Whose ‘on board’ for a shipwreck story? (hehe, see what I did there?)
Don’t get your knickers in a bunch…this isn’t a story about the Titanic. Also, if you’re looking for 20ft swells and men lost at sea, some deeply dramatic thing, this isn’t it either.
This particular story took place off the coast of Maine, during an insanely foggy night…I’m talking- pea soup/pond scum/cotton balls/here comes Jim Cantore- type of fog. THIS was the type of night that Stephen King gets his ideas from…minus the clowns and the rabid dogs.
It’s 1897 and the Howard W. Middleton, a three mast schooner, left Philadelphia with 894 tons of coal to be delivered in Portland, Maine. Now, THAT is a boatload of coal. (I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it. Face it, you giggled….or at least rolled your eyes….anything? A heavy sigh, maybe?)
Anyway, it’s the beginning of August, it’s 1897 and it’s so damn foggy that you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. So, Captain Shaw, WHY IN GOD’S NAME WERE YOU AT FULL SAIL? JUST….WHHHYYYYYYY???? I mean, I don’t know much about sailing, or boats, or being a captain, or even coal for God’s sake, (but I did just finish watching Black Sails, so, I feel like I know a thing or two.) Seriously, why?
I know you had ajob to do. I also, know you were running late. I also know what it’s like to think just a few more miles in crappy weather will be ok. But….it’s that kind of thinking that causes accidents…..then your insurance is going to go up, your mother is going to give you a stern talking to and you lose the keys to your ca….ship? Wait, what?
Anyway…
Guess what? The ship went off course and hit ledge just off Higgins Beach. Yup, big ol’ hole in the bow of the ship just below the waterline and there goes the cargo. Thankfully, the crew members were able to get off the ship and no lives were lost. However, the coal, (the boatload of coal, ~insert Ernie laugh here~) was a loss.
The next morning, the people of Higgins Beach woke up to see the ship stuck on the ledge, just kind of hanging out. Then when the “Holy Cow, Greta’s” and the “wouldya look at that’s” were all over with, the locals were like….”Coal? You mean there’s a BOAT LOAD of coal just hanging out all over this beach?!?” (I can’t stop) they were bucketing coal off that beach like they were preparing for a Maine wintah or something. (That’s ‘winter’ for those of you who have the letter ‘R’ in your alphabet.)
A tug boat came in from Portland (Captain, you were soooo close) to try to pull the ship off the ledge but that sucker was STUCK!!! So there it sat. The following winter one of those nasty Maine storms hit and did what the tug boats couldn’t do. The Howard W. Middleton became tossed around like Dorothy heading to Oz…except Dorothy wasn’t dismembered or scattered around in pieces….hmmm, that took a dark turn.
Ok, so it was nothing like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The storm dislodged the ship from the ledge, busted it up and to this day you can still see the remains. Phew. Took the long way around Robin Hood’s barn on that one, didn’t I?
Now. Higgin’s Beach is marvelous. It really is. The first time I went there I was pretty impressed by…all of it really. Everyone was allowed to breathe the same air as everyone else, whatever the reason you were there, “whatev’s man” (that’s surfer talk for “do what you do” or at least in my non-surfer world it is). And I must bring up the DOGS. Dogs everywhere. I felt like I was in some sort of Heaven preview.
Anyway, here we are at the beach. A tight-knit ‘don’t park there, where do I go, where the hell am I, can this street get any narrower’ area that will allow you to see the surfers, the puppies, and the remains of the Howard W. Middleton. The area in which the remains are lying has been known to constantly change (as all beaches do…waves, wind, sand, you know….). So if you are planning on trekking on out to find the ribs of the schooner, remember, it depends on the literal nature of things. Sometimes it’s hollering at you like a beacon in the dead of night and sometimes it’s just barely peaking up above the sand.
And once again, I will end this with, if you go to visit the Howard W. Middleton. Don’t be dinkish. Go see it, appreciate it, take your pictures, and leave it. LEAVE IT!!
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