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.ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY
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BOSTON LIGHT, 1910.
From a Photograph, by the courtesy of C. B. Webster & Co., Boston.
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Vol. 7
Boston
Old Sthte House
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CONTENTS
A ^ /- ^ J"- *"> O *-*^
Boston's Lanes and Alleys 9
/okn T. Prince.
The Dutch Pirates in Boston, 1694-95 ... 33
Rev. George M. Bodge.
The Story of Boston Light 63
Fitz-Henry Smith, Jr.
The Site of Faneuil Hall 131
Walter Kendall Watkins.
Index : — L Names 141
IL Places and Subjects .... 145
ILLUSTRATIONS
Boston Light, igio Faces title
From a Photograph by C. B. Webster &' Co., Boston.
Armory of the Sea Fencibles, 1823 . . . 18
From a Contemporary Sketch.
House of Robert Newman, Sexton Christ Church 30
Ships of the Seventeenth Century .... 44
From an Engraving on a Contemporaneous Map.
Boston Light, about 1728 78
From the Original Mezzotint engraved in i72g.
Boston Light in 1788 loi
From the Engraving in the Massachusetts Magazine,
Febrtiary, lySg.
Seal of the Marine Society, Boston . . . 128
The Site of Faneuil Hall 134
From an Early Pen Drawing in the Society^s Col-
lections.
BOSTON'S LANES AND ALLEYS
BY
JOHN T. PRINCE
BOSTON'S LANES AND ALLEYS
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL CHAMBER,
OLD STATE HOUSE, OCTOBER 9, 1888, BY
JOHN T. PRINCE
PURPOSE this afternoon to take you
on an imaginary trip to a few of the
many lanes and alleys of our city, as
they existed in Boston in the olden
time. I hope by careful guidance
and brief descriptions to give you a glimpse of some
of these localities, as they were in my boyhood or in my
father's time, but which we know to-day under greatly
changed conditions ; and I shall endeavor to enliven my
story with brief personal reminiscences of some old
Bostonian men and things more or less closely asso-
ciated with them, with an occasional reference to the
streets and ancient landmarks which they recall.*
* Some additions to this paper as it was originally read have been
made from documents in the Society's collections. — Ed.
lo Bostons Lanes and Alleys
At the outset I wish to commend the truthfulness of
our Puritan ancestors in calling things by their right
names ; with them a street was a street, a lane was a
lane, and an alley only an alley. They did not call a
narrow cart-way a street, but a lane or an alley, as did
their English progenitors, and as their successors do
to-day.
At the opening of our present century Boston was
still a town of lanes and alleys. By a list of these,
published in 1800, I find that there were then thirty-
eight lanes and eighteen alleys included in the catalogue
as still known by those appellations. Of these all but
two of the lanes — Spring Lane and Ridgeway Lane —
have disappeared, in their names at least, and by widen-
ing or other changes have become streets. In some
cases, however, the names they formerly bore have been
retained, — as for instance, Chardon, Bromfield, Hench-
man, Lindall (Lendell's Lane in 1733), Alden, Pitts and
Allen streets, — thus perpetuating in some degree the
memory of several well-known pre-Revolutionary fam-
ilies. Many of the old streets of the city have also felt
the spirit of change, and the latest Dire6lory gives us
" Avenues " and " Boulevards," " Park-ways " and "Ter-
races." The reason for a change is often easy to dis-
cover ; "Front street" became " Harrison Avenue " in
1 84 1, in the days of "Tippecanoe and Tyler too," log-
cabins and hard cider ; and so of others, as will appear
later.
Boston's Lanes and Alleys ii
Ridgeway Lane, one of the remaining passage-ways
the name of which has escaped "Time's effacing finger,"
extends from Derne to Cambridge street, and was
known by its present title in 1788. It seems to have
been so called from the Ridgeway family, who owned
property or resided in its immediate vicinity, but as its
purpose was chiefly to give access to the rear of houses
fronting on Temple and Hancock streets, it has no his-
toric interest ; I will therefore begin our journey with a
visit to Love Lane, a narrow, rural passage-way at the
north end of the town, leading from Salem to North
street, then the lower part of Hanover street — not the
North street previously known as Ann street, with a
disreputable character which would have grieved the
royal lady, " Good Queen Anne," whose name it bore,
had it reached her ears.
When I say a " rural " lane, I think I am justified, as
its neighbor, Salem street, was at one time called Green
Lane, an appellation given also to several other streets
at different periods, and close at hand was the noble
mansion and grounds of Governor Phipps, which in
more recent years became a Home for Indigent Boys.
In its cool shades youth and maidens could
List the tale that Love was telling,
in quiet happiness and all the simplicity of North-end
courtships. I would recommend my hearer of anti-
quarian tastes to visit this region, so rich in historic
12 Boston s Lanes and Alleys
memories. Though its streets are now thronged by
people of another race, there are still a few remaining
houses, the former homes of men who gave Boston a
world-wide reputation for industry, for prosperity and
patriotism.
But Love Lane has another call on our affection, for
here, at an early day in the history of the town, was
located the North Grammar and Writing School, where
presided that pattern of dominies, John Tileston, who for
seventy-two long years well and effectually " taught the
young idea how to shoot," thereby realizing gentle Oliver
Goldsmith's description of the village pedagogue :
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich on forty pounds a year.
His familiar title among his pupils was "Johnny
Tileston," an epithet given him not in derision but as
an affectionate and loving appellative, for he was no
"Johnny" in the modern acceptation of the term. Bos-
ton owes a debt of gratitude to John Tileston, for, in
addition to the instruction he gave his boys in grammar
and spelling, we are indebted to him for the introduction
of that beautiful chirography known in its day— I might
almost say, the world over — as the "Boston round-
hand," where every letter was well formed, and as easily
read as print ; it was long perpetuated in the counting-
rooms of the merchants of the past, but is now, I
regret to see, giving place to a style of penmanship
Boston's Lanes and Alleys 13
which it would hardly be an exaggeration to say looks
as if a "daddy-long-legs " had stepped into the inkstand
and then crawled over the paper.
That veteran school-master lived to the great age of
ninety-two years, and in 1826 was borne from his home
on Prince street to his last resting-place in the Granary
Burying-ground. Love Lane was given his name by
vote of the town authorities in June, 1821, in honor of
his labors.
Master Tileston had as an usher or assistant, one
Ezekiel Little, a man of gigantic stature and propor-
tionate breadth of body. Justly or unjustly, he was
suspe6ted of being inclined to penurious habits, caused
perhaps by his meagre salary ; his mode of teaching
was based on the proverb, " Spare the rod and spoil
the child," and the school ferrule in his hands never
found time to rest from want of use. Ezekiel's merits,
as they appeared to the boys under his charge, were
set forth in a somewhat irreverent style by one of his
pupils, who had no doubt tasted the peculiar virtues of
his rod, in a doggerel epitaph, which ran thus : —
Beneath this stone Ezekiel Little lies :
Little in everything but size.
His monstrous body fills this narrow hole,
But through h — 's keyhole crept his " little soul."
Before leaving this part of our city, so redolent of
memories of Boston's early days, and the streets where
14 Boston's Lanes and Alleys
the Mathers, Governor Hutchinson, Paul Revere, and
many more of her famous dignitaries once resided, we
will linger for a moment to catch a glimpse of Unity
street, which in 1795 extended from Love Lane to
Charter street. At No. 19 was the house, now no
longer standing, once owned by Benjamin Franklin, and
bequeathed by him to his sister, Jane Mecom ; her de-
scendants for three generations retained an interest in
the property.
Not far away was Salutation Alley, so styled as early
as 1708, and which retained its name until 1825. Here
was once a famous tavern, which bore for its sign the
figure of a man removing his hat to salute the wayfarer
who passed its doors. Whether it took its name from
his courtesy, or whether it had some allusion to the
"Salutation," as the North Battery was called in the
old records, is a matter on which the antiquarians are
not agreed. It led from North, now Hanover street, to
Ship, now Commercial street.
Wending our way southward we pause at the easterly
end of the Old State House. Looking down King
street, which became State street at the close of the
Revolution, we shall find numerous relics of lanes and
alleys that have lost their ancient titles. On the left
is Devonshire street, formerly Wilson's Lane, running
northward across what was once the garden of the Rev.
John Wilson, the first minister of Boston ; Exchange
street was formerly Shrimpton's Lane ; farther east is
Boston's Lanes and Alleys 15
Change Alley, called at various times by various names ;
it was Pierce's Alley in 1708, Fitche's Alley in 1796,
Flagg Alley in 1828, and since 1841, Change Avenue.
" Alley " seems to have become almost a disreputable
epithet. On the right is Devonshire street, once Pud-
ding Lane ; next is Congress street, anciently Leverett's
Lane, once Quaker Lane from the brick meeting-house
eredled by the Quakers after their persecution had
ceased, and which, with its adjoining graveyard, occu-
pied a lot on the westerly side not far from State
street and nearly opposite Lendall's Lane, later Lin-
dall street and now Exchange Place. Further down
was Mackerel Lane, now Kilby street, with the old
" Bunch of Grapes " tavern, and its convivial memories,
just at hand.
Again going southward, we shall presently reach
Spring Lane, one of the few remaining passage-ways
which still hold their ancient appellation. In 1708 it
extended from Cornhill (as Washington street from Dock
Square to School street was styled before July 4, 1788)
to Joylieff's Lane, once known as Black Jack Alley,
which became Devonshire street in 1784. Here, in the
early days of Boston, the cooling waters of a crystal
spring allayed the thirst of Governor Winthrop, who
lived close beside it, and perhaps also of Isaac Johnson,
by tradition his neighbor, to whom was allotted the
land bounded by School and Washington, Court and
Tremont streets, on which the " Old Corner Book-
1 6 Boston! s Lams and Alleys
store" is one of our famous landmarks. But whether
Johnson actually resided there has been questioned.
In my young days a pump drew forth the waters of
the spring, but it has been gone for many years. When
the foundations of the Post Office were laid, the cur-
rent from this spring* came to light once more, and I
believe was utilized, and perhaps is still used by the
occupants of that building.
Theatre Alley, from Milk to Franklin street, famous
for the shop of Grace Dunlop, was Dindale's Alley
before the old Federal-street Theatre was built ; Board
Alley, one of four or five so named, led from Milk to
Summer street ; the former is now a part of Devon-
shire street, and the latter is Hawley street. Both have
many associations of historical interest, especially to the
theatrical profession, but these I must pass without
further mention.
If we continue our walk further south, we shall reach
another lane, which in the lapse of years became a
place of fashionable residences, that disappeared in
turn when required for business purposes and the erec-
tion of the first building of the Boston Public Library.
This was Frog Lane, now Boylston street. Whether
named for "the frog that would a-wooing go," who shall
say? But in my young days he might have croaked
his lay of love undisturbed, for mud and mire were then
* The Bostonian Society marked the place in 1907 by erecting a
tablet, suitably inscribed.
Boston^ s Lanes and Alleys I'j
its dominant features. Beginning opposite the old Lib-
erty Tree on Orange street, it extended to the waters of
the " Back Bay."
On its northerly side, a short distance beyond the
cemetery in which sleep some of the British soldiers
who fell on Bunker Hill, and about where the sidewalk
and fence of the Public Garden now are, were the head-
houses of the Rope-walks ; these were of brick, with
bulging walls, thereby showing the instability of their
foundations, and a general air of desolation pervaded the
region, inviting frogdom and its accompanying music.
At the southerly corner of Charles street and Frog
Lane were the hay-scales, and the home of the bovine
father, the property of the town, where he stood rumi-
nant and chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy, or
wandered grazing over the treeless acres which were the
frequent scene of military display, then as now bearing
the name of Boston Common.
A passage-way, which might well have been called a
lane, extended westerly from Frog Lane parallel with
the Rope-walks, to the water at the foot of Beacon
street. Steps were taken towards laying it out about
1803, when it received the name of Charles Street,
and Shurtleff tells us that a row of boulders brought
from the high land in the immediate vicinity, extending
westward to low-water mark, undoubtedly indicated the
boundary line of the Common. Not far from the corner
of Beacon and Charles streets was the gun-house of the
1 8 Boston's Lanes and Alleys
"Sea Fencibles," a semi-nautical rival of the Ancient
and Honorable Artillery Company. It was organized
by retired ship-masters in the days of President Madi-
son, probably about 1814, and its membership was
nominally limited to those of more or less maritime
experience. This house was a sort of amphibious struc-
ture, and very properly was ere6led on a platform of
piles driven into the marsh on the water's edge, but a
few steps from the street. The Company was known to
its boyish admirers as the " Sea Dogs," and their mili-
tary manoeuvres, when out for drill or parade, were
watched by them with patriotic enthusiasm.*
Returning to Frog Lane, but a little farther south,
and facing what is now Park Square, stood a large three-
story building, its rear on Carver street, and its front
protected by a high brick wall with heavy gates. This
was the State Arsenal, or, as it was generally called,
" The Laboratory." Here were stored for years a quan-
* A Certificate of Membership in the Sea Fencibles is in the pos-
session of the Bostonian Society. This was designed by J. R. Penni-
man ; it is dated in 1827, and attested by William Austin, Captain, and
William L. Cazneau, Secretary. Austin had been one of the Lieuten-
ants the previous year. At the top the motto sailors' rights by
SAILORS BEST DEFENDED is emphasized with swords and boarding-
pikes. In the foreground below is a fouled anchor, with a cannon on
the left and a mortar on the right; other implements of maritime war-
fare are effectively grouped about it, while a light-house in the distance
at the right and a naval action between two frigates at the left, sym-
bolize the objects of the Company. Another of its commanders was
Nehemiah W. Skillings, and the senior Winslow Lewis was a Lieuten-
ant. The Company ceased to exist about 1834.
m'S^i'Mi^m^p'
mm. fir "
,"-<■// r-^
Boston* s Lanes and Alleys 19
tity of ancient muskets, known as the "Queen's arms,"
— relics perhaps of some forgotten victory, — the sale
of which a few decades later aroused a storm of right-
eous indignation. The boys usually gave this building
a wide berth, for they had heard that untold barrels of
gunpowder were lying in its crypts, which if exploded
would blow them " sky-high."
Once, seeing the gates open, boyish curiosity induced
me to peep in and then stealthily to enter. I was re-
warded by the sight of gun-carriages, artillery harness,
a few cannon of shining brass, and other warlike imple-
ments ; but as I looked about, most of its contents
appeared to be harmless "truck," to my great disap-
pointment.
Let us next retrace our steps, and, crossing a corner
of the Common, pass through Mason street to a very
narrow passage-way leading to Washington street. This
was formerly called Sheafe's Lane, and was earlier
known as Colburn's Lane, now Avery street. There-
fore, why once Sheafe's Lane, and now Avery street ?
The Sheafe family, which became prominent in New
England in Colonial days, came in part from Cranbrook,
in Kent, England, where they had been wealthy citizens
with comfortable estates, and settled in Boston and
Portsmouth. Those who made their home in Boston
were intelligent, enterprising and patriotic men, and
held many offices of trust. Henry Sheafe was a mer-
chant, and subsequently the wharfinger of Hancock
20 Bostoiis Lanes and Alleys
Wharf, at the foot of Battery Street, a position which
he held for many years. In 1813 he was Keeper of
the State Arsenal, to which I have alluded, and Sheafe
street, from Snow Hill to Salem street, still perpetuates
the family name.
John Avery, a man of liberal education, was a dis-
tiller, and Drake, in his History of Boston, calls him a
** Son of Liberty." He was Secretary of State of Mas-
sachusetts, holding that office under Governors Han-
cock, Bowdoin, Adams, Sumner and Strong, a period of
about a quarter of a century, and evidently was a man
of note in his day. This long occupation of so impor-
tant a position shows his popularity, as well as the fact
that rotation in office, on the theory that " to the vic-
tors belong the spoils," was a custom which had not
yet come into fashion.
In an antique book in my possession, on Boston
streets, published eighty-eight years ago, which I have
already mentioned, I find it stated that " Sheafe's Lane
extended from Avery's Corner west to the Common."
Near its westerly end, on the south side, was a court or
cul-de-sac, called Haymarket Place. The hay-market
was on Common, afterwards called Tremont street, and
extended southward from West street, covering the land
on which Colonnade Row was afterwards built.
About the time of the beginning of Boston's life as
a city, in 1822, or perhaps a little later, an ambitious
owner of real estate in Sheafe's Lane petitioned for a
Bostons Lanes and Alleys 21
change of its name, hoping probably to enhance thereby
the value of his property ; he requested that it should
be called a street and not a lane, notwithstanding the
fact that it was and still is so narrow that two vehicles
cannot pass each other at any point in its entire length.
As the family name of Sheafe was perpetuated in the
once lovely street on Copps Hill, to which I have already
alluded, why not give John Avery, of Avery's Corner,
an opportunity to have his name handed down to pos-
terity ? And so, in 1826, after long deliberation, the
name was changed, and the narrow thoroughfare then
became and is to the present day known as Avery
street.
On Common, now Tremont street, and south of
Mason street, stood the " Haymarket Theatre," which
was opened the day after Christmas in 1796, and closed
early in 1803. It had a gallery, but the structure
was very roughly fitted for the comfort of spectators.
Some sixty or seventy years ago I was crossing the
Common with a schoolmate on a bleak winter night.
The ground was covered with snow encrusted with
sleety ice, through which we slumped at every step.
We were on our way to attend a Circus which was ex-
hibiting there, and, as part of a very meagre audience,
we saw Tatnall, "the intrepid horseman and bareback
rider," perform his "daring feats" astride of three
horses running abreast. Mestayer, who was perhaps a
progenitor of the Mestayers well known to theatre-goers
22
Bostons Lanes and Alleys
of a more recent day, rode around the ring as the " in-
fernal horseman." His diabolical equipment consisted
chiefly of a tin hat enveloped with squibs, which sent
forth a fiery shower as he urged his horse to " frenzied
speed." But the excitement must have been only mod-
erate after all, for the entire receipts of the house, as
I remember it, could not have been more than ten
dollars.
Theatrical Apparatus.
NOTICE is hereby given, That
On SATURDAY next, the 2(>th of Feb. Injl.
At lo o'clock, A.M. will be offered for Sale,
At PUBLIC AUCTION, in the Haymarket Theatre, in Bojlon,
ALL the Moveable PROPERTY and
CHATTLES, of every defcription, belonging to
faid Theatre— confifling of Scenery Machinery, a number
of Iron Stoves, Pipes, Candleftick.s, Branches, Lamps, Iron
Weights, and a variety of other articles ordinarily in
ufe in fuch Buildings.
Among the Articles above referred to, the objeft more
efpeciallydeferving attention is the SCENERY — of which
there will be exhibited for fale, an unufually large and
various affortnient, almoft new, and of the mofl fplendid
defcription — All which it is prefumed may, for a trifling
expence, be adjufted fo as to accommodate other Theatres
of inferior magnitude.
Conditions of fale, will be made knoivn at the time and place
above mentioned. S. BRADFORD, Au6t.
It appears by an advertisement in the Independent
Chronicle, of February 21, 1803 (of which a fac-simile
appears above), that the contents were sold by auction
on February 26th ; a week later, the superstructure was
sold to be demolished and the materials to be at once
removed. The auctioneer assured the public that " the
Boston s Lanes and Alleys 23
Timber and Materials, of which the fame is conftru6led,
are in quality equal if not fuperior to thofe of any other
edifice on the Continent." The land with "a most
excellent Cellar to the whole extent thereof," was
offered at private sale by a "Committee of the Pro-
prietors."
About the year 181 3, John Roulstone, who had been
a stable-keeper in Essex street, set up a riding school in
Haymarket Place, and continued it for a number of
years. He taught, in addition to horsemanship, cavalry
and broad-sword exercise, and military men learned to
ride with ease and safety, and to occupy their proper
places on parades. The cavalry officers were usually
instru6led by Roulstone in the evening hours, the days
being devoted to his lady pupils, whom he taught to
mount and dismount, and to be fearless and graceful
when on horseback. As a cousin of mine was one of
his pupils, I was occasionally privileged to witness the
riding lessons at the Haymarket.
Among the military men who frequented the place
at that time were members of two cavalry companies,
the Boston Hussars and the Boston Light Dragoons.
The Boston Hussars were organized in 18 10, with about
fifty men, and were disbanded eight or ten years later,
after the close of the War of 18 12 had destroyed much
of the popular interest in military affairs. In its day
the Company was distinguished for the social promi-
nence of its members, and not less for the splendor and
24 Boston s Lanes and Alleys
cost of its uniform and equipments, which were similar
to those of the Prussian Hussars of the period ; more-
over, most of the members owned their mounts, which,
as may well be imagined, were fine specimens of the
equine race.
The first Captain of the Company was the Hon.
Josiah Ouincy, then a member of Congress, and later
Mayor of Boston. His First Lieutenant was Charles
Porter Phelps (Harvard 1791), who succeeded to the
command on the resignation of Mr. Quincy. Other
members beside those mentioned were Moses Williams,
Richard Sullivan, Andrew Eliot, Patrick Grant, Samuel
D. and Richard D. Harris (sons of Jonathan Harris, a
prominent merchant who built the mansion on Pearl
street known as "Harris's Folly"), Ralph Haskins,
William Sturgis, Joseph Head, afterwards a member of
the famous New England Guards, and W. E. Jeffries,
a son of the well-known physician, Dr. John Jeffries.
Young Jeffries died while a member of the Hussars,
and the Company paraded at his funeral in full uniform ;
the horse of the dead soldier was led in the solemn
procession with the usual trappings, and on the saddle
rested his cap, sword and boots, the latter reversed, as
was customary on such occasions.
So little is on record concerning the volunteer militia
companies of Boston, in the earlier part of the century,
though famous in their day, that some further account
of this troop may be an interesting digression in our
Boston's Lanes and Alleys 25
travels. In the colle6lions of the Bostonian Society are
preserved a copy of the Regulations of the Hussars,
and the full uniform of Captain Phelps, presented by
his children, together with his pistols and other equip-
ments.
The helmet was a high, bell-crowned cap, its front
adorned with a large plate of brass, and surmounted
by a tall black plume tipped with scarlet. The coat or
jacket was of green, — that of the privates thickly em-
broidered with bright yellow cord, for which gold cord
was substituted on the coats of the officers ; green
small-clothes and high boots with leather tassels ; a
scarlet sabre-tache, embroidered in gold with the initials
of the Company, hung from the sword-belt, and a scar-
let "pelisse," snugly fastened at the neck and falling
loosely over the left arm — worn only on parades —
completed the dress. Each man was armed with a brace
of pistols and a long Prussian sabre. When the War of
1 81 2 broke out, the Company volunteered and adopted
a simpler and more serviceable uniform.
Party feeling ran high at that period, and the Com-
pany was composed almost entirely of Federalists ; but
on the inauguration of Elbridge Gerry as Governor of
the State in 181 1, a strong Anti-Federalist, they ten-
dered him an escort from his home in Cambridge to
the State House, which he accepted. This was their
first parade, and a beautiful standard presented by Lt.
Gov. Phillips was carried in the ranks. Their appear-
26 Bostons Lanes and Alleys
ance was hailed with great applause, for their splendid
uniform and excellent drill. When President Monroe
visited Boston in July, 1817, a cavalry battalion com-
posed of the Hussars and the Light Dragoons, under
Captain Phelps acting as Major, rnet him at Roxbury,
and with the Selectmen and a large procession, con-
ducted him to his lodgings at the Exchange Coffee
House, This was probably their last appearance in
public.
To return to Sheafe's Lane. My knowledge of this
locality covers more than seventy years, and came about
in this way. "Election Day" in the year 18 13 fell on
Wednesday, May 12, and on the previous evening the
stable of the old Lamb Tavern, which stood where is
now the Adams House, was burned ; this stable, which
covered most of the land behind the tavern, extended
back as far as Mason street, and in the fire fifteen
horses lost their lives, and as many more were rescued
from the flames. An early privilege of Boston boys
was to "go to 'Leftion," as it was called, and in 18 13
I attended one for the first time. I was arrayed in a
blue nankin jacket set off with large pearl buttons and
in immense white pantaloons of the prevailing fashion.
My father's curiosity to see the havoc caused by the
conflagration of the previous evening, which had created
a great excitement in the town, took him to Mason
street on Election morning, where the firemen were still
throwing water on the charred debris of the stable.
Boston* s Lanes and Alleys 27
Suddenly, as we stood there, an unlucky turn of the
spouting hose sent a smutty jet of filthy water plump
upon my white trousers, as it glanced from the body
of an ill-fated horse which had been burned to death
in the fire. This unfortunate ducking necessitated a
hasty retreat to our home in Myrtle street, and a change
of clothing. Thus you will see I have good cause to
remember Sheafe's Lane, though seventy years have
elapsed since that unhappy morning.
These equine experiences recall the fact that there
was an earlier Circus than the one already mentioned,
in this immediate vicinity, which though somewhat
ephemeral like the other, was famous in its day. It
held its exhibitions, as we learn from one of its adver-
tisements, in an " Amphitheatre," specially erected for
it " at the bottom of the Mall."
For a century (1722- 1824) that part of Tremont
street which extended from School street to Frog
Lane, opposite the Common, was known as Common
street ; for some little distance south of Frog Lane, it
was, in 1741, called Walker's Lane. "The Mall " was
extended by a vote of May 13, 1795, to the end of
" Foster's pasture," so-called. The " bottom of the
Mall," mentioned in the advertisement of the " Amphi-
theatre," must therefore have been about opposite the
Head estate, and as the building is said to have been
"adjoining Mr. Hatch's," whose tavern was on Tremont
street near Mason street, it perhaps stood on the land
28 Boston's Laties and Alleys
where the Haymarket Theatre was afterwards erected,
and was near the scene of that disastrous fire which has
lingered so long in my memory. It was here, on the
1 2th of May, 1795, that a famous Scotch equestrian
performer, John Bill Ricketts by name, opened a place
for the amusement of the public.
He had gained some reputation in Philadelphia, where
in April, 1792, he conducted a riding-school, and later
advertised a Circus, which was attended by President
Washington on the 22d of April, 1793. Ricketts came
to Boston two years later, and his announcement, printed
in the Boston Centinel oi May 9, 1795, described his
attractions in the following terms : —
AMPHITHEATRE.
J. B. RICKETTS prefents his refpedls
to the LADIES and GENTLEMEN of BOSTON, and
its vicinity, and begs leave to inform them, that he is
erefting at a very great expenfe, an Amphitheatre, at the
bottom of the Mall, for the purpofe of exhibiting Equef-
trian Exercifes, and other Amufements, which will be
commenced on Tuefday, the 12th inft.
Boxes may be taken from ten o'clock in the forenoon,
till three in the afternoon, at Mr. Hatch's adjoining the
Amphitheatre : also tickets for the Pit.
[[^^ Doors will be open at five o'clock, and tlie per-
formance will begin at a quarter before fix.
N. B. The Evening's Entertainment will conclude
with Mr. Ricketts's carrying Mafter Long, a child only
fix years old, on his (houlders, in the attitude of 2i Flying
Mercury, on two horfes at full fpeed.
Box one dollar. Pit half a dollar.
From a bill of his performances which is still extant,
it appears that " in addition to a great variety of eques-
Bostons La7tes and Alleys 29
trian feats," he offered a display of what he styled
" Egyptian Pyramids, as described by Addison in his
travels through Egypt," in which he was assisted by
eight persons " dressed in character." The " Manual
exercise with a firelock, in the character of an American
officer, going through all the manuvres," \sic\ a leap
from his horse in full speed, " over a ribbon," as shown
in a cut which adorns his bill, and other acrobatic
acts of a similar character, concluded the entertainment.
The price of admission to the show, which it will be
seen did not vary greatly from similar exhibitions of a
much later date, was " Boxes, One Dollar ; Pit, Half a
Dollar." The doors were opened at Five in the after-
noon, and the performances begin at Six. Ricketts, like
Roulstone, opened a riding school, " for the purpose of
instructing Ladies and Gentlemen in the elegant ac-
complishment of Riding and Managing their Horses on
the Road or Field." A year or two later he returned
to Philadelphia, where in December, 1799, his Circus
was entirely destroyed by fire.
I find my paper has wandered far from its starting-
point. The amusements of our people in the closing
years of the eighteenth and the opening years of the
present century, and the " Moral Lectures," as their
theatrical entertainments were called, when " Stage-
plays " were forbidden by law, would furnish a fruitful
theme, but on these I drop the curtain.
HOUSE OF ROBERT NEWMAN, SEXTON OF CHRIST CHURCH,
S. W. corner of Green Lane (Salem St.) and Sheafe Street.
THE DUTCH PIRATES IN BOSTON
1694-95
BY THE
REV. GEORGE M. BODGE
THE DUTCH PIRATES IN BOSTON
1694-95
A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL CHAMBER,
OLD STATE HOUSE, APRIL 10, l894, BY THE
REV. GEORGE M. BODGE
(^N the beginning I may explain in a
word the manner in which the inci-
dents connected with the pursuit and
capture of the Dutch Pirates, by Bos-
ton men and vessels, came to my
notice. It was in the early part of my researches in
reference to the History of the Soldiers in Philip's war,
and directly in the pursuit of data bearing upon the
ca?;eer of Capt. Samuel Mosely, who was the leader in
this affair and also a distinguished officer in the Indian
war. His name led me to the discovery of the papers
preserved in the Colonial Archives, relating to the trial
of the Pirates, some extracts from which are published
in my book. But I found that while the historians of
34 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
Massachusetts have passed over the affair in almost
total silence, one able and studious antiquarian writer,
the late Mr. Charles Wesley Tuttle, had discovered,
carefully investigated, and incorporated the incidents in
his papers upon the "Conquest of Acadie." From the
same original sources, and assisted by his hints and
studies, I bring together the material of the present
paper.
In order to a better understanding of the subject,
a brief statement of the situation of the Colony in gen-
eral, and the condition of Boston in particular, may be
helpful. At the period with which we are concerned,
from 1672 to 1675, the American Colonies were still
dependencies of the maritime nations of Europe. The
chief of the powers concerned with the Northern Colo-
nies were the English, French, and Dutch. Whenever
war was declared in Europe between these powers, its
effects were felt in their respective Provinces ; and as
results of the wars and treaties, the Colonies without
any choice in the matter were partitioned, or granted
entire, from one power to another, and passed thus from
one control to another.
The Dutch were still the rivals of the English upon
the sea, but their common hostility to France, the ever
alert and hereditary enemy of both, had held the two
nations as allies in nearly all former wars in Europe,
though petty struggles occurred between the two when
no general war was on. But Charles II proved to be a
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 35
steady enemy of the Dutch, and the friend or dupe of
the French king. The " Navigation Act," so damaging
to the Dutch, was the stroke of EngHsh legislation
which at once kindled Dutch opposition, for it was a
practical closing of all English ports to the Dutch
trade. 1136337
The only considerable Colony which the Dutch had
settled in America was New Netherlands, at the mouth
of the Hudson River, with its capital, New Amsterdam,
on Manhattan Island. As a result of the hostilities in
Europe, the Colony of New Netherlands was seized in
1664, and reduced to the control of England, confirmed
by treaty in 1667.
The alliance of England and France in 1672 was for
the plain purpose of the destruction of the Dutch States,
and the partition of their territory between the two
powers. All the available forces of the Dutch by land
and sea were required to avert the destruction that
threatened at home, while her Colonies abroad were left
to their own defence. Only two Colonies now remained
to the Dutch in the New World, — Cura^oa in the West
Indies, and Surinam in South America.
The French possessions embraced the greater part of
North America, from the Gulf of Mexico up the great
river system of the Mississippi to the great Lakes, and
eastward by the St. Lawrence system to the Atlantic,
claiming also all the territory subsequently known as
Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Eastern Maine, as
36 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
far as the Kennebec River. These latter possessions
were known as Acadie, and for centuries served as a
bone of contention between the European powers, espe-
cially France and England, and repeatedly passed from
one to the other, according to the varying fortunes of
war.
In Cromwell's time (1654), Massachusetts Colony as-
sumed the right to settle the boundary line of New
France or Acadie, and, in a time of peace between En-
gland and France, organized an expedition from Boston,
using a small fleet which Cromwell had sent to Boston
for another purpose. Under command of Major Robert
Sedgwick of Charlestown, and Capt. John Leverett,
afterwards Governor, this force made the conquest of
the surprised and unprepared Acadians in August, 1654.
While no proof is found that this expedition was sanc-
tioned by Cromwell, the result was accepted, and the
Province retained until 1667, when Charles II restored
it to France, while Massachusetts still held on to its
possession for three years longer.
It was greatly to the indignation of Massachusetts
and the dismay of several Boston merchants, that the
French were restored to the possession of Acadie, where
Boston parties had established trading-houses and car-
ried on increasingly profitable business. The French
immediately (in 1670) began to repair their old forti-
fications, and also those which the English had built,
and a small garrison was placed in each to protect
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 37
French interests and possession, especially against Bos-
ton traders.
This was the situation as between Massachusetts and
Acadie, when, March 7, 1672, England joined France,
and declared war against the Dutch. The navy of the
Dutch was large and powerful, and was scattered over
the sea to all the ports. Two of the ablest commanders
in Europe were at the head, De Ruyter and Van Tromp.
Their fleets were a constant threat to the English and
French Colonies, along the whole American seaboard.
The king's declaration of war was proclaimed in Bos-
ton,* and he enjoins all his dear and loyal subjects to
arm themselves and prepare to fight against the Dutch
fleet which he tells them is fitting out to destroy English
commerce with the Colonies and will be especially injuri-
ous to the colonial trade with the West Indies. Im-
mediate steps were taken at Boston, the proclamation
was made in the usual public places with the sound of a
trumpet, and messengers despatched to the other Colo-
nies and the seaboard towns.
In the Spring of 1673 the two Dutch fleets met in
the West Indies and joining sailed northward along the
American coast, capturing many English vessels off the
Virginia shores, and a ship from New York, which gave
them information of the defenceless state of that Col-
ony, which they immediately proceeded to attack and
* The original document is still preserved in the State Archives, Vol.
241, pp. 263-64.
38 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
capture ; so that in July of 1673 the Dutch flag of the
Prince of Orange was flying over the restored Province
of New Netherlands, a new government was established,
and Manhattan was re-christened New Orange, in honor
of the Prince.
While this was a great triumph to the Dutch, both in
the American Province, and in Europe, it was a cause
of alarm and shame to England and its Colonies. Mas-
sachusetts took immediate measures to protect its ports
against the dreaded invasion. In Boston Capt. James
Oliver was ordered to appoint some meet person or
persons to look out by day and night from Point Aller-
ton, for the approach of any fleet of ships, and upon dis-
covery of four or more together, to fire a beacon, which
he shall erect upon the highest point of Allerton, and
also on Long Island, so that the lights may be seen at
Castle Island by the commander-in-chief, who is to act
accordingly.
But in England the people were opposed to the war ;
and the injury to their commerce and the threat to the
Colonies roused their indignation against the king, and
Parliament soon forced Charles to make peace with
the Dutch. The treaty of Westminster was concluded
February 9, 1674.
In the meantime the Dutch had gone steadily for-
ward, fitting out privateers to prey upon English and
French commerce. In the Summer of 1674 the Dutch
frigate " Flying-Horse " refitted at Curagoa, and there
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 39
the commander, Capt. Jurriaen Aernouts, received from
the Dutch Governor a commission authorizing him, in
the name of the Prince of Orange, to make war upon,
plunder and spoil, "all enemies of the Great States of
Holland," etc. The news of the treaty of Westminster
had not reached the government at Curagoa when he
granted this commission, so that it was aimed at En-
glish and French alike. The privateer commander did
not hear of the peace with England until he arrived at
New Orange (now New York), at the beginning of
July.
But the commission was still in force against France,
and while refitting and recruiting in New York, he be-
came acquainted with a certain Capt. John Rhoade, of
Boston, who was an experienced pilot, and of an adven-
turous spirit, and who excited the Dutchman's zeal for
the conquest of Acadie. Rhoade was well acquainted
with that country, and familiar with its approaches and
harbors ; he had recently been along the coast and knew
the weakness of the French defences. Capt. Aernouts
resolved upon the attempt to make a conquest of Aca-
die, and his officers and crew joined heartily in the
scheme. Rhoade was made chief pilot of the '• Flying-
Horse," and the ship with a crew of one hundred
and ten men sailed from New York, and arrived in the
Penobscot river and anchored in front of the French
garrison at Pentagoet, now Castine, before any intima-
tion of his intention was given. The commandant.
40 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
M. de Chambly, was Governor of Acadie, and his
garrison consisted of only thirty soldiers.
After a brief resistance, himself being wounded, he
surrendered, and with his officers, was taken on board
the Dutch ship and a ransom demanded for his release.
While the young officer Castine, afterwards the famous
Baron Castine, was sent by him to Count Frontenac at
Quebec to obtain the ransom, — a thousand beaver skins
or their equivalent, — Capt. Aernouts, not being able to
spare men to garrison the fort, destroyed it, removing
all its armament, ammunition, etc. ; and making the
French inhabitants swear allegiance to the Prince of
Orange, as the condition of remaining in their homes.
Then he sailed eastward, making conquest of all the
forts and trading-posts as far as the St. John's river, and
then proclaimed the dominion of the Prince of Orange
over all Acadie lying between the Penobscot and St.
John's rivers, to which territory he gave the name of
"New Holland."
Several of the original letters of Count Frontenac
to various persons concerning this affair are still pre-
served in our State Archives. In one of these, to Gov-
ernor Leverett, he declares his belief that the jealousy
of the Massachusetts people favored and abetted the
attack of the Dutch, and charged that one of the chief
actors was a citizen of Boston, meaning Rhoade. And
he especially condemned the Massachusetts authorities
for allowing the Dutch to find a harbor in Boston while
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 41
returning with their prisoners and plunder taken from a
nation with whom the EngHsh were then at peace.
But Governor Leverett was not moved by these re-
monstrances, although the accusations were all true,
for when Capt. Aernouts returned in September, and
asked permission to come into the inner harbor, he had
not only consented, but willingly purchased the cannon
and other armament of the dismantled French forts, and
the people bought the other plunder and made a good
thing out of it. The cannon were acceptable to replace
those which had been rendered useless by the great fire
at the Castle Fort a short time previous.
There is no doubt that the people of Massachusetts
were greatly rejoiced to see the French driven out of
Acadie, which was such a profitable field for their trade
in fur and fish and timber. The Dutch captain was at
once besieged with applications to grant licenses to the
Boston traders to do business along the coast-towns of
New Holland. This he declined to do, reserving the
rights of his conquest to his sovereign, the Prince of
Orange. But all the same the Boston traders hurriedly
sent their vessels away to the conquered Province, anx-
ious to secure the first chances of trade without paying
any tribute whatever.
When, about the first of November, Capt. Aernouts
sailed from Boston, he told Governor Leverett that he
had left nobody to govern New Holland, and had granted
no commission to any one to assume direction of its
42 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
affairs, as he would not be responsible for any one's
conduct.
Nothing further was heard, in our annals at least, of
Capt. Aernouts or the " Flying Horse," after the sailing
away from Boston. Two of the Dutch officers however
remained in Boston, who figure prominently in our story.
These men were Peter Roderigo, as he is called in some
of the old documents, and in John Hull's credits for
military service in Philip's war, " Peter Odrigo," and
Cornells Andreson. The pilot, Capt. John Rhoade,
and John Williams, a Cornishman, also remained in
Boston.
These men claimed that Capt. Aernouts gave them
authority before he sailed, to take possession of New
Holland and govern and trade there until the proper
officers for its government were sent out from the home
authorities. They afterwards showed some sort of com-
mission from Capt. Aernouts, to trade in Acadie and
hold possession until superior authority should arrive.
Rhoade and his fellow-plotters purchased a ship and
hired another, and fitted them with suitable armament,
and with the assistance of Boston traders embarked
cargoes suitable for trading in Acadie. They enlisted
some half dozen Englishmen as an addition to their crew
and prepared to sail eastward. But Gov. Leverett was
informed, and Rhoade was sent for to explain his pur-
pose, for doubtless those merchants whose vessels were
already at the east, trading without any license, were
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 43
suspicious that this expedition was meant to interfere
with them, and probably some such threats may have
been made. But Rhoade declared he was only bound
upon trade and holding possession of the country accord-
ing to his commission, and was allowed to depart about
the middle of November, 1674.
As they sailed out of Boston harbor, as near as can
be estimated the expedition was organized as follows : —
The larger vessel was owned in part by Thomas
Mitchell, of Maiden, and was called " The Edward
and Thomas," and was commanded by Peter Roderigo.
The other vessel was owned by the company, by the
'* credit," as it was averred, of Boston traders, but
probably mostly by John Rhoade, It was designated
in the appraisal, the "Penobscot Shallop," and was
commanded by Cornelis Andreson, the Dutchman.
Rhoade was the pilot, and evidently the controlling
spirit of the expedition. Besides these principals there
were Thomas Mitchell, Peter Grant, Randolph Judson
and Edward Youring, with Capt. Roderigo, the nominal
commander, and Capt. Andreson, Richard Fowler (or
Fulford) John Williams and John Thomas, ten in all.
The first exploit of this company was in Casco Bay,
where they anchored off Munjoy's Island, now " Peak's
Island," and took from that island four sheep, which
they dressed and carried away as booty. They arrived
at Penobscot Bay about December ist, and found the
French people there still, living peaceably as they had
44 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
left them : they learned however that an English vessel
had been there from Pemaquid and having abused the
helpless and harmless inhabitants, had taken the iron
and everything else of value from the dismantled fort,
and had carried all away in their boats, together with
the provisions which the Dutch had left with the
French.
Sailing thence to the eastward they fell in with the
vessel of Mr. Hilliard of Salem, which seeming to be
engaged in unlawful trade they seized but released with-
out injury, and warned them away from the Province.
Next they came upon the vessel of William Waldron, of
whom they seized the peltry as lawful prize, and with
admonition to keep away, allowed him to sail homeward.
The third vessel taken was that of John Feake of Bos-
ton, named "The Philip," and commanded by Capt.
George Manning. The last two had been warned not
to attempt to trade in Acadie, before leaving Boston.
The deposition of Capt. Manning is still preserved in
the State Archives, and his case being the most aggrava-
ted because of his attempted resistance was made chief
in the trial. He testified that on the 4th of Decem-
ber, 1674, his vessel was at anchor in " Adewake Bay,"
to the eastward of " Mount dezart," when the Dutch
vessels came upon them. Manning was ordered aboard
Roderigo's ship, and detained till a crew had been sent
to search his vessel, and had taken his peltry and some
other articles of trade with the Acadians ; and then
5 X
m —
o "0
o O
2 O
ST-^
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 45
forced him to sign a paper stating that they took
nothing from him but what was the growth of the coun-
try. When he refused, and demanded their commission
to "search and seize," they brought out the document
which Roderigo held, and which bore several great seals,
but which was not read, and which probably none of
them could read, but they did not allow Manning to try
to read it. They then demanded Manning's invoice,
and he went aboard his vessel to produce it. After he
passed into his cabin for the paper, one of his crew, a
Frenchman, James De Beck, carried him one of the
guns from the deck, upon which the captors immedi-
ately seized De Beck, and beat and bound him, and
carried him aboard their vessel while they discharged
several shots into the cabin, wounding Manning ; then
threatening his life, he pleaded for mercy, and was
ordered to come forth, when, as he declared, he was
beaten over the head until insensible. He was then
imprisoned, and the next day sentenced to be sent
adrift in his boat while his vessel should be hauled
ashore and burned. All were much enraged against
him, and in their evidence afterwards, testified that
Manning's plan was to get Roderigo into his cabin and
assassinate him. He finally persuaded them to spare
his life and his vessel, by his promising to keep along
with them. — This was Manning's testimony.
The testimony on the other side declares that when
Manning returned to his own vessel it was with the full
46 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
understanding that the action of the Dutch vessels in
seizing his peltry should be submitted to the authorities
in Boston, and be made a matter of settlement between
the Governments of the two nations : that Manning
then invited Roderigo aboard to drink with him in his
cabin, where he had several pistols loaded ready to shoot
him down. But one of the boys on Manning's vessel
warned Roderigo of the design, whereupon he rushed
in upon Manning and found the concealed weapons, and
charged him with his treachery. Then returning to his
own vessel to consult with his crew, suddenly, as they
were standing by the rail consulting. Manning and his
men suddenly appeared with leveled guns and blunder-
busses, covering them at short range ; the only thing
that then saved them was the fact that Manning's guns
** flashed in the pans," the powder being damp ; so that
they immediately took to their own guns and "gave
them such a broadside " of shot that they at once
yielded and came aboard, when the captors judged that
he and his ship and goods were lawful prize ; but yet
they only took his peltry and goods, and would have dis-
missed him, but he begged so earnestly to join their
expedition and act in their service that they yielded, and
engaged to pay him seven pounds a month, which was
his own offer.
The fourth and last English vessel captured was that
owned by Major Shapleigh of Kittery, in which they
found papers showing that the crew had not only traded
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 47
for peltry, but had brought provisions from the French
at Port Royal (Annapolis) to relieve and reinforce the
garrison of the French at Gemisic (" Gamshake "), which
had surrendered to them at the former expedition, but
now, aided by this English vessel, had revolted. But
while they thought these things sufficient provocation to
make the ship a lawful prize, the captors only took from
them a supply of beef and some peltry, and sent them
away.
After this the two vessels and their crews, with Man-
ning's in company, sailed up and down the coast guard-
ing against any outside traders, themselves monopolizing
the trade. They set up a trading-station at Machias,
and left it in charge of Randolph Judson and three
others, but in March a vessel from Nantasket under
Thomas Cole plundered and destroyed it, tearing down
the Dutch flag and making prisoners of the men in
charge.
In Boston, however, in the mean time, the news of
the seizure of the vessels had created a stir; for although
the Boston vessels had been plainly engaged in very
questionable traffic in the territory of the Dutch, the
authorities there were by no means satisfied to stand
patiently the summary measures of Rhoade and his
company. Two of the vessels seized were of Boston,
and one of these, the bark " Philip," belonged to two
prominent merchants, John Freake and Samuel Shrimp-
ton ; another belonged to Mr. Hilliard of Salem ; another
48 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
to Major Shapleigh of Kittery, and the fourth to Mr.
Waldron of Dover, on the "Pascataqua." The last was
said to have sailed from Boston.
Complaint was made by John Freake of Boston, to
the Governor and Council, and action was taken upon
the same, and also upon complaint of Major Waldron
of Dover against the piratical conduct of John Rhoade
and his crew. The Governor and Council took measures
at once in answer to these complaints, and on February
15th, 1674/5, "Ordered, that commission be granted for
the apprehension and bringing to trial of John Rhoade
and his accomplices for piracy on the high seas." This
was done at Boston by the Massachusetts Council with-
out any consultation with higher authority, or reference
to either England or Holland.
John Freake recommended that Capt. Samuel Mosely
be appointed to command the expedition which was to
be sent out in search of the Dutch pirates. I have else-
where investigated quite fully Capt. Mosely's character
and career, on account of his prominence in PhiHp's war,
and will only say here, that he was a dashing, daring,
headstrong sort of a man, who, somewhat on account of
these qualities, became the most popular officer in the
subsequent war with the Indians. He married the sister
of Isaac Addington, had been engaged in trade in the
West Indies as captain of a merchantman, and it is said,
had previously been engaged in some of the transactions
of Sir Henry Morgan and his " buccaneers " against the
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 49
Dutch. He had evidently had experience of a kind to
influence his choice and appointment, as commander of
this expedition, besides a late command of an armed
coaster near Nantucket. The Governor restrained all
vessels bound east from leaving the harbor until after
Capt. Mosely had sailed. A ship was speedily fitted
and manned and suitably armed, and the captain re-
ceived his commission and instructions. He was ordered
to surprise and seize and bring the pirates to Boston
forthwith.
On his way to the eastward Capt. Mosely fell in with
a French vessel, which he fitted with arms and ammu-
nition and took into his service. Rhoade and his con-
federates in the meantime were sailing up and down,
complacently regarding themselves as the rulers of the
fair province of Acadie, and accountable only to the
Prince of Orange, who would presently send a force
and a fleet sufificient to establish them firmly in power
over the conquered land. But suddenly this dream is
rudely interrupted, and an armed ship and consort, fly-
ing the English flag on the first and French colors on
the latter, confront them with a peremptory demand to
surrender. As soon as Capt. Manning from his vessel
realized the situation he at once joined Capt. Mosely
and bore down upon his late captors, while he still
floated the Dutch flag. The Dutch were soon obliged
to yield to superior force, after a sharp fire poured into
them by the three vessels under the three different
50 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
flags. They were all made prisoners, and all their
peltry and their ships and remaining goods were taken
and condemned as prize property. Boston traders
immediately bought the condemned goods, and at once
assumed the trade which the so-called pirates had been
forced to abandon.
Mosely immediately sailed with his prizes and prison-
ers for Boston, where he arrived April 2, 1675, and was
hailed by the people as a great hero. The prisoners
were closely confined. The Court of Assistants met at
Cambridge on April 7th. The offenders were indicted
as pirates, and imprisoned to await the action of the
Court of Admiralty, specially convened to meet on the
17th of May.
While the pirates were waiting their trial in the jails
at Cambridge and Boston, a very strange calamity hap-
pened in Boston harbor. On May 4th, while Mr. John
Freake, the merchant who had complained of the pirates
and was largely instrumental in their capture, was on
board an English ship just arrived from Virginia, with
Capt. Scarlett, another prominent merchant, the ship
was in a strange manner blown up, and both these men
with an officer of the ship were killed,* and nine of the
crew and others were seriously hurt.
On May 17th the case came on and excited wide-
spread and intense interest. There seems to have been
no thought on the part of the people or the Court that
* See Sewall's Diary, I: 10.
'Die Dutch Pirates in Boston 51
the Colonial authority of Massachusetts Bay was not
amply competent to settle any affair which might arise
affecting conflicting claims between England and Hol-
land. Both these nations, as well as France, looked
upon it afterwards as a piece of high-handed presump-
tion on the part of the Massachusetts Court. But the
Great and General Court never regarded it in that light,
and calmly proceeded to give sentence. And when we
read the names of those who composed that august
body, we do not wonder at their stolid complacency : —
John Leverett, Gov. Samuel Symonds, Dept. Gov.
Simon Bradstreet, Major Gookin, General Denison,
Richard Russell, Thomas Danforth, William Hathorne,
Simon Willard, Edward Tyng, William Stoughton and
Thomas Clarke. On the jury, I notice the names
which look somewhat familiar to Boston eyes : — John
Sherman, Richard Willington, Richard Baker, John
Long, Habakkuk Glover, Thomas Weld, and John
Woodmansey, Where else, save on that bench, could
such a list be found ? What peerage of character,
dignity and stanch purpose, to compare with theirs ?
They quickly condemned the ships and cargoes of the
pirates as lawful prize, to be sold to indemnify costs of
capture, trial, etc., and the residue to go to the heirs
of Mr. Freake for injury to his vessel and trade.
The grand jury presented indictments against all the
prisoners as guilty of acts of piracy on the high seas.
The process was against Peter Roderigo and Cornells
52 The Diitch Pirates ifi Boston
Andreson, the two Dutch officers as chiefs. The jury
returned a verdict of guilty of piracy against Roderigo,
and the Court sentenced him to death, but upon his
humble petition for life granted a pardon. The jury's
verdict of " Not guilty of piracy " in respect to Cornelis,
was met by the Court with instructions to go out
and find what they could against him in the matter of
"theft and robbery." He, too, was pardoned, and sub-
sequently played quite a part in the war against the
Indians.
Richard Fulford (or Fowler as he gave his name),
John Rhoade, Peter Grant and Randall (or Randolph)
Judson, were found guilty of piracy and condemned to
death, and execution was appointed to take place on
July ist following. John Thomas and John Williams
were discharged acquitted, as also Thomas Mitchell and
his man Yourings, who were not indicted.
The prisoners — notwithstanding the fact that the
Dutchmen were poor and apparently friendless, and,
with their associates (except perhaps Rhoade and Ful-
ford) were illiterate and ignorant of English laws, —
presented a very strong case, and the document contain-
ing their defence shows great ability in their counsel.
They alleged their authority and commission from the
" Prince of Orange," and proved it by their commission
from Aernouts ("Arnouson "). They declared that they
had warned the very persons who had made complaint
against them, not to attempt to trade in Acadie, and
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 53
when they had caught them violating the right of their
Prince, they had simply seized their peltry as lawful
prize, etc.
There was, in the time of the trial, much popular
sympathy for the two Dutchmen, and even the Court
was quite ready to grant their pardon, and having
broken up the Dutch occupancy and practically secured
the trade for the time, it is probable that the authorities
were glad of a chance to pardon the others without in-
flicting the penalty of their sentence. Popular feeling
however was greatly excited against the Englishmen
who had engaged in the expedition. Rhoade, Grant and
Judson were kept in prison several months and at last
vanished from the Colonies, while Fulford, who was of
Muscongus, was pardoned in October.
One cause of the clemency of the Court was probably
the outburst of the Indian war, the news of which broke
in upon the deliberation of judges and jury at the trial,
and banished all other concerns. Capt. Mosely enlisted
a company of volunteers and led them with the other
troops ou't towards Mount Hope on June 24th and 25th,
1675, and in his company it is said were many of those
who had been with him at the capture of the Dutch
pirates, and it is supposed that Cornelis Andreson, the
Dutchman, went also, as he is mentioned by several
ancient writers as performing daring feats in the war,
and I found a document giving him a pass which credits
him with a brave action in "leading the forlorne," at
54 The Dtitch Pirates in Boston
Brookfield, and also certifies his faithful service against
the Indians for several months. Peter Roderigo after-
wards did good service under Capt. Joshua Scottow at
Blackpoint, Scarborough.
Finally let me say that in taking up this matter for
this paper, I chose a topic in which I was deeply inter-
ested, and which I found that no one had ever touched
upon or apparently ever noticed until Mr. Tuttle made
his investigations some years ago ; and soon afterward I
happened upon the papers in the State archives and
have taken up the subject from another approach.
The circumstances afford many pictures which cast
new light upon the manners and customs of the times.
If only we could find some mystical power to flash back
the camera into the dim streets of old Boston, and catch
the quaint and motly group gathered about the victori-
ous Aernouts, fresh from the conquest of Acadie, as sit-
ting there in the dusky taproom of the old " Beaver
Tavern," he issues the queer old commissions to his
henchmen, Roderigo and Andreson, dictating the terms
in broken English, between deep draughts from the great
brown tankards of foaming ale. The quill of the ready
writer (procured by Fulford or Rhoade in lieu of a type-
writer) traces the slowly dictated document, till Rode-
rigo's commission was duly " written, signed, sealed and
delivered." But the hour is late, the tongue of the
commander grows thick and unwieldy, the writer's hand
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 55
goes unsteadily, and the dusky old taproom fades away
into shadowy Dutch somnolence, such as befell Rip Van
Winkle in Sleepy Hollow. Only Rhoade and Fulford
are alert ; warily plucking the pen from the relaxed
grasp, they hastily complete the copy and, as well as
possible, set the old Captain's signature, and then, with
clumsy haste use up all the seals on Roderigo's docu-
ment, so that Cornelis's commission never had any seals,
while Roderigo had more than enough ! Whether this
was the way it happened that the commission of Cor-
nells had a strange and insufficient appearance, or
whether it was an attempt at a forged copy, we cannot
know.
I would like also to take a snap-shot at the officers
and crew as they sailed out to the east, and where,
anchored in Casco Bay, they were replenishing their
larder with the stolen sheep of George Munjoy ; or
again, when they stood by the rails, in their high-
peaked hats, and with levelled blunderbusses threatened
the destruction of the English shallop. And then I
would like a picture of that sturdy old Court of Ad-
miralty, and if by some subtle touch of phonographic
power the voice of Leverett could be brought back, as
he pronounced the sentence of execution designating
the time as " immediately after the lecture," thus com-
bining the culmination of law at the Great and General
Court, or its equivalent, with some convenient climax
of gospel at the " Great and Thursday lecture." The
56 The Dutch Pirates in Bostott
sentence was never carried out, as I have said, but the
failure was not from any lack of authority, but prob-
ably because in the confusion and tumult of the Indian
war, all other matters were delayed and became of small
moment.
But the matter did not stop with the discharge of the
prisoners, for the Dutch West India Company, when
informed, after several months, of the conquest, of
Acadie by Capt. Aernouts, sent their messenger to
Holland, and after a long time the old Dutch sloops
sailing through the long months and weary leagues,
brought back from Amsterdam commissions to Peter
Steenwyck of New York as Governor of Acadie, and
to John Rhoade, to have superintendence and monopoly
of its trade. But in the meantime, report of the cap-
ture and trial of the pirates had crept across the seas,
and the authorities of Holland had demanded an expla-
nation from King Charles, and the king, in turn, had
sought an explanation from the authorities at Massachu-
setts Bay. This letter was dated February i8, 1676,
and then, when Governor Leverett and his Council got
ready, which was on the fifth day of the next October,
they sent a very cool and somewhat patronizing letter to
King Charles, which was evidently meant to dismiss the
whole question from further discussion. During this
time the Boston merchants were diligently exercising
their newly acquired privilege of free-trade along the
Acadian coast. But John Rhoade came back to Boston
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 57
in 1676 with his commission to superintend the trade
in Acadie, hired a ship of John Alden of Boston, son of
the illustrious pair, John and Priscilla of Plymouth, and
having formed a partnership with said Alden, Rhoade
once more sailed out to the eastward, to assume the
duties of his commission. But again he came to grief,
since he found that during his absence the territory of
Acadie had mysteriously shrunk to the east, so that now
the Penobscot, instead of the Kennebec, was its western
boundary, and, when he confidently sailed into the
mouth of the Kennebec, he was at once attacked and
overpowered by Capt. Knapton, the Massachusetts com-
mandant at Pemaquid, himself and crew, mostly Dutch,
made prisoners, his vessel and goods confiscated and all
taken to New York for trial, as they had come from
that jurisdiction. They were soon set at liberty, the
ship restored to Alden, and again Rhoade appealed to
the authority, and again the slow machinery of diploma-
tic correspondence moved around to the explanation of
the action of the Great and General Court sitting at
Boston in 1679. But the main point was gained, that
Boston merchants enjoyed the monopoly of the trade to
the eastward, while both Dutch and French were kept
from any actual authority in the country.
It has not been my intention to draw any moral from
the consideration of this topic, and it is far from my
intent to speak slightingly of the Great and General
Court, whose "acts and resolves" seem somewhat quaint
58 The Dutch Pirates in Boston
and queer to us, but do not at all take away from our
reverence and love. Those magistrates had convictions,
and some of those convictions were, that New England
was for the " New English " ; that its dominion was to
extend from the St. John's to the Hudson River ; that
sometime the kingdom with a new heaven and a new
earth wherein dwelleth righteousiness, would be estab-
lished there, when Boston should be the capital, and the
Court and Clergy at the capital should define and direct
the righteousness !
We read much and hear much from time to time
about a " Greater Boston." We are proud of its en-
larged boundaries and its acquisition of beautiful suburbs.
We rejoice in the radiation of its intelligence and influ-
ence to far wider suburbs than those embraced in its cor-
porate limits. Sometimes we are apt to think all this is
a modern product ; but if you will just run over the de-
liberations and decisions of this old Court, note its
answer to the complaints of the French Governor, read
the tardy and complacent letter answering their king's
inquiry into their conduct in this trial, and consider their
quiet declaration that they acted in accordance with the
" Laws of God, civilized nations, and the Colony of
Massachusetts Bay," quoting evidently the three uni-
versal authorities, and then, if you ever go to the outlet
of Lake Winnepesaukee, take a look at the granite
boulder where two of the Magistrates of the Great
Court, Endicott and Willard, drilled their initials, to
The Dutch Pirates in Boston 59
establish forever the Northern boundary line of Mas-
sachusetts ; — and finally contemplate the phenomenal
assurance with which they set aside the royal patents
and grants to Gorges and others in Maine, and calmly
assuming jurisdiction, finally attached the whole terri-
tory of the Province as a suburb of Massachusetts Bay,
— you will by that time conclude that the "Greater
Boston," even of to-day, was really incarnate in that old
Court of 1674/5.
Of course the two centuries have brought greater
interests and a larger constituency, and we are proud of
our present " Great and General Court," when we see it
grappling with the mighty problems of the day, like the
restriction of the " English sparrow " or the eradication
of the " Gipsy moth." The olden Court did not have
the great questions of our day to deal with, but we have
seen by their way of dealing with the pirates of 1674,
that they had convictions, all " home-product, Boston
stamp." Sometimes I wish that old Court could for
one week deal with the Boston pirates of 1894. I feel
sure that they would not import their convictions about
the liquor traffic from Sweden, nor their voting methods
from Australia.
It is said that " great and glorious institutions are
only the lengthened shadows of great and glorious
men." Let me say of Greater Boston, incarnate in that
olden Court of 1674/5, — we do not agree with those
who feel called upon to vilify and belittle our Puritan
6o The Dutch Pirates in Boston
ancestry, and who represent their chief business to have
been to "bristle with the porcupine quills of a fretful
theology " ; — nor would I, to-day, limit Greater Boston
by Suffolk County, Massachusetts, or New England,
but only by the lines of that newer New England
stretching its bounds across the Continent, even to the
far-off islands of the Pacific Sea. Along those bounda-
ries, in every nobler institution, in every braver endeavor
to vindicate human rights, in every centre of education,
in every court of law, — the good and the evil, the rich
and the poor, the saints as well as the pirates of every
kind, I see the ever-lengthening shadow and feel the
reincarnated touch of that Great and General Court
of Massachusetts Bay, in Boston.
THE STORY OF BOSTON LIGHT
BY
FITZ-HENRY SMITH. JR.
COPYRIGHT, 191 1
FITZ-HENRY SMITH, JR.
BOSTON, MASS.
THE STORY OF BOSTON LIGHT
With Some Account of the Beacons in Boston Harbor
A PAPER READ TO THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, COUNCIL CHAMBER, OLD
STATE HOUSE, NOVEMBER 9, 1909, WITH ADDITIONS, BY
FITZ-HENRY SMITH, jR.
(O landmark in the harbor of Boston is
more conspicuous than Boston Light.
A representation of the light is the
chief feature on the seal of the Town
of HliII ; and the seal of The Marine
Society, an old Boston institution, shows "a Ship
arriving at the light House from a storm and the Sun
breaking out of the Clouds." The original structure is
reputed to have been the first lighthouse erected in this
country, and it played a by no means unimportant part
in the history of the harbor. Yet the story of the light
seems to be but little known to Bostonians. This may
be due to the fact that a complete and separate account
has not heretofore existed, and the following paper is an
64 The Story of Boston Light
attempt to supply the deficiency and to collect and pre-
serve the data relating to the light in serviceable form.
The placing of a lighthouse at the entrance of Boston
harbor was thought of as early as the beginning of
the eighteenth century, as is manifest from a note in
Clough's "New England Almanac " for the year 1701 :*
" Q. Whether or no a Light-Houfe at Alderton's point,
may not be of great benefit to Mariners coming on thefe
Coafisf But the move which finally brought about the
establishment of the light did not take place until more
than a decade had passed. Saturday, January 3, 1713,
the petition of one John George, "merchant," in behalf
of himself and associates, " Propofing the Ere6ting of
a Light Hous & Lanthorn on fome Head Land at the
Entrance of the Harbour of Bofton for the Dire6lion
of Ships & Veffels in the Night Time bound into the
faid Harbour," was read in the General Court of Massa-
chusetts, and an order made appointing a committee,
consisting of the Lieutenant-Governor (Hon, William
Tailer), Eliakim Hutchinson and Andrew Belcher from
the Council, and John Clark, Addington Davenport,
Major Thomas Fitch, and Samuel Thaxter from the
House of Representatives, to confer with Mr. George
and his associates, and to report at the next session of
the Court. The petition seems to have been prompted
* For this reference and for many helpful suggestions, the writer is
indebted to Mr. John H. Edmonds of Boston.
The Story of Boston Light 65
by private enterprise. John George* was, at the time,
a selectman of the town of Boston, but subsequent
events show that at the outset neither he nor his asso-
ciates proceeded in an official capacity.
The committee reported March 20, that having met
Mr. George and received his proposals, including a
method of building and supporting the lighthouse, it
was found necessary to "take a view" of the place
most convenient for the erection of the structure, and
that on the 13th of the month, accompanied by several
of the most experienced ship-masters of Boston and
Charlestown, they went down to the outermost islands
at the entrance of the harbor. They landed upon
and surveyed several of these islands, and, backed by
the unanimous opinion of the ship-masters who went
down with them, recommended ; " That the Southermoft
Part of the Great Brewfter called Beacon Ifland is the
* John George was a person of some prominence ; he was a Select-
man in 1 70 1 as well as in 1713, and a member of the committee of
thirty-one chosen in 1708 to formulate a scheme for the better gov-
ernment of the town. His firm, John George & Co., appears among
the list of "merchants and traders" who in 1700-01 petitioned the
Governor for a bankrupt law " as in England," and he individually was
one of the backers of the Long Wharf project. He died November 24,
1 7 14, leaving a will by which he divided his "part in the long Wharff
and Warehoufe thereon " and his interest in the partnership with his
son-in-law (Nathan Howell) between his wife Lydia, and his daughter
Katherine Howell. July 5, 1715, his widow married the Rev. Dr.
Cotton Mather. Sewall wrote that " Mr. George laid in my Tomb till
Madam George have an opportunity to build one," and that he " Was a
Well-accomplifh'd Merchant and appears to have been a good Chriftian,
defirable, ufefull Man.
66 The Story of Boston Light
moft convenient Place for the Eredling a Light Houfe,
which will be of great Ufe not only for the Preferva-
tion of the Lives & Eftates of Perfons defigning for
the Harbour of Bofton & Charleftown but of any other
Place within the Maffachufetts Bay," as Boston Bay
was then called. Whereupon it was resolved by both
Houses of the Court "that the Proje6tion will be of
general publick Benefit & Service & is worthy to be
encouraged," and the committee was directed to pro- '|
ceed to receive the proposals and offers of persons to
undertake the work, " and upon what Terms or Encour- j
agement to be given by the Government in Laying a '
Duty of Tunnage upon Shipping."
Meanwhile the selectmen of Boston seem to have
awakened to the fact that the project was one which
might be turned to the account of the town, and on
March 2, 171 3, they "Agreed to propofe to y^ Town
their being concerned in y^ charge of a Light Houfe in
ord"" to an income." March 9, at a meeting of " Free-
holders and other inhabitants of y^ town of Bofton," held
at the South Meeting House, it was voted, " that the
confideration of what is proper for the Town to do Ab^.
a Light-Hous be referred to the Seleft men and Com-
mittee afore appointed to Improve the fifteen hundred
pounds."* And May 13 the town voted that in case
the Court should see cause to proceed to the establish-
ment of a lighthouse, the selectmen or representatives
* " The produce of ye Blue-Hill Lands."
The Story of Boston Light 6y
of the town be desired to move the Court that the
town of Boston as a town have the preference in the
charge of erecting and maintaining the lighthouse, "and
being Intituled to the Profits and Incomes thereof."
The committee of the General Court reported that
they gave public notice of the time and place for receiv-
ing proposals ; had received a further proposal from Mr.
George, and had heard several times from the select-
men of Boston and " a Committee for their free Gram-
mar Schools," relating to the desire of the town for
preference in the matter of the light before any par-
ticular individuals.
After the report was read it was voted, June 2, 17 13,
that the lighthouse " be ere6ted at the Charge of the
Province, if this Court fee meet ; If not the Town of
Boflon to have the Preference before any private Perfon
or Company." June 9 the selectmen of Boston took
action whereby the representatives of the town in the
General Court were desired to move the Court in the
interest of the town " after y^ rules of duty for Light
money" were stated. The report of the committee on
the question of the duties to be assessed for the support
of the lighthouse in case it should be erected, was made
on June 17, 1713, and for a period of more than a year
thereafter progress on the project was halted.* But on
* August 4, 17 13, the selectmen appointed a committee to procure a
draft of an Act, to be presented to the General Court, relating to the
erection and maintenance of the lighthouse by the town of Boston.
68 The Story of Boston Light
November 5, 17 14, and again on June 9, 171 5, the
Court passed the following order : '* That a Light
Houfe be Erefted at the Charge of this Province at
the Entrance of the Harbour of Bofton on the fame
Place & Rates propofed in Bill, proje6ted for the Town
of Bofton 's Doing it, Accompanying this Vote, And
that a Bill be drawn accordingly."
This vote finally disposed of the part which the town
of Boston hoped to take in the enterprise, and which
seems to have been the cause of the delay. A few days
later (June 14) a committee* was appointed to erect the
lighthouse pursuant to the votes of the General Court,
and on July 23, 171 5, a bill was passed entitled "An
A6t for Building and Maintaining a Light Houfe upon
the Great Brewfter, called Beacon Ifland at the En-
trance of the Harbour of Bofton," the reason for the
Act, as stated in the preamble, being that the want of
such a lighthouse, " hath been a great Difcouragement
to Navigation by the lofs of the Lives and Eftates of
Several of His Majefties Subje6ts."
The Act provided for the erection of a lighthouse on
"the South-ermoft part of the Great Brewfter called
Beacon Island .... at the charge of the Province ....
to be kept lighted from Sun fetting to Sun rifing," and
decreed that from and after the completion of the
structure "and kindling a light in it ufefull for Ship-
* The members were William Payne, Col. Samuel Thaxter, Col.
Adam Winthrop, Addington Davenport, and the Hon. William Tailer.
The Story of Boston Light 69
ping" .... there should "be paid to the receiver of
Impoft by the Mafter of all Ships and Veffells Except
Coafters the Duty of one penny per Tun Inwards and
alfo one penny per Tun outwards and no more for every
Tun of the burthen of faid Veffell before they load or
unlade the Goods therein." Fishing vessels and ves-
sels engaged in bringing lumber, stone, etc., from ports
within the Province were required to pay but five shil-
lings a year, and the Act expressly defined the meaning
of the word " coasters," provided for the measurement
of vessels and the collection of the tax, and stated that
a person should be appointed from time to time " by the
General Court or Assembly "to be the keeper of the
light. For a failure to attend his duties the keeper was
made liable to a fine not to exceed ;£'ioo, two-thirds of
which was to go to the Government and the balance to
the informer. At the same time, by a Resolve, £^Q^
was allowed " for a present Supply " to the cost of
building the lighthouse, and the committee was em-
powered to trade with the owners of Beacon Island
for its purchase.
Accordingly Col. Samuel Thaxter, in behalf of the
committee, appeared before the proprietors of the town
of Hull, the owners of the Brewsters, at a meeting of
the proprietors held on the ist of August, 171 5: and
the proprietors " being cenfable " that the proposed
lighthouse would be of general benefit to trade and that
they in particular would " rape a greate benefite there-
70 TJie Story of Boston Light
by," by unanimous vote "granted the fd. Bacan Ifland
to the pruince of the Maffatuffets Bay for the ufe of a
light houfe foreuer," to be disposed of as the Govern-
ment should see fit ; but with the provision that the
grantors should be kept harmless.
December 20, 171 5, the Court granted a further
;^500 toward the undertaking, and on the same day
appointed Mr. William Payne* and Captain Zechariah
Tuthillf as overseers to carry on and finish the work
under the direction of the committee, the committee
" not having Leifure to attend that Work." In all,
;^I900 was granted by the Court for the purpose, and
on November 29, 17 16, the report of the committee
showing a balance of £>^^^ : 7 : 8 remaining due was
accepted and this amount ordered to be paid out of the
public treasury, thus making the total cost of the struc-
ture ^2385 : 17 : 8. Previously (June 25, 1716) the com-
mittee had been desired to procure a suitable person to
keep the light, and his salary for the first year fixed at
;^5o, " to begin when the Lights are fett & kept up."
In the " Boston News Letter" of September 17, 1716,
it is said that the " Light Houfe has been built ; And on
* Born January 22, 1668; died June 10, 1735. Commissioner of
Impost 169S, Collector 1699 ^^ 1710, Selectman of Boston 1713,
Sheriff of Suffolk County 17 14 and 17 15, Representative from Boston
in the General Court 1715 and 1716, Excise Commissioner 1716.
t Captain of the Castle and one of the founders of the Brattle Street
Church. As compensation for their trouble it was provided that the
overseers should have ^60 when the lighthouse was completed.
The Story of Boston Light yi
Fryday lafl the 14th Currant the Light was kindled."
When it is considered that the first Eddystone light-
house, which took four years to build, was not begun
until 1696, and that the celebrated Tour de Corduan
at the mouth of the river Garonne, although a long
time in building, was not completed until 16 10, it will
be realized that in addition to being the first erected
in this country, Boston Light is also one of the oldest
of the famous lighthouses of the modern world, and
the two hundredth anniversary of its establishment is
fast approaching.
The dimensions of the lighthouse are not given us, but
to judge from an early picture it was a tall and stately
structure. The tower at least seems to have been built
of stone, evidenced by the reports of various committees
on the repair of the lighthouse, and in particular by the
report of the committee appointed to examine the build-
ing after the great storm in February, 1723. The com-
mittee reported June 18, 1723, in part as follows : —
We Likewife Examin*^ the Light Houfe & Searched into the
Severall Cracks in the Stone Wall, but Cannot be of opinion that
they are in the leaft Meafure Occafioned by the Late Storm, and
Rather becaufe the Cracks are much Wider on the Infide than on
the Out, & many that appear within do not go through the Walls,
which were likely to be Occafioned by ye Fire when part of the
Light Houfe was burnt, For if the Storm of Wind & Water had
hurt the Building, the Damage would appear on the out Side,
where the Force Came, Neither Can wee perceive any of the
Stones difplaced.
72 The Story of Boston Light
That " part of the Great Brewster called Beacon Is-
land " on which the lighthouse was erected is, in effect,
a separate island joined to the Great Brewster by a bar.
How and when it came to be called " Beacon Island " is
puzzling. Before 1 7 1 5 it was also known as the Little
Brewster, though that name appears on some maps made
earlier, as well as later, for the island now designated as
the Outer Brewster. Since the establishment of the
light the island has generally been called the Light
House Island, and it so appears on the present Gov-
ernment charts of the harbor.
Previous to the erection of the lighthouse, beacons
had been placed on the heights in and about Boston for
the purpose of giving alarm in the case of the approach
of a supposed enemy. The beacon on Sentry Hill in
Boston, which has given to the hill the name so familiar
to Bostonians, was established as the result of an order
of the General Court passed in March, 1635. Such a
beacon may have been set up on the Little Brewster,
but it would not seem likely, in view of the low eleva-
tion of the island and the distance from the mainland.
We know that as early as 1673 there was a beacon on
Point Allerton at the entrance of the harbor, for on
March 9, 1674, the selectmen of Hull petitioned the
General Court that some consideration might be allowed
them in their rate for the past year for their " charge
and trouble about the fetting up and wardinge off the
Beacon erefted on Poynt Allerton By order off the
The Story of Boston Light 73
Honoured Counfell." And Nathaniel Bosworth of Hull
filed an account of the expenses to which the town had
been about the beacon, with a list of the persons who
had warded the same.
In May, 1678, Captain James Oliver was ordered by
the Council to repair to Hull and to live there, in order
that a ward might be kept daily on the island where the
beacon is, " efpying f ower fhips together to be Ap-
proaching to give an Alarum by firing the Beacon."
The use of the word " island " in this order does not
necessarily mean that the beacon was situated on one
of the Brewsters Nor does it exclude Point Allerton.
"Island," as a term, is sometimes used loosely in the
records of this period, and we have other documentary
evidence showing that the beacon was in fact on the
main land.
In 1679-80 two Dutchmen, Jaspar Bankers and
Peter Sluyter, made a voyage from Holland to New
York, and on their way home stopped at Boston. Ban-
kers wrote a Journal of the trip in which the approach
to Boston is described as follows : " There are many
small islands before Boston, well on to fifty, I believe,
between which you sail on to the city. A high one,
or the highest, is the first that you meet. It is twelve
miles from the city and has a light-house upon it which
you can see from a great distance, for it is in other re-
spects naked and bare." Although the words "light
house " are used in the translation quoted, there is no
74 The Story of Boston Light
doubt that what the voyagers saw was a beacon, for the
narrator states later on, " there is a high hill in the city
also with a light-house upon it." And that this beacon
was stationed on Point Allerton appears from the de-
scription given of the course to the city. Says the
Journal : " In sailing by this island [the one with the
beacon] you keep it on the west side ; on the other side
there is an island with many rocks upon and around it,
and when you pass by it you must be careful, as a shoal
pushes out from it which you must sail round." The
rocky island with the shoal exactly describes the Brews-
ters, and a ship entering Boston Harbor has Point Aller-
ton to the west. The beacon of 1673 was erected at
Point Allerton, and judging from a petition of Benja-
min Bosworth on whose land it stood, was set up under
the supervision of Captain Oliver. Further, Point
Allerton was but a short distance from the village of
Hull, lying in the valley between the hills to the west,
and where the captain was most likely to take up his
residence.
Finally, it may be said, that in 1689 the inhabitants
of Hull were exempted from impressment to public
service upon certain conditions, among them that of
" Ere(5ling a Beacon at Alderton point for to make a
Signal of the approach of Ships. If more than three
together to give Notice." And FitzHugh's copy, so-
called, of Captain Southake's Map of the Harbor* shows
* See Publications of the Bostonian Society, II : iio.
The Story of Boston Light 75
a beacon at Point Allerton, the hill there being desig-
nated as "Beacon Hill." Sewall refers to the firing of
" Nantasket Beacon" in 1696.
These orders as to beacons were of a precautionary
or defensive nature and were not passed in the interests
of navigation, as was the vote for the erection of a light-
house. In January, 1680-81, the Council authorized
the payment to the town of Hull of eight pounds or its
equivalent, for an acre of land " upon the top or higheft
part of the Great Iflands amongft the Iflands Called
Brewflers Iflands," which had been appraised by a com-
mittee of the Court and reserved for a " Generall fea
marke " for the public use. If the Little Brewster got
to be called Beacon Island because of a structure erected
upon it, that structure was in all probability nothing more
than a nautical beacon or sea-mark without a light ; but
no one of the early maps of the harbor that we have
seen shows anything of the sort on either the Great or
the Little Brewster.
The system of warning the country by means of
beacons continued to be employed after the lighthouse
was built ; and when there was danger approaching by
sea the signal was given from the lighthouse island.
Thus Daniel Neal says, writing in 1719 : —
To prevent any poffible Surprize from an Enemy, there is a
Light-Houfe built on a Rock, appearing above Water about two
long Leagues from the Town, which in Time of War makes a
Signal to the Caftle, and the Caftle to the Town by hoifting and
76 The Story of Boston Light
lowering the Union-Flag, fo many Times as there are Ships
approaching, which if they exceed a certain Number, the Caftle
fires three Guns to alarm the Town of Bq/ion, and the Governour,
if Need be, orders a Beacon to be fired, which alarms all the
adjacent Country; fo that unlefs an Enemy can be fuppofed to
fail by fo many Iflands and Rocks in a Fog, the Town of Bq/lon
mufl have fix or more Hours to prepare for their Reception.
And Bennett's narrative describes a similar scheme as
in use in 1 740 : —
About two leagues difl:ant from the Caflle on a rock, fl:ands an
exceeding fine light-houfe, at which there is a guard conftantly
attending to prevent furprife ; from whence they make fignals to
the Caftle when any fhips come in fight, whether friend or foe
.... when a fignal is made from off the light-houfe to the Caftle
of the approach of an Enemy if there be more than four or five
fhips then the Caftle thereupon gives a fignal to the town ; and
thofe of the town alarm the country by firing a Beacon. And for
that purpofe they have a very famous one on the north weft fide
of the town ere(5led on a hill.
When the Lighthouse Act was passed, one Thomas
Coram* made objections to the Act as laying a tax
* He was undoubtedly the Captain Thomas Coram who established
the Foundling Hospital in London. Born in 1668, the son of a sea-
captain, Coram was first a sailor and then a ship-builder. In 1693 he
came to Boston under the protection of the British Government, " to
promote and carry on " in the Province the business of ship-building
for the account of Thomas Hunt and other merchants of London.
After four or five years he moved to Taunton and set up a ship-yard
in what is now South Dighton, where he seems to have constructed a
The Story of Boston Light yy
upon shipping and making no provisions for pilots, who
were much needed — going so far as to submit the mat-
ter to the Lords of the Admiralty, by whom he was
referred to his Majesty's Commissioners for Trade and
Plantations. The latter desired him to put his objec-
tions in writing, but apparently nothing came of them,
for the Province proceeded unmolested in the erection
and maintenance of the lighthouse. The pilotage ques-
tion, though in a different form, was, however, subse-
quently raised by three of the lighthouse keepers : and
Coram was right in suggesting that some attention be
paid to the matter of pilots, though not, perhaps, in
objecting to the Lighthouse Act on that account.
In July, 1 7 19, the keeper petitioned the General
Court that a gallery be built on the seaward side of
the lighthouse, " that he may be able to come to the
Glafs to clear off the Ice & Snow in the Winter Time,
number of vessels. But he did not get along well with his new neigh-
bors. " Of a rather choleric disposition," Coram " spoke what he
thought with vehemence " and was a frequent litigant. He accused
the magistrates of Bristol County of rendering illegal judgments against
him, and all of these judgments were reversed on appeal. In 1703 he
returned to England. The blame for his " persecution " at Taunton
Coram laid to Nathaniel Byfield, and used all his influence to prevent
Byfield from being made Governor of the Province in 17 15, "or so
much as Judge of the Admiralty again in New England." June 27,
1700, Coram married at Boston, Eunice, daughter of John and Eunice
Wait. She died in 1740, and his death occurred March 29, 1751. See
the paper by Hamilton A. Hill on ^^ Thomas Co7-am in Boston and
7'(7««i'o«," American Antiquarian Society Proceedings, VIII : 133, for
reference to which I am indebted to Dr. S. A. Green of the Massachu-
setts Historical Society.
yS The Story of Boston Light
whereby the Said Light is much obfciired & that a
great Gun be placed on Said Ifland to anfwer Ships in
a Fog." The Court voted him the gun and appointed
a committee to see about the other matter ; but a gal-
lery was sometime thereafter added to the lighthouse.
There is a picture of the lighthouse done by William
Burgis in 1729, and dedicated to the Merchants of
Boston, which is said to have been the second mezzotint
made in this country. It shows the fog gun* and gives
a very good idea of the lighthouse as first erected. A
print of this picture was presented to the U. S. Light-
house Board by Lieut. C. H. West, U. S. N., and is now
owned by the Bureau of Light-Houses at Washington.
In the foreground is a single-masted armed vessel,
which has been referred to as the " Province Sloop," as
"An Armed British Customs Pinnace," and as "The
Light-House Tender." A vessel described as the
" Province Boat, which attends the service " of the
lighthouse, is referred to in various petitions of Robert
Ball, the third lighthouse keeper. But it is doubtful if
this was an armed vessel, or so large as the sloop in the
picture. The lighthouse boat figures frequently in
the history of the light. It was often in need of repairs
and new fittings, was lost and found at least once, and
was once stolen. We may get some idea of the size of
the tender from the fact that in 1734 the lighthouse
* The gun appears to have been one belonging to the Province and
previously located at Long Island.
°B. DO
S O
~ CO
S H
2 O
(TO -•-
dtm^^^ ' •
The Story of Boston Light 79
keeper asked the Court for a new one " of thirty feet by
the keel."
Repairs to the lighthouse were necessary from time
to time, and in 1726 £,^'^0 : i : 8 was expended upon the
plant at Beacon Island, including the wharf and build-
ings there. The need of more extensive repairs then
became evident, with the result that in June, 1734, a
committee was appointed by the General Court to ascer-
tain if the lighthouse was capable of being repaired, and
if not, whether " a more Convenient place and a better
foundation for Ere6ling the Lighthoufe on then the place
where the prefent houfe ftands," could be found, and
whether it was proper to build it of timber or of stone.
Thursday, July 4, the committee reported, advising
'• that the Seams & Cracks be well filled with mortar or
Putty, and the whole outfide cafed with Good oak
Plank of two Inches and a half thick up and down,
with twelve Iron hoops, the Hoops to be three Inches
and a half wide, 5/8 of an Inch thick, well drove over
the Plank and to be at Suitable diftances about four feet
apart, and boarded between the Hoops and Shingled on
the outfide." "This method," says the committee, "we
apprehend will Secure the faid Light houfe and make it
as Strong as at firft if not the better : And herein we
have the opinion of Workmen going down with us, the
foundation of the Houfe not being in leaft altered nor
the Houfe Settled one way or other, having Carefully
plumbed it all Round." The cost of these repairs the
8o The Story of Boston Light
committee thought would not exceed five hundred and
fifty pounds — much less than the expense of tearing
down and building anew. From this report it would
seem evident that the structure, apart from the lantern,
must have been at least fifty feet in height.
The report of the committee was accepted and the
duty on shipping and navigation increased for the next
four years to three halfpence per ton, to meet the
charge of repairs, which another committee was desig-
nated to effect "after the most prudent manner." Feb-
ruary 3, 1737, this committee addressed a memorial to
the Court, stating that they had completed the repairs
to the lighthouse and dwelling house and had built a
new and very commodious wharf. They were granted
for their services ;£i50 "in the new tenor."
In 1738 a committee recommended that the light-
house be painted white, and we infer that this was done
from the fact that the keeper communicated to the
Legislature in June, 1749, that the building required
attention, " the Paint being all wafh'd off which renders
it lefs vifible to Veffels bound in in the Day Time than
it would be if the Paint was frefh." Whereupon another
coat was ordered.
Not only were repairs necessary by reason of the
ordinary wear and tear on such a structure, but it suf-
fered also from other causes. January 13, 1720, — that
is, a little more than three years after the light went
into operation — a fire occurred at the lighthouse. The
The Story of Boston Light 8 1
Council immediately directed that an advertisement of
the fact be put in the newspapers, and provided for the
setting up of as good a light as could " conveniently be
projected " until the building should be repaired. The
fire was not serious enough to place the light out of
commission for any length of time, for we learn from a
second notice in the newspapers that on February 17
the repairs were completed and the lights burning as
before.* The Council seemed to think, however, that
some blame for the accident attached to the keeper,
and they held back the salary due him on February
8, awaiting his explanation. February 25 the keeper,
Capt. John Hayes, presented a Memorial in which he
accounted for the fire as follows :
That it being the Memorialifts manner to go to bed early in ye
evening & rife about nine o'clock at night, about eight o'clock he
was waked out of his lleep by his wife, who told him flie fufpefled
ye Light House was a fire, that he immediately ran up with two
pails of water but ye fire was too violent to be fubdued, that how-
ever he faved many things belonging to the Light Houfe. That
he fupofes ye fire was occafioned by ye Lamps dropping on ye
wooden Benches & a fnuff falling off & fetting fire & that ye faid
fire was not occafioned by ye leafl; negledl of ye Memorialifl.
* It cost the Province £22\ : 16 : i to make good the damages which
the fire had done, and then on the recommendation of the committee
appointed to attend to the matter that "some further work" was nec-
essary, the Council ordered the committee to proceed with it, referring
this time to the stairs in the lighthouse in particular. The bill for
these additional repairs amounted to £\^t: ii : 6, but included the
cost of transferring to Beacon Island the " great gun " to which refer-
ence has been made.
82 The Story of Boston Light
After the Memorial was read, the Council called the
keeper before them and asked him several questions.
They were apparently satisfied with his answers, for
when he had withdrawn they voted him his salary.
While the method adopted in 1734 of repairing the
tower by means of a wooden casing was temporarily
cheaper, it rendered the building even more liable to
damage by fire. As might be expected, when a fire
next occurred, as in 175 1, it very nearly destroyed the
structure. This took place during a recess of the Gen-
eral Court, and without waiting for the opening of
Court, Spencer Phips, the Acting Governor, appointed
a body to examine the lighthouse and make such repairs
as might be needed for the safety of navigation. It was
found that while the wooden parts of the lighthouse
were destroyed, including the several floors and the
stairs leading to the lantern, the walls of the building
were not much injured, except that the fire had caused
the stones to " slake " off about two inches deep, which it
was thought might be remedied by hammering off what
was loose. Meanwhile it was suggested that a light be
shown from a spar about forty feet high, to be raised
to the eastward of the lighthouse. New floors and
steps were then constructed and a temporary light dis-
played from a ship's lantern.
The committee appointed for the repair of the light-
house after the General Court convened, recommended,
to guard against fire in the future, that an arch be
The Story of Boston Light 83
turned over the top of the tower (presumably of brick
as recommended by the Governor's committee) through
which an entrance be left into the lantern, the door of
this entrance to be of thin iron plates, the frame of the
lantern of iron, and the roof of copper. Previously the
lantern had doubtless been constructed of wood, except
possibly the roof, which William Payne as early as 17 17
suggested be covered with lead as a protection against
the weather. The committee further recommended
that the outside be planked, hooped, shingled and
painted as before, but suggested that to protect the
lantern the walk around it be laid with "Connecticut
stone " projecting about four inches beyond the sides
of the building, and that for greater security the win-
dows be stopped up or made narrower. These repairs
were consummated at an outlay, so far as the records
show, of ^^1170, including ;^20 allowed the keeper for
work done by him, and an Act was passed imposing
higher lighthouse duties for the space of two years.
In an article on the lighthouse in the " Massachusetts
Magazine" for February of 1789, it was said that the
building " was several times struck with lightning, and
attempts were made to erect conductors ; but this meas-
ure was opposed by several of the godly men of those
days, who thought it vanity and irreligion for the arm of
flesh to presume to avert the stroke of Heaven. But
it having received considerable damage, in the course of
two or three successive summers, necessity prevailed
84 The Story of Boston Light
over the consciences of our faithful fathers, and the in-
vention of Franklin was employed, since which, it has
received no injury from that cause."
Repairs were made from time to time to the dwelling
house on the island, and also to the wharves there,
which were frequently damaged by storms. And in
1773 preparations seem again to have been made for
repairs to the lighthouse itself. Then came the Revo-
lution, and during the Revolution the lighthouse fared
hard. The occupation of Boston by the British began
in June, 1774, soon after the arrival of Gage as Gover-
nor and Captain General, and apparently they took pos-
session of the lighthouse, though just when we do not
know, and guarded it. In any event the light passed
out of the control of the Province, and after the battle
of Bunker Hill became an object of attack. Early in
July following the battle, the Provincial Congress, tak-
ing into consideration the fact that the light had become
useless to the Province because of the harbor's '* being
blocked up by ships of war," endeavored to find some
means of removing the lamps and oil. This resulted
simply in the matter being passed from one committee
to another, and nothing accomplished. But later in the
month the object was brought about in a somewhat
startling manner.
The exposed condition of the town of Hull and the
danger that British sympathizers might find a means of
communicating with the ships of the enemy if precau-
The Story of Boston Light 85
tions were not taken, led to an order in July, 1775,
directing the inhabitants of Hull to remove therefrom
and providing for a guard to be stationed at the en-
trance of Nantasket Beach. This order was readily
complied with, if not anticipated, by the townspeople,
and the little hamlet left deserted except for the family
of Lieut. Wm. Haswell, an English half-pay officer in
the Revenue Service. So hurried was the exodus from
Hull, however, that the grain was left standing in the
fields, although the Provincial Congress, in response to
a petition of the Hullonians setting forth their danger-
ous situation, had ordered the selectmen and committee
of correspondence of the town of Hingham and District
of Cohasset to assist in the work of removal. But on
July 20 a detachment under Major Vose of Heath's
regiment went down to Hull, where they landed and
cut the standing grain. Then they went over to the
lighthouse island, took away the lamps and oil, some
gunpowder, and the boats there, and "burned the
wooden parts of the lighthouse." Although they were
engaged by an armed schooner and several boats, in
which engagement two of the Americans were wounded,
they got away with all their booty, including 1000 bush-
els of barley and a quantity of hay. Writing of this
affair an English officer remarked that it would " prove
of great detriment to the shipping," thus indicating that
the light was serviceable to the British, if not to the
Continentals Says an American eye-witness quoted
86 The Story of Boston Light
by Frothingham in his " Siege of Boston," "I ascended
an eminence at a distance and saw the flames of the
light-house ascending up to heaven like grateful incense,
and the ships wasting their powder."
The British at once began the reconstruction of the
lighthouse with a force of carpenters, guarded by-
marines. In consequence, a command of three hun-
dred men under Major Tupper was detached from the
American army with orders to stop the work, and on
July 31, during the progress of a heavy cannonade at
Boston, they set out in whale boats from Dorchester
and Squantum for the lighthouse. Planting a field piece
under Major Crane on Nantasket Head to cover a
retreat, they landed on the island, overcame the guard,
killing ten or twelve outright and making the rest pris-
oners, and destroyed the buildings which were being
erected. On the return they were hotly pursued by the
British, but escaped with the loss of one killed, while
one of the pursuing boats was sunk by a shot from
Major Crane's gun, with fatal results. A wounded
British prisoner was left by Major Tupper at Hull, where
he died soon after and was buried in a corner of Lieu-
tenant Haswell's garden. The story of the death of
this young Englishman is told in sentimental style
in a novel — " Rebecca " — written by the Lieutenant's
daughter, Mrs. Susanna Rowson, famous in her day as
actress, school-teacher and novelist, and in particular
as the author of " Charlotte Temple," perhaps the most
The Story of Boston Light 87
popular novel of its time,* These bold undertakings of
the Continentals caused Col. Barre to exclaim in Parlia-
ment, " They burn even the lighthouse under the nose
of the fleet, and carry off the men sent to repair it."
Major Vose gained much credit by his success, and
Washington, in general orders, thanked Major Tupper
and the officers and men under his command " for their
gallant and soldier-like behavior.".
While it is apparent that the light was maintained
by the British during their occupation of the harbor,
though perhaps not with regularity, we do not know
who the keeper was. The first keeper of the lighthouse
was George Worthylake, who was appointed in 17 16
and who lived at the time of his appointment, according
to Dr. Shurtleff, upon Lovell's Island, his father having
been a resident of George's Island. It does not appear
how Worthylake came to be selected, but doubtless the
fact of his long residence on the islands near the Brews-
ter s had a great deal to do with it. March 5, 17 16, the
town of Hull, in which town it must be remembered
the Brewsters are located, appointed a committee to
petition the Court for the liberty of choosing the man
* The scene of " Rebecca " is laid, in part, at Hull, and Mrs. Rowson
wrote of an event which she witnessed as a girl of thirteen. For her
life see the " Memoir " by Elias Nason, Albany, N. Y., 1870. The
Bostonian Society owns a Map of Boston Harbor worked in silk by
Lydia Withington at Mrs. Rowson's School in Boston, June 30, 1799.
A reprint of the first American edition of " Charlotte Temple " with
cuts and an historical introduction and bibliography was published by
Funk & Wagnalls in 1905. Copies of " Rebecca " are very rare.
88 The Story of Boston Light
to keep the lighthouse. The authority to make the
selection was, however, vested by the Court in the light-
house committee, as has been noted, but Worthylake
may have been Hull's man.
Worthylake's salary, as originally fixed, was fifty
pounds per annum, but was increased to seventy pounds
in 1 71 7, on his petition. November 3, 171 8, he was
unfortunately drowned, together with his wife and
daughter, and all three were buried in Copp's Hill
Burial Ground. The accident was made the subject
of a ballad by Benjamin Franklin, then a lad of thirteen,
called "The Light House Tragedy," which his brother
induced him to print, and which he sold on the streets
of Boston. But although the ballad "sold wonderfully,"
as Franklin tells us in his Autobiography, "the event
being recent" and "having made a great noise," not a
copy is known to be in existence, nor do we know any-
thing about the ballad, with the exception of its author's
description that it was "wretched stuff, in the Grub-
street-ballad style."
Three days after the tragedy, the Council directed
Mr. Robert Saunders "to repair to Beacon Ifland &
take care of the Light Houfe till a keeper be chofen &
appointed by the General Affembly." The same day the
merchants of Boston recommended for the position, as
an experienced mariner and pilot, Capt. John Hayes.
Hayes was appointed keeper by a vote of the Court
Nov 18, but seems to have taken up his duties before
The Story of Boston Light 89
that date, for his salary was figured from the 8th of the
month. So the term of Saunders if he served at all
was a very short one, and he never was the official
keeper of the light, inasmuch as the Lighthouse Act
especially provided that the keeper should be appointed
by the General Assembly.*
As in Mr. Worthylake's case, Hayes' salary was origi-
nally fixed at fifty pounds, to be paid quarterly, but was
raised in 1720 to seventy pounds, upon his showing the
necessity of two men besides himself for the proper
care of the light. An interesting feature of this petition
is the keeper's statement that " in as much as it may
* Dec. 3, 1718, one Mary Saunders presented a "charge about the
Light Houfe," and was allowed £i^: 15. Dec. 15 of the same year
" Mary Sanders, widow," took out administration on the estate of
" Robert Sanders, late of Boston, mariner."
The following news item in "The New England Weekly Journal "
of Monday, March 24, 1735, given me by Mr. Edmonds, shows how nar-
rowly another Worthylake escaped the fate of the first keeper : —
" Laft Tuefday Evening between 7 and 8 o'Clock we had a fudden
violent Guft of Wind, the Light-Houfe Boat being then between the
Long-Wharff and the Caftle going down, the water beat fo over her
Stem that (he filled and fank ; there was on board Mr. Ball keeper of
the Light-Houfe, Capt. Biillney Commander of a veffel bound out lying
at Nantajket, Mr. Worthylake, and one Kericane, a Porter of this Town ;
they would in all probability have all loft their Lives, but having provi-
dentially a fmall Boat belonging to Captain Bullney's veffel in tow, Mr.
Ball tho' he could not fwim, accidentally getting hold of the Painter,
with much Difficulty got along by it into the fmall Boat, and made up
to Capt. Bzdlney and took him in, after he had funk once ; Mr. Worthy
lake alfo juft made (hift to get into the faid Boat; Kericane, who feem'd
to be in great Confternation, remain'd where he was, and was drowned
the other three in the fmall Boat in about an Hour after, got fafe to
Governours Ifland, tho' much fpent and benumb'd with the Cold."
90 The Story of Boston Light
have been reprefented, that his Profits are confiderable
by Giving Entertainment on the Ifland, That he has
found the fame prejudicial to himfelf, as well as the
Town of Bofton, and therefore has left off giving Enter-
tainment for the lafl twelve Months." Four years later
an addition of ;^i5 was made to Hayes' salary, and his
allowance as keeper continued to be £%l for the remain-
der of his period of service. August 22, 1733, he gave
notice of his desire to resign on November 8th, the end
of his official year, and at the same time a memorial was
presented by the merchants of Boston, recommending
Robert Ball as keeper, and Ball was appointed to succeed
Capt. Hayes.
Robert Ball kept the lighthouse until 1774, and, so
far as appears, was the official Provincial keeper at the
time of his death, October 10 of that year. The last
Act of the General Court in reference to Boston Light
during the year 1774 was passed in the month of Feb-
ruary, and dealt with Mr. Ball's salary for the previous
year. June 17 the Court adjourned with a "God save
the King." When the delegates met again in the fol-
lowing October, they convened at Salem, as the First
Provincial Congress, and the Journals of the Provincial
Congresses contain no references to the lighthouse
keeper. Ball was seventy-five years old when he died,
and in his last petition for his salary stated that on
November 19, 1773, he had completed his fortieth year
as keeper of the light, — the longest term of service in
The Story of Boston Light 91
its history. Whether he remained the actual keeper
up to the date of his death may be questioned. The
fact that he made his will just two months before he
died is significant : and further, it would seem safe to
assume that British jurisdiction over the light must have
been exercised previous to October, 1774.
If there were any period before the death of Ball and
before the lighthouse was seized by the British, when
some other person kept the light for the Province, that
person was in all probability Ball's nephew, William
Minns, for Minns seems to have assisted at the light-
house as early as 1770. If the light were maintained
by the British while they remained in control of the
harbor, the keeper was most likely a Tory or some mem-
ber of the British force.
Ball was keeper in 175 1, when the light was burned
the second time, and during his long and faithful ser-
vice was a witness to many of the improvements and
changes that have been noted. In 1739, six years after
he took charge, he petitioned the General Court to be
appointed the established pilot of the harbor, or at least
have the preference over all other persons, reciting in his
petition that he had so acquainted himself with the harbor
that he was able to take in the largest vessels ; that he
had two young men with him whom he had trained to
be capable pilots, and that there were always two well-
fitted boats at the lighthouse. He further set out that
he piloted vessels in the winter time and charged no
92 The Story of Boston Light
more than in the summer season, and that he had fre-
quently been obliged to go on board vessels infected
with the small-pox, to pilot them to the Province Hos-
pital. Owing to the dangers which he thus ran he
thought that he was " in fome meafure Entitled to the
more eafy & profitable part of pilotage in the fummer
feafon " ; but stated that in the summer time small
craft would go out into the bay a considerable distance
and, unfairly, as he thought, take the pilotage business
away from him. In an earlier petition Capt. Hayes
had made a similar complaint, explaining that during
the summer almost every fisherman or boatman would
act as pilot, to his detriment.
The House of Representatives was disposed to accede
to Ball's request, but the Council amended the Act
passed below by directing the petitioner to bring in a
bill, and Ball apparently did not see fit to call the matter
up again, or at least to ask to be made the exclusive
pilot of the harbor.*
* The order of the House appointed Ball the " established " pilot of
the harbor of Boston for three years, fixed a maximum for his charges,
and made elaborate provision in his behalf. He was to keep two well-
fitted boats and distinguish them from all others "by having them
Painted white down to the Wale." In addition the boat plying "in the
Bay " was to fly " a broad blew Vane " at the mast head and the boat
plying in the harbor " a broad red Vane." Any person presuming to
imitate these distinguishing features was made liable to a fine of £^, to
be recovered by Ball for his own use, and if he, or his agent, went on
board a vessel before she got by the lighthouse and found another per-
son in charge of her as pilot. Ball could claim half the fees.
The Story of Boston Light 93
Ball was not given a fixed salary like his predecessors,
with the result that at the end of every year he peti-
tioned the Legislature for an allowance for his services
and for his disbursements on account of the light. He
was first allowed for services the sum of ;i^i20. In
1741 his allowance was ;^I30 "old tenor." The next
year we find it £,^2 : 10, doubtless, though not so
stated, because payable in the " new tenor " bills of
1737, which the Government valued at the rate of one
new for three of the old and which, it is said, the people
passed at the rate of one for four. But whatever the
currency, and notwithstanding a subsequent increase of
ten pounds, the allowance was not satisfactory, and in
1747 Ball informed the Court that his pay was "not
Equivalent to his time, care and trouble in Attending
the Light," stating that while the light constantly re-
required two persons, he attended it alone " with his
Servant or Negro." * This devotion to his duty, he
declared, prevented him from pursuing any other busi-
ness which could be made more advantageous to himself
and his family. And he asserted that his complaint
was just, " Inafmuch as the Price of all the Neceffarys
of Life are now vaftly raifed, and the Bills of Credit
greatly Depreciated," — a note which has a familiar
sound to-day. That Ball was then not alone in his
trouble appears from a vote of the Court in March,
* In the inventory of Ball's estate is the item : " i negro man Jack
;^6 . 13 . 4."
94 The Story of Boston Light
1748, "Jlrongly recommending to the feveral Churches
and Congregations within this Province to make an hon-
ourable provifion for the Support of their Minifters pro-
portionate to the great Rife of the Neceffaries of Life
fmce their fettlement ; " and reference to the " dearness
of Provisions " was made when the Court increased
the Captain's salary, as keeper, twenty-four years
earlier.
As a result of his petition Ball's allowance was raised
to ;^57 : 10, but this he did not think enough, and in
successive petitions stated that he could not help setting
forth the insufficiency of the amount allowed him, refer-
ing, as before, to " the dear price of all neceffarys
of Life," the hardships and risks he was obliged to
undergo in the winter time, and the small amount he
was able to realize in his capacity as pilot. By this
persistency he was allowed £,6^^ for his services in 1748,
and ;^75 in 1749, in which year the Governor sent a
message to the House with Ball's memorial, urging the
Court "to do fomething for the Relief of fo good &
ufeful an officer & fo prevent his quitting a Bufmefs he
is fo well fitted for." His pay then dropped to £/\o, but
by 1756 was raised to £60, at which figure it seems to
have remained. Ball was taxed in Hull, and had some
difficulty with the towns-people about the assessment,
his position being, apparently, that he was a non-resi-
dent. December 8, 1766, the town voted to discharge
him on his proposal to pay ^^5 for each of the four
TJu Story of Bosto7t Light 95
previous years, and the same sum annually thereafter
so long as he continued to keep the lighthouse. But
some ill-feeling seemed to remain. A few years later a
lot of Ball's fire-wood was carried off by a storm and
landed in Hull ; he sent a man (William Minns) after it,
who was informed that if he would swear that he owned
the wood he should have what the law allowed, and Ball
advised the Court that not being able to recover any of
it he was obliged to buy more.
In the first period of the existence of the light the
work of the keepers was multifarious. They do not
seem to have been expected to devote all their time to
the light, and were allowed to eke out their incomes by
engaging as pilots as has been shown. What is more,
they appear to have regarded the title of "pilot " as a
greater distinction than that of "keeper." *
On occasions they were called upon for additional
service. Reference has been made to the use of the
lighthouse island as a signal station in times of public
danger : whether the keepers had any extra help for this
purpose we do not know. The traveller Bennett would
have us believe that there was always a " guard " at
the island, but this may be doubted if by "guard " is
meant more than the keeper and his assistants. It
is probable that most of this extra work fell upon the
keepers. Sometimes they were paid for it, sometimes
* In his will Ball describes himself as " of Boston — pilot " without
in any way refering to the lighthouse.
96 The Story of Boston Light
not. Thus in 1722, at the time of the small-pox scare
in Boston, Captain Hayes complained of the extraordi-
nary expense and trouble he had been put to in giving
notice to vessels from France and other places infected
with the plague, and requiring them to perform quaran-
tine. For this he was allowed twenty pounds. A num-
ber of years later he was granted a like amount because
of time spent in obedience to an order of the Council
looking out for " his Excellencey's coming in," whereby
he lost the opportunity of piloting vessels.
July 4, 1728, Hayes was ordered to keep a watch for
Henry Phillips, the murderer of Benjamin Woodbridge.
Phillips had killed Woodbridge the evening before in a
duel on the Common. It was the first duel in Boston
and made a great commotion, the principals being young
men of prominent families. All of these commissions
were given to the second keeper, but Ball had his extra
duties, as his petitions indicate.
When the light was rebuilt after the Revolution, the
keeper was Thomas Knox,* and this leads us to take up
again the story of the structure.
* Thomas Knox was the son of Adam and Martha (King) Knox,
his mother being a daughter of Robert Ball's first wife, Mrs. Martha
King. The relations between Ball and the young people seem to have
been very close. He remembered Martha Knox in his will, referring
to her as his daughter-in-law, and in a letter written in 1794, Thomas
Knox calls Ball his grandfather. Mrs. Martha Ball died May 30, 1765,
and on October loth Ball married Mary Webber of Cambridge, who
survived him. Ball lies buried at Copp's Hill along with his wife
Martha.
The Story of Boston Light 97
Upon the evacuation of Boston by the British in March,
1776, all of the enemy's vessels did not immediately
leave the harbor, but lay near the Castle. Then, pes-
tered by the Continentals from the neighboring heights
and islands, they fell down to Nantasket Roads, where
they remained until June. June 13, companies of men
set out from Boston and the neighboring towns, and
landing upon Long Island and Nantasket Hill com-
manding the Roads, they planted cannon and opened
fire on the fleet.* Whereupon the British set sail and
left the harbor for good, but on the way they stopped at
the Brewsters and fired a train, which blew up the light-
house. The British were not so particular on the
occasion of this their final farewell to Boston but that
they left some " Stores and Implements," belonging to
the lighthouse, in a serviceable condition. A guard was
placed over them by the military the very day the
British sailed, and the Council promptly took measures
to secure them for the use of the State. September 3,
1776, the Council gave directions to the Commissary
General, "As the old top of the Light Houfe is rendered
unfit to be ufed for that purpofe in future, to
deliver fo much of it to the committee for fortyfying the
harbour of Bofton as they Ihall need to Supply the Can-
non with Ladles." This was the end of the original
* Consisting, according to Deacon Tudor, of eight ships, two snows
two brigs and a schooner.
98 The Story of Boston Light
lighthouse after a life of sixty years. " Ladle " is
defined in the dictionaries as " an instrument for draw-
ing a charge from a cannon."
During the remaining years of the Revolution and
for a year or two thereafter no light seems to have been
maintained at the entrance of Boston harbor. And for
a period of seven or eight years after the light was
destroyed by the British, the Little Brewster was bare
of a lighthouse building. In 1780 the committee on
fortifications was engaged in fixing a beacon " upon the
fpit of fand near the Place where the late Light Houfe
flood," it having been represented to the Court in the
previous December that the absence of such a beacon
made the entrance of the harbor dangerous to mariners.
The order issued called for the erection of a beacon " to
anfwer the purpofes for wch. the former was Ere6ted."
This structure, without doubt, was merely a nautical
beacon, such as has been described, and was erected
at about the site of the present Bug Light, at the
end of the long sand-bar running westerly from the
Great Brewster, for a beacon of the kind mentioned is
shown at this spot on the State plan of the town of
Hull, made in 1795, and the Des Barres Map of the
harbor twenty years earlier indicates one at the same
place.
It seems, indeed, that a beacon had existed there for
a long time, for in 1755 the committee upon repairs of
the Castle was directed to erect a beacon " on the Spit
The Story of Boston Light 99
of Sand near the Light-houfe, in the room of that which
was carried away by the late Storm." In its turn the
beacon of 1780 was swept away and taken up afloat in
Braintree Bay, " the pole and wheels in good order."
This happened during the storm of November, 1789,
the same that destroyed the structure on Beacon Hill in
Boston, so that, as Wheildon says, "there was nothing
of it thereafter but the name."
In June, 1783, however, a committee of the Marine
Society of Boston addressed a Memorial to the Senate
and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth, on
the subject of the increase in trade, which "returning
Peace with all its great concomitant Advantages " would
probably bring to the State, declaring that the "Two
principal Requifites for the Accomplifhment of this
mofl defirable Purpofe are the Ereftion of judicioufly
difpofed Light-Houfes & the Eftablifhment of a regular
Ikillful Syftem of Pilotage. The Loffes occafioned by
the egregious Defe6l in both during the Continuance of
the late War," being, the committee said, "too diftreff-
ine: and too recent to demand a recital." This resulted
in the appointment of committees to consider the expe-
diency of erecting lighthouses on the coasts of the State,
and the passage of an Act in July, 1783, wherein Rich-
ard Devens, Esq., Commissary General of the Common-
wealth, was directed to build a lighthouse as soon as
possible on the island " at the Entrance of Bofton
Harbor " where the old house stood, " to be nearly of the
100 The Story of Boston Light
fame dimenjions of the former Light-houfey He was
also directed to repair the wharves at the island and
construct such other buildings as were necessary. To
do all this he was granted the sum of ;£i,ooo. Septem-
ber 23 Devens advised the Court that he had found the
grant so inadequate he was forced to confine his atten-
tion to the lighthouse, which was about three-quarters
done, but that in order to accomplish even this much he
had '* been Obliged to borrow considerable sums of money
on his own private Creditt." And he asked the Court
"to look into the business" and instruct him about it.
The Court accordingly appointed a committee which
visited the light and reported that the work intrusted to
the Commissary General had been conducted " with wis-
dom and fidelity." The report then continues: "That
it is supposed the whole expense may amount to about
Five thousand pounds, That three fourths of the work
is now done, and if s^ Devens can be supplied with Four
hundred and fifty pounds, he will be able so far to com-
pleat the bussines, as to put the work into a state of
security and to have a Light, before the approaching
Winter."* The £^^0 was granted October i8th, and
the light seems to have been ready for use within a
couple of months, for the pay of the keeper began
December 5, 1783. Devens paid bills as late as
* In the archives of the Bureau of Light-Houses is a list of those
houses ceded by the Stales to the Federal Government, in which the
cost of Boston Light, "when built," is given as ^19,881.44.
The Story of Boston Light loi
August, 1784, for work done on the island, but just
how much the new structure cost is uncertain.
An engraving of the new lighthouse, showing a south-
west view, appears as the frontispiece of the "Massa-
chusetts Magazine" for February, 1789. In the same
number is the article by Thomas Knox, the keeper, but
who signs himself as " Branch Pilot for the Port of
Boston," to which reference has been made. From
this we learn that the structure was sixty feet high, or
seventy-five including the lantern, which was octagonal
in shape and twenty-five feet in circumference. The
tower was conical with a circumference of seventy-five
feet at the base and forty-five at the top, and having
walls diminishing in thickness from seven and one-half
feet at the bottom to two and one-half feet underneath
the lantern. Like the old structure, the new one was
built of stone.*
At the time when Knox wrote, the lighthouse was
under the control of the Governor and Council, and
was maintained by what was called "light-money," a
tax of "one shilling per ton on all foreign vessels
entrance, and two pence half penny on American ves-
sels clearance." In a note to the article it is said :
" There is a Cannon at the Light House to be fired to
* Benjamin Lincoln says (1804) "of the best hewn stone," but a
more detailed report by W. L. Dearborn, in 1857, describes the material
as " the first ten feet .... of rubble-stone, the remainder of split-granite
in courses of 12" or 14" rise." And the tower is generally referred to in
the reports upon it as " rough stone " or " rubble masonry."
102 The Story of Boston Light
answer any Signal Gun in thick weather," and the 1838
edition of Bowen's " Picture of Boston " indicates that a
gun was used as late as that date. Indeed it seems
probable that the fog signal at the light continued to be
a gun for a still longer period, for it was not until 185 i
or '52 that the first fog-bell was installed on the island,
though one had been recommended at least ten years
before. In 1869 the old bell machinery was removed
and its place supplied by a set of Stevens' striking
apparatus. Three years later a DaboU fog-trumpet was
set up at the light, and this was the regular fog signal
until a first class siren was put in operation in 1887.
June 10, 1790, Boston Light and the island on which
it stands together with the other lighthouses and light-
house sites belonging to the Commonwealth, were ceded
to the United States, and passed out of the jurisdiction
of the State.*
* There were but twelve other lighthouses in the United States at
the time when the Federal Government took over Boston Light, viz. :
CEDED
Cape Henlopen, Del. (the property of Penn.) Sept., 1789.
Sandy Hook, N. J. (the property of N. Y.) Feb. 3, 1790.
Portland Head, Me. (the property of Mass.) June 10, 1790.
Plum Island, Mass.
June 10,
1790.
Thatcher's Island, Mass.
June ID,
1790.
Plymouth, Mass.
June 10,
1790.
Nantucket, Mass. (also Beacon)
June 10,
1790.
Newcastle Island, N. H.
Feb. 14,
1791-
New London, Conn.
Oct.
1791.
Conanicut Island, R. I.
?
Middle Bay Island, So. Car.
1791-
Tybee, Ga.
1791-
The Story of Boston Light 103
Since the light has been in the possession of the
Federal Government, repairs and changes have been
made from time to time, and from a petition of the
Marine Society in 181 5, to have the Hghthouse "lighted
during the winter months," it may be inferred that the
operation of the light was suspended as a defensive
measure, during the course of the war with Great
Britain. But as compared with the original structure,
that built in 1783 has enjoyed a quiet and uneventful
career,* and except as altered and repaired, it stands
as it was erected more than one hundred and twenty-
five years ago.
Writing in 1843, Capt. Winslow Lewis, at one time
connected with the Lighthouse Establishment, said : " To
this day there is not one stone in the whole tower
moved from the position it was first laid in."
In June, 1809, the superintendent, Henry Dearborn,
reported three perpendicular cracks in the walls of the
tower, from half an inch to an inch and a half in width,
extending from ten or twelve feet above the base to
within a few feet of the top. These cracks had opened
so much during the previous winter that it was feared
the building would become dangerous unless steps were
taken to check further cracking, and resort was had
* A correspondent of the " Boston Post," writing from Hull in 1845,
tells as a good joke that " there was recently a Spanish cigar factory
on the island," in which " the operatives were young girls from Boston."
I04 The Story of Boston Light
once more to iron bands.* This time but six hoops
were used and without a wooden casing.
The device was successful, and there seems to have
been no serious question about its safety until 1857,
when the presence of cracks in the tower was attributed
to " original bad construction " which had been counter-
acted by "temporary expedients," and the belief was
expressed that it would have to be rebuilt " at no distant
day." This however was not done, but in 1859 it was
"completely renovated," the tower "lined with brick,"
and raised until it measured eighty feet above the
ground, and a new keeper's dwelling erected. And so
the light remained until 1886, when "a large bulge of
the outer ring of rubble masonry was removed from the
tower and replaced by brick masonry, carefully banded
to the hearting."
The original stairway was of wood, and so frequently
in need of repair as to be an annoyance to the Govern-
ment. In 1844 ^ contract was made with the South
Boston Iron Company to equip the lighthouse with a
cast-iron circular stair-case having a centre iron pipe and
a wrought-iron railing. The contract also called for a
cast-iron deck and scuttle, iron window frames, a large
outside door of iron, and an inside door with frame and
* Carter's pilot said he helped to hoop the tower " forty-eight years
ago." A Summer Cruise on the Coast of New England (made in 1858),
by Robert Carter, p. 24.
The Story of Boston Light 105
large arch-piece over it, — all for the price of $1,500.
Some of this work can still be seen.
No story of Boston Light would be complete without
some reference to methods of illumination. Indeed this
topic furnishes perhaps the most interesting chapter in
the whole history of lighthouse construction. Until
nearly the close of the eighteenth century the light-
houses of Great Britain, and of Continental Europe also,
were lighted by means of a coal or wood fire, exposed in
open braziers on their summits, or by candles enclosed
in lanterns.
We find it stated in one account that so late as the
year 1 8 1 1 the famous Eddystone Light was illumi-
nated by twenty-four wax candles, and that the Lizard
Lighthouse, one of the most important in England, dis-
played a coal fire in 18 12. Neither of these methods
seems to have been employed in America. At least there
is no record of a brazier at Boston Light, and although
it is said by Mr. Arnold Burgess Johnson, in his admira-
ble monograph on "The Modern Light-House Service,"
that the light "was first lighted by tallow candles," we
have not been able to substantiate the statement. The
light on Beacon Island was first " kindled," to borrow
the expression in the " Boston News Letter," September
14, 1 7 16. November 27 of the same year the Com-
missioner of Impost was directed by the General Court
to supply the keeper •* with Oyl Week & Candles for
io6 The Story of Boston Light
the maintaining the Lights," and to enter them in his
accounts. It is fair to assume that the oil and wick
were to light the lantern, and there is nothing in the
order to show that the use of oil was something new.
Perhaps both lamps and candles were used in the lan-
tern, but of this there is no evidence. Further, it will
be remembered that Capt. Hayes reasoned that the fire
in 1720 was occasioned by the lamps dropping oil on
the wood beneath, and a falling snuff igniting it. If
then candles were ever used, it must have been for but
a comparatively short time.
In September, 1717, William Payne is mentioned in
the Council Records as having " the care of altering the
Lights of the Light Houfe & what elfe is neceffary to
be done thereto." What alteration was proposed we
do not know, but Payne's expense account amounting
to ;^i92:i6:6, which was presented and allowed in
December of the same year, was " for altering the Light
Houfe," and would seem to refer to the proposal he
made to the Council in September, that the roof of
the lantern be covered with lead, to which the Council
agreed.
The lamp used was nothing more in style than the
common oil-burner of the period, without a chimney.
The wick was solid, and the oil, fish or whale oil. —
Johnson says "fish oil," which he intimates was used
in the lighthouses of the United States until " sperm
oil " was substituted about 181 2. But the term "fish
The Story of Boston Light 107
oil " embraces certain kinds of whale oil. The oil of
the " right " whale was a common illuminant at the time
Boston Light was established, and the hunt of the
" sperm-whale " began early in the eighteenth century.
With the decrease in the catch, sperm oil became too
expensive, and when the Lighthouse Board came into
existence in 1852, it immediately undertook to find a
substitute. This resulted in the use of colza, an oil
employed extensively in France and obtained from the
seed of several plants, but in particular from that of the
wild cabbage. Colza was soon followed by lard oil,
which continued to be the illuminant in American light-
houses until the item of cost once more compelled the
Government to make a change. The new substitute
was mineral oil, the present illuminant.*
The trouble with the use of these utensils for light-
house illumination was the great amount of smoke
created and the danger from fire. Some form of re-
flector may have been used with the first lamps, though
it is doubtful, and the first great improvement came
with the invention by M. Aime Argand,f of the cele-
brated lamp which now bears his name, the first really
* Johnson, "The Modem Light-House Service," pp. 53 et seq. Min-
eral oil was substituted for lard oil, and lamps for burning the former
installed in Boston Light in August, 18S2.
t A Swiss chemist bom at Geneva, 1755; died 1803. He lived in
England and made the first model of his lamp there in 1782, but he
appears to have enjoyed little profit from his great invention, which
was not successful until the effect of the addition of a glass chimney
was accidentally discovered.
lo8 The Story of Boston Light
satisfactory one that the world had known. Argand
contrived, by means of a hollow wick, to secure a double
current of air, an interior as well as an exterior draft,
and his invention was patented in 1784. His lamps
were first utilized for lighthouse illumination on the
French coast, where they were used in connection with
mirrors. Then they were taken up by the English,
and with the introduction of the Argand lamp came
glass chimneys, and the general use of reflectors.
Capt. Knox tells us that in 1789 Boston Light was
illuminated by four lamps, each containing a gallon of
oil and having four lights, "making in all sixteen lights."
These were not Argand lamps, and what range the light
then had the Captain does not say, but it was so fre-
quently complained of as to induce Gen. Benjamin
Lincoln (recently appointed by President Washington
Collector of the Port of Boston and in charge of the
lights in the district in which Boston Light was situated)
to attempt to improve it. Lincoln at once concluded
that the lack of brilliancy in the light was not due to
either the quality or quantity of the oil consumed, but
resulted from the defect common in all the lighthouses
of the period, — the want of an adequate arrangement
for ridding the lantern of smoke. The lanterns of 1790
formed a point at the top where an opening was left
through which the smoke was expected to escape. At
Boston Light this hole was covered by " an old man's
head," so-called, with an opening on one side. This
The Story of Boston Light 109
head, much like some chimney tops in use to-day,
" turned on a pivot and by the addition of a copper plate
fixed to it, it was turned by the wind so as to keep
the aperture always to leeward while it traversed well."
The trouble was that it did not always "traverse well,"
but was frequently out of order and would not turn
except " in a strong gale," with the result that the
keeper was often obliged at great risk to climb the out-
side of the lantern and turn the head by hand. Further,
the opening at the top was the only one. No attempt
was made to secure a circulation of air, and it is easy
to imagine what the conditions in the lantern must
have been when the wind blew directly into it from
above.
The General removed the "old man's head" and
covered the opening with a contrivance of copper
" made in the form of a saucer reversed," greater in
diameter than the opening, and with " small ventilators "
in it. He also place more small ventilators in the roof
of the lantern and cut some holes near the bottom.
Notwithstanding these changes the lamps continued
to smoke "in a degree": so he turned his atten-
tion to the lamp and constructed a new one which he
describes as follows* : —
The lamp, or the receiver of the oyl, is in a circular form
about three feet diameter cut into quarters, each quarter inde-
* Letter of Benj. Lincoln to the Secretary of the Treasury, in the
archives of the Bureau of Light Houses at Washington, and dated
Nov. 16, 1790.
no
The Story of Boston Light
pendent, as to retaining the oyl, of the other. Thereby they are
more safely handled, and may be repaired separately. See figure
as they {sic) the marks on the
periphery are to represent
the different weeks The
square in the middle a cav-
ity through which the air
may ascend By the open,
ings at the bottom there is
a constant accession of fresh
air which circulating through
the above represented square
and the space between the
glass and the lamps extends the blaze, and gives that, and the
smoake, a perpendicular direction, hence the light is increased
and the smoake receives a proper direction to escape
Lincoln thus set to work along correct lines, and,
whether consciously or not, adopted, in part at least, the
scheme of a lamp that Argand perfected. In addition
he claimed for his invention certain advantages which
are interesting, as showing the difficulties that stood in
the way of a good light in the earlier period of light-
house illumination. These advantages arose from the
fact that he constructed the receiver with so large a sur-
face* " that during the whole night " the oil receded from
the "blaze or top of the wick but about two inches"
* His first lamp he thought was not large enough for Boston Light,
but would do for " one of the houses on Thacher's Island," saying :
" The circumference of the lamp should be as large as may be, only
leaving a passage way between that and the glass " of the lantern.
The Story of Boston Light iii
with the result that there was " no essential odds in the
degree of light from evening to morning," and the lights
were so clustered as to keep the oil warm and thus to
avoid the " necessity of burning coals in the winter in
the lantern to prevent the oyl from chilling." This last
was a most important consideration. The item of fire-
wood " for preventing y^ Oyle from Congealing " ap-
pears frequently in Ball's expense account, and Knox
is quoted as stating that before Gen. Lincoln changed
the lamps, "he kept a charcoal fire all night in the
lantern & ufed to expend 30 Bufhels of coals in the
winter " without the results which the new lamps ef-
fected.
Despite the improvements made, a light was not
shown which was satisfactory to the men of the sea.
In 1796 Capt. Joshua Wetherle wanted to have the
lamps in Boston Light conform to his plan,* and two
years later in order to ascertain " the foundation of the
long and frequent complaints respecting the insufficiency
of the Light and especially at certain times," Lincoln
visited the place and had the lamps lighted in his
presence.
" The lantern became," he said, " in a short time full
of smoak and so suffocating that it was painful for a
* About the year 1800 a Mr. Cannington exhibited some " improved
lamps " from " the Cupola on the Top of the new State House," and a
committee of the Boston Marine Society reported that a part of their
number on board a Revenue Cutter half way between the State House
and Boston Light, " decided that the power and glare of the light far
exceeded the light from the Boston light house."
H2 The Story of Boston Light
person to remain there for any considerable time." The
same old problem remained to be solved, and other
ventilators were suggested. The " badness of the light
in the Boston Light House " being called to his atten-
tion in 1804 by "a merchant in New Bedford," Lincoln
replied that although it never had been thought " one of
the best lights," he had heard no complaint save this
one, since " some years " ago he " took out the old
lamps and replaced them by one of a different form ; "
and he referred to the keeper, Knox, in support of the
improvements, and of his conviction that " no very
material alteration " could "advantageously be made."
This was the situation when, in 1807, Capt. Winslow
Lewis* of Boston, began some experiments in the illumi-
nation of lighthouses. His first exhibition was in the
cupola of the State House, and all subsequent to that in
Boston Light. In June, 18 10, Mr. Lewis took out a
patent for a "reflecting and magnifying lantern," which
patent was unfortunately destroyed in a fire in the Patent
* He was born at Wellfleet, Cape Cod, May 11, 1770, the son of a
sea captain of the same name. He quit the sea, became interested in
lighthouse construction and illumination, and is said to have built for
the Government two hundred lighthouses. His life shows him to have
been a very active man. He was commander of the Boston Sea Fen-
cibles, organized during the War of 1812, and was taken prisoner by
the British when making a visit to one of the lighthouses in the Bay.
He owned a ropewalk at the foot of the Common, and was for several
years Port Warden of Boston. (For a notice of this ropewalk and the
Sea Fencibles see pp. 17 and 18 of this volume.) In 1829 and again
in 1836 he was an Alderman of the City, and he was President of the
Marine Society, and a prominent Freemason. He died May 20, 1850.
The Story of Boston Light 113
Office in 1836 — but the invention has been described
as consisting of "the argand lamp and a spherical
reflector with a kind of lens placed in front (known in
common parlance as a bull's eye, and used, on account
of its great thickness, to transmit light through cellar
doors, hollow pavements and ships' decks.) " The re-
flectors, we are told, *' came about as near to a true para-
boloid as did a barber's basin," and inasmuch as the lens
was "of green bottle glass, four inches thick through
the axis," the whole was said to have only made a " bad
light worse." However, the characterizations quoted
are not wholly friendly, and Lewis's apparatus must
have been some improvement over the existing one, for it
was tried in one of the lighthouses on Thatcher's Island
as an experiment, and regarded as so satisfactory that
Boston Light was fitted with it. This was in May,
181 1, and in 18 12 the Government purchased the
patent for ;g20,ooo.
Lewis's light was indorsed by the Lighthouse Super-
intendent and by several committees of the Boston
Marine Society sent to observe Boston Light. Later,
Lewis was able to show that under his system vastly
less oil was consumed than with the old lamps. This
was perhaps due to the Argand lamp, and it may be
added that that burner, when properly lighted, emits
little or no smoke.
For a period of twenty-five or thirty years thereafter
Winslow Lewis was engaged in the business of erecting
114 ^^^ Story of Boston Light
and fitting out lighthouses for the United States in
accordance with this invention, and until 1839 little or
no change was made in the American method, except to
discard the bull's eye lens. Meanwhile a Frenchman,
Augustin Fresnel,* had made the second great step
toward a perfect light, — perhaps the greatest of all
advances, — the use of lenses and prisms for the re-
fraction of the light, instead of its reflection by polished
metallic surfaces. Fresnel's improvement was invented
in 1822 ; but the adoption of his apparatus — the diop-
tric, so-called — came about very slowly in this country.
When the State lighthouses came into the possession
of the Federal Government they were placed under the
control of the Treasury Department, and the Secretary
of the Treasury seems to have given them his personal
attention until 1820, except for two periods when the
Commissioner of the Revenue had charge. In 1820 the
duty of superintendence devolved upon the Fifth Auditor
of the Treasury, Mr. Stephen Pleasanton, who remained
at the head of the establishment until 1852. During his
term the number of lights was so largely increased that
* Augustin Jean Fresnel was born at Broglie, France, May 10, 1788,
and died near Paris July 14, 1827. He began researches in optics
about 1814, and in 1819 received the prize of the "Academie des
Sciences " for a memoir on diffraction. The same year he was made
a Lighthouse Commissioner; member of the Academy 1823, and of
the Royal Society of London 1825. During his last illness the Royal
Society conferred upon him the Rumford medal. But his great labors
in the cause of optical science received during his life-time scant public
recognition.
The Story of Boston Light 115
it was difficult for one man to give them the attention
demanded, and about 1838 complaints began to be made
as to the inefficiency of the service. The result was
that Congress provided for the importation of two sets
of the most improved kinds of illuminating apparatus.
These were to be set up and tested, and, at the same
time, naval officers were detailed to examine and report
on the existing apparatus and the lighthouses that con-
tained them.*
The report of Lieut. Edward W. Carpenter describes
that on Little Brewster as " a revolving light, consisting
of 14 argand lamps, with parabolic reflectors arranged
in equal numbers on opposite sides of an oblong-square,"
the lamps being " of about the volume of similar lamps
in family use." This was in November, 1838, the year
in which the first lighthouse " List " was published,
and the diameter of the reflectors in Boston Light is
there given as sixteen inches. Because of the size of
the iron frames of the lanterns, the fact that many were
painted black inside and that the glass was generally
full of blisters and waves, Lieut. Carpenter stated that
the lights in the district he examined had " no chance of
presenting a vivid and striking appearance." Neverthe-
less he thought that Boston Light " must be seen full
20 miles." The List says that it was twenty-two miles,
and Winslow Lewis claimed its range to be thirty.
* Johnson, as cited, pp. 14 et seq.
il6 The Story of Boston Light
Carpenter proposed that the lanterns thereafter be
made of copper with their principal strength, as well
as the railing, on the land side, so as to interfere as
little as possible with the seaward sweep of the light ;
and he further suggested that the lanterns inside be
plated with silver so as to render them " reflective."
This scheme was adopted in part at Boston, for of the
two sets of apparatus provided for by Congress, one, a
lenticular (Fresnel) double light, was tried at Neversink,
N. J.; the other, consisting of English reflectors, twenty-
one inches in diameter, was installed in Boston in 1839,
and, preparatory to receiving it an absolutely new lan-
tern of " bronze " was constructed. This was designed by
Mr. I. W. P. Lewis, an engineer, and as described by
him in 1842 it had sixteen sides against eight in the old
lantern, with panes of plate glass two by three feet in
place of the common glass of the previous period, meas-
uring only ten by twelve inches.
Boston Light was, therefore, at this time, as twenty-
eight years before, one of the first of the country to be
fitted with improved apparatus, though the Fresnel type
which finally became the standard was first installed at
Neversink. Lewis said that with the English reflectors
the light could be " seen in clear weather thirteen and
three-fourths miles with perfect distinctness." But the
lighthouse Lists continued to say twenty-two miles
until the year 1848, at which time the distance crept
up to twenty-five miles.
The Story of Boston Light 117
In 1842 the Secretary of the Treasury, his attention
arrested by the increase of lighthouse expenditures,
determined to have a further examination made of the
lighthouses on the coasts of Maine and Massachusetts.
This work he intrusted to the same engineer, under
instructions not only to investigate and report on the
existing condition of the lights, but to make recommen-
dations for a new system. This gentleman, curiously
enough a nephew of Winslow Lewis,* made an ex-
haustive report,! in which he severely criticised the con-
tract system under which the lighthouses had been con-
structed, and the condition of the houses he examined,
going so far as to accuse his uncle of copying his
patented invention of 18 10 from a lighthouse on the
coast of Ireland, and treating the invention as of little
worth. The report drew a spirited reply from the
uncle, printed in a pamphlet of sixty pages, | in which
he denied the charges of his nephew, and his claim of
responsibility for the then recent improvements at Bos-
ton Light. Winslow Lewis supported his reply with
many affidavits and documents, and they give us much
interesting information about his own work. The out-
come of the controversy was further Congressional
* The nephew's full name was Isaiah William Penn Lewis, bom
June 15, 1808, died Oct. 18, 1855. He was a son of Winslow Le\\-is's
younger brother, Isaiah, who died at sea April 20, 1822. For a geneal-
ogy of the Lewis family, see N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., XVII : p. 162.
t Document, Sen 422, No. 183, 27th Congress, 3rd Session.
X A Review of the Report of I. W. P. Lewis, etc., Boston, 1843.
Il8 The Story of Boston Light
investigation, ending with the establishment of the
Lighthouse Board in 1852.
Under the Act establishing the Board no person con-
nected with the lighthouse service could be interested
in furnishing lighthouse supplies, or in any contract
or method for constructing or illuminating the light-
houses of the country.
Boston Light was refitted in 1849, ^^^^ again in 1856,
and finally in 1859 it was provided with illuminating
apparatus of the Fresnel type.* This was the year
when the tower was raised and the structure generally
renovated. The new apparatus presented a very dif-
ferent appearance from the old, for in place of fourteen
separate lamps the Fresnel light substituted "a single
central lamp-flame proceeding from concentric wicks,
varying in number from one to five." Around this
was arranged the lens, made in France, consisting of
rings of glass, " so shaped and placed as to throw out
in a horizontal direction all the light received upon
them." t
* Mr. John H. Sheppard, in N. E. Hist. Gen. Reg., XVII : 165
(1863), gives the credit for the introduction of the system into this
country to I. W. P. Lewis, saying : " Isaiah W. P. Lewis went to France
on this account, spent two years there, became intimate with Fresnel,
.... and after much newspaper discussion, opposition in high places,
and frequent discouragement, succeeded in introducing it." As Fres-
nel died when I. W. P. Lewis was only nineteen, Sheppard's story of
their intimacy may be taken for what it is worth.
t See Edward Bissell Hunt, " Light-House Construction and Illum-
ination," Boston, 1857, at p. 14.
The Story of Boston Light 119
Previously Boston Light had been rated as a light of
the first class, but with the installation of the Fresnel
apparatus it was designated and is still known as a
" second order " light, this rating being determined by
the inside diameter of the lens.*
The Fresnel lamp was lighted December 20, 1859,
and, in the opinion of the district superintendent " looked
finely." The pilots of Boston, however, did not agree
with him, and on the nth of the next month petitioned
the Board to replace the old reflectors. The protest
was unavailing, and a return has never been made to
the old system. The distance that the light is visible
has changed very little. In 1856 it could be seen six-
teen miles, which is about the range of the light to-day,
reckoned in nautical miles.
To the layman the distinctive feature of the light in
Boston Lighthouse is that it revolves, and the light has
been a revolving one for a long time. The records of
the Light House Bureau show that revolving machinery
was placed in Boston Light on July 5, 181 1, that is,
about two months after the time when Capt, Winslow
Lewis says he fitted the lighthouse with his new lamps
and reflectors ; and this was the first revolving machin-
ery used on the island. Under the older system of
illumination a revolving light possessed one decided ad-
vantage, aside from the fact that it was easily distin-
* The only " first order" light in Boston Bay is in the new lighthouse
on the Graves. " Minot's," like Boston Light is of the second order.
I20 The Story of Boston Light
guishable from other lights, namely, that fewer lamps
were required to produce a light of relatively the same
brilliancy as a fixed light. Other lights than Boston
were made to revolve in those early days, but it is not
probable that the light in the original structure on the
Little Brewster revolved, else some reference to the fact
would be found in the documents upon the lighthouse.
And if there was a revolving light there when Benjamin
Lincoln was struggling to overcome the defects in the
lantern, he would most likely have mentioned it in his
correspondence. Cape Cod Light was established in
1798, and in September of the previous year Gen. Lin-
coln informed the Marine Society* that it was " to be
distinguished from the Light House in Boston by hav-
ing an eclipser regularly passing round it."
This indicates that Boston Light was then a steady
light, and not until the seventh edition was published in
1 81 2 does the "American Coast Pilot" show that it
was anything else. In that edition the light is described
in a foot-note, the important second sentence of which
does not appear in the earlier editions, viz :
Boston Light-House stands on a small island on the north en-
trance of the channel (Point Alderton and Nantucket [sic, Nan-
tasket] heights being on the south) and is about 65 feet high. It
contains a revolving light, on Lewis' improved plan, and will
* Nathaniel Spooner, " Gleanings from the Records of the Boston
Marine Society," p. 46, for which reference I have to thank Mr. John W
Farwell of the Bostonian Society.
The Story of Boston Light 121
appear brilliant forty seconds, and be obscured twenty seconds,
alternately. Two huts are erected here with accommodations for
shipwrecked seamen. A cannon is lodged and mounted at the
Light-House to answer signals.
The " improved plan " doubtless referred to Lewis's
lamps.
Winslow Lewis reported to Albert Gallatin in 181 1
that Boston Light had " been fitted on the plan ....
for the revolving light " which he had submitted to the
Secretary the previous winter. There seems to be no
reason to doubt that Lewis installed it, but by whom
the first revolving machinery was made is not so
clear.
From the Report of Lieut. Carpenter we learn that
in 1838 the apparatus in Boston Light was "turned by
common clock work," the revolution requiring three and
one-half minutes, " during which the combined light of
seven lamps is seen twice from each point of the com-
pass." It is a tradition in the Willard family that
Simon Willard, Sr., made revolving machinery for some
lighthouse. There were a number of Willards, all fa-
mous as clock-makers in their day, and having places of
business in or near Boston. It is quite probable, there-
fore, that machinery for Boston Light was made by
some of them, and if the revolving machinery of 181 1
were made by a Willard, that Willard was most likely
the elder Simon, who was an inventor as well as a
clock-maker.
122 The Story of Boston Light
In October, 1828, the Superintendent of Lights for
the district of Massachusetts was authorized to pro-
cure an entirely new set of machinery for revolving
Boston Light and "to accept the offer of Mr, Willard
to supply it, on his improved plan, for two hundred
and thirty dollars, employing him also to repair the old
machinery." This Mr. Willard was either Simon or his
son Benjamin F., but the order does not tell us which,
or what improvement had been effected. In 1839, how-
ever, the same Benjamin F. Willard took out a patent
for what he called "a Revolving Flashing Light," the
distinctive feature of the invention being a shade of tin
or other bright metal which was made to revolve rapidly
in front of the lamps as they turned, thus causing the
lights " to appear and disappear in quick succession of
sudden flashes." This may have been the "improved
plan" of 1828, but it is doubtful, and there is a question
also when, if ever, Benjamin F. Willard installed new
machinery in Boston Lighthouse. Yet Mr. Z. A. Wil-
lard, grandson of Simon, Sr., and now living in Boston,
remembers a set of revolving apparatus designed for
Boston Light and made by Benjamin at his brother's
(Simon, Jr.) place in Roxbury some time in the early
thirties.*
* One of the lighthouses at Ipswich erected in 1837 was fitted with
machinery " made at the old establishment of Simon Willard at Rox-
bury," if the statement of Lott Pool, printed in Winslow Lewis's " Re-
view," is correct.
The Story of Boston Light 123
This machine was provided with a shield or "eclipser"
which rotated around the lamps, and it is evident that
some change affecting the revolution of the light was
Benjamin F. Willard's "Improvement for Revolving Lights
FOR Light-Houses," 1839, from the Records of the
United States Patent Office.
made in the period from 1811 to 1838, when we com-
pare the time of revolution as stated in the Coast Pilot
and in Lieut. Carpenter's report.
In 1842 Mr. I. W. P. Lewis wrote that the "machine
of rotation " at Boston Light was " enclosed in a glazed
124 The Story of Bostott Light
case to protect it from dust and moisture .... the pul-
leys made with great nicety to diminish friction." The
revolution of the light at that time took three minutes,
during which there were " two bright periods and two
eclipses." By 1854 the time of revolution was reduced
to a minute and a half, and at present the light is de-
scribed as '• flashing white every thirty seconds."
It now remains for us to complete the list of light-
house keepers. Thomas Knox was appointed keeper
Nov. 28, 1783, and held the position until 181 1, serving
first the State and after 1790, the nation. Knox was
succeeded by Jonathan Bruce, who, according to an
affidavit made by him and printed in Winslow Lewis's
"Review," "was keeper of Boston Hght house from the
time it was fitted up by Winslow Lewis with patent
lamps and reflectors in i8ii until 1834." But the
records of the Light House Bureau show that Bruce
was succeeded by David Tower, of Cohasset, September
II, 1833. Tower kept the light until his death in 1844,
and the keepers following him, to date, are given in the
list appended to this paper.
In 1785 the State allowed Knox the sum of ;^I20 for
himself and two assistants : what the Federal Govern-
ment granted him does not appear. But about 1794
some reduction of his salary took place, and he wrote
a letter to Benjamin Lincoln in which he raised the old
question of pilotage. It seems that when Knox was
appointed keeper his two brothers were made pilots with
The Story of Boston Light 125
him, with authority to add as many others as the needs
of the harbor required. This state of affairs continued
until the United States took over the hghthouse, when
Knox declared that by accepting a commission from the
President as keeper he lost the friendship of Gov. Han-
cock, who gave the office of " branch pilot " to another.
The result was that while the whole pilotage business
was no longer under his direction Knox had to retain in
his employ nearly as many pilots as formerly, in order
to attend vessels "in the inclement seasons." In 1838,
Lieut. Carpenter reported that the keeper was permitted
to pilot vessels and had realized 1^150 a year from the
business ; but that it frequently took him away from
the light at night. The Lieutenant then very perti-
nently inquired, "whether it would not be better to
remove all complaint of inadequacy of salary as made by
this keeper and prohibit by law, all light-house keepers
from engaging in any pursuit calculated to absent them
from home at the time they are required to prepare, to
light and to attend their lights." *
The salary of the keeper of Boston Light in 1849
was $400. Beginning about 1861 the keeper has regu-
larly been provided with two assistants. They now de-
vote all of their attention to the light while on duty,
but each in turn has a stated period of shore leave, and
* In 1829 the Marine Society recommended the keeper, Jonathan
Bruce, as " competent to take charge of any vessel as a pilot drawing
from 7 to 16 feet water."
126 The Story of Boston Light
the Government pays, at present, the principal keeper
$74.30 a month, his first assistant $54.30 for the same
period, and the second assistant 1^49.30. Included in
these amounts is a ration allowance of $9.30 each, fig-
ured at the daily rate of thirty cents for a month of
thirty-one days.
Boston Light is still a commanding object at the
entrance of the Harbor, though it is not so prominent a
feature of the landscape as it once was, for its pre-emin-
ence is now disputed by the new and more powerful
light on the Graves. Its importance to mariners has
been lessened by the opening of the new channel in
Broad Sound ; but its distinction as the oldest light in
the country, and its history, are possessions that can
never be taken away.
NOTE.
THE KEEPERS OF BOSTON LIGHT
From the Time it went into Operation unto the
Present Day.
George Worthylake Sept. 14,1716 — Nov. 3,1718
(When he was drowned.)
Robert Saunders Nov. 6, 1718 — Nov. 8(?), 1718
(Temporary keeper.)
John Hayes Nov. 8, 1 7 1 8 — Nov. 8, 1 733
(Appointment dated Nov. 18, 171 8, received
pay from Nov. 8.)
Robert Ball Nov. 8, 1 733 — , 1 774
(Petitioned in February, 1774, for pay of year
ending Nov. ig, 1773, ^i^d Oct. 10, 1774.)
(Perhaps for a time, William
Minns) ,1774 — June 13,1776
(When Lighthouse was blown up by the British.)
New Lighthouse built 1783.
Thomas Knox Nov. 28, 1783 — , 1 8 1 1
(June 10, 1790, lighthouse was ceded^' to the
United States.)
128 Note
Jonathan Bruce , 1811 — ,1833
David Tower Sept. 1 1, 1833 — Oct. 8, 1844
(The date of his death).
Joshua Snow Oct. 2g(?),i844 — Dec. 30, 1844
Tobias Cook Dec. 30, 1844 — Oct. 2, 1 849
William Long Oct. 2,1849 — Sept. 16,1851
Zebedee Small Sept. 16,1851 — June 2,1853
Hugh Douglass June 2, 1853 — April 24, 1856
Moses Barrett April 24, 1 856 — Nov. 20, 1 862
Charles E. Blair Nov. 20, 1 862 — July 1 8, 1 864
Thomas Bates July 1 8, 1 864 — April 6, 1 893
(The date of his death.)
Alfred Williams April 6, 1 893 — May 3, 1 893
(First Assistant in charge.)
Albert M. Horte May 3, 1893 — May i, 1894
Henry L. Pingree May 1,1894 — Nov. 1,1909
Levi B. Clark Nov. i , 1 909 —
(The present keeper.)
THE SITE OF FANEUIL HALL
BY
WALTER KENDALL WATKINS
<§^
THE SITE OF FANEUIL HALL.
A PAPER PREPARED FOR THE BOSTONIAN SOCIETY, BY
WALTER KENDALL WATKINS.
|HE plan reproduced in the accompany-
ing plate from an original in the Bos-
tonian Society's collection, is unique
and of great interest to Bostonians.
In the earliest days of the town a
lease was granted to Valentine Hill and his associates,
of the lands around the Town or Bendall's Dock as it
was first called. A reversion was also given to James
Everell later.
At the expiration of the lease the ownership of the
town in certain buildings was agitated and actions com-
menced to dispossess tenants. During the controversies
various plans of the territory were prepared, and the
plan shown is one of several that have been preserved.
It relates to the land bordering on the south of the
Town Dock, between what is now Corn Court and
132 The Site of Faneuil Hall
Merchants Row, a part of Faneuil Hall Square. An-
ciently it was known as Market Square and still earlier,
as the Corn Market and Dock Market.
The plan shows the early shore line, which caused the
angle in the Square, and possessions of three early set-
tlers, Thomas Venner, Valentine Hill and Edward Tyng.
Of these, Venner, — best known in history as a *' Fifth
Monarchy Man," — was a wine cooper in Boston from
1644, to October, 165 1, when he sailed to England,
where on January 6, 1661, he ran a bloody riot in Lon-
don streets with his associates, and January 19, 1661,
was drawn, hanged and quartered as a leader of the
mob.
Valentine Hill was a prominent merchant and land
owner, and the plan shows part of his possessions, which
he sold to Richard Hutchinson in 1644. On this land,
between the highway and Dock, was a warehouse occu-
pied in 1732 by Thomas Palmer, a prominent merchant.
On what is now the corner of Merchants Row and
Faneuil Hall Square was the house, warehouse, brew
house and yard of Edward Tyng in the earliest days of
the town. In 1646 he sold to Henry Webb as stated
by the plan. Webb's house was on the west corner of
State and Devonshire Streets. His only daughter
Margaret married (i) Jacob Sheafe, and (2) Thomas
Thacher. A granddaughter, Elizabeth Sheafe, married
(i) Robert Gibbs, and (2) Jonathan Curwen of Salem.
This granddaughter inherited the warehouse and wharf
The Site of Fanetiil Hall 133
at the Town Dock, and in 1703 leased the brick shop
and the land behind and adjoining, and seventy-two feet
of wharf, upon the Town Dock, to Alexander Shearer
or Sherwood, as he was sometimes called, a cooper by
trade. Mrs. Elizabeth (Sheafe) Gibbs-Curwen died
August 29, 1 718, and in 1732 the warehouse and wharf
were the property of her grandson, Henry Gibbs,
brazier, of Boston.
In the winter of 1732/3, on November 28, 1732, and
February 24, 1732/3, Henry Gibbs had raised two framed
structures on this wharf. This work was done by
Gershom Flagg at a cost of seventy pounds for the
materials and labor.
March 12, 1732/3, in town meeting it was ordered, in-
asmuch as Mr. Henry Gibbs had encroached on the
town's land by erecting frames, that the selectmen shall
demolish them. This was attended to, at the next
meeting of the selectmen, and Mr. Joseph Russell,
housewright, was employed to do this work and this
he did, tendering them to Mr. Gibbs who refused them,
and they were carted by Samuel Duncan, carter, to Mr.
Russell's timber-yard.
Aggrieved by the removal of his frames Mr. Gibbs
brought suit in the Inferior Court of Common Pleas for
trespass by Joseph Russell and his assistants, John
Webber, housewright, and Duncan, the carter. A jury
of twelve gave a verdict to Mr. Gibbs and a judgment
for him of eighty pounds. The case was then appealed
134 The Site of Fanetdl Hall
to the Superior Court of Judicature. Mr. Russell and
his associates were defended by John Read, attorney
for the town, formerly Attorney-general of the Province,
who argued that the land on which the frames stood
was freehold of the inhabitants. At the August, 1733,
term of the Superior Court a jury, " indifferent " to the
case, could not be got, as they were probably all towns-
men, and it was continued to the fall term. The follow-
ing were then summoned as witnesses : — Thomas Pal-
mer, Esq., Gershom Flagg, James Cock, James Young,
Nathaniel Bird, William Pritchard, Caleb Lyman, Jr.,
Peter Cotta, Samuel Ellis and Belcher Noyes. The
majority of these testified to the labor of erecting the
frames and that Mr. Gibbs had improved the wharf for
two years past.
One of the depositions is worth giving in full, as
it refers to the wharf in dispute and also the adjoin-
ing wharf, claimed also by the town. The deponent,
Thomas Palmer, merchant, was a member of the Coun-
cil and a Judge of the Inferior Court from 171 1 till his
death in 1740. Suit was also brought against him by
the town for the wharf in front of his warehouse, shown
in the plan as Valentine Hill's Wharf.
[Endorsed] Deposition in Mk. Gibbs's Affairs.
The Depofition of Thomas Palmer of Bofton Efq'' of full
age Teftifys and Saith That having for many y's poffef 'd a
Wharfe and Shop thereon in the Occupation of W"" Pain
ja^Mcs c^z^-ey
J"
ig
'oi'ia C^ucx:,^
^^\
^
^t^
t!ruiL,
^
(^
VI
<i
^
-2
vl^
\^
m.
^OJ^tUi
^
i
^
*<
h
.Ti Uj?;'j Lf.-<i^ ^' iC-ai^ /c i^'^/u.itt^ J^li ^'' / / /.
■( ,' / I / ( / If ''/ f I'l'w
I
The Site of Fanetiil Hall 135
Join' and W"" Owen, Tayler, formerly Called & known by
the Name of the Crane houfe or Hutchinfons Crane houfe
adjoining to the Wharfe Reputed to be and belong to the
Anceft" of Mr. Henry Gibbs of Bofton Ironmong"" on the
Eaft Which Wharfe for many y"^ paft was Occupy'd by Mr.
Alex' Sherrer, Coop' and I prefume to the Day of his
Death. The Capfill of which Wharfe Ranged eaquall, w***
the Capfill of the fd Wharfe I poffefs in a ftreight line
Eaflw*^ as near as I could Guefs, whereon there was fix'd
or Built a Crane, to hoift our Goods, from Boats in the Dock
that frequented the fame, for that purpofe. Being then all
open for Boates & VefTels to come to the faid Wharfe, tho
Lately fiU'd up at the pleafure of the Town and further faith
not Thos Palmer
Nov 16 1733 Sworne by
the Dep' in Sup' Court at Bofton
Att Benja Rolfe. Cler.
Endorsed " Judge Palmers Depofition in the Town Caufe."
In the higher Court Read represented Russell or the
town, and Gibbs was represented by Robert Auchmuty,
who in this year was appointed Judge of Admiralty for
New England. Auchmuty, in his answer to the reasons
for appeal of John Read, gives the fact that many papers
that would have proved Gibbs's title were lost in the
Great Fire of 171 1, when the house of Gibbs's father
was burned.
He recited that the town vote in 1647 was that Mr.
Henry Webb enjoy the wharf purchased of Edward
1^6 The Site of Faneuil Hall
Tyng : that the deed of Edward Tyng bounded the land
on the north side by the Cove : that the Colony law of
possession for five years of 165 2- 1657 gave title as did
the Province law of 1692-1704: that it was Edward
Tyng's "proprietary" before the lease of 1641 to Valen-
tine Hill and others, who were granted the waste ground
to Edward Tyng's " proprietary " : that contrary to the
terms of the reversion, " that the passage of vessels to
and out of the Dock should not be stopped," the town
themselves had filled up the Dock, whereby the water
did not come up to Gibbs's wharf by above one hundred
feet where it used to, and Gibbs could make no other
improvement of the wharf than setting up shops on it :
that at the town meeting of June 26, 1733, the town
voted "that the selectmen be desired to treat with
Thomas Palmer and Henry Gibbs with respect to their
wharves, and receive such proposals as shall be made
by them, and make report at the next town meeting " :
and finally, that the Moderator, Mr. Elisha Cooke, told
the Town Clerk "not to record this vote as it might
be used against the town in the suit " and it was not
recorded.
Mr. Auchmuty was of the opinion that the town
wanted Mr. Gibbs's wharf to add to their Market Place,
and that it was a poor way to go about it.
While Mr. Gibbs's case was before the Courts, he,
with Judge Palmer, presented memorials to the town in
regard to the disputed property, which were read at
The Site of Faneidl Hall 137
different town meetings and a committee appointed to
prosecute Mr. Gibbs. Mr. Read and Mr., afterward
Gov. Shirley, each received a fee of three pounds to
appear as counsel.
In the Superior Court the result was a confirmation
of the verdict in the lower Court in favor of Mr. Gibbs.
In January, 1734, other suits for possession of buildings
on the west and north of the Cove or Dock were of more
interest and importance, and were prosecuted by the
town and its opponents, and Mr. Middlecot Cooke was
employed to search the record books and files of the
town for evidence, for which service he received fifteen
pounds. It was probably his labors which produced this
with other plans of the locality.
These suits were decided against the town in the
lower and higher Courts, but on an appeal to the Privy
Council in England the verdict was reversed in favor of
the town, and Mr. Gibbs probably relinquished his claim
to the wharf.
A reference to Judge Palmer's deposition shows that
the Dock had been filled in by the town previous to
1733, and this had been proposed as early as March,
1727, and in town meeting July i, 1728, the selectmen
were instructed to fill the whole south part of the Dock.
In March, 1734, a committee, of which Judge Palmer
was one, reported that the open space on the Town
Dock or Wharf was a suitable place for a market in the
middle of the town, and one was erected. In a few
138 The Site of Faneuil Hall
years it became neglected and was demolished, and had
been pulled down by 1740, when Peter Faneuil offered
to erect a market house on the site.
It may also be of interest to state that a small piece
of land on the corner of Merchants Row and Faneuil
Hall Square, measuring twenty-three feet on the Corn
Market and twenty feet on Merchants Row, was pur-
chased December, 1726, by Stephen Minot of Henry
Gibbs, to obtain an entrance to the former's warehouse.
Minot claimed it as the town's land, and part of the
street, while Gibbs claimed it as his land. It was then
deeded over to the town to remain open forever as a
highway. This " jog " in Merchants Row can be seen
at the present day by passers on that thoroughfare, and
within a short time has been disputed ground between
the city and abuttors.
In preparing this paper the writer mentioned the exist-
ence of the deed (which is not recorded in the County
Registry of Deeds, but in the town's record book of
deeds) and thus furnished a long-sought-for evidence
of the land being part of the street.
Merchants Row was widened in 1806 and 1826, when
projecting private ownerships, shown on early maps, were
removed.
INDEX
I. INDEX OF NAMES
II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS
I. INDEX OF NAMES
la cases of well-known public men the Chrisrian name is given, though
it may not always appear in the text.
Adams, Gov. Samuel 20
Addington, Isaac 48
Aernouts, Jurriaen 39-42, 52, 54, 56
Alden, John 57
Priscilla 57
Andreson, Cornelis 42, 43, 51, 52
Argand, Aime 107, 108, no
Auchmuty, Robert 135, 136
Austin, William 18
Avery, John 20, 21
Baker, Richard 51
Ball, Martha (King) 96
Mary (Webber) 96
Robert 78, 89-96, in, 127
Barre, Col. Isaac 87
Belcher, Andrew 64
Barrett, Moses 128
Bates, Thomas 128
Bennett, 76, 95
Bird, Nathaniel 134
Blair, Charles E. 128
Bodge, George M. 33
Bosworth, Benjamin 74
Nathaniel 73
Bowdoin, Gov. James 20
Bowen, Abel 102
Bradford, S. 22
Bradstreet, Dep'y-Gov. Simon 51
Bruce, Jonathan 124, 125, 128
Bullney, Capt. 89
Burgis, William 78
Byfield, Nathaniel 77
Cannington, in
Carpenter, Edward W. 115, 116,
121, 123, 125
Carter, Robert 104
Castine, Baron 40
Cazneau, William L. 18
Clark, John 64
Levi B. 128
Clarke, Thomas 51
Clough, 64
Cock, James 134
Cole, Thomas 47
Cook, Tobias 128
Cooke, Elisha 136
Middlecot 137
Coram, Eunice (Wait) 77
142
Index of Names
Coram, Thomas 76, 77
Cotta, Peter 134
Crane, Major 86
Cromwell, Oliver 36
Curwen.Elizabeth (Sheaf e)[Gibbs]
132. 133
Jonathan 132
Danforth, Thomas 51
Bankers, Jaspar 73
Davenport, Addington 64, 68
Dearborn, Henry 103
W. L. loi
De Beck, James 45
de Chambly M. 40
De Ruyter, 37
Denison, Gen. 51
Devens, Richard 99, 100
Douglass, Hugh 128
Drake, Samuel G. 20
Duncan, Samuel 133
Dunlop, Grace 16
Edmonds, 89
John H. 64
Eliot, Andrew 24
Ellis, Samuel 134
Endicott, John 58
Everell, James 131
Faneuil, Peter 138
Farwell, John W. 120
Fitch, Thomas 64
Flagg, Gershom 133, 134
Feake [Freake], John 44, 47, 48,
50.51
Fitz Hugh, 74
Fowler [Fulford], Richard 43, 52-55
Franklin, Benjamin 14, 84, 88
Fresnel, Augustin Jean 114, 116,
118
Frontenac, Count 40
Frothingham, Richard 86
Fulford, see Fowler
Gage, Gen. Thomas 84
Gallatin, Albert 121
George, John 64, 65, 67
Katherine 65
Lydia ( ) 65
Gerry, Gov. Elbridge 25
Gibbs, Elizabeth (Sheafe) 132, 133
Henry 133, 135-138
Robert 132
Glover, Habakkuk 51
Gookin, Maj. Daniel 51
Gorges, Sir Ferdinando 59
Grant, Patrick 24
Peter 43, 52, 53
Green, Samuel A. 77
Hancock, Gov. John 20, 125
Harris, Jonathan 24
Richard D. 24
Samuel D. 24
Haskins, Ralph 24
Haswell, William 85, 86
Hatch, 27, 28
Hathorne, WilHam 51
Hayes, John 81, 88-90, 92, 96, 106,
127
Head, Joseph 24
Heath, 85
Hill, Hamilton A. 77
Valentine 131, 132, 134, 136
Hilliard, 44, 47
Horte, Albert M. 128
Howell, Katherine (George) 65
Nathan 65
Hull, John 42
Hunt, Edward Bissell 118
Thomas 76
Hutchinson, Eliakim 64
Gov. Thomas 14
Index of Names
143
Hutchinson, Richard 132
Jeffries, John 24
\V. E. 24
Johnson, Arnold Burgess 105-107,
"S
Isaac 15
Lady Arabella 15
Judson, Randolph 43, 47, 52, 53
Kericane, 89
King, Martha 96
Knapton, Capt. 57
Knox, Adam 96
Martha (King) 96
Thomas 96, loi, 108, iii, 112,
124, 125, 127
Leverett, Gov. John 36, 40-42, 51,
55-56
Lewis, Isaiah 117
Isaiah William Penn 1 1 6-1 18, 123
Winslow 18, 103, 112, 113, 115,
117, 119, 121, 124
Lincoln, Benjamin loi, 108-112,
120, 124
Little, Ezekiel 13
Long, 28
John 51
William 128
Lyman, Caleb 134
Madison, Pres. James 18
Manning, George 44-47, 49
Mather, 14
Cotton 65
Lydia ( ) [George] 65
Mecom, Jane 14
Mestayer, 21
Minns, William 91, 95, 127
Minot, Stephen 138
Mitchell, Thomas 43, 52
Monroe, Pres. James 26
Morgan, Henry 48
Mosely, Samuel },■},, 48-50, 53
Munjoy, George 55
Nason, Elias 87
Neal, Daniel 75
Noyes, Belcher 134
Oliver, James 38, 73, 74
Owen, William 135
Pain, see Payne
Palmer, Thomas 132-137
Payne, William 68, 70, 83, 106, 134
Penniman, J. R. 18
Phelps, Charles Porter 24-26
Phillips, Henry 96
Lieut.-Gov. Samuel 25
Phipps, Gov. William 11
Phips, Spencer 82
Pingree, Henry L. 128
Pleasanton, Stephen 114
Pool, Lott 122
Prince, John T. 9
Pritchard, William 134
Quincy, Josiah 24
Read, John 134, 135, 137
Revere, Paul 14
Rhoade, John 39, 40, 42, 43, 47-
49. 52-57
Ricketts, John Bill 28, 29
Ridgeway, 11
Roderigo, Peter 42-46, 51, 52, 54, 55
Rolfe, Benjamin 135
Roulstone, John 23, 29
Rowson, Susanna 86, 87
Russell, Joseph 133, 134
Richard 51
Saunders, Mary 89
144
Index of Names
Saunders, Robert 88, 89, 127
Scarlett, Capt. 50
Scottow, Joshua 54
Sedgwick, Robert 36
Sewall, Judge Samuel 75
Shapleigh, Major 46, 48
Sheaf e, 19
Elizabeth 132, 133
Henry 19
Jacob 132
Margaret (Webb) 132
Shearer, Alexander 133, 135
Sheppard, John II. 118
Sherman, John 51
Sherwood, see Shearer
Shirley, Gov. William 137
Shrimpton, Samuel 47
Shurtleff, Nathaniel B. 17
Skillings, Nehemiah W. 18
Sluyter, Peter 73
Small, Zebedee 128
Smith, Jr., Fitz-Henry 63
Snow, Joshua 128
Southake, Cyprian 74
Spooner, Nathaniel 120
Steenwyck, Peter 56
Stoughton, William 51
Strong, Gov. Caleb 20
Sturgis, William 24
Sullivan, Richard 24
Sumner, Gov. Increase 20
Symonds, Samuel 51
Taller, William 64, 68
Tatnall, 21
Thacher, Margaret (Webb)
[Sheafe] 132
Thomas 132
Thaxter, Samuel 64, 68, 69
Thomas, John 43, 52
Tileston, John 12, 13
Tower, David 124, 128
Tudor, Deacon 97
Tupper, Major 86, 87
Tuthill, Zechariah 70
Tuttle, 54
Charles Wesley 34
Tyng, Edward 51, 132, 135, 136
Van Tromp, Admiral 37
Venner, Thomas 132
Vose, Major 85, 87
Wait, Eunice 77
John 77
Waldron, William 44, 48
Washington, George 27, 87, 108
Watkins, Walter Kendall 131
Webb, Henry 132, 135
Margaret 132
Webber, John 133
Mary 96
Weld, Thomas 51
West, S. H. 78
Wetherle, Joshua iii
Wheildon, William W. 99
Willard, 58
Benjamin F. 122, 123
Simon 51, 121, 122
Z. A. 122
Williams, Alfred 128
John 42, 43, 52
Moses 24
Willington, Richard 51
Wilson, John 14
Winthrop, Adam 68
Gov. John 15
Withington, Lydia 87
Woodbridge, Benjamin 96
Woodmansey, John 51
Worthylake, George 87-89, 127
Young, James 134
Youring, Edward 43, 52
II. INDEX OF PLACES AND SUBJECTS
Acadie 36, 37, 39-42, 44, 49, 52, 54,
56.57
Adewake Bay 44
Albany, N. Y. 87
Alderton's Point, see Boston Har-
bor, Point Allerton
Annapolis, N. S. 47
Argand Lamps 107, 108, no
Beacon Island 65, 68-70, 72, 75, 79,
81, 88, 105
Blackpoint, Me. 54
Blue Hill 66
Boston : — Adams House 26
Amphitheatre 27, 28
Ancient and Honorable Artillery
Company 18
Beacon on Sentry Hill 72, 74
Beacon Hill 75, 99
Beaver Tavern 54
Brattle Street Church 70
Bunch of Grapes Tavern 15
Colonnade Row 20
Common 17, 19-21, 27, 96, 112
Copp's Hill Burying Ground 21,
88, 96
Customs Pinnace 78
Exchange Coffee House 26
Faneuil Hall 131
Boston: — Federal-street Theatre
16
First Duel 96
Granary Burying Ground 13
Harris's Folly 24
Haymarket Circus 21, 23
Hay market Theatre 21. 28
Home for Indigent Boys 1 1
Hussars 23-26
Lamb Tavern 26
Light Dragoons 23, 26
Long Wharf 65, 89
Marine Society 99, 103, 111-113,
120, 125
Moral Lectures 29
Mt. Hope 53
New England Guards 24
North Battery 14
Old Gun House 17, 18
Old State House 9, 14, ^^i ^3
Post Office 16
Public Garden 17
Public Library 16
Quaker Meeting House 15
Ricketts's Circus 28, 29
Round-hand Script 12
Salutation Tavern 14
Sea Fencibles 18, 112
Sentry Hill 72
146
Index of Places and Subjects
Boston: — South Meeting House
66
State Arsenal 18-20
State House 25, iii, 112
The Rope walks 17, 112
Winthrop's Spring 15, 16
Boston Harbor 63, 64, 66, 68, 74,
87, 88, 92, 98, 99
Brewster's Island 69, 73-75, 87,
97
Bug Light 98
Castle Island 38
George's Island 87
Governor's Island 89
Great Brewster Island 65, 68, 72,
75.98
Light House Island 72
Little Brewster Island 72, 75, 98.
115, 120
Long Island 38, 78, 97
Lovell's Island 87
Minot's Light 119
Nantasket Beacon 75
Nantasket Roads 97
Outer Brewster Island 72
Pilotage 77, 91, 95, 99, 127, 128
Point Allerton 38, 64, 72-75, 130
Thacher's Island 102, no, 113
The Castle 41, 70, 75, 76, 89, 97,
98
The Graves Light 119, 126
Bostonian Society 9, 16, 18, 25, 33,
63, 74,87, 120, 131
Braintree Bay 99
Bristol Co. 77
Broglie, France 114
Brookfield 54
Bunker Hill 17, 84
Cambridge 25, 50, 86
Cape Cod 112
Light 120
Cape Henlopen, Del. 102
Casco Bay, Me. 55
Castine, Me. 39
Changes in Names of Boston
Streets 10
Charlestown 36, 65, 66
Cohasset 85, 124
Conanicut Island, R. I. 102
Cranbrook, Eng. 19
Cura9oa, W. I. 35, 38, 39
Dorchester 86
Dover, N. H. 48
Eddystone Lighthouse, Eng. 71,
105
Flying Horse, Frigate 38, 39, 42
Fresnel Light 114, 116, 118, 119
Garonne River 71
Gemisic (" Gamshake ") 47
Geneva, Switzerland 107
Greater Boston 58, 59
Hingham 85
Hudson River 35, 58
Hull 63, 69, 72-75, 84-88, 94, 95, 98,
103
Ipswich 122
Keepers of Boston Light 129, 13c
Kennebec River 36, 57
Kent, Eng. 19
Kittery, Me. 46, 48
Lake Winnepesaukee 58
Lewis's Light 112, 114, 125
Light-house Tragedy Ballard 88
Lizard I^ighthouse, Eng. 105
Index of Places and Subjects
147
London, Eng. 76, 114, 132
Foundling Hospital 76
Royal Society 114
Machias, Me. 47
Maiden 43
Manhattan Island 35, 38
Massachusetts Bay 56-58, 60, 66, 70
Mexico, Gulf of 35
Middle Bay Island, So. Car. 102
Mississippi River 35
Mrs. Rowson's School 87
Mt. Desert, Me. 44
Munjoy's Island 43
Muscongus 53
Nantasket 47, 89
Beach 85
Head 86
Heights 120
Hill 97
Nantucket 49, 102
Neversink, N. J. 116
New Amsterdam 35
New Bedford 112
New Brunswick 35
New Holland 40-42
New London, Conn. 102
New Netherlands 35, 38
New Orange 38, 39
New York 37, 39, 56, 57, 73
Newcastle Island, N. H. 102
Nova Scotia 35
Old Boston School Masters 12, 13
Paris, France 114
Peak's Island 43
Pemaquid, Me. 44, 57
Penobscot Bay 43
River 39, 40, 57
Pentagoet, Me. 39
Philadelphia, Pa. 28, 29
Piscataqua River 48
Plum Island 102
Plymouth 57, 102
Portland Head, Me. 102
Port Royal, N. S. 47
Portsmouth, N. H. 19
Quebec, P. Q. 40
Revolving Lights 1 19-124
Roxbury 26, 122
Salem 44, 47, 90, 132
Sandy Hook 102
Scarborough, Me. 54
South Dighton 76
Squantum 86
St. John's River 40, 58
St. Lawrence River 35
State Arsenal 18-20
Suffolk Co. 60, 70
Surinam, S. A. 35
Taunton 76, 77
Thacher's Island 102, no, 113
Tour de Corduan, France 71
Treaty of Westminster 38
Trial of the Dutch Pirates 50-54,
56
Tybee, Ga. 102
Washington, D. C. 78, 109
Wellfleet 112
Willard's Light 123
970T
