LB2016.15.1519

LB2016.15.1519

Postcard with view of several small boats moored in the harbor at the Belfast, Maine waterfront. In this view one can see the Columbia P. Carer Shipyard with ships under construction. Up the hill from the shipyard (square building with smoke stack) is the Mathews Brothers Sash & Blind Mill. On the right (the building with the smokestack and gambrl roof) is Dana's Sarsaparilla. Columbia P. Carter Shipyard With abundant lumber, steam-powered sawmills, and stretches of wide, flat beach, Belfast became a shipbuilding center, with shipyards lining the waterfront. Known for their speed, beauty, and excellent construction, several hundred vessels were produced by local shipyards. Columbia P. Carter owned the largest of these, turning out over 100 vessels. Ship launchings were popular social events as townspeople, owners, and investors gathered to watch the keel move down the slipway and into the harbor. For all the merchant and other vessels built in the great old shipbuilding city of Belfast, Maine, the steamer USS PENOBSCOT was the first and only gunboat built and launched at Belfast. The vessel was built by the prolific Belfast shipbuilder, C. P. Carter according to a model and written specifications provided by the United States Navy Department. Carter, a consummate builder and something of a perfectionist, spared no pains in acquiring material to build the PENOBSCOT. Much of her oak timber was brought in from New Hampshire (white oak, the kind preferred by shipbuilders, was scarce in Maine even in 1862). When completed and opened for public inspection, a Belfast newspaper proclaimed that she was “pronounced the very best of the twenty-three boats that have been built” (presumably in Carter’s shipyard). The PENOBSCOT was solidly built, with an outside ceiling of six-inch oak plank and her sides up to the level of her upper deck were nearly two feet thick. The vessel’s length was 158 feet, the beam was 28 feet and she had a draft of nine feet, six inches. The USS PENOBSCOT was powered by two, 200-horsepower engines, which turned a single screw-type propeller. These pushed the vessel along at a maximum speed of 11.5 miles per hour. The USS PENOBSCOT was fully armed, carrying one 11-inch Dahlgren smoothbore gun, two, 24-pound smoothbores and two, 24-pound Parrot rifles. Note that when gun and cannon nomenclature lists weights, it refers to the weight of the projectile, not the weight of the weapon. https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/201603BelfastShipbuilders.html In 1854, Matthews Brothers Sash, Blind & Door Factory opened for business. Matthews Brothers remains a viable and expanding business today. Dana Sarsaparilla began in 1888 and by 1892, produced 500,000 bottles of its remedy between January and June of that year. https://www.fishermensvoice.com/archives/201301AHistoryOfBelfastPartII.html