Brothers William Donnell Crooker and Charles Crooker were among the most prominent mid-nineteenth-century shipbuilders in Bath, Maine, itself one of the most prominent shipbuilding cities in the world during that time. This colorful history of the Crookers' company by the great-great grandson of William Donnell provides a thorough overview of a family, its contributions to shipbuilding, and the historic sweep of shipbuilding in the area, as well as a fascinating glimpse into everyday life in Maine during this time. Today, a small portion of Maine's twenty-first-century shipbuilder, Bath Iron Works, occupies land that was once the Crooker yard.
| Preface |
|
ix | |
|
Chapter 1 As Good a Ship as Has Been Built at Bath |
|
|
1 | (6) |
|
Chapter 2 A Lad from Marshfield |
|
|
7 | (10) |
|
Chapter 3 A vessel Often Earned Her Entire Cost on One voyage |
|
|
17 | (6) |
|
Chapter 4 Youth of Charles and William Donnell Crooker |
|
|
23 | (9) |
|
Chapter 5 The Missouri Compromise: Like a Fire Bell in the Night |
|
|
32 | (10) |
|
Chapter 6 Another Fine Ship |
|
|
42 | (7) |
|
Chapter 7 Lumber South, Cotton to Europe, Immigrants to America |
|
|
49 | (9) |
|
Chapter 8 Easy to Spell, Harmonious in Sound, Agreeable in Meaning |
|
|
58 | (10) |
|
Chapter 9 Hermitage North |
|
|
68 | (6) |
|
Chapter 10 The Councilman from Ward Three |
|
|
74 | (13) |
|
Chapter 11 "The Gross Fraud That Has Been Perpetrated on Us Who Have Been So Grossly Swindled" |
|
|
87 | (10) |
|
Chapter 12 "Off like a Scalded Hog" |
|
|
97 | (9) |
|
Chapter 13 A "Year of Unusual Calamity on the Seas" |
|
|
106 | (8) |
|
Chapter 14 "The Wealthiest Burgher in the State of Maine" |
|
|
114 | (10) |
|
Chapter 15 "No One Ever Thought the Business Would Ever Die" |
|
|
124 | (7) |
|
Chapter 16 "Hit Him, He Has No Friends" |
|
|
131 | (6) |
|
|
|
137 | (9) |
|
Chapter 18 The Annoyances of Adrianna |
|
|
146 | (7) |
|
Chapter 19 "The Perfekt Master" |
|
|
153 | (4) |
|
Chapter 20 "Land's All Right, Pine's All Right, but It's the Sawmill That Makes the Money" |
|
|
157 | (9) |
|
Chapter 21 An Unfortunate but Honest Man |
|
|
166 | (9) |
|
Chapter 22 Crooker v. Crooker |
|
|
175 | (9) |
|
Chapter 23 Emma and Arthur |
|
|
184 | (6) |
|
Chapter 24 Finding "Cousin" Henry, the Gold Rush Swindler |
|
|
190 | (6) |
|
Chapter 25 From "Life of the Lowly" to Appomattox |
|
|
196 | (11) |
|
Chapter 26 William Donnell Crooker's Recovery |
|
|
207 | (11) |
|
Chapter 27 Ships, Swindlers---and the Curse of the White Falcon |
|
|
218 | (12) |
|
Chapter 28 A Falling Barometer |
|
|
230 | (5) |
| Afterword |
|
235 | (6) |
| Epilogue: "So You See, We Have Quite a Down East Crowd" |
|
241 | (6) |
| Appendix A List of Crooker Ships |
|
247 | (4) |
| Appendix B Descendants of Jonathan Crooker of Marshfield, MA |
|
251 | (3) |
| Appendix C C & WD Crooker Agreement with Johnson Rideout |
|
254 | (2) |
| Bibliography |
|
256 | (3) |
| Index |
|
259 | |
Frederic B. Hill was a reporter, correspondent and editorial writer for The Baltimore Sun from 1965 to 1985, including tours in London and Paris, covering Europe and southern Africa. After two years as foreign affairs director for Sen. Charles McC. Mathias, Jr., he joined the State Department in 1986 and established the Office of Special Programs, which conducted policy planning exercises and roundtable discussions on political/military, economic, and global issues. A native of Maine and graduate of Bowdoin College, he and his wife Marguerite live in Arrowsic, Maine and Baltimore, Maryland. He serves on the board of directors of Maines First Ship, a non-profit organization building a reconstruction of Virginia, one of the first ships built in America at Popham Beach in 1608. William Donnell Crooker, one of the principal figures in Ships, Swindlers, and Scalded Hogs, was his great-great grandfather.