Clam Boil

Clam Boil

Two men enjoying a clam boil on the beach which appears to be on the southern end of Belfast. The steamer PENOBSCOT can be seen heading down the bay. STEAMER SS PENOBSCOT The PENOBSCOT came out in 1882; the biggest and most sumptuous of the Boston-Bangor liners to her time and up to the arrival of the mighty CITY OF BANGOR in 1894.She was the first of the line to have electric lights. Built largely from plans of officers of the steamship company, PENOBSCOT was never particularly successful or popular, being cranky and a bad roller, yet she lived a long and colorful life, making her spectacular departure in war-torn 1915. She was built in 1882, at East Boston by Smith & Townsend, with a hull 255 feet in length, a beam of 38 feet and a draught of 13 feet and was listed as of 1414 gross tons. Her 1200 horsepower walking beam engine* was built by the Atlantic Engine Works, a 58 inch cylinder and 12 foot stroke. She cost in the neighborhood of $200,000. An interesting angle lies in the fact that the widely known "Little" ROCKLAND was built from odds and ends left over in the construction of the PENOBSCOT. She served on the Boston-Bangor Line opposite CAMBRIDGE, KATAHDIN AND FOREST CITY. After the CITY OF BANGOR was placed in service, PENOBSCOT still carried on as a spare boat, and it was in that capacity that she took Cobb Club members from Knox County to Bangor, with the result that William T. Cobb was nominated for the Governorship and later elected. In 1901 the PENOBSCOT was chartered by the Joy Line for service between New York and Providence, and later the McAllister Steamboat Company of New York purchased the PENOBSCOT. The Manhattan Line of the Hudson River boats next chartered the PENOBSCOT to operate between New York and Albany, taking the place of the steamboat CENTRAL HUDSON, formerly the JAMES W. BALDWIN which ran aground near West Point and sank on May 21, 1911. The PENOBSCOT's running mate was the KENNEBEC, another Maine steamboat which made her first appearance on the Hudson River the same year as the PENOBSCOT. Hard luck dogged the trail of the PENOBSCOT on the Hudson River. She ran aground on Stockport flats north of Hudson, on the night of June 11, 1911, and remained there for a period of 26 days. The vessel grounded during a very high spring tide and it was found to be practically impossible to float her. The most powerful tugboats strove to loosen the stranded PENOBSCOT and failed due to the nature of the bottom of the river at this point which contained a deposit of clay which did not permit the hull of the unfortunate vessel to settle. It was finally found necessary to dredge on either side of the PENOBSCOT and place pontoons along the hull with chains passing underneath her hull. Then a sand sucker was brought into action, several steam derricks were brought up, and with the aid of a dozen large tugboats and a month's efforts, the stranded steamboat floated. During her enforced stay on the flats, the PENOBSCOT was entirely repainted The following spring the PENOBSCOT was renamed MOHAWK, and the KENNEBEC became the IROQUOIS. On September 29, 1913, the MOHAWK, en route from New York to Albany, suddenly veered from her course and drove head-on into the embankment of the New York Central Railroad, her bow cutting almost to the tracks at a point five miles north of Poughkeepsie at Hyde Park. The passengers on the distressed vessel were transferred to her running mate, the IROQUOIS. Captain William Gates stated that this accident was caused by the steering gear breaking as the vessel rounded Crum Elbow. The MOHAWK was taken to New York for repairs and her place taken by the SHINNECOCK. During her life as MOHAWK the old steamer carried a full new set of houses on her hurricane deck though the walking beam* remained exposed. In 1915, the MOHAWK completed her term of service on the Hudson River and was sold and converted into a schooner, which was eventually lost with all hands *The walking beam engine was typical of side paddle wheelers such as the PENOBSCOT.