Schooner-3 MARY E. OLYS underway, 2 topsails doused

Schooner-3 MARY E. OLYS underway, 2 topsails doused

Schooner-3 MARY E. OLYS underway, 2 topsails doused"The three-masted Mary E. Olys was a familiar sight in Maine's coastal waters, ferrying various cargoes up and down the east coast. It was built in Bath in 1891 and survived a hurricane a few years before, off Nantucket, losing all its masts. On that fateful New Year's morning, (1/1/1920) the Olys was on its way from Stonington to Ossining, New York, with a load of granite. Its skipper, Capt. Lewis Hatch of Bristol, was also making for the relative safety of Cape Porpoise Harbor while a storm raged. Hatch didn't judge the westward turn. Soon, the ship was grinding atop the Goat Island ledge. The steam-powered Coast Guard cutter USS OSSIPEE, stationed in Portland, rescued both captains and their respective four-man crews without any trouble. Both sets of sailors spent the rest of the night warming up on the Cape Porpoise fishing schooner Waltham. The next day, it was clear the vessel was not salvageable. She had filled with water and sunk to the bottom with the granite in her hold — where the stone remains today. " -- Troy Bennett, BDN  2024