ch a title I have failed to learn, but such was the name given to the ship-yard bell that, placed on the building of James O. Curtis, was rung at the hours of labor's commencing and close, in the days when times were busy along the Mystic river.
Wh remained silent.
But, in 1877, the town built a schoolhouse near Malden line, which was called the Curtis school, and Mr. Curtis donated to it the shipyard bell.
It hangs in an iron yoke, with a solid wheel of wood for the bell-rope.
The tongue ome an experienced ringer (Mr. Peak) carefully tilted or set the bell, and the rope was placed in the hands of Miss Alice Curtis by her father, with the injunction to pull, which she did. Slowly at first, but with gathering momentum, the 2,040-lb.
bell swung around, and out on the breezy morning air came its sonorous vibrations in the key of E. Mr. Curtis grasped the rope, gave a few vigorous pulls, and resigned it to the ringer to finish the duty of the time.
The brief service in the tower
, as by the record of October 12, 1804, it was voted
That the first dividend of the toll shall be made by the standing committee on the first day of January 1805 and that dividends shall be made quarterly ever afterwards
Doctor Stearns died suddenly in 1820, and was succeeded by 'Squire Abner Bartlett, who served for twenty-one years, and his record, clear and explicit, in good black ink in characters as formidable as the turnpike gates, makes no mention whatever of dividends.
James O. Curtis succeeded him in 1841, and on June 29, 1842, Recorded—
Voted to make a dividend of two dollars on a share from the funds in the treasury, it being the 108 dividend
After ten years George Curtis succeeded to the office of clerk and served thirteen years. He recorded the remaining dividends, the last, September 15, 1860.
The two preceding had resulted from the sale of gravel land purchased from the canal company at its closure, and the last (the 129th) from the sale of the toll-h
unsell, and later to confer with the Messrs.
Tufts in regard to damage sustained by the corporation by their neglecting to maintain their culvert, etc. The result of this conference was a three-party agreement.
The first party was the owner of the farm occupied by J. Q. Adams; the second, the turnpike company; and the third the owners of the saw and grist mills on the turnpike, William Tufts, Edward Tufts and Gershom Cutter.
The first two and Joseph F. Tufts were the farm owners, and James O. Curtis, treasurer, represented the turnpike, which for a similar consideration of stone and gravel, agreed that the mill owners,
their heirs and assigns shall retain the right to the Culvert or sluice at said mills, and the right to keep the same open forever, under the conditions hereinafter named: said owners, their heirs and assigns, to maintain at their own expense and to keep in good repair so far as same affects said Turnpike.
Said Culvert at the mills is in addition to that which h
rooks History of Medford gave a (presumably) complete list of five hundred and thirteen Medfordbuilt vessels, including the year 1854. Mr. Usher in his later work (1886) gave the names of twenty-four builders of five hundred and sixty-four vessels of all styles, but gave no names of owners, style or tonnage.
Prior, however, to his publication there appeared in the Mercury of April 1, 1882, the following, which is also presumably correct, though it lacks the owners' names.
Built by James O. Curtis:—
1855BarqueYoung Greek500 tons
1855ShipConquest1100 tons
1856ShipSilver Star1200 tons
1856ShipFlying Mist1200 tons
1856ShipBold Hunter900 tons
1856BarqueYoung Turk350 tons
1857ShipBunker Hill1000 tons
1857BarqueLizzie500 tons
1857WildGazelle480 tons
1858ShipNautilus550 tons
1858BarqueCurib212 tons
1858ShipIndustry80 tons
1859Barque Mary Edson368 tons
1859SteamshipCambridge900 tons
1860BarqueRebecca Goddard475 tons
1860ShipMermaid500 tons
1860SteamerYoung Rover417
would be promoted by an incumbent who had had a more practical acquaintance with the art and who had a reasonable expectation of continuing in the profession, the Committee laid much stress upon those points and after a tedious scrutiny of the candidates' experience and qualifications, Mr. Charles Cummings (Dartmouth, 1842) was selected and took charge of the school Friday, December 11, 1846, and continued therein till the close of the school year, June 30, 1876, at which time but one (James O. Curtis) of those who elected him was living.
Mr. Cummings presented his resignation in May and the Committee enjoined secresy upon him in order that, without suffering the importunity of the unemployed, they might make quiet investigation among those in service and select the best man. In this they were eminently successful.
The High School in Stoneham was robbed of its accomplished principal, Mr. Lorin L. Dame (Tufts, 1860), and he was duly installed in his present position in September,
a and the consequent high prices had not made the question of speed of greater importance.
The first vessel built in this part of the country on these ideas was the Game Cock, built by Samuel Hall at East Boston in 1850, and the same year James O. Curtis of Medford built the Shooting Star, 900 tons, for Reed and Wade of Boston.
She was one of twenty-six ships which made the passage twice from Boston or New York to San Francisco in less than 110 days average time (105 days from Boston and 11rning made the trip in 99 days
The record passage was made in 89 days, twice by the Flying Cloud and once by the Andrew Jackson. from New York.
She was designed by Samuel A. Pook of Boston, who also designed the Ocean Telegraph, built by James O. Curtis in 1854.
Other famous ships designed by Mr. Pook were the Red Jacket and Game Cock.
Captain Clark mentions twenty-three Medford ships in a list of one hundred and seventy-three extreme type of clipper ships built between 1850 and 1857, a
kept open by vessels running up and down, as the arrival of the America was expected.
Ice formed in the inner harbor at Gloucester, and when it started it carried away every vessel with which it came in contact.
Among them was the California, which was driven completely across Massachusetts bay and cast ashore on Black ledge, near Cohasset.
Often they met mishap and, after injuring themselves or others, they were finally repaired.
One of these was the Columbianna, built by Paul and J. O. Curtis.
She was of six hundred and fifty tons—the largest vessel of that time.
She was used in the ice trade, and at the close of 1839 was loading ice at Charlestown.
In Storms and Shipwrecks in Boston Bay
Fitz Henry Smith, Jr. is the following:—
In December, 1839, there occurred one of the most disastrous storms on this coast up to this time.
More than ninety vessels were lost and nearly two hundred dismasted, driven ashore and otherwise injured.
The storms occurred at intervals
