A. T. Gifford (ship)

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The A. T. Gifford was the last American whaling schooner to cruise Hudson Bay. It caught fire and sank in 1915, and although the captain and a few other crew escaped the wreck, none survived the disaster.

Contents

[edit] Construction and Ownership

The A. T. Gifford was built in March 1883 in Essex, MA. It measured 82.6 feet in length, and weighed 82 tons.[1]

From 1884 until after 1900, the Gifford was owned by George Dennis, and its homeport was Gloucester, MA.[2] During 1913-1915 the Gifford was owned by furrier F. N. Monjo of New York City.[3]

The Gifford was commanded by E. M. Joyce from 1884 until at least 1900. Presumably this was the same master as Edward M. Joyce who had previously commanded the schooners Henry L. Phillips (1883) and Eliza K. Parker (1881).[4]


[edit] Capt. George Comer

Capt. George Comer commanded the Gifford on two voyages out of Stamford, CT in 1907 and 1910.[5] Comer had obtained command of the Gifford after his previous whaleship Era was wrecked off Newfoundland in 1906.[6]

Comer spent two winters, 1910-1912, frozen in the ice at Cape Fullerton, during which time he made phonograph records of the local Inuit, and collected folklore and legends of the Iluilirmiut of Adelaide Peninsula (Iluilik), Hudson Bay. The vessel also took five small whales which yielded 2000 pounds of whalebone, valued at $10,000.[7]


[edit] Capt. James Allen Wing

62-year-old James Allen Wing (1851-1925) was the next captain of the A. T. Gifford. Capt. Wing had recently left his post as master of the steam bark Gay Head of San Francisco, and was well-acquainted with arctic navigation. The son of whaling captain Andrew Wing of Acushnet, Massachusetts, he had sailed on whaling ships since the age of eleven, before moving in the early 1890s from New Bedford to California to follow the profits of the whaling trade. In California he became master of the bark Sea Breeze, the steamer Karluk, and the C. T. Walker, plying the western arctic waters for whales, and was part of the "ice catch" of 1898 in which eight whalers were trapped in the ice off the coast of Alaska. After two seasons on river steamers between Stockton and San Francisco, he became captain of the Gay Head, a post he held from 1909-1912.

His voyage on the Gifford left in June 1913.[8] During its cruise in Hudson Bay, Capt. Wing dropped off Capt. George Cleveland of Martha's Vineyard, his partner Mr. Bumpus, and their supplies at Cape Fullerton to establish a trading post for furrier company F. N. Monjo.[9]

[edit] Capt. Arthur O. Gibbons

Capt. Arthur O. Gibbons (1859 - 1915) of Norwich, CT was the last captain of the A. T. Gifford. He was unmarried, the son of Mrs. Mary A. (Gibbons) Murray of Norwich. He is also presumably the same Arthur O. Gibbons who is listed as the master of the Francis Allyn (1897, 1899), the Ellen A. Swift (1902, 1906), and Charles W. Morgan (1908). He is probably the same man as Arthur B. Gibbons who captained the Sarah W. Hunt in 1892 and 1893, and perhaps the Margaret, the Bertha (1902, 1911), and the T. Towner.[10]


[edit] 1915 Disaster

The Gifford left Provincetown, MA in July 1915 on its final voyage. After dropping off supplies and picking up a two years' catch of furs from Capt. Cleveland at Cape Fullerton in September 1915, it was never heard from again. [11] [12]

In 1917, Capt. George Fred Tilton of Martha's Vineyard was hired by the Monjo company to investigate the disappearance of the schooner. He sailed to Hudson Bay on the schooner Pythian and determined that it had burned and sank in flames on its homeward journey. Tilton wrote, "I found proof that the schooner had caught fire and burned until her gas tanks blew up and sunk her, and I learned from the natives of three men who landed in a small boat and died from Burns and exposure."[13]

An overturned fisherman's dory covering two skeletons were found by Capt. Cleveland at Coats Island in 1921, alleged to be the remains of crew of the schooner A. T. Gifford. One of the two bodies was identified as Capt. Gibbons by his small stature and his revolver. The second skeleton remained unidentified, but was presumed to be one of the Gifford's officers. The men were thought to have been trying to reach the nearest Hudson Bay trading post, some 70 miles from where the dory was found, when winter storms set in.[14] The Canadian Government held a criminal investigation.[15]

There were no other survivors of the wreck.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Mystic Seaport: Digitial Initiative
  2. ^ Mystic Seaport: Digitial Initiative
  3. ^ "Cap'n George Fred" Himself. Doubleday, Doran and Company. 1928. pp. 267-271.
  4. ^ Mystic Seaport: Digitial Initiative
  5. ^ Whaling Masters, compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1938.
  6. ^ Eber, Dorothy (1989). When the Whalers Were Up North. McGill-Queen's University Press.
  7. ^ Boston Daily Globe, Oct. 22, 1912. p. 5
  8. ^ Whaling Masters, compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1938.
  9. ^ The Vineyard Gazette, Edgartown, MA. Oct. 4, 1923.
  10. ^ Whaling Masters, compiled by the Federal Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration of Massachusetts. New Bedford, MA: Old Dartmouth Historical Society, 1938.
  11. ^ Boston Daily Globe, Sep. 21, 1923, p.7.
  12. ^ "Cap'n George Fred" Himself. Doubleday, Doran and Company. 1928. pp. 267-271.
  13. ^ "Cap'n George Fred" Himself. Doubleday, Doran and Company. 1928. pp. 267-271.
  14. ^ Boston Daily Globe, Sep. 21, 1923, p.7.
  15. ^ Description Full Display - Search Archives - Library and Archives Canada

[edit] References