Str CITY OF BANGOR at Campground

Str CITY OF BANGOR at Campground

Steamer CITY OF BANGOR at Northport - Bayside Campground ROUTE: Kennebec Line PORTS: Popham Beach, Bath, Richmond, Dresden, Gardiner COMPANY: Eastern Steamship Lines, Inc. SISTER SHIP: CITY OF ROCKLAND BUILT: 1894 - James McKie, Boston, Massachusetts HISTORY: Built for Bangor Line, used on Kennebec Line Later on Boston - Portland and last on Boston - Boothbay Line STATUS: Sank at Federal Wharf, East Boston, Massachusetts, December 27, 1933 Abandoned June 30, 1936 NUMBER: 127029 LENGTH: 277.0 BREADTH: 38.0 DRAUGHT: 14.2 GROSS TONS: 1661.0 SPEED: 14 knots HISTORY: For nearly a quarter of a century, between 1894 and 1927, the City of Bangor was the "Queen" of the Penobscot Bay white steamers. She was 277 feet long, and had stateroom accommodations for 700 passengers. The greatest thrill of all time for the steamboat world of the Penobscot came June 10, 1894, when the CITY OF BANGOR made her first appearance in Penobscot waters. The CITY OF BANGOR was a true sensation, a leviathan compared to her predecessors, and a marvel of speed and luxury. she was one deck higher than KATAHDIN and PENOBSCOT, was 277 feet long, of greatly increased tonnage and made 16 knots to the 12 of the PENOBSCOT, which was the fastest of the early steamers. CITY OF BANGOR's majestic appearance, towering twin stacks and unprecedented grandeur, made her first trip up the river a march of triumph. Captain Otis Ingraham of Rockland, commodore of the fleet, was in command, and his dignified, handsome person and bearing lent much to the gala event. At her forepeak flew a huge silken flag, a gift of the citizens of Bangor. Many persons viewed her trip with foreboding, feeling that so large a ship could never be navigated up the river, for she was twice the size of the KATAHDIN and a third larger than the PENOBSCOT. Far from that fact, the ship made her triumphal progress with the greatest of ease to the stirring music of the Belfast Band which had come to Rockland to be honor guests on the maiden trip. As the steamer reached Ayer's Mill (now Eastern Manufacturing Company) the mill whistle screamed a welcome and bedlam reigned until Captain Ingraham had performed the wonder feat of turning and docking the great boat at her Bangor pier. Freight and passenger traffic increased by leaps and bounds and CITY OF BANGOR soon earned the nickname "the floating gold mine." She was the first ship to make three trips a week, and in 1895 hung up a speed record that has never been broken, leaving Boston at 5 p. m. and tying up at Tillson's Wharf at 1:50 the next morning. She was a grand sea boat and thoroughly dependable. In 1895 she was scheduled for 145 trips and made them all. Captain Ingraham remained in command of the BANGOR until 1901 when he took command of the CITY OF ROCKLAND. During that period the ship sustained no accident and not a life was lost. On September 28, 1902, under Captain Howard Arey, the ship performed her most spectacular stunt. She struck Monhegan in a dense fog and was later beached under her own power at Lobster Cove, Spruce Head Island, where, high and dry at low tide, she presented the amazing sight shown in the photograph. She proceeded to Boston later under her own steam, and was off the run 12 days. She sustained a freak injury in May 1903 when she damaged one of her paddle wheels on the outlying granite of the Rockland breakwater. In June 1906, she was in collision with the CITY OF ROCKLAND of Portland, after which the company ruled all westbound ships should go outside the islands. in 1907 the CITY OF BANGOR was on the Kennebec run but appeared on the Penobscot in 1908 while the wharves were being strengthened to accommodate the turbine steamers. After that, she ran steadily on Kennebec until 1917, when she went on the Portland - Boston run with RANSOM B. FULLER, FOLLOWING THE LOSS OF bay state, In 1919-1919 the old ship was back on the Penobscot due to war conditions drafting CAMDEN and BELFAST for the Boston - New York service. Her last appearance in Penobscot waters was a freight trip in October, 1925. Note the numerous carriages in the foreground which are there either delivering passengers departing on the steamer or perhaps picking up arriving passengers. The route ran north to Bangor and south to Boston.