A Winter's Dream

Yesterday was one of those summer days I dream of during the dead-of-winter...come true.  The dream finds me out on the water with the rising sun, last of the river's mist burning off leaving calm waters with just the hint of a wafting breeze, and wildlife out and about.

The Sudbury River downriver from Sherman's Bridge provided all that and more...

A doe and fawn paying close attention...

Lee's Bridge...

A blue heron capturing some morning rays...

Martha's Point...

Fully blossomed lily...

Tiny amount of trash...

Next January when the cold wind is blowing and ice is fast thickening, I'll try as best I can to remember and savor such a day as yesterday.

Low Hanging Fruit on the Merrimack

Yesterday on what promised to be one of the summer's hottest days I got out on the Mighty Merrimack a little after sunrise launching from North Chelmsford, MA.  It quickly became obvious that finding shady spots would be my first order of business.  Fortunately the river offers many such areas especially where tributaries enter, such as the 'hanging gardens' beneath Middlesex Street on Stony Brook...

  ...and further upriver where Flint Brook passes under the railroad tracks...

Additional shade provided by trees could be found on the river's east bank between Pawtucket Boulevard and Wickasee Island...

  

Continued hugging the east shore once past the island, and noticed a glass bottle hanging by roots within it from where the riverbank had partially collapsed...

Once pulled down it was found to be an old milk bottle embossed with the name "Lowell Dairy" and the word "Store" on its shoulder and base.  After being rinsed out it joined an old medicine bottle found in shallow water nearby...

Also above Wickasee Island were several large rocks equipped with cast-iron loops for boats or perhaps barges to tie onto...

...possibly left from when there were locks by the long gone Wickasee Falls.

Before leaving the river's east shore I was inspired by this message...

One of the few times I ventured out into the middle of the river...

One result of staying close to shore was this...

Once home I searched for information on the old milk bottle...without much luck until running across this article "Chapter 2 Massachusetts Seals on Glass Milk Bottles" by Bill Lockhart, Pete Schulz, and Al Morin with contributions by Bill Blodget.  Here I found that the Lowell Dairy bottle found was manufactured in Elmira, NY by the Thatcher Manufacturing Company in 1944.  Finding info on Lowell Dairy itself proved more difficult until a mention was found in a 1946 Lowell Directory.  Turns out the dairy was owned by Odesseus "Duke" Chiungas who in addition to many other accomplishments was a boyhood friend of Lowell's noted author and native son Jack Kerouac.  This in turn led me to find that 13 of Kerouac's books are considered to comprise the "Duluoz Legend" (Duluoz being the surname by which Kerouac referred to himself).  A character based upon Odesseus "Duke" Chiungas, "Duke Gringas" appeared in Kerouac's Book of Dreams and Visions of Cody according to this Duluoz Legend Character Key.

The little medicine bottle didn't offer much in the way of markings.  Containing only 17 mls, it must have packed quite a punch...perhaps similar to today's 50-mls nip bottles. 

Where the Arbella Dropped Anchor

I never gave much thought to where the Puritan 'Great Migration' flagship, Arbella, dropped her anchor back in 1630.  Guess I knew it was in Salem and that the ship carried the Massachusetts Bay Colony's new governor, John Winthrop...he who aspired to build a "city upon a hill".  Unfortunately, he also believed the King of England had the right to give away huge swaths of land in America.  Roger Williams tried but failed to convince Winthrop otherwise.

Recently I came across an edited version of the journal Winthrop kept during a three month crossing of the Atlantic Ocean and read his first-hand account of the Arbella's coming to anchor in Salem Sound:

Saturday, June 12, 1630 "...As we stood towards the harbor, we saw another shallop coming to us; so we stood in to meet her, and passed through the narrow strait between Baker's Isle and Little Isle, and came to an anchor a little within the islands." 

That sentence led me to check my charts and find that the "Little Isle' mentioned was quite likely today's Little Misery Island.  Coincidentally, the Misery Challenge, an event which my daughter and I enjoy participating in, was KO'ed by the COVID virus, like so many other group events of late.  So while the usual Misery Challenge experience couldn't be enjoyed last weekend, I might, at least, experience my own little taste of "misery" and, at the same time, possibly encounter the Arbella lying at anchor.

The opening photo shows my approach this past Friday early morning to the islands mentioned by Winthrop...Bakers Island to the right and the Misery Islands (Little and Great) to the left.  Present-day nautical charts show the Salem Channel running between the islands and on a straight WNW heading to Hospital Point...

 

The Hospital Point Lighthouse which I'd passed earlier...

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In searching for information as to where "a little within the islands" might be, I stumbled upon an article presented at the February 1930 meeting of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts: 

"The Course of the Arbella from Cape Sable to Salem".  The paper was read at the meeting by Samuel E. Morrison and was a followup to an earlier article by Mr. Horace Everett Ware.  After examining all the evidence, Morrison states that the Arbella "...may have anchored anywhere off the Beverly shore between Allen Head and Hospital Point" but Morrison's personal preference was"...from a quarter to a half mile off Plum Cove"...

 

If they did anchor off of Plum Cove they might have enjoyed this view of Smith Point...

From this spot they could also have looked into Salem Harbor...

Members of the advance team who'd been in Salem for more than a year making preparations came out to the ship.  Later that same day Winthrop, his assistants, "some other gentlemen, and some of the women, and our captain, returned with them to Nahumkeck (modern Salem, MA) where we supped with a good venison pastry and good beer, and at night returned to our ship, but some of the women stayed behind.  In the mean time most of our people went onshore upon the land of Cape Ann, which lay very near us, and gathered store of fine strawberries.  An Indian came aboard us and lay there all night."

The following day, Sunday, June 13, 1630: "In the morning, the sagamore of Agawam (Ipswich) and one of his men came aboard our ship and stayed with us all day."  Many believe this sagamore of Agawam was Masconomo who may have paddled out from Manchester Harbor where today there's a park named for him.

One story leads to another...Winthrop and the Arbella would later sail to today's Boston Harbor, go six miles up the Mistick River, and later stop at "Nataskott" where Captain Squib of the ship Mary and John was encountered.  Winthrop discussed with Squib the west-country people Squib had deposited at Nataskott and "ended a difference between him (Squib) and the passengers" (a polite way of putting it).  The group of west-country people mentioned included Roger Clapp who was the subject of a recent post and Winthrop seems to have verified Clapp's account.

During a break in the action I landed on Little Misery...

...where from the island's high point the strait between it and Bakers Isle could be viewed...

Before leaving Little Misery I enjoyed my second salt-water swim of the season and gathered up some trash...

 

Then it was time to ride the incoming tide to and up the Danvers River...

...back to from where I started.

Petroglyph Mystery Solved

Back in May while paddling the Connecticut River below the great falls at Peskeompscut, I encountered this petroglyph on a standing stone (previously posted about in May and June)...

In hopes of finding out more about the petroglyph, I googled "petroglyphs in Greenfield area" and stumbled upon a Greenfield Recorder newspaper article entitled "Native Insight: There Must Be Native American Petroglyphs Left to Find in Our Valley"  written by writer/historian Gary Sanderson of Greenfield, MA.   Gary is a 25-year, senior-active member of the outdoor-writers association of America.  I contacted Gary and he did the heavy lifting required in solving the mystery of the strange image looking out from the standing stone.  He recently posted the results of his research on his blog, Tavernfare.com.  Seems it was serendipity that I should've contacted Gary.

A One-Sided Cape Ann

With the Cape Ann Rowing Club's 2020 Blackburn Challenge cancelled due to the pandemic, I and several hundred other rowers and paddlers would not be circumnavigating Cape Ann today.  Nonetheless, I was able to get in some mid-week paddling and camping while keeping to the Cape's more sheltered west side.  Fortunately for me the Cape Ann Camp Site in Gloucester, MA was open for business with solid Covid measures in place. A nearby boat launch on the Jones River afforded me access to the Annisquam, Little, Essex, and Castle Hill rivers...

 

The need for speed was cast aside, and over two days I explored nooks and crannies I'd usually pass by without notice.  With a wind out of the north on Wednesday I headed southward on the Annisquam passing under the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge ...

...towards Little River.  At Rust Island this black-booted fox was seen enjoying a brief bit of morning sun...

 Further west in Stoney Cove near Presson Point a bald eagle...

...took a break after harassing one of several ospreys.

Upon reaching the head of Little River's navigable waters...

...I turned about and paddled by this seemingly long abandoned summer camp...

 

After passing under the bridge again I saw this sign of the times...

On Thursday I paddled out the other end of the Jones River passing this string of empty dories...

...before reaching the Annisquam River and heading northward.  Here I briefly followed the course of the Blackburn Challenge and admired this lobster boat heading out ahead of me...

Approaching Annisquam Light...

...I turned to the left rather than following the Blackburn's course to the right. My destination was Castle Neck and the Essex River.   To my right Ipswich Bay opened to the sea...

Soon I entered the mouth of the Essex River with Hog Island dead ahead...

 Across Essex Bay from the island I landed on a sandy beach...

... and enjoyed my first saltwater swim of the season.  Couldn't have been more relaxing.

Back underway I reached Long Island where this one foot diameter jellyfish had become beached...

Paddled around Hog Island following the Hog Island Channel...

On my return trip to the Annisquam a good bit of the Blackburn Challenge's course could be seen to the east...

 

So while this year wasn't quite the same without the Blackburn Challenge, it did at least provide me with some of its salty flavor.   Before leaving Cape Ann a visit was paid to Blackburn's old saloon...

...and his gravestone located in the Fishermen's Rest section of Beechbrook Cemetery...

On Stacy Boulevard there are bronze plaques listing the names of Gloucester fishermen lost at sea.  On the plaque for 1883 is the name of Blackburn's dorymate, Thomas Welch...

 

And of course the 'Man at the Wheel' was looking out upon Gloucester Harbor...

Hopefully, 2021 will see the return of the Blackburn Challenge in a post-Covid world.