1815 — Jan 23, Portland Maine Privateer Dash lost in squall, George’s Bank area      –54-66

Compiled by Wayne Blanchard 10-4-2023 for upload to: https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–54-66  WikiTree. Privateer Dash. Accessed 10-4-2023 at: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Dash

—     63  Rowe, William Hutchinson.  The Maritime History of Maine.  1948, pp. 90-91.

Narrative Information

Casco Bay Island Transit District: “On a snowy January day in 1815, having not yet received word from Belgium that the war was over, the Dash and her crew engaged in a playful ‘race’ with fellow privateer, the Champlain. The two ships sped out of Portland Harbor at the same time but the Dash easily outran the other vessel. As she sailed off into the distance a Nor’easter blew in. And she vanished without a trace.” (Casco Bay Island Transit District. “The Ghost Ship of Casco Bay.” 10-31-2018.)

 Rowe: “One of the most successful privateers on the Maine coast was the Dash. Of 222 tons burden and pierced for sixteen guns, she was built early in 1813 at Porter’s Landing on the Harraseeket River in Freeport by Master Brewer for her owners, Seward and Samuel Porter, who were Portland merchants. Save for her last voyage, she was a very lucky ship. In seven cruises…she sent in fifteen prizes…

“Her speed is legendary….On her last cruise tragedy struck. Having taken leave of his bride of a few months, Captain Porter, aged twenty-four, sailed from Portland in company with the Champlain, a new privateer, for a trial of speed. At the end of the first day the Dash had her all but hull down. Night came on, and with it a squall. The light of the Dash disappeared in the scud.  Finding the water shoaling, the Champlain altered  her course. The Dash was never again seen.  She is believed to have foundered on George’s Bank.[1] With her were lost the Captain, his two brothers, and a crew of sixty able men.” (Rowe, William Hutchinson. The Maritime History of Maine.  1948, pp. 90-91.)^[2]

WikiTree. Privateer Dash: “Dash was a privateer schooner built in 1813 at Porter’s Landing, Freeport, Maine, by James Brewer for Seward and Samuel Porter. She was not part of the United States Navy but commissioned as a privateer ship during the War of 1812, authorized to seize enemy ships and keep or sell what was found onboard. She was also used to evade the Embargo Act to trade cargo in places like the West Indies. Dash was one of the most successful privateers during the War of 1812, known for her remarkable speed. In seven voyages, under four captains, she took all fifteen prizes she chased.

“Part owner Seward Porter described Dash as 220 tons “burthen”, with “mounted three carriage guns and had a company of fifty four men” and was on her fifth “cruise against the enemy”[3]

….

“January 21, 1815: Dash heads southward from Portland Harbor with Portsmouth schooner Champlain, who challenges her to a race[4]

“Between fifty-four[5] and sixty men—sixteen of them from Freeport—were lost on the final voyage of the Dash[6]

By the next day, Champlain had been left behind, unable to match Dash’s speed. She lost complete sight of Dash when a snowstorm rolled in.[7]

Deposition in pension files of prize master Henry Cumpston states that:

“officers of said Brig Champlain [said] that they kept company with said Dash until the night of the twenty second of said January when they were separated in a gale which continued for six or seven days with great violence” and “it is the general belief that said Dash was lost in said gale, with all on board as no person belonging to her has since been seen or heard of”

“Between fifty-four[8] and sixty men—sixteen of them from Freeport—were lost on the final voyage of the Dash.[9]

Source

Casco Bay Island Transit District. “The Ghost Ship of Casco Bay.” 10-31-2018. Accessed 10-4-2023 at: https://www.cascobaylines.com/blog/the-ghost-ship-of-casco-bay/

Rowe, William Hutchinson. The Maritime History of Maine: Three Centuries of Ship Building & Seafaring.  Gardiner, ME: Harpswell Press, 1948.

WikiTree. Privateer Dash. Accessed 10-4-2023 at: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Dash

[1] “Georges Bank is a large elevated area of the sea floor between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia. It separates the Gulf of Maine from the Atlantic Ocean.” (Wikipedia. “Georges Bank.”)

[2] Rowe does not provide the date.  For that we go to Lora Altine Woodbury Underhill’s Descendants of Edward Small of New England (Riverside Press, 1910, p. 847), who writes that one Eliphaz Soule, born April 20, 1791, “was lost in the privateer Dash, Jan. 23, 1815.”

[3] Cites War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files for Henry Cumpston.

[4] Cites. William Goold. Portland in the Past; with Historical Notes of Old Falmouth. Portland, Me.: B. Thurston & Company, 1886, 448ff; Freeport Historical Society. “The Story of DASH”; Troy R. Bennett. “This ghost ship hunted U-boats in Portland Harbor…maybe.” Bangor Daily News, 9-11-2017; and W.G., “Letter to the Editor,” Portland Daily Press. 10-4-1882, Portland, ME, Vol: 20, page: 4.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Cites: “The Story of Dash,” Freeport Historical Society; Jeff Linscott. USS Dash. Historic Database; and Maine History Online. “1775-1820 Tension, War, & Separation.”

[7] Cites Eric Mills. The Spectral Tide: True Ghost Stories of the U.S. Navy. Naval Institute Press, 2009; and Portland Daily Press. “George’s Shoal.” 1-21-1987, Portland, ME Vol: 24, p. 3.

[8] Cites: War of 1812 Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files for Henry Cumpston.

[9] Cites: Freeport Historical Society. “The Story of DASH;” Eric Mills. The Spectral Tide: True Ghost Stories of the U.S. Navy. Naval Institute Press, 2009; W.G. “Letter to the Editor.” Portland Daily Press. Wednesday, Oct 04, 1882 Portland, ME Vol: 20 Page: 4; and Portland Daily Press. “George’s Shoal.” Friday, Jan 21, 1887. Portland, ME Vol: 24 Page: 3.