From collection J. E. Perkins Collection
CITY OF ROCKLAND Aground on Dix Island 1
Image of a young man in a flatiron skiff sailing past the steamboat CITY OF ROCKLAND, aground on Dix Island. Visible in image: A young man, possibly Hiram T. Stevens, sails a small skiff past the steamboat CITY OF ROCKLAND. He tills his small boat with an oar over the transom, while a single loose-footed sail provides the motive force. The United States yacht ensign flies from the top of the short mast. In the background, CITY OF ROCKLAND seems to have run bow-first up on the rocks of Dix Island, which lies just to the north of Cox's Head in Phippsburg. Her stern is submerged up to the top of the rail, and the ship's boats have been lowered to offload passengers. A launch with a torpedo stern is visible alongside the aft quarter of the steamer. CITY OF ROCKLAND was built in Massachusetts for the Eastern Steamship Company in 1901. This grounding, on September 2, 1923, ended a 22-year career marred by groundings, collisions, and sinking at her Boston pier. Declining passenger traffic inhibited a sale of the ship, so the hulk was stripped, towed to Misery Island off Beverly, Mass., and burned.
