Native American place name meaning " mouth of the big river," given to the mouth of the Kennebec River.
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Starch from the sago palm, used as a thickener in puddings.
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Originally called "routiers" or "rutters", written directions for navigation.
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One who makes and assembles canvas articles used on ships and boats, such as sails, awnings, and covers. He attaches ropes and metal fittings to the canvas. On sailing vessels he was assisted by a sailmaker's mate, and was in charge of the upkeep of sails. He did not keep watch and was quartered with the carpenter and carpenter's mate.
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Located on the Saint Croix River in Passamaquoddy Bay, below Calais, Maine, Saint Croix Island was the site of the first French colony in Northern North America in 1604. Other than the Norse effort six centuries earlier, there is no other evidence of earlier European colonies in the New England/Canada area.
An unusually hard winter and ice stranded the French on the island and 35 of the 79 colonists died, apparently of scurvy. With the coming of spring, the settlers moved to Annapolis Royal or Port Royal in Nova Scotia across the Bay of Fundy, beginning the continuous history of European colonization of America north of Florida.
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A large island in the North Pacific Ocean, just north of Japan. It is owned by Russia, but has historically been the subject of territorial disputes between Russia and Japan.
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A marine and freshwater food fish, inhabiting North Atlantic waters near the mouths of large rivers. Salmon are anadromous fish, entering rivers to spawn (lay eggs.) In Maine, salmon fishing was once a commercial, then a sport fishery; now wild salmon are an endangered species. Many are farm-raised.
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The parlor or living room of the captain's cabin aboard a merchant vessel in the nineteenth century.
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Highly salted water.
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Cod that is cleaned, split or filleted, salted with a heavy layer of salt rubbed into the fish, then sun dried.
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Beef that is preserved in salt and packed in casks for carrying on sea voyages.
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Dudley Saltonstall
1738-1796. Boston captain and merchant, and privateersman in the French and Indian War. In 1775 he became the 4th ranking Captain in the Continental Navy in the Revolutionary War and was given command of the Alfred, Commodore Esek Hopkins' flagship which successfully raided New Providence in the Bahamas for cannon. In 1779 he was made Commodore of the Penobscot Expedition, which ended in a disaster for which he was blamed and dismissed from the Navy. He then turned profitably to privateering.
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c.1590- c.1653. An Abenaki who made contact with the Pilgrims in 1621. Native of the Pemaquid area, he may have been one of the Native Americans captured by Waymouth where he would have learned English; or he may have learned English from fishermen on the Maine coast.
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A small, flat-bottomed boat found in the Orient that is narrow at the bow and stern but broad in the center.
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sandglass, sand-glassA means of measuring time on board ship before the development of reliable clocks for ships. It consists of two vacuum globes connected by a narrow neck, allowing sand to run from the top globe into the bottom one in a given period of time. Maritime sand-glasses were supplied in four sizes: half-minute, half-hour, hour, and four-hour. The half-minute glass was used to estimate the speed of the ship in conjunction with the log, by measuring the amount of line that would run out from the ship as she went through the water during the half-minute glass period. To announce time, the ship's bell was rung every time a half-hour glass emptied itself.
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Sandalwood, an aromatic, sweet-smelling wood, was discovered growing in Hawaii (then called the Sandwich Isles) in 1790. By 1820 the sandalwood forests were so depleted that Hawaii was no longer involved in providing products for the China Trade. American interest in the Hawaiian Islands dated from the China Trade days, however, and eventually Hawaii was annexed to the United States. Hawaii became a state in 1959.
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Small herring, preserved in oil or sauces and canned. Maine had many sardine factories.
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A person who saws wood as an occupation.
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Scale on charts and maps is the ratio of the map to the real world it depicts. On a 1:40,000 chart, a measurement unit like an inch is 40,000 of those units on the surface of the earth. Small scale charts cover a large area, but the features are small. Large scale charts show features in more detail but cover a smaller area.
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Sea scallops are bivalve mollusks which differ from clams and mussels by being active free swimmers. They have symmetric fluted shells. They are caught with dredges. Maine's fishery became commerically viable around 1900 with the introduction of the gasoline engine.
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scarphTo join the ends of two timbers or metal parts to form a piece that appears continuous.
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A large collection of fish that swim together, usually near the surface of the water, such as herring, mackerel, smelt, and menhaden.
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A sailing vessel of two or more masts, all fore-and-aft rigged. The Thomas W. Lawson, built in 1902, had seven masts. In comparison to a square-rigged vessel of comparable tonnage, a schooner is better for coastwise sailing.
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scoredA scratch or thin carved line incised in a surface so that later pieces break apart along this line.
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Carvings done by sailors using the jawbone or teeth of a whale or shark. The etched design was filled in with India ink or tar, then polished with sailmakers' wax and canvas. Scrimshaw includes etchings on bone, ivory, or shell. It was usually done on whaling ships. It is also used as a term to describe articles made of whalebone such as tools, kitchen implements and toys. A person who makes scrimshaw is called a scrimshander.
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A disease marked by spongy gums, loosening teeth, and bleeding into the skin and mucous membranes, caused by lack of vitamin C.
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chanteyA rhythmic work song with a repeating chorus, often of a call-and-response format, used aboard ship to help with group tasks such as raising the anchor.
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Echinoderm with a spine covered shell; feeds on algae. Roe is prized as a delicacy in the Far East. In 1987, a market for Maine sea urchins was developed in Japan triggering a sea urchin rush that severely depleted the resource. It is now tightly controlled but it is difficult to reestablish.
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A sailor or mariner. Any person employed or engaged aboard ship, with the exception of the master, pilot, or apprentice. See Able-Bodied Seaman and Ordinary Seaman.
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The largest undeveloped island left on the east coast. Sears Island was originally called Brigadiers Island and was owned by Henry Knox. Later it was the site of a home belonging to David Sears, for whom the town of Searsport was named in 1845. Currently Sears Island is the subject of controversy about development plans.
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The officer third in command aboard a merchant vessel, after the captain and first mate.
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sedimentIn geology, refers to the kind of rock formed by sediment, or matter that settles to the bottom of water or is deposited by water, ice, or air. Limestone is a kind of sedimentary rock.
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Any long net, having floats at the top edge and weights at the bottom, and hauled by its ends to close around a school of fish.
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Seine boats are used to set the seine around a school of fish. In the past these have been rowed. American seine boats were 35-foot double enders, rowed with 6-8 oars, large enough to carry the net. Now they are powered.
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The process of making silk from the cocoons of silkworms.
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Wrapping a light line called marline around a wrapped (with tarred canvas) rope or wire, for preservation.