Boat Wrecks 2

Boat Wrecks 2

Copy neg- GEORGE F EDMUNDS , launched in 1887 by M.Adams in Essex,Massachusetts. Skipper Capt. Willard Pool, crew of 17- 2 survived wreck on Pemaquid ledges, September 17, 1903. Capt. Pool's body found following sspring. GEORGE F EDMUNDSs designed by George Melvin McLain of Bremen. On September 17, 1903, the fishing schooner ‘George F. Edmunds’ went on the rocks near Pemaquid Light, Maine. The Gloucester, Massachusetts based vessel was returning from the Grand Banks fishing ground with a load of mackerel. She had been caught in a storm and her master, Captain Willard G. Poole, decided to try to make for the little harbor in South Bristol, instead of hugging the coast and landing in the larger Portland Harbor some many miles away. He had some knowledge of the Pemaquid area and headed for Lighthouse Point near the beacon. The vessel was within a mile of the point as the gale force winds increased in fury, forcing the ship to drift towards the rocks. The captain made a miscalculation of about 800 feet in the drift of the schooner as he was trying to head around the point. Instead of the safety of the little harbor, George F. Edmunds ended up against the dangerous rocks by Pemaquid Light. The schooner began to break apart almost immediately. Five of the crew attempted to reach shore in the seine boat but the boat swamped before they had gotten far. Some of the crewmen tried to swim to shore but the strength of the undertow carried them away. One of the dories succeeded in avoiding the rocks and headed for shore with five crewmembers. Halfway there, a wave capsized the craft and the five occupants were left to struggle for their lives in the fierce and cold surf. Only two of them reached shore. Of the seventeen men aboard George F. Edmunds, fifteen, including Captain Poole, perished in the storm. Their names are among the 5368 listed on the Gloucester Fishermen's Memorial. The 149-ton fishing schooner had been built in 1887 at Essex, Massachusetts. The same storm also led to the loss of the small coastal schooner ‘Sadie and Lillie’ which was headed for Boston. She had also run for shelter at South Bristol when she ended on the rocks near George F. Edmunds. One of the lighthouse crew managed to get a line to the vessel in the raging surf, and after a fierce struggle, two men of the crew were brought to safety. The attached image is a photo from the collection of the Penobscot Marine Museum which shows visitors viewing the wreck of George F. Edmunds. -- Joe Mosier 2019