Barks

Ships often changed sails so that they used older sails where there were light winds (near the equator) and newer, stronger sails where there were typically heavy winds. The crew is "bending on" or putting on a new sail. The photograph was taken by the captain's daughter aboard the bark Carrie Winslow.

Cabin plan of the 640 ton bark Egeria, built in Newburyport, Massachusetts in 1864. The plan was drawn by Ellen Cutter Starrett, wife of Capt. Henry A. Starrett. The Starretts were from Belfast. Note that Ellen's and their daughter Annie's rocking chairs are drawn into the sketch. The sketch is from 1868 when Captain Starrett first took over the bark which he commanded for four years.

Oil on canvas, signed C.J. Waldron, 1873. The Moonbeam was built in Searsport in 1859 by William McGilvery. Amos Dow was master from 1859 to 1867. Her rig was changed to schooner in1891; she foundered off Point Judith in 1905.

A photograph of a watercolor by Louis Roux. The photo notes that the painting is owned by Amos Nichols. The bark Herbert Black was built in 1873 in Searsport by Marlboro Packard and stranded in Preston, England in 1919.

The bark Carrie Winslow is sailing in a strong wind off the starboard bow, on the starboard tack. Only the main and fore topsails are shown set in this photo. The photograph was taken by the captain's daughter, Ruth Montgomery.

Joanna and Lincoln Colcord were both born at sea, in 1882 and 1883 respectively. This is a picture of them around 1889 when their father, Lincoln Alden Colcord, was captain of the bark Clara E. McGilvery. The photograph was taken by the uncle of the children and the brother-in-law of the captain. The vessel was in Boston awaiting cargo. Her sails have all been stripped and much of her running rigging, the lines that control the sails, have been removed.

Built in 1854, a vessel that would be about 1/3 the size of the later Down Easters. Painting probably done on a maiden voyage by Honore Pellegrin, one of a long line of Marseilles marine artists, who worked chiefly in watercolors. Painting shows the vessel leaving Marseilles, July, 1855, Capt. William Hichborn, master. Signed and dated "Pellegrin, Marseilles, 1855."

Ruth Montgomery's stepmother is shown here putting laundry out to dry on the roof of the captain's cabin. The photograph was taken by the captain's daughter (Ruth) aboard the bark Carrie Winslow.

Captain Adelbert Montgomery and Mary Thorpe Montgomery standing by the pilot house door aboard the bark Carrie Winslow. The photograph was taken by the captain's daughter, Ruth Montgomery, in 1898.

Merchant ships carry bills of lading which document their cargo and destination.This bill of lading is for a voyage of the bark John Carver from New York to Cuba in March, 1866. The cargo, made up of barrels, shooks (broken-down barrels), headings, and staves were used in Cuba to ship molasses and sugar back to the United States and to other destinations.

The John Carver was a bark built in Searsport by John Carver in 1842. She was sold to New Bedford for a second career as a whaler in 1866.