-addressed 6x9" envelope with portation to and from Portsmouth, New Hampshire. two (2) ounces postage to the Star Island Corporation, Attention BB, 110 Arl ington Street, Island Bird Study Boston, MA 02116-5320. Note: If you have attended May 22-24. ($250 per person) a conference or made a donation within the last A Garden is a Sea of Flowers three years, you are on the mailing list. July 22-24. ($250 per person) Star Island Elderhostel For more information and registration material, Two Elderhostel programs will be offered in 1998. telephone 607-255-3717 or write Shoals Marine Elderhostell: August 30 - September 4 Laboratory, G-14 Stimson Hall, Cornell University, $340 per person Ithaca, NY 14853-7101. Watercolors: The Perfect Outdoor Medium. The following two courses are offered in conjunc- Birding on an Ocean Island. tion with Cornell's Adult University (CAU). Eiderhostelll: September 7-12 Fins, Feathers, Flukes and Flow: How life in $340 per person the sea and sky is shaped by wind and water Protecting Our Environmental Heritage: August 22-27. ($795 per person) Coastal Issues. An Island Through Time: The cultural and An Experience With the World's Great Religions. geographical history of the Isles of Shoals History of American Popular Songs. August 27-30. ($495 per person) An Elderhostel catalog may be obtained from Register for these two courses directly with CAU: Elderhostel, P.O. Box1959NH, Wakefield, MA phone 607-254-6260; e-rnail [email protected]; 01880. Registration material is included. One may or write Cornell's Adult University, 626 Thurston register by phone after May 5 (at which time the Avenue, Ithaca, NY 14850. courses may be filled) at 617-426-8056.

Celia's Garden Tours on Appledore ISHRA Weekend on Star Island These tours are arranged through the Shoals Marine The weekend is tentatively scheduled for September Laboratory office in Ithaca, New York (address and 11-13. For further information, contact Richard telephone above). Tours are given on Wednesdays, Stanley at 978-369-4647 or 4648, or write: leaving from Portsmouth on the ferry at 7:25am and 39 Davis Court, Concord, MA 01742. returning on the noon ferry from Star. The cost is $50 per person. Ferry Trips to Star Island Star is reached by a one-hour boat trip (10 miles) UNH Marine Docent Trips to Appledore Island from the Isles of Shoals Steamship Company dock Tours of the island are periodically arranged and led at 315 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH. Several trips by UNH Marine Docents. The trips usually occur on are made each day and day visitors may stop-over Saturday or Sunday, depending on the schedule of for three hours at Star Island. For rates, schedules, the Shoals Marine Lab. Information can be obtained and parking information, write P.O. Box 311, by contacting Sharon Meeker, Sea Grant Extension Portsmouth, NH 03801 or call 603-431-5500 Program, Kingman Farm, UNH, Durham, NH 03824 (from outside New Hampshire, 800-441-4620). or by telephoning 603-749-1565.

Page 3 ISHRA Newsletter February 1998

Queries and Anti-Queries: Old Shoalers

Gosport Natives Reverend Sewall of the Shoals

by Malcolm Ferguson by Louise Tallman

Sprays of Salt. John W. Downs, Peter E. Randall, Pub. hecking the names of markers in Central 177 pp., Portsmouth. CCemetery in Rye, New Hampshire, I noticed a Gosport Remembered: The Last Village at the Isles of familiar name, Samuel Sewall, who probably was Shoals. Peter E. Randall and Maryellen Burke. related to the famous Judge Sewall of Boston. I was Portsmouth Marine Society. Peter E. Randall, Pub. assisted by the caretaker in locating the gravestone in 139 pp. Portsmouth. Division 3, Lot 54. This was a small slate stone with willow and urn design. It was in good condition, omehow it isn't surprising that 019 England's for- except set a bit low. I had to dig to get the last two mer poet laureate john Masefield's Sea Fever was S lines of the epitaph. The inscription is as follows: quoted at the beginning of john Downs' Sprays of Salt. Downs' book carefully, accurately, and interest- In memory of Rev. Samuel Sewall ingly covers the story of Gosport's last village, as, indeed, does Gosport Remembered. Downs' book, who departed this life, in Rye, first published in 1944, soon became rare. Its reprint March 16, 1826, was urged by members of the Downs, Caswell, Foss, aged 61 years. Spinney, and Odiorne families, as represented by While officiating as a missionary at the Isles Gayle Patch Kadlik, who saw the book's value and brought it to the publisher's attention. of Shoals, he was taken from the scene of his labours Where john Masefield once objected to a book & has left to his friends the consoling hope that he about the sea that didn't have enough salt water in it has entered in to peace & received the reward of a to "bathe a baby",Downs' book makes up for that. His grandfather, John Bragg Downs, was the last of the good and faithful servant. "Old Shoalers" to inhabit Star Island, holding onto his property until the town of Gosport no longer existed. What else could be learned about Rev. Samuel Downs spent much of his early childhood on the Sewall? I remembered that Edward Eldridge Salisbury, Shoals with his grandparents. He later became a an uncle of my grandmother, had a entire chapter on maritime cook, fisherman, and lobsterman. He raised Sewall in his book, Family Memorials, 7885. a family and ended as a storekeeper selling lobsters. Sewall was the eldest son of Henry and Mary As with Celia Thaxter's Among the Isles of Shoals, he (Stinson) Sewall of Bath, Maine, and was born wrote unpretentious, interesting, prose; what we December 21, 1764. His mother died when he was might call written oral history at its best, for he wrote twelve years old and he was apprenticed to a tanner as he spoke. These Gosport natives - in both books - and followed that trade. He married Abigal Trask in are interesting to me from a genealogical standpoint, 1787 and moved to the home he had prepared in since my father's side of the family came from what was then the Maine wilderness.They had Portsmouth. My great grandfather and great-great twelve children. A Congregational church was grandfather were Portsmouth merchants at the same founded in 1790 and he became a member. Later he time as the Laighton brothers. was called to sustain religious meetings in When we talk of Shoalers, there has been a num- Farmington. About 1796 he decided to devote him- ber that has always baffled me, provoking disbelief. self to the ministry and was licensed to preach in Here it is, on page 83 of the 1875 edition of the book 1800. He went to the Isles of Shoals in 1824 and by John S. Jenness, The Isles of Shoals: An Historical remained there, serving the people of Gosport, until Sketch: "The number of the resident population ran his death in 1826.He died in Rye, New Hampshire, up to 600 souls; they had a meeting-house and a where he had gone to secure passage home after court-house on Haley's Island ...." Again, in c.F. visiting in Portsmouth and other places to solicit Adam's biography of Richard Henry Dana, Volume 1, funds for rebuilding his meetinghouse at the Shoals, page 100, "In 1730 the population of the group was which had burned down. continued on page 6

Pag~ 4 ISHRA Newsletter February 1998

Appledore Then and Now

Sunset Pavilion, ca. 7900 Sunset Pavilion, Summer; 7997

Island Pavilions

here were three pavilions on Appledore during the Sunset Pavilion in honor of their parents 50th wed- Thotel period. These were located on the northeast ding anniversary. Dick and Anne had for many years end, the east side about mid-way on the island, and volunteered to spray for poison ivy on Appledore on the west side a short distance from where the and were strong supporters of the Shoals Marine radar tower is now located. The latter pavilion was Laboratory. Using the gazebo on Star Island as a known as the "Sunset Pavilion" and its location was model, the construction of the new pavi Iion was noted on a map of Appledore made in 1908. All begun and then completed early in the summer of these pavilions had disappeared and only the rem- 1997. It was dedicated with ali due ceremony, nants of the foundations of those on the northeast including a commemorative plaque. It has a spec- headlands and the west side could be found. tacular view and is a great spot for peaceful contem- During the summer of 1997, the children of Dick plation and/or a vespers' toddy. and Anne Pendleton decided to reconstruct the -Bob Tuttle

Shoals Marine lab Island Manager Appointed

ollowing the appointment of the new Director and will oversee the heads of the island depart- F(Dr. Jim Morin) and Assistant Director (Dr. Sarah ments responsible for program, kitchen, waterfront, Cohen) last year, the SML has recently announced and facilities. His duties include: the maintenance a newly created position, that of Island Manager. and improvement of the island facilities such as This position has been filled by Ross Hansen, who electric generators, reverse osmosis system, fresh served as an Island Engineer in 1995 and 1996 and salt water distribution, solid waste disposal, and as Facilities Manager in 1997. buildings, vessels, communications, grounds and Ross is a 1995 graduate of Plymouth State shore based facilities; planning, evaluating, and College with a degree in Environmental Biology. implementing short- and long-term facilility needs; He is the son of AI Hansen, who attended the first and the development and maintenance of relations non-credit course at the Lab in 1975 and has with vendors and contractors. In the off-island sea- been a loyal supporter of the Lab since then - son, Ross will be based in Ithaca.· which proves that the Shoals virus is genetically This does give one some idea of the complexi- transmitted. ties of maintaining facilities like the Shoals As Island Manager, Ross will serve as the senior Marine Lab and the Star Island Conference Center staff member during the Lab's operational season in an island environment.

Page5 ISHRA Newsletter February 1998

The Shoals in Song, Story and Film

Reviews by Dot Tuttle

Star Songs: "Two On The lsle." Celia's garden, in which Celia calls her garden "my by Ernestine Bellamy Firth and Gladys Hale Bellamy. dreaming place", and the other, in which Celia's J&J Printing, Inc.Laconia, NH , 1997. $5. poem, The Sandpiper, is sung. This side ends with the sound of waves crashing against the island's his charming booklet (18 pages) of Isles-inspired i shores and gulls crying overhead (a fine finishing poems (with photographs) by Firth, a great-great- T touch to the above). I great granddaughter of Samuel Haley, captures the Side 2 repeats the songs, without narrative, from spirit of the Shoals and the nostalgic longing shared Side 1; these, by themselves, depict the stages in by Old Shoalers. After bringing together this small Celia's life. I collection of poems, Firth says in her introduction, ! The tape may be obtained from Joan Duncanson, she "came upon a treasure trove of sea pieces I P.O. Box 3013, Peterborough, NH 03458. penned by her mother, Gladys Hale Bellamy, and decided to add them to mine, hence the subtitle, Star Is/and. Our Spirit's Home. 1897-1997. "Two On The Isle". Firth's wish that these poems may I Video cassette. 25 minutes. Produced awake happy memories and stimulate others to pen I jointly by the Isles of Shoals Association, new "Star Songs" will surely come true. The booklet Unitarian-Universalist and Star Island may be obtained from Ernestine Firth, 19 Chestnut United Church of Christ. Available from Street, Bristol, NH 03222. the Star Island Corporation.

Celia Thaxter. Narrative and Songs. Audio cassette by his film is a pictorial sketch of the Joan Snow Duncanson. $9.95 plus $1 shipping. Thistory of the Summer Meetings his is a superb tape! Duncanson says on the brought to Star by Thomas Elliott in 1897. The Tinsert, "These songs were written and the story spirit of the Shoals is a subjective experience and told in hopes of introducing an extraordinary woman there are those who say it cannot be captured by to some listeners and for those who already know words, however poetic or eloquent. That may be, but her, rekindle their recollection of the fresh island whoever has spent time on Star as an adult or a child spirit that was Celia Thaxter."She has succeeded will most surely find the spirit of the Shoals renewed admirably in both respects. by the memories awakened by the images of the past I On Side 1, she tells Celia's story in narrative and 100 years captured on this film. song. Two of the most moving songs are about For those who have access to the internet, check out the I continued from page 4 website seacoastNH.com for lots of interesting things about the shortest seacoast in New England, and the Isles of Shoals I eleven to twelve hundred ..." Who were these people without names (we don't have names to match these , , people, who disappeared into a congregation of . - d I vapours). Gosport Remembered supplied the answer. On The Isles of Shoals Historical and Research page 67, Dudley A Tyng, writing to the Reverend Association Newsletter is produced biannually by the Publications Committee with support from ISHRA I ledidiah Morse in 1800, is quoted as saying "These I members. Please send your newsletter items to: I islands, being probably the best situation for carrying Janice Warren 42 Woodman Rd Durham NH 03824 on the fisheries in America, if the patronage of gov- I Illustrations: Drawing on page 1 by JaneA. MacKenzie; ernment could be extended to them, and a few men Common Tern on page 2 by M&RSoumala, photos on of capital. .. might furnish employment, support, and page 5 provided courtesy of Bob Tuttle; and cannonball even affluence to 600 or even 1000 people ..." portrait on back cover by Dave MacEachran. Today the Isles of Shoals are sufficiently popular to Contributors: Helen Brewster, Malcom Ferguson, make up for these imagined numbers. I should Louise Tallman, Donna Titus, Bob Tuttle, Dot Tuttle, emphasize that Gosport Remembered is an excellent and Janice Warren. anthology on the 19th century at the Shoals, with Design and layout: Patricia Miller, PMDesign. much interesting material not elsewhere available.

Page 6 ISHRA Newsletter February 1995

Book Reviews

Celia Thaxter:Selected Writings ing, coming together, are always played out against Edited by Julia Older and integrated with a background of the natural Appledore Books, Hancock, NH 1997. $14.50 world, which is, for those who love it well and can recognize it, specifically the Isles of Shoals. In "A Review by Donna Marion Titus Song of Hope" she writes:

he beautiful cover, Childe Hassam's 1892 paint- Sweeter than morning, stronger than the gale, Ting In the Garden, draws you into this book that Deeper than ocean, warmer than the sun, begins with a breezy 20th century outline of Celia My love shall climb, shall claim thee, shall Thaxter's very 19th century life. This is followed by prevail an introduction to seven sections: Among the Isles of Shoals; Poems; An Island Garden; Letters; Stories: A Yet without that morning, gale, ocean and sun - Memorable Murder; and a bibliography of major where's the poem? We know what Julia Older means works. Older has written a preface to each section when she writes about "Emily (Dickinson), the Belle which gives good basic information to the reader of Amherst who never saw the sea, and Celia, The who may be a new Shoaler, and some intriguing Island Queen, who always saw it." comments about how poems were printed and Wisely included are a collection of Celia's person- books were edited back in the days when Celia was al letters from the long out-of-print but highly infor- writing. A published poet and writer herself, Julia mative Letters of Celia Thaxter, edited by Annie Older has an authentic understanding of the com- Fields and Rose Lamb (1895). Nowhere does the plexities of the literary trade and publishing business. voice of Celia Thaxter come through more clearly Thaxter's poems are not dated but are presented in than when she is writing about her life, travels, trials, loosely chronological order, grouped generally by sorrows and delights to her friends; and some letters, subject matter. Among the 42 poems printed, Older as Older notes, reveal "the anguish beneath her pub- has chosen the first-published and brilliant lic persona." "Landlocked", Celia's trademark "The Sandpiper", Four stories for children can be read simply for also the sensuous "Midsummer Midnight" and the pleasure, or can provide endless psychological bones poignant "The Spaniards' Graves," a Smuttynose favo- to chew on. We are caught with the historian's rite.Also included are some really interesting, light" di lemma of interpreting a past century by the stan- hearted, little-known verses such as "Fern Seed" and dards and cultural mores of the next. Older is aware "Sir William Pepperrell's Well"(one for the archaeol- of this here, and draws some thoughtful compar- ogists!). On a more serious note we find the cosmic isons, such as the fact that animal behavior in "Starlight", the grief stricken "Her Mirror", and the Thaxter's writing is always animal and never human haunting and lovely "Remembrance". oriented. This section includes the half-biographical Older titles her section of love poems "Fire and "The Spray Sprite" and the much loved "The Bear at Fragrance", choosing here chiefly poems that are Appledore." about longing for a distant lover, as from "In If you are a Celia Thaxter fan and/or scholar, Julia September": Older's perceptive comments, her choices, and her organization of the material will surely interest you. If Ah, must it end? Must winter hurl its snow you want to introduce Celia Thaxter to a friend, this across the sea book would make an excellent and charming gift. and roar with leagues of bitterness between Older does not pretend, however, that Selected thy face and me? Writings is a substitute for reading Thaxter whole."I hope they engage you enough to look for the origi- In most of these poems the lover eventually nals, reprints, and biographies," she writes in her appears and the waiting one rejoices at the sight of introduction. And that, after all, is the point of a book the sail on the horizon or burns inside with passion like this, isn't it? This is the second book in Older's as the loved one returns. These are island poems, Isles of Shoals Trilogy, the first being the 1994 novel nevertheless, for the simple plot-lines, parting, wait- The Island Queen. What's next?

Page7 veStO HN 'acq ppo~ II!H APpSaUpaM vL l V1:IHSI

ASK ISHRA

n December, 1982, a scuba diver, IHal Brown of Keene, New Hamp- shire, found a cannon ball in Gosport Harbor. It was located about 30 feet off the Star ISland dock. The U.S. Naval Shipyard and the Kittery Historical and Naval Museum had no interest in acquir- ingIt and so it was given to me a few years ago. It is 7.75 inches in diameter and weighs 68 pounds. There are no visible markings on it and no evidence of a fuse hole. I have been trying to find out what caliber of cannon it may have been cast for and the time period such a cannon was in use. To date, I have been unsuccessful. Does anyone have any informa- tion, or know of a source of informa- tion, that might help identify it? One wonders how it came to be in Gosport Harbor. Was it used for ballast? Did it falloff a ship? Was it fired out of a cannon? -Bob Tunie