Ships, Swindlers, and Scalded Hogs: The Rise and Fall of the Crooker Shipyard in Bath, Maine

by Frederic B. Hill

Overview

Brothers William Donnell Crooker and Charles Crooker were among the most prominent mid-nineteenth-century shipbuilders in Bath, Maine, itself one of the most prominent shipbuilding cities in the world during that time. This colorful history of the Crookers' company by the great-great grandson of William Donnell provides a thorough overview of a family, its contributions to shipbuilding, and the historic sweep of shipbuilding in the area, as well as a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in Maine during this time. Today, a small portion of Maine's twenty-first-century shipbuilder, Bath Iron Works, occupies land that was once the Crooker yard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630763589
Publisher:	Down East Books
Publication date:	05/01/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Frederic B. Hill was a reporter, correspondent and editorial writer forThe Baltimore Sun from 1965 to 1985, including tours in London and Paris, covering Europe and southern Africa. After two years as foreign affairs director for Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., he joined the State Department in 1986 and established the Office of Special Programs, which conducted policy planning exercises and roundtable discussions on political/military, economic, and global issues.
A native of Maine and graduate of Bowdoin College, he and his wife Marguerite live in Arrowsic, Maine and Baltimore, Maryland. He serves on the board of directors of Maine’s First Ship, a non-profit organization building a reconstruction of Virginia, one of the first ships built in America at Popham Beach in 1608. William Donnell Crooker, one of the principal figures in “Ships, Swindlers, and Scalded Hogs,” was his great-great grandfather.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 As Good a Ship as Has Been Built at Bath 1

Chapter 2 A Lad from Marshfield 7

Chapter 3 A Vessel Often Earned Her Entire Cost on One Voyage 17

Chapter 4 Youth of Charles and William Donnell Crooker 23

Chapter 5 The Missouri Compromise: Like a Fire Bell in the Night 32

Chapter 6 Another Fine Ship 42

Chapter 7 Lumber South, Cotton to Europe, Immigrants to America 49

Chapter 8 Easy to Spell, Harmonious in Sound, Agreeable in Meaning 58

Chapter 9 Hermitage North 68

Chapter 10 The Councilman from Ward Three 74

Chapter 11 "The Gross Fraud That Has Been Perpetrated on Us Who Have Been So Grossly Swindled" 87

Chapter 12 "Off like a Scalded Hog" 97

Chapter 13 A "Year of Unusual Calamity on the Seas" 106

Chapter 14 "The Wealthiest Burgher in the State of Maine" 114

Chapter 15 "No One Ever Thought the Business Would Ever Die" 124

Chapter 16 "Hit Him, He Has No Friends" 131

Chapter 17 An Odd Couple 137

Chapter 18 The Annoyances of Adrianna 146

Chapter 19 "The Perfekt Master" 153

Chapter 20 "Land's All Right, Pines All Right, but It's the Sawmill That Makes the Money" 157

Chapter 21 An Unfortunate but Honest Man 166

Chapter 22 Crooker v. Crooker 175

Chapter 23 Emma and Arthur 184

Chapter 24 Finding "Cousin" Henry, the Gold Rush Swindler 190

Chapter 25 From "Life of the Lowly" to Appomattox 196

Chapter 26 William Donnell Crooker's Recovery 207

Chapter 27 Ships, Swindlers-and the Curse of the White Falcon 218

Chapter 28 A Falling Barometer 230

Afterword 235

Epilogue: "So You See, We Have Quite a Down East Crowd" 241

Appendix A List of Crooker Ships 247

Appendix B Descendants of Jonathan Crooker of Marshfield, MA 251

Appendix C C & WD Crooker Agreement with Johnson Rideout 254

Bibliography 256

Index 259